Log-in Gender

Roshan Dilli Campaign

NDTV in partnership with UBER has launched a sustained campaign ‘ROSHAN DILLI’ to raise safety standards in India’s capital, New Delhi. Their focus is to try to improve lighting in public spaces in the city. Lighting is a key factor in shaping women’s perceptions of safety. The initiative will provide a platform for all stakeholders to discuss their shared goal of improving safety standards and to starting a conversation about safety needs of women in the country. It will also highlight various interventions and solutions that help to make women feel safe and put the spotlight on what more can be done. The campaign will accentuate the need for Safety to be a shared responsibility. It will also emphasize the need for gender sensitization and the needs for collaborative efforts by law enforcement and civil society, as well as interventions in the education space to make safety inclusive and a priority in the city.

Monica Kumar, Managing Trustee and Psychologist of Manas Foundation which facilitates gender trainings with cab drivers in Delhi, speaks at the Panel discussion on Roshan Dilli:

“We need to first understand the narrative of safety. Every time there is an episodic incident, which shakes the nation, we think of safety. Whereas safety is not to be taken as a law and enforcement issue, but it needs to be taken as a concern in the collective mindset of the people. We need to understand that collective agency can bring about a lot of change in the system. That is why we [Manas Foundation] partner with the drivers. We don’t see them as perpetrators, we see them as partners who can bring about change. So when you are groped in a public transport or when you’re stalked and there are by-standers who are watching silently, what is the role of the driver? What does he understand about gender safety? What is it that he can do? Women live this sexual terrorism that anytime anywhere you can be groped. We are living in an anticipatory anxiety that anything can happen with me. Now look at these vigilant, empathetic drivers on the road who are there for your safety and that adds a different dimension altogether.”