Kumar Rahul Tiwary; July
5-9, 2012
I
just Googled the text “Kerala tops” and below is the result that I got. The
Google results at the top of the search page tell about how Kerala tops the
country in terms of cybercrime and posting obscene pictures on the internet! If
you don’t believe it, do give it a try.
27%
of the 496 cases of obscene publication registered in the country last year happened
in Kerala. A whopping 55% of the 245 cybercrime cases reported last year were also
from Kerala. [Ref: 'Crime in India 2011' report released by the National Crime
Records Bureau (NCRB)]. You may think that such high figures can be justified
by higher literacy rates and internet usage in the state. But the fact that #3
and #4 in the list are Rajasthan and M.P., which are anything but very literate,
clearly tells that the rank of states in the crime list is not related to
literacy and internet usage. Also, when we look at the data to understand
“nature of crime”, graveness of the situation becomes evident. Keralites
eve-teased and harassed women, settled personal scores, and even did cyber
fraud with pure intention of “money”, while using internet as a tool. The
nature of crime tells about organized and inherent utilization of internet and
World Wide Web to commit such crimes. It is indeed a disturbing trend. You can
read more about it here.
Do
you find the above trend bizarre? Or do you even suspect this is as part of
some conspiracy against so called God’s Own Country? If your answer is in the
affirmative, some updates may help. I believe statistics can deceive unless we
have knowledge of the proper context. So one very fair thing to do would be to
relate these cyber-crime data with “other crime” data… If Keralites indulged
only in cyber-crimes and not in other ‘physical’ crimes, then maybe we could still
try to help it keep its good repute. Let us now consider the below facts:
“The
latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) figures tell that Kerala is most
affected by crime in India and Kochi is the most dangerous city in terms of
crime rate. Figures show that Kerala has a crime rate (crimes committed per 1
lakh of population) of 424.1, more than double the national average of 187.6. Among
states with significant population and area, Kerala has left most others far
behind with Madhya Pradesh a distant second at 297.2 offences per lakh
population, and Delhi ranks third with a rate of 279.8. UP, much reviled on the
crime front, has a crime rate of only 87.5.” You can read more about it here.
Not
only crime is happening at a very high rate in Kerala, such crimes are
increasing every year. NCRB's figures show that Kochi saw an exponential rise
of 193% in crime in 2010 compared to 2009.
Again,
some people may try to justify these high figures saying that these are
“reported” incidents and may be since Kerala has higher literacy people are
more aware and hence they register cases of crimes at a higher rate. But to
judge this kind of possible assertion, we should look at the nature of crimes
to get a clue.
Kerala
ranks highest in India on incidents of rioting and arson with a rate of 26
compared to the national average of 6.4! The report mentions, “Of the 2,41,986
incidents of violent crime in the country, Kerala accounted for 11,756, more
than much larger states like Rajasthan (10, 577) and comparable to its bigger neighbors
such as Tamil Nadu (12,333) and Andhra Pradesh (12,491).” We can be sure that
for such crimes like “rioting” and “arson”, police cases are registered
everywhere, no matter what is the literacy in the state. So relating high
criminal cases registered in Kerala with its high literacy rate may not be
just.
Also,
Kerala’s rate of crime against women is around 27, higher than Delhi at 24.6
and interestingly Bihar, often touted in the wrong light, has a crime rate
against women of only 8.7 (against Kerala’s 27).
These
statistics and facts tell us that no matter what the mode or nature of crime
is; whether cybercrime or gruesome violent physical crimes; or riots or even
crime against women, Kerala is “topping” the country in terms of all these
parameters…
I
would also like to bring one more factor here, which can be called a “passive
crime”. It is the rate of suicides…
This
news item from 2004 [Link] tells that
Kerala had the highest number of suicides in India. Every day, 32 people commit
suicides in the state and the state’s average suicide rate is 3 times than that
of India! Alas, the situation has not improved over the years! This 2011 news
report [Link] tells about
how a culture of suicides has developed in the state and 39% of “family
suicides” happening in India take place in Kerala! In 2009, suicides accounted
for nearly 25% of all deaths in Kerala [Ref]! Also note
that the rate of “attempted suicides” is around 10-15 times that of the actual
rate and what these statistics tell about Kerala’s social structure is very sad…
The
fact that Kerala has the highest per capita consumption of alcohol in the country
and whopping 40% revenue for the annual budget comes from liquor sale doesn’t
help the crime scene! This BBC article [Link] tells us how
Kerala is gravely infested by the disease of drinking…
It
seems Kerala is going the wrong way… I am not sure if in the light of the above
facts and data we can still proudly tag it as God’s Own Country. For me as an
Indian, the feeling is of sorrow and shame… Will Keralites feel the same?
A
few years back I had written a blog article hitting at the state’s government-funded
business of killing cows in Kerala. Beef was being exported with slaughter
houses being developed with public money. I got many angry Keralites protesting
against the article saying their home-state was unjustifiably shown in the “bad
light”. I think such protests and ‘holier than thou’ attitude are at times plain
arrogance. I am still not sure how Keralites will take these statistics about
high crime rates in their state… If they begin blaming the statisticians, union
government, ‘out-siders’, or anyone and anything with an attempt to shrug off
the hard facts, it would be very sad… I think just like the fact that Kerala
got its good name because of the good work by her people, the bad name it is earning
now is also because of her people… And unless the Keralites acknowledge the rot
that has affected their society, there is no chance of a cure…
Proper
analyses need to be done of what are ailing the Keralites that they are digressing
in this manner. What all have resulted in the state topping the wrong charts
and slipping on the right ones? The unique features of Kerala-Model where the
state had very high number of workers going over-seas for work, and sending
back huge remittances from abroad; the culture with thriving missionaries; people
impacted by leftist and communist ideologies; heavily regulated businesses;
militant employee unions; still being a place where govt. is the largest
employer; and so on - which are resulting in what? Keralites no matter where in
the world they are should give this trend a serious thought… What good is the
use of them working in a foreign land for years, away from family and friends and
sending back Dollars and Dirhams, when their children are getting into crime or
committing suicides? These are hard questions which deserve serious attempts at
finding proper answers and solutions…
Disclaimer:
The views expressed in this article are personal and do not necessarily reflect
the views of any organization associated with the author. The accuracy of
statistics and facts shared in this article depend on the reference sources
from which those are taken. The intention of this article is not to hurt the
sentiments of any individual or group and any unintentional offend is sincerely
regretted.
Some
references:
