The Indian government has announced the ‘Nirbhaya’ fund to improve security for women in the country. The fund was announced following the brutal gang rape of a 23-year-old who succumbed to her wounds. The media refer to this woman as ‘Nirbhaya,’ meaning fearless in Hindi. But is the fund merely eyewash to pacify the seething masses or will it really help in promoting women’s safety? Blogger Vishwadeepak is skeptical.

In the second blog in the series, Dr. Kanchana Lanzet of UN Women discusses the role of caste in promoting bias against women. According to the caste system, women, by nature of their biological processes, are “impure.”

For women in India to walk with dignity and freedom, a social transformation as well as a change in the values, attitudes and male perceptions of women, by men and women, is needed. Dr. Kanchana Lanzet, member of the board of directors at UN Women in Bonn, gives us an expert opinion on why being a woman in India is so problematic and whether one can really do much about it. This is Dr. Lanzet’s first blog in the series.

While the Indian government was celebrating its 64^th Republic Day with pomp and grandeur, most young Indians were thinking that Republic day has lost its sense. The reason, they say, is that laws have not been revamped and do not ensure to justice for the victims of social crimes. Using social media as a platform to voice their protests and demands, the youth ofIndia has unified in one spirit and is  showcasing its demands all across the country.

It’s been a very bad year indeed for women in India. As the world settles into the New Year, India’s daughters are mourning the death of their “braveheart Nirbhaya,” the 23-year-old who was brutally raped and has now succumbed to her injuries.  This is symptomatic of the agony, pain, humiliation and wretchedness that Indian women suffered in 2012.

As a journalist you often read and write about crime and a point comes when writing the number of dead becomes a routine and you do not feel the loss anymore. In fact you do not find it interesting enough or you do not even consider it a story worth mentioning, if the number of casualties were too low or if the violence was not too brutal. But also there comes a time when words fail you, something so horrendous happens that it does not just touch you; rather it shakes you