Navta Vij
New Delhi, April 8
A graffiti in Kolkata lampoons the NDA's India Shining
campaign. (Reuters)
It seems that the ruling NDA Govt's slogan for elections
- India Shining - is as far away from the truth as
possible. If like me you carry the "foreigner"
tag, then it is almost tottering on the brink of impossible.
The recent spate of violent incidents against foreign
nationals in India has pegged the safety for foreigners
in India - especially New Delhi - at a seemingly all
time low. If the usual antics of the locals when they
set eyes on tourists - taxi prices rise by three times
the normal rate and bus journeys become a mad, gawping
frenzy - were not enough to add to a tourists' woes,
murder is the latest, and chilling, addition.
Recently the murder of Australian tourist Dawn Emilie
Griggs, strangled by the driver of a taxi she hired
from the IGI airport, made the headlines. Prior to
that the rape of a Fijian woman and also a Swiss diplomat
were widely reported in the press. In the case of
the Swiss diplomat, there has been little headway
since the incident took place in October 2003. The
assailant is still at large. In a country that is
home to at least 300,000 tourists, the above incidents
show why there are so few who put their faith in the
presumably powerful security set up.
Janpath, Delhi's fashion street, is one of the most
popular tourist spots. Talk to foreign tourists there
and the consensus is that safety is only guaranteed
if they stroll around in extremely large numbers which
is difficult for those who have flown in as pairs.
Are they aware of national help line numbers to call
should they need help? What help line numbers, they
counter question.
Liz McClure, an Australian tourist backpacking around
India with her husband, says: "I don't know of
any national help line numbers." Not even the
numbers police claim to have spent months (some say
years) advertising in the quest to make India feel
safer? "No. I didn't know but it makes no difference.
I wouldn't try."
According to the Delhi Police Headquarters' official
enquiry line, there are three main help line numbers
available to call if someone is in difficulty: The
first is the official enquiry line, the second for
women and the third for students and elder citizens.
But there is no separate line for foreigners and,
according to the British Embassy, no plans to invest
in one that concentrates on breaking down the complicated
language barriers.
Dial 1091, the women's help line, and the call operator
claims the response rate to any call is seven minutes.
For a foreigner like myself, from the UK and with
a slightly different dialect, it takes Laxmi - an
operator who answers my call most unwillingly and
has difficulty in speaking basic English - half an
hour to locate someone who can understand and respond
to my needs adequately. Had this been a real case,
surely the hapless victim on the other end would have
died of frustration before falling prey to anything
else.
When the flaws were pointed out to Joint Commissioner
of Police, New Delhi range, Maxwell Pereira, his response
was quite the contrary. He says: "All members
of staff employed by our police force are English
speaking graduates. It is something we make sure of."
Why then does it take half an hour to respond to a
basic call? That sets him off: "It is not our
responsibility to look after every foreigner who enters
this country." So whose is it? "Your embassies.
Why don't you ask them why they don't do more to raise
your knowledge of this country rather than leave it
to us."
To a query that if there are lapses like this, in
the long term, will it not impact India's credibility
as a tourist hotspot because safety concerns directly
effect tourism, Perreira says: "Yes it will and
if that happens it is worrying. But like I said, we
can't be responsible for everyone." With that
the conversation is swiftly brought to an end.
The obvious conclusions are worrying. The stereotypes
associated with Indian police - lazy and lethargic
- in the mind of foreginers and the Indians alike
is something the Indian police force has worked hard
to shrug off. But setbacks like these bring their
efforts to naught. The failure of the top dogs within
these institutions to acknowledge their own drawbacks
further compounds the problem.
India shining? That thought is farthest from the
mind at the moment
