Women’s safety: Delhi ranked 28th in GVI list

New Delhi: Delhi came two positions shy of being the worst state when it comes to safety of girls and women, faring better only than Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.

As per a newly-formed gender vulnerability index (GVI) by NGO Plan India, Goa topped the list, followed by Kerala and Mizoram respectively.

The GVI attempts to “generate a normative consumers” on the status of safety of girls and women in India and takes into account four core dimensions: Education, health and survival, poverty and protection.

While Sikkim were ranked fourth and Manipur fifth in the list, Delhi was ranked 28, followed by Uttar Pradesh at 29. Bihar fared the worst by coming last in the list.

According to the index, with a GVI score of 0.436, Delhi fared poorly since “education in Delhi is the poorest among the 30 states” and the “protection criteria was also poor.”

The capital came in at the last rank in terms of education and at the third last rank, at 28, when it came to protection of girls and women.

Under the poverty and health dimensions, Delhi made a “unsatisfactory performance”, as per the index.

In Bihar, the index said, girls and women are “the most vulnerable and their position is acute”. With their state getting GVI score of 0.410, they are the unhealthiest and poorest among their peers across the country.

The index added in Bihar, education ranked among the lowest, and protection of girls and women is “highly unsatisfactory”.

“For instance, in Bihar, 39 per cent of the girls get married before the legal age and 12.2 per cent of girls aged between 15 to 19 get pregnant or have delivered kids.”

The index shows that Goa came first in terms of protection of girls and women, fifth in education, sixth in health and survival, while Kerala, which  ranked second with a GVI high score of 0.634.