Syllabus:

GS-1: Salient features of Indian Society, Diversity of India. 

Context: Recently, the National Annual Report and Index on Women’s Safety (NARI) 2025 was released by the National Commission for Women.

About the Index

• This index ranks and measures the women’s safety across the urban landscape and  was first realised in 2023.
• The NARI index has been developed by The NorthCap University and Jindal Global Law School and is published by the Group of Intellectuals and Academicians (GIA).
• The nationwide index is based on a survey of 12,770 women across 31 cities and assigns each city a safety score relative to the national safety score of 65%
• The index categorises cities as “much above”, “above”, “below” or “much below” this benchmark.

Key Findings

• Safest cities: Kohima, Visakhapatnam, Bhubaneswar, Aizawl, Gangtok, Itanagar and  Mumbai were associated with stronger gender equity, civic participation, policing and women-friendly infrastructure
• Least safe cities: Patna, Jaipur, Faridabad, Delhi, Kolkata, Srinagar and Ranchi, correlating with poorer infrastructure, patriarchal norms, or weaker institutional responsiveness.
• Women feeling safe overall: Overall, six in ten women surveyed felt “safe” in their city, but 40% still considered themselves “not so safe” or “unsafe”.
  The study revealed sharp drops in perceptions of safety at night, particularly in public transport and recreational spaces. 
• Harassment in 2024: 7% of women experienced harassment in public spaces in 2024, with the figure doubling to 14%, with those aged 18-24 highest at risk.
• Harassment hotspots: Neighbourhoods (38%) and public transport (29%) were most often flagged as harassment hotspots. 
• Trust in authorities: Only 25 per cent were confident of effective action, while 69% said current safety efforts were somewhat adequate, over 30% noted significant gaps or failures; only 65% perceived real improvement over the years 2023-2024.
• Reporting rate: Two-thirds of women do not report harassment. 
• Educational institutions: 86% feel safe, especially in daylight, but safety perceptions fall sharply at night or off-campus.
• Safety at workplace: About 91% of women reported safety, 53% were unclear if their workplace has a Prevention of Sexual Harassment (POSH) policy; those with such policies generally rated them as effective.
• Verbal harassment: It was most common (58%), with physical, psychological, economic, and sexual harassment reported less frequently. 

Sources:
New Indian Express
Hindustan Times