Protectors in denial
I am not shocked at all. I am from Kerala and, as a child, have endured abuse at the hands of relatives (‘Tide of sex crimes shocks Kerala,’ Gulf News, June 14). Not just me, but almost all of my classmates have a story to tell. Kerala is a backwards and repressed society and everything happens behind closed doors. All the years I lived in Kerala were hell. Men on the road would expose themselves by opening their lungis and never for one minute did any of us girls feel safe. I have lived everywhere in Kerala, from the busy city of Cochin to the quieter areas as well. It is a horrible place. And all you who try to protect its name are in denial.
From Ms Cynthia
Dubai
Website comment
Good initiative
This story on sex crimes reported in Kerala is a good initiative by the media and society of Kerala. A few days back, a woman was gang raped in a police station in India. Where are the women safe? In the last six month, women have started keeping sharp tools inside their wallets to protect themselves from men in Delhi. A child is the future of a nation. A child must be safe in a mother’s lap. When the mother is not safe, how is the future of a nation? We must create a safe society for each child. Fortunately, India has got a large international personality and plays a vital role in society. God bless Kerala’s society.
From Mr Huq
Dubai
Full name withheld by request
Common everywhere
Do not portray God’s own country this way. There are many killings and rapes in every developed nation, why don’t you guys report on that? It only shows that you can get news easily from India without much effort.
From Mr Joseph Majeesh
Abu Dhabi
Website comment
Sad it’s not safe
It is indeed sad that girls and women are not at all safe in India. It has been very common to rape or disrespect women and I hope the Indian government takes strict steps for this shameful crime.
From Mr Arman
Dubai
Full name withheld by request
Parental watch
Access to porn sites should be banned, as it is in the UAE. Also, the parents of every teenage child should take extra care to monitor their activities. A matured parent will very quickly realise if there is anything wrong with their teenage children and will then be able to take steps to correct it. For that first, parents should be on the right track and should be a good example to their children.
From Mr Biju K.
Sharjah
Website comment
Is this relevant?
I couldn’t understand the relevance of publishing this news to an international newspaper, like Gulf News. Is there a scarcity of news or a need for spicy news? More objectionably, you have portrayed the Kerala Legislative Assembly’s picture along with the news caption. What is the relevance of this picture with the news?
From Mr Sheethal Thomas
Dubai
Website comment
Movies to blame
The film industry is a major culprit but the government doesn’t have the guts to blame them or take action towards this. Some readers have compared India to the UAE or Saudi Arabia but I think that this is too far fetched and impractical.
From Mr Zaid
Sharjah
Literacy causes issues
These crimes need to be handled with strict procedures and I think the Kerala police will do it. Movies and the internet play a big role in influencing these crimes along with other social issues arising from within and outside families.
This report forgot to mention one thing that is sadly deforming the image of Kerala: with 98 per cent literacy, registration of crimes in police stations is very high in Kerala compared to other parts of India. The rate of solving and stopping crimes are also on a high rate in Kerala compared to any other parts of India. The media is able to report this news because this issue has been raised by the public to media and the police. This is not always the case in other parts of India, where reporting of crimes are very low. I think this is due to the low levels of literacy, corrupt systems and political pressures.
From Mr Khaleefa
Abu Dhabi
Website comment
Don’t blame movies
These things are on the rise because the government is too laid back on implementing harsh punishments to scare off such horrendous crimes. Why don’t these things happen at such an alarming rate in other developed countries? The answer is because of laws. People aren’t going to do something against women due to fear of the law. Movies are for entertainment. Letting them influence you to such an extent that you are capable of rape, means that you need to go to a hospital and get therapy.
From Mr Mosa
Sharjah
Website comment
Inhumane
Qatar’s dream to host the World Cup 2022 may remain as a dream (‘Nepal workers pay terrible price in Qatar World Cup build-up,’ Gulf News, June 14). The way these Nepalese labourers have been treated very inhumanely by the construction companies preparing for the World cup stadiums. It is really heartbreaking. Seeing all this ill treatment, we may not be wrong to term this as an organized form of modern slavery.
May God Bless these unsung heroes who had to sacrifice their precious life for the cause of World Cup 2022.
From Mr Rajesh Chauhan Chettry
UAE
Facebook comment
Criminal action required
Nepal immigration officers and Nepalese manpower supply agencies should be jailed for this crime. Agencies are taking advantage of a political situation and illiterate people. They cannot create a job but at least care about the people from abroad, who are contributing to the nation.
From Mr Dambar Basnet
Abu Dhabi
Facebook comment
World Cup victims
All this news regarding Qatar and the World Cup sounds more like a war zone or battle field where these poor and helpless people are the victims.
From Mr Ceo Mikhail Fernandes
Dubai
Facebook comment
Unfair treatment
It’s seems so ruthless. Even looking at Brazil, the fact that families are being resettled in faraway areas with worse access to services and infrastructure than they had previously had, or receiving indemnities lower than the market price for their property – it’s not right.
From Mr Zahid Noor
Al Ain
Facebook comment
Wake up
I won’t blame the Qatari government. I think it’s the foreign manpower agencies that are so large and they sacrifice basic human rights for cheap labour. We need to wake up. If we consider ourselves human, we need to be aware of the damages this is causing the poor foreign workers. It is time to wake up.
From Mr Soban Siddiqui
UAE
Facebook comment
Regulation or cancellation
First of all, the country should strictly monitor all construction companies to ensure that they are providing basic needs properly. Things like lodging, food, fair wages and health insurance to the workers are a necessity. The country should strictly implement these things, and failure to do so should not be able to get government registration. If a company is already registered and fails to comply with regulations, their commercial license should be cancelled. If the Qatari government fails to monitor these things, FIFA 2022 should be cancelled.
From Mr Kamal
Abu Dhabi
Website comment
Doesn’t make sense
There seems to just be this one country and the whole west is just against having matches there, so they create a new story every day to turn the table against Qatar. Don’t people die in any other countries? Didn’t people in Brazil protest against the World Cup? I don’t understand what is so wrong. The headline that 4000 people will die ahead of the World Cup makes no sense.
From Mr Syed Kamran
Al Ain
Website comment
Reply to Mr Kamran
Syed Kamran, it is unbelievable how you can sit and write that. Labourers are dying in Qatar because of terrible working conditions and you don’t think it’s worth mentioning? The fact that workers are not paid their salaries in time is enough to be worth mentioning. Of course it’s worth mentioning because Qatar has absolutely no respect for labour rights and they have allegedly bribed their way into hosting the event.
From Ms Nadia Al-Kabani
Dubai
Website comment
Inhumane treatment
Laws are in place and need to be implemented to protect the rights of workers irrespective of their profession. And companies involved in these projects are not a one-shutter shop but financially strong with the expertise to win the bid to construct stadiums and infrastructures based on certain norms laid by the government. The world has condemned the inhumane treatment towards these hapless individuals by not paying them on time, long working hours, cramped housing and even not offering water.
From Mr M. Rodrigues
Dubai
Website comment
Government problem
What is mentioned in this article is a known fact to all of us. Whoever says otherwise is trying to avoid this reality. The government is to blame here because they are the ones who can fix this. They should set up a department to specifically monitor these construction companies and punish them severely if they do not provide proper accommodations, food, fair working hours and wages paid out on time.
There also should be a set minimum wage standard and insurance coverage for all employees. If the construction companies cannot provide that, then there should not be a World Cup there in the first place.
From Mr A. K.
Dubai
Living the change
The real meaning of child abuse is ‘improper treatment’. Most parents expect a lot from their children, but do not understand how that can be achieved, which can lead to underappreciation for the efforts it takes. Sometimes parents feel that their responsibility ends by just putting their children in schools and quantifying their progress by grading, but there is more to life than school marks.
Parents have to live the change, which they want to see in their children. School can teach subjects, but it is the responsibility of parents to teach values and ethics. This includes honesty and respect to elders, which no school can teach and no grade can quantify; hard work and the rewards of hard work.
Another thing with such value, is teaching that they have to be taught at very young impressionable age. By this I mean parents have to live that life in front to them on a daily basis.
You cannot expect children to respect you, when they see you not respecting their grandparents, You cannot expect them to be honest, when they see you not being honest. Dishonesty can be perceived in many ways: it could be not parking in correct place or not returning extra change someone has paid you.
The best way to do this, I feel, is by telling them short simple stories and ‘living the change’ in front of them on a daily basis. Children are far smarter than we think or give them credit.
From Ms Ghanshyam Vasudeo Vyas
UAE
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