Soch Badlo, Desh Badlega: HOW Is Changing The Mindset Of Men Towards Women

The crimes against women have been rampantly increasing in India. It is thus essential that we take urgent measures to safeguard women in the country. But how do we do it? By increasing police posts or enabling special forces for the task? While these are some of the alternatives, what can really do wonders is: if youths change their mindset towards women and start respecting them.

Keeping this in mind, Anurag Thakur, president of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) and a member of the Lok Sabha, had launched a nationwide campaign ‘Honour Our Women’ (HOW Foundation) last year. HOW foundation, is “an initiative to provide a platform for all those who are individually working towards the safety of women and to constructively make a difference in the lives of about 49% of our population.” It works on the ethos of Thakur’s slogan “Soch Badlo, Desh Badlega.” The foundation strives to involve the youth and change their mindset about women that they are not just objects.

In Anurag Thakur’s words, “The HOW initiative is a befitting tribute to one woman who lost her life, but awakened a million others. A year back, when thousands of men and women came on the streets in protest, they were not just demanding justice for Nirbhaya, but they also wanted a guarantee that there will not be any more Nirbhaya cases ever again. But despite new laws and all the policing, cases of rape and crime against women were seen to be on rise.”

So, How does ‘HOW’ work? It organises talks, counselling sessions, panel discussions, street shows etc in order to communicate about the cause. The foundation hasn’t even completed one year, but it already has various teams working dedicatedly in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Delhi. It also invites ideas from school and college students on how to make a difference through creative projects like drama and arts to engage the general public. Under this initiative, it involves educational institutions for conducting street plays and holding panel discussions on various issues related to the safety of women. It also imparts self-defense training to women to make them strong enough to be able to stand up for themselves.

In an interview to The Wall Street Journal, Thakur had said, “I think it’s all about morality, it’s about mindset. If you still think of a woman as an object, or if men think they can do anything and get away with it, nothing will change. People in our country like to hold a candle and do a march. But that’s for a day and then we get busy with our routine lives.”

The group has several upcoming events lined up in the next ten days: A street show against female foeticide at the Mall, Shimla(on November 25th, 2014) and HOW Talk at the DNS School, Jalandhar (on 2^nd December, 2014).