Delhi’s Women Helpline “181”: Low on resources and High on Optimism; “Not Enough”, Ms Dixit!

In a city of close to 17 million, the Women’s Helpline “181” has only 3 phones and the supervisor still says that they can handle 70% of the calls.  One, he is clearly fibbing his way to an overly optimistic performance.  Two, irrespective of what he wants to portray, this is NOT enough.  Thankfully, the staff is now all-women one from the all-male staff a few weeks back.  But, it is NOT ENOUGH!  Is this a pretense .. a drama or a real thing.. a serious attempt to help the women in distress in the capital?  As of now, given the resources thrown at this and the whole effort being undertaken, this seems more like a “half-hearted” effort to ward off criticism in the wake of the Delhi Gangrape and the focus on women because of that.

Its good that NDTV actually investigated and pushed back on this agency when they found the all-male staff, but it is not enough. Sheila Dixit and all others who are responsible for this – need to be made accountable for it!

As is being said here – Stalking in the evening seems to be the most common complaint.  And, that underscores the need for greater resources and ability to conduct swift backup operations to help the lady in distress.  Bottomline: We need MUCH more than this for the Helpline service!