India not so 'Incredible' for foreign women

IRONY STRIKES: In 2008 cases of rape and molestation have been reported from the states where much-touted tourist police exists.

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New Delhi: India's tourism ministry is finally waking up to increasingly growing threat of rapes and molestations on foreign women. A meeting with all state tourism secretaries on security will be conducted on Thursday.

“These kinds of things should not happen in a country that attracts five million tourists and is being looked at by the world as a holiday destination,” Tourism Minister Ambika Soni says.

Incredible India campaign is losing its shine. Most woman tourists who travel to India looking for an incredible experience are met with only trauma. The year 2008 has seen half a dozen cases of rape and molestation reported in three weeks from Goa, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Kerala.

What's worse is that these are the states where the tourism ministry's much-touted tourist police exist. For now, tourist police exist in ten states, namely: Goa, Rajasthan, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

These states also make for Incredible India's top ten destinations for foreign travellers. Statistics released by the ministry show foreigners love to visit Goa, Delhi, Rajasthan Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.

Cases of rape and molestation have been reported from these very states. For the tourists the scare is real.

“I think it would be a little more helpful if the tourist police were a little more obvious to tourists so that people coming in knew that they had their help anytime they needed it,” says tourist Jamie Barnum.

The ministry has little details on its own force. Its records show only Delhi with 84 tourist police personnel, and even these men are hard to find on Delhi streets. Other states are yet to furnish details.

Five million foreign tourists, and still counting — it’s not these numbers that will work wonders for the tourism ministry. If it needs the visitors to keep pouring in, then it has to ensure better security.