On the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi’s birth anniversary the Ministry of Women and Child Development launched a nation wide campaign to address the issue of violence against women and spread the message of non-violence. Reportedly this 5 year program would cover the whole nation. 25 women panchayat members have been taken on oath as Ahmisa Messengers to represent over 12.5 million women of our country. These Ahimsa messengers will work towards stopping violence at homes, workplaces and outside and would act as messengers of peace and non violence.

While I couldn’t find any information regarding this campaign on the Ministry’s website I wondered is it because our government is not very web2.o savvy or is it because they would rather not keep any trace of such campaigns lest we start keeping a tab on them and follow it up.

Though I couldn’t find any details regarding the basis of choosing these 25 women panchayat members and other details regarding the steps of implementation of the campaign, on the face of it, the idea seems to be good. That said, I tend to feel that the onus of addressing the problem of domestic violence / violence against women in general is still on women and men are not being integrated in the process.

On the other hand ‘Bell Bajao’ as a campaign addresses men asking them to take a stand against violence against women. The campaign urges men to not be silent witness to violence, take an immediate action against the abuser even if it is something as small as ringing the door bell and bringing a halt to the abuse.

Skeptics may say, “Is ringing the bell an action enough?” Ringing the bell is not be the only solution, but is one of the first action men and boys can take. It is their entry point in this fight against domestic violence against women.

For more information watch the Bell Bajao campaign videos.

Photo: A woman going home at the end of the day near the ghats of river Tungabhadra in Hampi, Karnataka, India. Photo credit: Sanjukta

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The thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are those of the author and are not necessarily endorsed by Breakthrough or any other member of this blog.