The Hindu Business Line : Crime in India, in a thousand words

AMONG the `Current Warnings' issued by the US on its site http://travel.state.gov/travel/warnings_current.html, one finds Pakistan on top with a communiqué dated September 24. "Defer non-essential travel" to that country, advises the site, "due to ongoing concerns about the possibility of terrorist activity".

I'm happy that India doesn't figure in the list that has Israel, Iraq, Sudan, Nepal, Indonesia, Cayman Islands, and a score other entries.

However, there is a page for India in http://travel.state.gov/travel/india.html, under "Home {gt} International Travel {gt} Travel Warnings {gt} Consular Information Sheets." It is updated as of May 20, and has a section devoted to traffic safety. "Safety of public transportation: Poor; urban road condition/maintenance: Poor; rural road condition/maintenance: Poor; and availability of roadside assistance: Poor to non-existent," is a summary that is given for `general reference'.

Travel by road is dangerous, it informs, and "travel at night is particularly hazardous". Buses are "usually driven fast, recklessly, and without consideration for official rules of the road" and "accidents are quite common".

What about Lalu's trains? They are "somewhat safer than buses, but train accidents still occur more frequently than in developed countries."

What can be "the safest driving policy" on Indian roads? "Assume that other drivers will not respond to a traffic situation in the same way you would in the US." Such as? "Buses often run red lights and merge directly into traffic at yield points and traffic circles." Quite creditable, I'd say, that they've understood how our buses move!

How about "cars, auto-rickshaws, bicycles and pedestrians"? They behave "only slightly more cautiously". The problem is that Indian drivers "tend to look only ahead and often consider themselves responsible only for traffic in front of them, not behind or to the side". So, use the horn "to announce presence" because it is "both customary and wise".

It laments about roads being poorly maintained and congested, with only two lanes, poor visibility, inadequate warning markers, local transportation travelling in the wrong direction often without any lights on, and heavy traffic that includes "bullock and camel carts, horse or elephant riders en route to weddings, and free-roaming livestock".

There is elaborate caution about hitting a pedestrian or a cow because "the vehicle and its occupants are at risk of being attacked by passersby". There is "significant risk of injury or death to the vehicle's occupants or at least of incineration of the vehicle". Therefore, don't remain at the scene of an accident of this nature.

In a different section, the site speaks of `Dowry/Visa Demands'. It informs that a number of US citizen men who have come to India to marry Indian nationals have been arrested and charged with crimes related to dowry extraction. "Many of the charges stem from the US citizen's inability to provide an immigrant visa for his prospective spouse to travel immediately to the US." Then, what happens? "The courts sometimes order the US citizen to pay large sums of money to his spouse in exchange for the dismissal of charges. The courts normally confiscate the American's passport, and he must remain in India until the case has been settled. There are also cases of US citizen women whose families force them against their will into marriages to Indian nationals."

If all that paints a gloomy picture of the country, there is a whole of 1,000 plus words devoted to `Crime Information'. Interesting to read if you're surfing the Net, because it talks about Veerappan, `eve-teasing', and "reports of inappropriate sexual behaviour by a prominent local religious leader at an ashram or religious retreat located in Andhra Pradesh."

E&OE@thehindu.co.in

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