Rape fear keeps US students out of India: Nancy Powell

 The frequent incidence of rape in India has created an adverse image of India abroad. US ambassador to India, Nancy Powell, on her maiden visit to Jharkhand, on Tuesday highlighted this saying how this was possibly a factor in American students not coming to India.

She said: "The concern for personal security and perceived increased danger to women as a result of the rape cases was perhaps a factor in US students' decision regarding study in India." Powell said this in response to a question - "Why aren't American students coming to India for studies?" - asked in the course of a chat with students' at the Xavier Institute of Social Science (XISS) in Ranchi.

The students at XISS agreed in the presence of Powell that they too face sexual harassment on the streets. "Even we Indian girls face a lot of cat-calls and are subject to teasing outside the college campus almost everyday," said a student, who was part of the interaction session but did not want to be named.

When asked to elaborate, Powell said : "What I said was one of the factors for US students decision regarding study in India." Last year, a female student from Chicago University, who was on a study trip to India, in an account posted on CNN iReport said that India was full of adventures and beauty, but also relentless sexual harassment, groping and worse.

At the interaction with students at XISS, Powell focused on education and people-to-people connection. Following through on the most recent US-India Higher Education Dialogue in New Delhi in June this year, her remarks to the students emphasized: "There is no sector that better illustrates the mutual benefit of our relationship than education, a priority sector for both the US and India. Education has become one of the main pillars in our bilateral strategic partnership."

The US diplomat also made courtesy calls on governor Syed Ahmad and CM Hemant Soren and also met with a varied group of civil society leaders who are alumni of US state department-funded leadership programmes. 

Source:http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Rape-fear-keeps-US-students-out-of-India-Nancy-Powell/articleshow/26059607.cms

PERSONAL_SECURITY-VISIT-www.denetimservices.com