How safe is India for solo female travellers?

This question does not have a straight Yes or No answer. The good news is that hundreds or even thousands of women travel to India alone and visit many cities, tourist spots and stay safe throughout yet there are certain basic precautions that one needs to take to ensure that the women stays safe throughout. India is generally safe but for a foreigner in any place secluded and dark is unsafe. Traveling alone at night in a car or a rickshaw late at night is very unsafe. Its like asking a rocket launcher to fire at you and think that nothing is going o go wrong with you.

Solo female travellers visiting India have few questions that cannot be answered without a person visiting here. One, you cannot understand India sitting in a western country. Two, our civilisation is absolutely crazy and much older than many others. Therefore we do not know the process to define the best steps clearly. What we can do is define what not to do? And the what not to do is universal and is applied by women around the world.

Few Basics that every women already knows but needs re-assurance when travelling to a country such as India:-

1. Cities such as Delhi and Mumbai are as safe as New York and London
2. There are many many many many foreigners in India
3. Travelling , walking late at night alone can be cause of grave concern
4. Eating and drinking with unknown men is not something you should do 
5. Yes, you are a celebrity the moment you land. You skin color plays a major role
6. YEs, there is a high chance of wrong doing by friends you make during your trip to India
7. Always carry a mobile and pepper spray anywhere you travel

There is nothing that is out of the extraordinary in the list mentioned above. The extraordinary parts of India are the colours, the  diversity, the food and how chaotic it operates. Everyone who visits India once always visits India. Infact many foreigners have shifted to India and are working in many industries but primarily travel industry. There is something about India that is crazy yet nice.

Solo women travellers should not be worried when visiting public places anywhere in India but be careful of touts and travel agents trying to cheat a solo female traveller or a naive traveller. This is something the government is trying to change, many advertisements and posters have been taken out to address the issue of cheating foreigners and many reports of good work done by Indians have been circulated to create an atmosphere of goodness and benefit of good conduct. Yet a country with population of more than 1 billion and more than half of them coming from a very port background will lead such instances. All one needs to do is be careful and relax and at the sometime enjoy the madness called India, where you will see monkeys, cows and dogs are also have a free life and ca roam around anywhere in the country at their freewill. There is a money god, cow god and dogs are literally considered mans best friend. We have become a tolerant, moderate and diverse country which accepts everything that happens here as good and everything as acceptable. 

Lady Bouncers in India

There is growing need for lady bouncers / lady security officers in India. The main areas where such requirements arise from  are

1. Mall Entry
2. Gate Entry for events
3. Pub, Bar Entry
4. Regular protection in crowded areas
5. Late night parties

Lady bouncers are very disciplined and follow certain important protocols before working for a company or an event. Firstly, the company has to have a trustworthy employer. Secondly, one should be able to  clearly address timings, transportation and working hours for every lady security officer working at any event, function etc.

Mostly, lady security officers are ex-CRPF, Ex- servicemen category who have retired after approximately 10 years of services and now are interested in working in the private sector at the same time manage their homes as India is still a patriarchal society.  Lady Bouncers are usually trained in basic security procedures followed by companies in cities of India. The rest in experience and quick thinking that helps these women provide good security at events. Infact, there is not a single event where one would not find a lady security officer.  They have become part of security services required for events, marriages and other functions that require gate security, entry inspection at the gate and crowd management. Every security company takes care of hiring and maintaining lady bouncers , lady security officers for staff.

There is need to further improve the requirement for lady bouncers, as the cities are evolving the crowds are realising that lady bouncers, lady security personnel are safer, matured and can handle every situation a male bouncer can, crowds are showing preference for lady bouncers for safety of the female members and for better event security. 

In it projected that the market for lady bouncers and lady close protection officers will further explode, providing more jobs to ex-servicewomen living in cities such as Delhi, Mumbai,Chandigarh. 

The need to train new civilian women interested in becoming lady bouncers is also increasing as the economy matures there will be more opportunities for women to take such jobs and more women have been applying for jobs in the recent. This will lead to a situation where the ratio of male bouncers to female bouncers will be almost 1:1 and the country will become a better place for women to work and diligently earn in mostly male dominated fields.

Life of a bouncer in India

A child in small villages in Delhi grows up wearing brown underwear and running nose, mud touching every body part with love and warmth. throughout the day , throughout the year. A child in a village area is used to dogs, hens, sheep, ants, cows and even some donkeys. He knows how to find food, create a mud castle and fight with dogs. The kids that beat up the dogs, that are the most daring and the ones that create the most nuisance are the ones that end up becoming big, uneducated, semi trained bouncers working in pubs, clubs, marriages, restaurants and other events in Delhi. This is probably the only chance they have to take their family out of the troubles faced by the families. But, the money earned during the day is generally spent on beer, supplements and steroids to build a bigger body. The bouncers have a habit of thinking that the bigger the body , the higher the pay, leading to some becoming totally unacceptable muscular bouncers with less than average speed, agility needed from a protection officer.

Everyday, the shanty areas that these men have spent their childhood produces more and more uneducated semi city adjusted men who buy black dresses and want to become bouncers working for the elite in Delhi NCR.

The problem is not just the background, it is understandable that the background is humble and these bouncers have has a tough life in the small rural areas of India. The problem is that only some of them are well behaved and have a sense of decorum. The majority is rash, uneducated, alcoholically inclined and untrained. This leads to a very tight situation for everyone dealing with bouncers. Most bouncers in Delhi live in Najafgarh, Rohini, Dwarka or some parts of East Delhi. The explanation is that they have graduated from the slums that are evenly placed around the city. But they haven't been able to move to upper middle class strong holds. Therefore, these bouncers are living in groups in areas which have single bedroom apartments all around Delhi. Most of them use metro as Bouncers are generally unarmed and do not have gun licenses.

Beer is a very important component of bouncers daily routine and after every event it is not difficult to find bouncers drinking beer at the venue of the event itself. These situations can be difficult to handle. No Bouncer is trustworthy for long and should be only utilised for event security, which deals in large crowds. For individual protection, it is advisable to hire personal security officers to protect ones family members. Personal Security Officers are generally ex-servicemen and have worked with Indian Army, Border Security Force , National Security Guards etc for at least for more than 10 years to ensure they are entitled to pension paid to all servicemen who have given duty for more than a certain defined period. Every Ex-servicemen is well behaved, well trained and will follow the company protocol always.

Bouncers are civilians who do not have any discipline have come from the rural areas, do not have liability in case of any criminal behaviour and are always ready to fight anybody that comes with a plausible argument. Infact, bouncers are road roller bodies with no mental development and can be found just spending their time discussing the next body building supplement available for increasing bicep size.

Bouncers available for events that have worked for more than ten years guarding events around delhi have experience, decorum, training and the required skills to handle any security threat that cam arise in any function. Bouncers are best for protecting gates of marriages, halls, functions and controlling crowds at concerts, festivals, celebrity shows.

The life of a bouncer starts with a fight and ends with a fight. Always be careful when selecting a bouncer.

Horror in a bus in Punjab India, woman and daughter jump in a bid to save themselves from molestors, daughter dies

India will soon crumble under the weight of rapists, molestors and patriarchal setup, more and more heinous crimes against women have made the media resilient and patient when it comes to reporting rapes, molestations and other such crimes against women. The same applies when it comes to police lodging a complaint.

A 14 year old girl and her mother were visiting their family in a bus when the assistant conductor started teasing the girl, despite repeated requests of the mother, the conductor in - charge did not pay any attention and the driver did not stop the bus when asked by the mother. Infact he pressed the accelerator, the woman and her daughter jumped from the moving bus. The daughter sustained heavy injuries and died a little later, the mother is still undergoing treatment in the hospital.

The driver and the conductor ran away, leaving the bus near the incident. Such cases must be very common but some cases that lead to deaths and murders get reported and become national news. Another reason for such a case has become extremely intimidating is that the bus belonged to a company called Orbit, which is owned by Badals', the family that is in power in the state of Punjab with the father being the Chief minister of Punjab and other Badals' being part of the state machinery.

Now, a company that is owned by the members of the ruling party generally has a super comfortable time in the state. The police taking any action against the bus driver, the company or any other breaking of the rule will lead to a major showdown and suspension of the police officer.

The bus drivers and the conductors must have been involved in numerous cases involving disrespect of women. Will a foreigner or a woman from metropolitan in India ever take a bus. The answer is an absolute NO.

We at Denetim Services have been providing security services to foreign travelers in India and request every foreigner traveler to avoid buses, autos, private unknown transport alone at night or during the day in places that are untouched by human presence.

India is a growing country yet the attitude towards women in backward and extremely traditional, this means that a  new generation , intelligent woman is not acceptable to anyone in this country. We recommend absolute safety measures for every women living in India to visiting India.

1) Stay away for strangers
2) Do not eat anything given by unknown people
3) Never sit in a free ride
4) Always avoid the bus
5) Try and keep a hotline number - friend , police , family ready at all times
6) Pepper Spray
7) Never be afraid to report even the minutest incident of disrespect

This case reminds us of the horrific case of Delhi Gang Rape case that shook the whole world.

Delhi Pollution and was does it mean to an outside visitor

Delhi is considered one of the most green cities in India.  Visually it definitely is, there are big stretches of trees in various pockets of Delhi. The Delhi cantonment, ridge road, mandir marg, the Dhaula Kuan Central Delhi connection , chanakyapuri , consulate area. Despite all this, the pollution boards find the city to be in a mess, being one of the most polluted cities in the world, almost worse than 1600 cities that are tabled in the pollution index.

So what is the cause of this situation, the answer is simple - cars, factories and village culture. Delhi has more cars than Mumbai,Chennai, Pune, Bangalore all put together. Factories - to be a world class city one cannot have factories inside the city but Delhi has many clusters of factories operating and intact there was some nuclear material also found in a factory. One does not need to imagine the damage these chemical factories are doing to this country . The village culture is the worst, people find burning anything and everything as a pastime , every leaf, plastic, waste material in Delhi is burnt foolishly by our Delhi residents and find nothing wrong in such behaviour.

But can you feel the difference when you are visiting and travelling to various places in Delhi, one may not necessarily feel the difference but one does realise that the quality is not what one expects it to be. Yet in places like Khan market, connaught place the quality of air is still tolerable and manageable. This is because the place is covered with trees all around. And that does make a difference to the particulate matter . The dust disappears ,literally there is lesser dust in the area because of plants all around.

But when one visits Khirki extension. subash nagar, malviya nagar one can feel the difference in air quality and the dust is visible in the air. When small shops and open trailers selling variety of cooking stuff, the smell, the dust and the burnt oil is distinctly recognised by an individual.

The formula is not understood. We  as citizens will not take any steps and let the government take all the steps in this regard. The government will only take steps that do not hurt any industry or group of individuals. So what happens, the quality keeps going from bad to worse.

Infact, in case you travel from Delhi to other areas in India you will notice many ponds, water bodies full of waste and dirt that makes them inhospitable, not just to live around but also to look.

So grow some trees, breathe fresh and keep traveling to hill stations around Delhi.

Bodyguards providing security to foreign tourists in India

Denetim Services provided the finest and best trained Bodyguards / Private security guards / Personal security officers for foreigners visiting from United States of America, Switzerland and other European countries.

The Armed and unarmed security are ex-servicemen with exemplary track record and verified licenses. They are english speaking and can manage any situation faced.

For security officers provided by Denetim, safety of the client is more important than anything. We would give everything to ensure safety of our clients at all times.

The tourists traveled to Delhi, Agra, Udaipur, Devgarh and also visited surrounding villages to understand village life in India. The trip included taking a train ride as well and the security officers were present throughout the trip. 

We can commission security officers anywhere in India on immediate basis. We take complete guarantee for conduct and behaviour of our security officers.

The foreigners traveled everywhere and felt safe, as we took complete responsibility to ensure best safety and security for our clients.

Understanding local conditions and managing security threats is very important. We guided the whole group of potential "NO visit zones" during their walks to various areas in India.

Managing a group can be difficult as every person goes in different direction. Therefore the security officers have to be alert at all times and manage the requirement by providing more concern to solo travellers  who are walking in separate directions.

There has to be discipline and absolute authority when dealing with security anywhere in India. The importance of managing security threats for foreigners requires much more control and management to provide the best possible security.

Threat is small villages is higher as the laws and police take sometime to reach, therefore the safety of a foreigner or rather almost an alien to an Indian villager is extremely high.

We recommend at least thorough planning and security check before visiting the interiors of India.

Every Country warns their female travellers of India

Given India's rape epidemic (there's honestly no other way to term it), countries and travel organizations around the world are increasingly wary about women visiting India. A little while ago, Japan issued a warning to its female citizens interested in traveling to India, following two allegations of rape on its citizens. In one case, a Japanese tourist said a man, claiming to be a tour guide, raped her while dropping her at her guest house. In the other, a Japanese national in Bodhgaya was allegedly kidnapped, robbed and raped by 6 men from Kolkata.
After the more recent Jaipur case came to light, the Japanese Consulate in Kolkata advised tourists in India to be careful and behave cautiously.


India has had a reputation of being unsafe for women, but this largely focused on the condition of Indian women. However, there has been an increase in the cases of sexual assault against foreign nationals across the county. Take a look for yourself - a Polish woman in Delhi, a Swiss cyclist in Madhya Pradesh, an Irish charity worker in Kolkata, a German teenager on a train, a Danish woman in Delhi - the list seems endless.
These have caused countries apart from Japan, and travel organisations around the world, to follow suit and issue warnings to female tourists intending to travel to India.


A look at some of the travel advisories issued:
The UK
“Avoid travelling alone on public transport, or in taxis or auto-rickshaws, especially at night. If you have to use a taxi get them from hotel taxi ranks and use pre-paid taxis at airports. Try to avoid hailing taxis on the street. If you’re being collected at the airport by a hotel driver make sure they have properly identified themselves before you set off.”
The US
“Women should observe stringent security precautions, including avoiding use of public transport after dark without the company of known and trustworthy companions, restricting evening entertainment to well-known venues, and avoiding isolated areas when alone at any time of day. Keep your hotel room number confidential and make sure hotel room doors have chains, deadlocks, and peep holes. When possible, travel around the area with groups of friends rather than alone.”
Canada
“Women should avoid travelling alone, particularly at night, on public transportation, taxis and auto-rickshaws, as well as in less populous and unlit areas, including city streets, village lanes and beaches. Dress conservatively and respect local customs.”
Australia
“Exercise vigilance at all times of the day, avoid walking in less populous and unlit areas, including city streets, village lanes and beaches, and take care when travelling in taxis and rickshaws. Avoid travelling alone on public transportation, autos and taxis, particularly at night.”
Additionally, countries like France and other members of the European Union have also issue warnings, asking women to exercise "utmost caution. Several recent incidents show that foreign women or expatriates can be the victims of such incidents in India."


Travel blogs and experts paint a slightly prettier picture of India.

Lonely Planet
“You're very unlikely to experience violent crime as a woman traveller in India; it’s sexual harassment that you may experience – more so in tourist towns and larger cities in the north of the country. Rude comments, voyeurism, and men ‘brushing against’ or groping women are all common.”
In another blog, travel writer Candace Rardon describes her experience in India very warmly. “While travel in India will require heightened attention and common sense, let me assure you it is worth it. Although I did encounter men who stared at me inappropriately, there were countless others who in no way treated me as a sexual object – farmers and pharmacists, shopkeepers and teachers, men whose warmth, kindness, and compassion moved me in unexpected ways.”



However, no warnings or advisories have been issued in the neighbouring country of Nepal, despite there having been many case of sexual violence on Nepalese citizens in India. The two countries share a soft border, and it is virtually impossible to keep track of immigrants working without labour permits in India.

http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/heres-what-the-world-tells-foreign-tourists-heading-to-india-and-its-scathing-230573.html