Analyzing India's Shifting Crime Patterns
UPSC Relevance
Prelims: Social Issues (Crimes against vulnerable sections like women, children, STs); Indian Polity and Governance (Key Institutions - National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)); Internal Security (Cybercrime).
Mains:
General Studies Paper 1 (Society): Social empowerment, communalism, regionalism & secularism; Role of women and women's organization; Population and associated issues.
General Studies Paper 2 (Social Justice & Governance): Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population; mechanisms, laws, institutions and Bodies constituted for the protection and betterment of these vulnerable sections.
General Studies Paper 3 (Internal Security): Challenges to internal security through communication networks, role of media and social networking sites in internal security challenges, basics of cyber security.
Key Highlights from the News
National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB)'s 2023 report clarifies the changing face of crime in India.
Three key findings in the report:
Murder cases decreased by 2.8% nationwide.
Crimes against Scheduled Tribes (STs) increased by 28.8%. The ethnic violence in Manipur is the main reason for this.
Cybercrimes increased by 31.2%. This is due to the increasing internet usage and digital financial transactions in the country.
Crimes against children increased by 9.2%. In 96% of the cases, the perpetrators were known to the children.
There was only a slight increase in crimes against women. However, the 14.9% increase in dowry-related crimes indicates that this social evil still persists strongly.
Key Observation: The NCRB data is based on the number of reported cases. Therefore, an increase in cases could be due to an actual increase in crimes or due to improved reporting.
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