Project to help girls fight it out

KOLKATA: Sambhav - a non-profit NGO - launched an initiative called FEAT (Fight Against Eve Teasing) on Thursday.
Initiated in collaboration with Mac's Kung Fu Institute (MKI) - world's largest martial arts training institute based in the US - FEAT is aimed at equipping women with basic street survival techniques. "FEAT is not just an NGO project, but a movement to create a single platform for various problems faced by women," said Saurav Sinha, president of Sambhav.
The project would involve 50 girls' schools and colleges, where free workshops would be held. These will start immediately after the summer vacation and will be monitored by experts from MKI.
Sports minister Madan Mitra, minister of technical education Ujjal Biswas and education minister Bratya Basu were present at the launch. "We are trying to do whatever we can (to mitigate the problem). The new generation has to be taught in a new way. All the educational institutions and workplaces need to come together and seek a solution," said Biswas.
Basu blamed the British for bringing crime against women to India. "If we look at history, there were no such crimes in Bengal. It was the British who brought heinous crimes like rape to our country." He added that the fear of law has to be instilled in people who tend to commit such crimes.
Mitra felt that it was more important to include sex education from Class VII than to include martial arts lessons. "Plus, people should be open-minded about interaction with the opposite gender. And thirdly, the number of co-education schools and colleges should be increased, so that girls and boys learn to mix freely," he said.