I'm a 19 year-old girl living and studying in India - a country that has witnessed a sea wave of change in the global internet users' atlas in the recent years. With over 460 million internet users, India is the second largest online market, and about 30% of those internet users in India are women. In the recent times, for women especially, the internet has meant "emancipation, education, enlightenment, employment, and entertainment" - a port to ship & sail ideas and movements, campaigns and commitments, thoughts and actions. But despite women being encouraged to be educated, emancipated, and empowered, even to this date, India has recorded some of the highest numbers of threats to and violence against women. And since this is the 21st century, dangers are no longer just on-ground; they're online too !

The spectrum of abuse online is just as violent and threatening as it is in the physical world, where women are subjected to everything from abusive language to rape threats. With more women going online, the National Commission for Women has witnessed a surge in cyber crime related complaints registered at the Commission in the past three years. A survey by Feminism in India found that 50 per cent of women in major Indian cities have experienced online abuse. More importantly, cyber crime has shot up in our state, Odisha, by a disturbing 159% with 824 cases registered in 2017-18 as against 317 in 2016. 

Although laws do exist to penalize the perpetrator/s but the problem with our online world is - once a video or photograph is uploaded in the internet there is no way we can remove or erase it. Even though there has been instances where social media sites have removed objectionable post following instructions, but by that time it has already been sourced and circulated by multiple users, which is very difficult to track.

Hence, the only good solution here is "prevention is better than cure". Therefore, I'm requesting you to kindly run a compulsory digital defense training for all school and college going girls of Bhubaneswar. It will not only educate and aware them about the cyber world - its boosts and banes, but also prevent further online crimes against women from happening. The government already runs physical defense training camps for girls all over the state. A digital defense training camp will accentuate the level of safety and security that the state can assure to and ensure for girls like me. Please take this up seriously if you believe in manifesting "informed digital citizenship" in young women and prepare them well for a Digital India. #DigitalDefenseForWomen #FightLikeAGirl