Delhi turning into a surveillance city, is the surveillance making women safer?

News Desk: Delhi is turning into a surveillance city, replete with CCTV cameras, under the guise of protecting women. But are women any safer than before?

Delhi has a reputation as one of India’s least safe cities for women. Yet in the heart of India’s capital, Mallika Taneja, a Delhi-based artist, has formed a space that provides other women a feeling of togetherness, solidarity, friendship, and allows them to see and smell the night – on foot.

“Women Walk at Midnight” is an initiative from Taneja, who describes walking as a “profoundly political act.” It was born out of the idea to form communities of women, centered around streets and neighborhoods, that appear at night and disappear by sunrise, leaving visible traces on the streets of the city.

However, the roads and the streets that these women occupy in the night are littered with closed circuit television (CCTV) cameras. This makes Taneja and the women who participate in these walks conscious of the constant surveillance that follows their every step.

Recently, India’s capital has become one of the most surveilled cities in the world, with 1,826.58 cameras per square mile, according to a Comparitech report. Comparitech’s earlier analysis was based upon cameras per 1,000 people and Chinese cities topped the list. For 2021, it expanded its study to look at the number of cameras per square mile. Two Indian cities – Delhi and Chennai – have more cameras per square mile than any Chinese city.

While many see this as a cause of concern, the report was met with jubilation by the Delhi government. Delhi’s Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal hailed it as a feather in the cap.