New Delhi: The result is finally out and the state of Odisha has been ranked 5th in the country overall in the first ever Gross Domestic Behaviour or GDB Survey conducted by the India Today Group. The Survey explored India’s Civic Behaviour, Public Safety, Gender Attitudes, Diversity & Discrimination.
While Kerala has been ranked 1st overall, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal are in 2nd and 3rd place. Maharashtra is just above Odisha in the overall rankings.
So far as Civic Behaviour is concerned, Odisha has been ranked third. The state is also ranked third in the Public Safety category. Odisha slipped to ninth place in the Gender Attitudes section though and 13th in Diversity & Discrimination.
A lot of stress has been laid on Gender Attitudes and the Survey has concentrated on how much rights women across India have over their own earnings. Kerala has topped the chart in this category while Uttar Pradesh is in last position, with a rank of 22.
In Kerala, 91% of the respondents to the Survey said that women should have full control over their earnings. In Odisha, only 27% believed so. Majority of those who participated felt that women must seek family approval before making financial decisions.
The most startling response came when participants were asked on how much importance they gave to women’s participation in household decision-making. A striking 69% of the respondents said that men should have the final say in household decision-making. Only 30% opposed this view and were in favour of a more balanced approach.
In Uttar Pradesh, 96% of the participants felt that men should have the final say in household matters. In Kerala, 75% respondents rejected this notion outright.
Odisha fared extremely well when it came to equal opportunities in education for girls. Nearly 98% respondents in the state maintained that girls should have the same rights as boys, so far as education is concerned. In Gujarat though, 22% were against this idea. Nearly 38% participants in Gujarat were also against the idea of women taking up jobs outside home, while strangely, 98% in Uttar Pradesh were in favour.
