India and China both have a surplus of males, but it is only India, which has an out of control rape epidemic. Last year, on Women's Day, a 15 year old girl was raped and set on fire. The same year, an Indian woman, within hours of giving birth to a child, was raped in a hospital near New Delhi. Some people in India took consolation in the fact that at least she was not, like Nirbhaya, who was beaten with iron rods, gang raped, and tortured in a private bus, while she was travelling with her boyfriend. Just after this incident, new laws and new fast-track courts were promised, as a result of an international outrage over her assault and subsequent death. More women are now willing to report rape cases. But, the father of Nirbhaya claims that the promises of reform were unmet and that justice in India has failed his daughter and women like her. Indeed, x^mnesty International reports that authorities have not effectively implemented new laws on crimes against women. The majority of rape cases still go unreported. This implies that the problem is getting worse than ever. A woman is reportedly raped every 15 minutes, in India. So, if we multiply that by 24 hours in a week and 365 days a year, the resultant figure would be really shocking. xMso, it should be noted that the majority of rape cases still go unreported. The statistics on crime against women is even worse. Every 2 minutes, a woman in India is a victim of a crime. This ongoing issue with violence against women raises the real and serious question of whether India is truly ready for a seat on the global table. One explanation for the ongoing rape problem is the skewed sex ratio. Like China, India has a massive imbalance in its sex ratio, x^ccording to the Indian census, the sex ratio in the 6 and below age group has increased from 102.4 males per 100 females in 1961 to 108.9 in 2011. Economists and sociologists call this as the Bare Branches phenomenon, which is a result of female feticide over a very long period of time. It is a major issue that both India and China have in common. The boy babies are culturally preferred over girls in both the countries. However, the surplus of males in China does not appear to be leading to a rape crisis there. In fact, research has found that while China has seen an uptick in general violence, they actually tend to behave gently around women. A simple answer points to the Indian caste system. In most of the Indian communities, women are placed lower than men.