New Delhi, Aug 31 : Just two weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed to the nation to respect women and extend support to 'Nari Shakti', the latest National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) data shows that there has been an increase in the incidents of crime against women in the country. According to the latest NCRB reports, there has been a spike of more than 15 per cent in the incidents of crime against women between 2020 and 2021. As per the data, a total number of 4,28,278 cases of crime against women were registered in the country in 2021, up from 3,71,503 such cases registered in 2020. Interestingly, if we look at the NCRB data of crime against women in the past five years, except for the lockdown year of 2020, there has been an upward trend in the number of cases of atrocities against females every year. Similar is the data of rate of crime against women, or the number of incidents per 1 lakh population. Rate of crime against women went up from 56.5 per cent in 2020 to 64.5 per cent in 2021. As for crime against women in different states, according to the NCRB data, while Uttar Pradesh, the most populous state of the country registered the largest number of 56,083 cases in 2021, Assam witnessed the highest crime rate at 168.3. CVoter-IndiaTracker conducted a nationwide opinion poll on behalf of IANS to know what people think about the increasing incidents of crime against women and law and order situation in the country. According to the survey data, majority of Indians, 65 per cent, believe that India has been failing in controlling crime against women. However, 35 per cent of respondents did not share the sentiment. If we look at the gender wise responses, the survey revealed that compared to male respondents, a bigger majority of female respondents spoke about failure of country's administrative apparatus in restricting incidents of violence against women. As per the survey data, 66 per cent of female respondents and 63 per cent male respondents said that the NCRB data reflects the failure of law and order machinery in the country in controlling crime against women. Compared to urban voters, a bigger proportion of rural respondents believe that the crime control mechanism in the country has failed to check violence against women. During the survey, 67 per cent of rural voters and 59 per cent of urban voters opined that the country has been failing in providing a safe and secure atmosphere to the women. The survey further revealed that the majority of respondents in different age categories share similar sentiment. According to the survey data, 63 per cent of young respondents in the 18-24 years category and 63 per cent of respondents above 55 years of age believe that the country has been failing in controlling crime against women. /IANS