Painting the town Pink

The city of Aurangabad in India has come up with a novel way of cutting its spiralling crime rate. It's painting everything in the town pink.

The city of 2 million has long been notorious as a place plagued by crime, corruption, and civil unrest. Violence between different castes is rife, and the town is a centre for attacks by Maoist rebels.

But now, city officials think they have an answer, according to the BBC.

Inspired by a trip to Jaipur – known as the 'Pink City' because of the distinctive colour of its buildings – city official Arvind Kumar Singh conceived the plan to paint all the buildings in the city pink.

'What better colour than pink – which symbolises good mood, soothing sight and good feelings. Pink also fosters communal amity and harmony,' he told the BBC.

Beyond that, the exact details of how pink buildings will lower the crime rate and violence in the city is a little unclear.

The pinking of Aurangabad began with Government buildings, but now officials are encouraging private buildings to go pink as well -–even printing pink leaflets about the benefits of pinkness, which read: 'Pink Aurangabad, clean Aurangabad, green Aurangabad and disciplined Aurangabad.'

Mr. Singh estimates that 80% of Aurangabad's buildings are now pink, and he expects the rest of the pinking to be complete within a week.