Govt set up ‘Nirbhaya Fund’ to enhance safety and security of women: Smriti Irani

New Delhi, 6 August (H.S): The union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Zubin Irani, in a written reply in the Lok Sabha today said that the Government had set up a dedicated fund called ?Nirbhaya Fund? for implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the safety and security for women in the country. An Empowered Committee (EC) of officers constituted under Nirbhaya Framework appraises and recommends the proposals for funding under Nirbhaya Fund in conjunction with the concerned Ministries/ Departments/ Implementing Agencies.

After appraisal by the EC, the concerned Ministries/ Departments obtain approval of their respective competent financial authorities to release funds out of their respective budgets and implement the approved projects/ schemes directly or through States/ UTs/ Implementing Agencies, she said.

Under the Nirbhaya Fund, one of the schemes namely ?One Stop Centre (OSC) Scheme? is implemented across the country since 1st April 2015. OSCs aim to facilitate women affected by violence with a range of integrated services under one roof such as Police facilitation, medical aid, providing legal and psycho-social counselling and temporary shelter. OSCs are to be set up within 2 kms radius of the hospitals or medical facilities either in new constructed building in an approved design or in pre-existing buildings. Under the scheme, One Stop Centres are being set up in all districts of the country. So far, 704 OSCs have been operationalised and more than three lakh women have been assisted through them, the Minister said.

Irani has decided to implement the umbrella scheme for safety, security and empowerment of women as an integrated women empowerment programme under the name ?Mission Shakti?, including the component of One Stop Centres. For providing speedy assistance and services to distressed and violence affected women at OSCs, the Ministry has decided to set up more OSCs in areas which are distant from district headquarters or are having high rates of crime against women, to enhance the costing provisions for OSCs, and to further enhance the synergy and coordination of OSCs with the other initiatives of the government, including those under Nirbhaya Fund and under Mission Shakti.