NIRBHAYA FUND

Notes 10 Pages

Union Public Service Commission (Main)

Miscellaneous

UCS

Contributed by

Umar Chandra Sodhi

NIRBHAYA FUND
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Nirbhaya Fund is a dedicated fund set up
bythe Government of India in 2013 which
can be utilized for projects specifically
designed to improve the safety and
security of women.
About Nirbhaya Fund
Framework
It is a non-lapsable corpus
fund administered by the
Department of Economic
Affairs of the Ministry of
Finance.

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As per this framework, the Ministry of Finance through the
Department of Economic Affairs is the nodal Ministry for
any accretion into and withdrawal from the corpus, and the
Ministry of Women & Child Development (WCD) is the
nodal authority for appraisal of the schemes/proposals
received under Nirbhaya Fund.

NIRBHAYA FUND
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Funding to Non-
Governmental Organisations
is not envisaged under the
framework.

The proposed projects under the Nirbhaya Fund should have the
following features:

Direct impact on safety and security
concerns of women

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Optimum use of existing
infrastructure

Innovative use of technology

No duplication of existing government
schemes/programmes

Provision for real time intervention as
far as possible.

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The Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child
Development chaired a meeting of the
Empowered Committee of Officers constituted
under the Framework for Nirbhaya Fund.
Why in News?
Ministry of
Women and Child
devlopment
NIRBHAYA
FUND
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The Nirbhaya fund is primarily meant to implement
three initiatives through coordination between the
WCD Ministry and the central government as well as
state and union territory administrations: One-Stop
Centres (OSC), Universalisation of Women Helpline
(WHL), and Mahila Police Volunteers (MPV).
Initiatives under
Nirbhaya Fund
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The OSCs are meant to help women who are victims of
violence by providing a range of services such as
police, medical aid, legal aid and counselling, and
psychological support under one roof.

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The WHL scheme oversees a toll-
free 24X7 helpline — available at
181 — for women seeking
immediate support and
information in cases of violence.

The MPV scheme, implemented by
the WCD Ministry in collaboration
with the Ministry of Home Affairs,
seeks to identify volunteers who can
act as a link between police and
society at large and help report
incidents of violence against women.

181
However, the report noted that many of
thstates have not yet utilised the total
funds allocated to them under One Stop
Centers and Women Helpline schemes.
Only 20 to 30 per cent of the fund has been
utilised by the majority of the states

20 % to 30%
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The committee recommended that
the WCD Ministry organise direct
meetings with the state
governments and UT administration
quarterly to monitor the
expenditure of funds on the
schemes.

Reference:
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleasePage.aspx?PRID=1759994

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