A total of 22 proposals of Rs.2200 Cr. appraised and recommended…

Government of India has set up a dedicated fund
called Nirbhaya Fund for implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the
safety and Security of women in the country. As per the guidelines of Ministry
of finance, Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal authority for
appraisal of the schemes/proposals received under Nirbhaya Fund. Also, Ministry
of Finance has set up an Empowered Committee under the Chairmanship of
Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development for appraising and approving
various schemes/project proposals proposed to be funded from the Nirbhaya Fund.
The concerned Ministries take up the sanction and implementation of the
schemes/proposals so appraised as they do for their other schemes/projects.

Nirbhaya Fund
was set up with
a corpus of Rs. 1000 Cr. during 2013-14. Further, an amount of Rs 1000 Cr. was
provided in 2014-15 and for the Financial Years 2016-17 and 2017-18, an amount
of Rs. 550 cr. (each financial year) was provided under the Nirbhaya Fund.  The
corpus transferred to the Public Account for the Nirbhaya fund upto 2017-18 is
Rs. 3100 Cr.

Under the
Nirbhaya fund, 22 proposals on women’s safety and security from Central
Ministries and State Governments amounting to Rs.2209.19 Crores have been
appraised and recommended by the Empowered Committee as on 21.07.2017. The
proposals of different Government Ministries/Organization, appraised and
recommended so far by the Empowered Committee are at different stages of
implementation. The list of these projects is given below:

(Rs. in Crore)

Ministry
of Women and Child Development is implementing three schemes under Nirbhaya
Fund, namely, One Stop Centre (OSC), Women Helpline(WHL) and Mahila Police
Volunteer. One Stop Centres have been set up to facilitate access to an
integrated range of services including medical, legal, and psychological
support to women affected by violence to be funded through Nirbhaya Fund. The
One Stop Centres will be integrated with 181 and other existing helplines. So
far, 151 One Stop Centres have become operational. The
Scheme of Universalisation of Women Helpline is intended to provide 24 hours
immediate and emergency response to women affected by violence through referral
and information about women related government schemes programs across the
country through a single uniform number. The MWCD in collaboration with MHA has
envisaged engagement of Mahila Police Volunteers in State/UTs who will act as a
link between Police and Community and facilitate women in distress.

            The Empowered
Committee of Officers, under the chairmanship of Secretary, WCD, which is an
inter-ministerial committee appraises and recommends various proposals/projects
proposed by different Ministries/Departments/States. The concerned Ministries
then take up the sanction and implementation of the schemes/proposals so
appraised as they do for their other schemes/projects. This Committee regularly
reviews the implementation of the projects and   try to ensure judicious
utilization of funds from time to time with the concerned Ministries.
Furthermore, the Ministries and State Governments have been requested on 10^th
April, 2017 and reminded on 1^st August, 2017 to send innovative
proposals that can enhance the security and safety of women.

This
information was given by Minister of State for Women & Child Development,
Smt Krishna Raj in reply to a question in Lok Sabha today.

*****

NB/UD