Till recently, officials of Assam women and child development department were unaware of any such fund which could help implement women safety projects; even in Centre-mandated projects utilisation of funds is minimal
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As nationwide protests continue over crimes against women in the wake of the rape and murder of an on-duty junior doctor in a Kolkata hospital, and concern over women safety has taken centre stage, authorities do not seem to be brainstorming enough to make society safe for them as is evidenced in the non-utilisation of a central fund explicitly earmarked for the purpose.
The Centre 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 proposals for funding under Nirbhaya Fund in conjunction with the ministries/ departments/ implementing agencies concerned. After appraisal by the EC, the 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. It is concerning that the use of the funds by states has been “minimal”.
The Nirbhaya Scheme was heralded as a game-changer in the wake of the 2012 Delhi gang rape. This scheme was specifically designed to ensure women’s safety across the nation. But more than a decade later, it has delivered little.
The Centre released ₹22.27 crore to Assam in three years between 2018 and 2021, but the state used only ₹1.25 crore till August 2021. This information was provided in the Parliament by the then Union Minister for Women and Child Development during a session in August 2021.
According to the statement, ₹7.87 crore was released for Assam in 2018-19, ₹8.04 crore in 2019-20 and ₹6.36 crore in the financial year 2020-21. Only ₹1.25 crore was utilised in Assam in the three financial years according to the data provided in 2021.
A source in the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development talking to GPlus on condition of anonymity said, “The main issue is that the state women and child development department of Assam did not propose any projects to utilise the funds,” adding that the funds which have been used are for the mandated programmes by the Centre like the One Stop Centre (OSC). Under the Nirbhaya scheme fund, one of the schemes, namely One Stop Centre (OSC) Scheme, which was implemented across the country since April 1, 2015 only witnessed some utilisation of the funds. These centres 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. The OSCs are to be set up within a two-kilometre radius of hospitals or medical facilities either in newly constructed buildings 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.
A source in the state women and child development department talking to GPlus said, “There are OSCs in every district, but these were established by the district commissioners with funding from the Centre.”
The source explained that before 2022, whatever funds came for women development projects from the Centre used to be directly given to the district commissioners (DCs) and accordingly OSCs were established, but after 2022, the funds go to DCs through the women and child development department.
The source said, “Since 2022 we have never seen any fund under Nirbhaya scheme,” adding that till recently the department had no information about such funds.
“The department recently learned about the fund and accordingly projects like pink toilet (all women toilets), Sakhi Niwas (working women hostel) and a hostel for women in distress were proposed,” said the source adding Pink Toilet project was rejected, but talks on other two projects are ongoing. The hostels will be constructed in districts were the district authorities can provide land, said the source.
This was the first proposal sent to Centre by the Assam state women and child department under Nirbhaya scheme which is awaiting approval.
A senior official of Assam State Commission for Women talking to GPLus said that even she never had any idea about such funds and never proposed anything.
A woman activist and director of prominent woman rights NGO said, “Even I am unaware of such funds and I can propose so many things to the government for women safety if there are funds available.”
It needs to be mentioned that a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) published recently has exposed significant underutilisation of the Nirbhaya Fund in Gujarat, meant to enhance women's safety.
The audit reveals that ₹143.75 crore is locked in committed liabilities, with ₹25 crore unspent at the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation and ₹118.75 crore held by Gujarat State Financial Services Ltd. Furthermore, ₹57.66 lakh earmarked for the Safe City Project and Cyber Crime Prevention against Women and Children under this scheme has remained unutilised as of March 2023, even after up to five years.
Similar reports are everywhere across the country. For Assam the tragedy is that the even government officials, NGOs, women safety bodies and many more are unaware of such funds.
The Union government in December 2023 informed Parliament that under the Nirbhaya Fund, upto the financial year 2023-24, ₹7,212.8 crore has been allocated and the money released by ministries and departments and utilised out of the Nirbhaya fund since inception stands at ₹5,118.9 crore which is approximately 70% of the total allocation. That is a state-level figure.
In Assam, the government is unaware of such scheme and funds and woman safety initiatives are minimal.
Only blaming a community for heinous crimes against women is not a solution, what efforts have been taken for the safety remains a question.
