Set up to promote innovative schemes for safety of women, the Rs 1000 crore-Nirbhaya Fund continues to remain “severely under-utilised,” having been party used to compensate victims of acid attacks, rape and trafficking.
Expressing its displeasure over the situation, an MPs’ Standing Committee on Home Affairs, in a report presented to Parliament on Thursday, said that the disbursement of Rs 200 crore to State Governments during 2016-17 for compensating women victims of various crimes was “not sufficient”.
“The Nirbhaya Fund was set up, not as a source of payment of compensation, but as fund to promote innovative schemes of a permanent or long-term nature that will enhance the safety of women,” the Committee said.
The Fund was meant to identify such schemes and support them, but “till date, no such scheme appears to have been identified,” the committee said.
Ironically, the Committee’s report was released on the International Women’s Day, the occasion celebrated to highlight issues concerning women across globe.
Adopting its report last month on the basis of information given by the Home Ministry towards August-end last year, the Parliamentary Committee recalled that its last report too had stated: “as of now, the funds are being used for miscellaneous expenditure only which does not address the safety and security concerns of women.”
Rejecting the Ministry’s reply, the Committee headed by former Finance Minister P Chidambaram has again sought to be apprised of “utilisation of residual amount of Nirbhaya Fund in the light of the objectives for which the fund was set up and effective steps being taken to ensure security and safety of women.”
The Nirbhaya Fund was set up in 2013-14 after the gangrape and torture of a 23-year-old physiotherapy intern in a private bus in South Delhi in December, 2012.
Answering a question in Parliament, the Government recently stated that as per the guidelines of Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal authority for appraisal of the schemes and proposals received under Nirbhaya Fund.
With additional allocations, the corpus transferred to the Public Account for the Nirbhaya Fund up to 2017-18 is Rs 3100 crore, the reply said. As many as 22 projects of Central Ministries and States, with costs totalling Rs 2209 crores, on women’s safety and security have been appraised and recommended under Nirbhaya Fund.
In the Rajya Sabha Renuka Chowdhary (Cong) pressed for early passage of the Women’s Reservation Bill and added that crimes against womesn has increased. Kumari Selja (Cong) favoured that the Upper House pass a resolution that the reservation bill be passed by the Lower House soon.