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Journalism of Courage
It was December 16, 2012, when a young paramedical student and her friend went to a South Delhi cinema hall to watch the film, Life of Pi. On their way back, they boarded a private bus from Munirka. Inside, the 23-year-old woman was brutally assaulted and gangraped by six men before being dumped on the side of the road along with her friend. Days later, she succumbed to her injuries.
What followed were widespread protests, and in 2013, the Centre introduced the ‘Nirbhaya Fund’ to help women in distress, provide improved infrastructure and manpower to help women, and create a safer space for them. Ten years down the line, less than half of the allocated amount has been utilised.
As per the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MoWCD) has reported, since its inception, 35 projects worth Rs 9,176 crore have been appraised under the ‘Nirbhaya Fund’.
As of March 2022, Rs 6,260 crore has been allocated for the fund, with officials saying Rs 4,340 crore has been released to various departments and states, while Rs 3,069 crore has been utilised.
“It is possible that more funds have been actually utilised, but Utilisation Certificates (UCs) and Statement of Expenditure (SoE), as required, as per provisions of General Financial Rules (GFR) have not been submitted by the concerned states/implementing agencies (IAs). The states/IAs are regularly followed up to submit UCs and SoEs. The projects/schemes being implemented under Nirbhaya Fund are at various stages of implementation,” reads a note by the MoWCD from August.
In the first five years of the scheme, around Rs 3,200 crore was allocated under the fund. The ministries and states are supposed to use the amount to improve infrastructure and work on projects for women’s safety. Since the pandemic, more than Rs 2,905 crore has been allocated.
The Ministry also recorded the amount disbursed to different states during the 2019-22 time period for all the initiatives under the Nirbhaya Fund. In Uttar Pradesh and Delhi, more than Rs 300 crore each was released. In Madhya Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, around Rs 120 crore each was released.
In August 2022, when the Ministry was asked about the utilisation of funds, it said “…various other factors such as time taken in getting required approvals from competent authorities, procedure to be followed for award of contract, disruptions due to unforeseen reasons such as the one created by the Covid 19, etc also affect implementation of schemes/ projects…”
Under the ‘Approved Framework’ for Nirbhaya Funds, the Centre states: “Violence and abuse against women and girls is frequent on streets, in public transportation and in other public places.” The Nirbhaya Fund has been launched as a non-lapsable fund which is handled by the MoWCD and Ministry of Finance.
So far, 708 functional Sakshi Centres have been installed in India. Sakhi Centres or One-Stop Centres are a prime project where medical, legal, police service and counselling services are supposed to be provided to women in urban and rural areas. More than 860 crore was allocated for the project, which was launched with the aim to help women in distress and/or facing violence. A total of 758 Sakshi Centres have been sanctioned so far.
Data from July 2021 also shows how different states have utilised or under-utilised the funds, In Andhra Pradesh, Rs 38 crore was utilised out of the Rs 112 crore sanctioned. The figure in Bihar is 41%, Jharkhand 48%, Madhya Pradesh 55%, Maharashtra 52% and Uttar Pradesh 62%. In Delhi, Rs 404 crore has been utilised out of the Rs 413 crore.
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