Question : Nirbhaya Fund

(a) the salient features and corpus of Nirbhaya Fund set up for enhancing safety and security of women in the country.
(b) the details of guidelines/instructions issued on its spending modes by different Ministries/Departments and States/UTs along with the extent to which these guidelines/instructions have been followed by them;
(c) the details of project proposals of various Ministries/Departments and States/UTs received, appraised and recommended/approved along with the funds provided and women beneficiaries thereunder since its inception, project-wise;
(d) the details of projects completed/commenced and funds utilised so far, project-wise;
(e) whether the Government has taken note that a large portion of Nirbhaya Fund remains unutilised or under-utilised and not reaching to the needy beneficiaries, if so, the details thereof and the action taken thereon; and
(f) the guidelines put in place by the Government for the judicious/optimum utilisation of Nirbhaya Fund along with the coordination among different ministries for its better implementation?

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (DR. VIRENDRA KUMAR)

(a) to (f) Government of India has set up a dedicated fund called “Nirbhaya Fund” in 2013 for implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the safety and security for women in the country. It is a non-lapsable corpus fund. The corpus transferred to the Public Account for the Nirbhaya Fund up to 2018-19 is Rs. 3600 Cr. The Financial year-wise allocation of funds is as follows:

Financial Year 2013-14 2014-15 2015-16 2016-17 2017-18 2018-19 Total
Amount
(in Crore) 1000.00 1000.00 - 550.00 550.00 500.00 3600

The guidelines/instructions are being issued by Department of Economic Affairs from time to time on its spending modes by different Ministries/Departments and States/UTs. A Framework For Nirbhaya Fund has also been developed and put in place indicating the Project Contours, Composition of Empowered Committee of Officers, Procedure for Submitting Proposals, Procedure for Processing Proposals, Funding Pattern, etc.,

As per the extant guidelines/instructions the Central Government Ministries/ Departments and State Governments/UT Administrations sends proposals factoring in women safety issues in their sector within the public sphere. Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal authority for appraising/recommending the proposals/schemes to be funded under Nirbhaya Fund.

Under the scheme for setting up of One Stop Centre which is being funded under Nirbhaya Fund, 195 such OSCs have been set up across 33 States/UTs so far. Together, they have provided assistance to over 1.7 lakh women.

Under the scheme for Universalisation of Women Helpline which is being funded under Nirbhaya Fund, women helplines have become operational in 30 States/UTs so far. Over 16.5 lakh women have been assisted by the Women Helplines.
The details of project/proposals of various Ministries/ Departments and States/UTs received, appraised and recommended/approved along with the funds provided there under since its inception are at Annexure I

An Empowered Committee which is an inter-ministerial committee has been constituted under the Chairmanship of Secretary, Ministry of Women & Child Development (Nodal ministry) for appraising and recommending schemes/ proposals by Ministries/Departments and State Governments. The Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs: Secretary, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways; Chairman, Railway Board ; Secretary, Ministry of Electronic & IT; Joint Secretary, Department of Economic Affairs; Secretary of the Project Sponsoring Department; Secretary of the concerned State Government Department; and Secretary, State Department of WCD as Members. After recommendation/ appraisal by the Empowered Committee, the concerned Ministry/ Department takes the approval of Competent Authority for sanction of the proposal.

The Empowered Committee from time to time appraises, recommends and reviews proposals/projects proposed by different Ministries/Departments/ States/UTs. So far seventeen meetings of Empowered Committee have been held. All proposals received till last Empowered Committee meeting in June, 2018, which fulfill the conditions of the guidelines, have been appraised by Empowered Committee.

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