Nirbhaya Fund and Mission Vatsalya Scheme
26-08-2023
01:19 PM
1 min read
What’s in today’s article?
- Why in News?
- What is Nirbhaya Fund?
- What is the Mission Vatsalya Scheme?
- What are Child Care institutions (CCIs)?
- About the new Scheme
Why in News?
- Union Minister for Women and Child Development launched a special scheme under the aegis of the Nirbhaya Fund to provide shelter, food and legal aid for pregnant minor victims of sexual assault who have no family support.
- The Ministry additionally leveraged the administrative structure of Mission Vatsalya in collaboration with State governments and Child Care institutions (CCIs) to actualise this support to minor victims.
What is Nirbhaya Fund?
- The Government of India established the Nirbhaya Fund in response to the Nirbhaya Case in 2013.
- It is aimed specifically at projects for improving women’s safety and security and is managed by the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD).
- The Empowered Committee (EC), which is composed of officials from several ministries and is chaired by the Secretary of the MWCD, recommends programmes/schemes for funding under Nirbhaya Fund.
- Some of the major projects under the fund are Central Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF), One Stop Centers (OSCs), Universalization of Women Helpline (WHL), Mahila Police Volunteer (MPV), etc.
- Since Nirbhaya Fund’s founding, the EC has approved programmes worth ~Rs. 9800 crores.
What is the Mission Vatsalya Scheme?
- Launched in 2021 by the MWCD, the scheme provides a roadmap to achieve development and child protection priorities aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
- It lays emphasis on child rights, advocacy and awareness along with strengthening of the juvenile justice care and protection system with the motto to 'leave no child behind'.
- The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act 2015 [JJ Act] provisions and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act 2012 [POCSO Act] form the basic framework for implementation of the Mission.
- The Scheme is implemented as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme in partnership with State Governments and UT Administrations to support them in universalizing access and improving quality of services across the country.
What are Child Care institutions [CCIs]?
- A child care institution as defined under the JJ Act,2015, means Children Home, Open Shelter, Observation Home, Special Home, etc., for providing care and protection to children, who are in need of such services.
About the new Scheme:
- In 2021, the NCRB reported 51,863 cases under the POCSO Act and 64% cases out of those pertains to penetrative sexual assault and aggravated penetrative sexual assault, respectively.
- The scheme (with an outlay of Rs 74.10 crore) aims to provide shelter, food, daily needs, safe transportation for attending court hearings and legal aid to minor girls who have been abandoned by their family -
- Due to forced pregnancy, either due to rape or gang rape, etc., and
- Have no other means to support themselves.
- The fund will help in setting up shelters for such victims. This could be in the nature of standalone shelters, or wards earmarked for such victims in existing CCIs, as state governments see fit.
- Thus, the new scheme aims to provide integrated support and assistance to girl child victims under one roof, facilitate immediate, emergency and non-emergency access to a range of services, including
- Access to education,
- Police assistance, and
- Health care, including maternity, neo-natal and infant care,
- Psychological and legal support.
Q1) What are One Stop Centers (OSCs)?
OSCs are intended to support women affected by violence, in private and public spaces, within the family, community and at the workplace. Implemented since 1st April 2015, the scheme is subsumed into Sambal sub-scheme of Mission Shakti from 2022-23.
Q2) What is the Mahila Police Volunteer (MPV) scheme?
The MPV scheme was launched by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in collaboration with the Home Affairs for the engagement of MPVs in the States and UTs. It is a central sector scheme that intends to serve as a public-policy interface to help women in distress.
Source: Govt launches scheme for shelter, aid to pregnant minor rape victims | TH