Note4students

Mains Paper 2: Governance | Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these scheme

From UPSC perspective, the following things are important:

Prelims level: Nirbhaya Fund

Mains level: Women Safety Issues

News

• A parliamentary panel headed has taken strong exception to the utilization of the Nirbhaya Fund in the construction of buildings, saying such allocations defeat the very purpose of the project — that of safety for women.

About Nirbhaya Fund

1. Nirbhaya Fund is an rupee 10 billion corpus announced by Government of India in its 2013 Union Budget.
2. This fund is expected to support initiatives by the government and NGOs working towards protecting the dignity and ensuring safety of women in India.
3. Nirbhaya (fearless) was the pseudonym given to the 2012 Delhi gang rape victim to hide her actual identity.
4. The non-lapsable corpus fund was instituted following gang-grape of a girl in Delhi in 2012 which triggered a nation-wide outrage and protests.
5. The Fund is administered by Department of Economic Affairs of the finance ministry.
6. Rs 200 crore funds has been sanctioned as one-time grant for Central Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF) Scheme for compensating women victims of acid attacks, rape, trafficking, etc.

Concerns

1. Sanctioning money from the Nirbhaya Fund for schemes pertaining to compensation would render it as a fund merely for disbursal.
2. This would not have a desired impact at the ground-level in enhancing the security scenario for women.