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
- Nirbhaya Fund is an rupee 10 billion corpus announced by Government of India in its 2013 Union Budget.
- This fund is expected to support initiatives by the government and NGOs working towards protecting the dignity and ensuring safety of women in India.
- Nirbhaya (fearless) was the pseudonym given to the 2012 Delhi gang rape victim to hide her actual identity.
- 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.
- The Fund is administered by Department of Economic Affairs of the finance ministry.
- 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
- Sanctioning money from the Nirbhaya Fund for schemes pertaining to compensation would render it as a fund merely for disbursal.
- This would not have a desired impact at the ground-level in enhancing the security scenario for women.