Union home ministry proposes 3 big security initiatives under Nirbhaya plan

NEW DELHI: More than two years after the Nirbhaya Fund was launched, its utilization is set to get a boost with the home ministry proposing three big women's security initiatives under the scheme.

While approval of the finance ministry has been sought for a Rs 200 crore Central Victim Compensation Fund (CVCF) for women targeted in acid attacks and another Rs 350 crore plan to set up district-level investigative units for crimes against women, the home ministry will shortly move a third proposal for monitoring and preventing obscene content against women.

Home ministry sources told TOI that the CVCF initiative envisages up to Rs 5 lakh reimbursement to hospitals, both state-run and private, towards treatment of each acid attack victim. "The hospital must fully treat the victim before the compensation is released. The central aid will be over and above the compensation extended to such victims by the respective state governments," said an official.

Home minister Rajnath Singh has taken a keen interest in ensuring central compensation for acid attack victims after they approached him, complaining how hospitals would turn them away for failing to pay for their full treatment. "There are around 200-300 acid attacks each year and the victims often have to run from pillar to post to claim compensation from the state governments. The Centre, by funding their treatment, will help them piece together their life once again," a home ministry official said.

The second proposal for which funding has been sought from the Nirbhaya corpus relates to the national rollout of Investigative Units on Crime Against Women (IUCAW). Though the project, involving 50:50 cost-sharing between the Centre and the states, is being undertaken on a pilot basis in 20% of the country's districts, the new proposal seeks Rs 350 crore for setting up IUCAWs across all districts. Each IUCAW will comprise a staff of 15 persons each, of which one-third will be women.

The third proposal, envisaging a funding of nearly Rs 300 crore for prevention, tracking and action against obscene content posted online, is yet to be circulated to the finance ministry. "We are still working out the various components and hope to firm up the proposal soon," said a home ministry officer.

The initiatives come at a time when a large chunk of Nirbhaya corpus remains unutilized. Of the Rs 1,000 crore allocated to the fund in 2013, schemes worth just Rs 200 crore have been cleared. These include the home ministry's initiative to enable women to send distress signals to police control rooms (PCR) and another scheme for safety of women in road transport.

Finance ministry recently announced a fresh Rs 1,000 crore allocation to Nirbhaya Fund in the 2015-16 budget.

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Union home ministry proposes 3 big security initiatives under Nirbhaya plan