The Centre’s plan to expand its One Stop Centre (OSC) scheme under the Nirbhaya Fund with 150 such centres across the country has met with both approval and objections from activists. While they note that the scheme well-intentioned, activists say certain revisions like the 60-40 cost-sharing pattern with state governments may stall its implementation.
In Maharashtra, which is to get 11 centres, the government has proposed OSCs in Pune (where a centre was already under construction), Aurangabad, Nanded, one each in Mumbai city and suburbs, Thane, Nagpur, Nashik, Amravati, Beed and Akola. The total cost of construction is estimated at Rs 5.35 crore, not including recurring and non-recurring costs. In the pilot run, 15 OSCs received 100 per cent funding from the Centre, of which the state government will have to put in nearly Rs 2.14 crore.
Asking states to bear part of the cost might lead to OSCs getting short shrift, fear activists. “Each state may have its own priority area, and the OSC may not be its priority. For example, health departments may not have earmarked budgets for setting up of OSCs in hospitals,” Sangeeta Rege, Centre for Enquiry into Health and Allied Themes (CEHAT), said, adding the Nirbhaya Fund was meant for these centres. The Union finance ministry had set up the Nirbhaya Fund with a corpus of Rs. 1,000 crore in 2013, and an additional allocation of Rs. 1,000 crore was made in 2014-15 and 2015-16.
‘Learn from international examples’
In the amicus brief submitted to the Supreme Court a few months ago, senior lawyer Indira Jaising had lauded the OSC scheme, even as she sought an increase in the gender budget and rolled out a detailed plan on how the scheme can be developed. She had said budgetary allocations on gender equality could be increased, including for programmes like the OSC scheme.
She has further noted that the scheme could learn from international examples. “OSC centres as a method to addressing violence against women have been operational in the West for over three decades and in south Asia for over a decade. Most of these models have been evaluated and there are critical lessons to be learnt from them,” Ms. Jaising said in the brief.
She has proposed two-tiered OSCs — one based out of hospitals and the other out of courts — that will assist the survivor from investigation to completion of the trial with a lawyer and a counsellor.
‘Integrate centres with hospitals’
Ms. Jaising also recommended that OSCs in hospitals be treated as a hospital department, with a trained team of counsellors and nurses. This finds resonance with those familiar with the functioning of OSCs, who say their standalone nature is a problem.
Gayatri Suman, who heads the Centre for Social Justice in Chhattisgarh, said, “The Raipur centre is in front of a hospital, but there have been only a couple of referrals from the hospital. Doctors are not aware that they can send a case to this OSC.” Activists say the departments of health and women and child development need to work in unison, and health professionals should be trained to identify abuse and refer women and children to OSCs.
An official with Sama, a Delhi-based NGO, said, “In Bhubaneswar, many of us felt the centre was isolated. We recommended the space not be separate while lending anonymity and confidentiality. A woman can walk easily into a hospital, but may not be comfortable walking into a centre meant for survivors of violence.”
Another concern is that the centres, meant to provide a host of services to women, could be reduced to shelters. A rapid assessment of some standalone OSCs by CEHAT had shown that women requiring short-term or long-term shelters were accessing them. It noted that more women visited centres under NRHM than OSCs.
Activists say health department needs to pitch in and earmark funds for a comprehensive response to violence against women.
This concludes the two-part series based on senior lawyer Indira Jaising’s recommendations to the Supreme Court
A woman can walk into a hospital easily, but may not be comfortable walking into a centre for survivors of violenceOfficial with NGO Sama
