Panel flags ‘slow’ execution of schemes

Parliamentary Committee says funds meant to tackle violence against women remain idle

: The Women and Child Development Ministry has received flak from a Parliamentary Standing Committee for ‘slow’ implementation of schemes envisaged under the Nirbhaya Fund.

“The pace of implementation of schemes envisaged under the Nirbhaya Fund is going at a very slow rate. Incidents of violence against women are increasing with every passing minute and the funds meant to tackle this problem remain idle,” the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development said. The Nirbhaya Fund was set up after announcement in the 2013 Union Budget in the aftermath of the Nirbhaya gang-rape case and currently has a total corpus of Rs.2,000 crore.

Appeal to PM

Meanwhile, Delhi Commission for Women chairperson Swati Maliwal has asked Prime Minister Narendra Modi to talk about women’s safety in his next “Mann ki Baat”.

In a letter to Mr. Modi, she said women in Delhi were paying the price of the tussle of governance between the Centre and the Delhi government. She pointed out that despite repeated requests by the Commission, the high-level committee on women safety had not been constituted.

Furthermore, the L-G has not yet convened a single meeting on women’s safety in the past year, she said.

The Delhi government had sought the Nirbhaya Fund for installation of CCTV cameras in DTC buses but till date, this file has been pending with the Centre, she added.