Mapping violence against women!

  NEW DELHI: Nine months after the Nirbhaya gang-rape shook the nation, the women and child development (WCD) ministry has proposed mapping “vulnerable” areas where women are prone to violence and target low child sex ratios to improve gender equity. The proposal ‘Shubh’ is estimated to cost Rs 487 crore which the ministry hopes will be funded through the Rs 1,000 crore Nirbhaya fund. The ministry has already identified 94 locations across the country. These include metros, cities, state capitals and districts prone to violence against women to ensure targeted preventive interventions for addressing a critical issue such as the adverse sex ratio. The proposal also includes documentation of good practices, such as programmes aimed at engaging with men to counter violence against women or programmes that result in the formation of support groups of survivors of violence. This component will also encourage innovative programmes to counter violence such as self-help women’s group collecting to prevent brewing of liquor which enhances violence within the family in Jharkhand or creating of a mobile enabled system where SMS alerts or speed dialling can immediately warn agencies or authorities and secure help for a woman feeling insecure or threatened. Financial assistance has also been considered for specific cases of violence against women to facilitate access to justice, through the facilitation centres or an agency entrusted with the task of managing such a case management programme, to assist lawyers assigned by state or district legal services authority. The scheme also envisages establishing local response units. Rural and urban facilitation centres, to be run by civil society or community-based organizations, in identified locations at gram panchayat level and in metros, will collate and provide information regarding services available to any woman.   ——— SOURCE: TIMES OF INDIA