Lok Sabha Question No. 4044 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2023-03-24
Subject: Nirbhaya Fund
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Ramya  Haridas

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA UN-STARRED QUESTION NO. 4044

TO BE ANSWERED ON 24.03.2023

## NIRBHAYA FUND

## 4044.  MS. RAMYA HARIDAS:

Will the Minister of Women and Child Development be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Nirbhaya fund remains underutilised and underfunded, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the percentage of Nirbhaya fund that reaches directly to the beneficiaries;
- (c) the details of the funds allocated and utilised for 181 women helpline, One Stop Centre/Sakhi Centres, Swadhar Greh (Shelter Homes) and Fast Track Special Courts;
- (d) the number of operational One Stop Centres and Swadhar Greh, State-wise; and
- (e) new measures being taken by Government to ensure that a greater percentage of funds reach directly to the survivors?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SMRITI ZUBIN IRANI)

(a) :  Government of India has set up a dedicated fund namely 'Nirbhaya Fund' in 2013 for implementation of initiatives aimed at enhancing the safety and security for women in the country.

The Nirbhaya fund does not remain underutilised and underfunded, as an amount of Rs.  6712.85  crore  has  been  provided  under  the  Nirbhaya  Fund  upto  the  current financial year 2022-23, against which a total number of 38 projects with total project cost of Rs. 9228.50 crore has been appraised for funding from Nirbhaya Fund and a total  of  Rs.  4740.62  crore  has  been  released  for  these  projects  by  the  concerned Ministries / State Governments.

However, the projects/ schemes under Nirbhaya Fund are demand driven and the projects/ schemes appraised by Empowered Committee (EC) under Framework for Nirbhaya  Fund  are  having  staggered  implementation  schedule.  While  some of  the appraised  projects  are  directly  implemented  by  Central  Ministries/  Departments, majority of the projects are implemented through State Governments/ Union Territory Administrations in which Central Government releases the funds to States/ UTs as per prescribed fund-sharing pattern of respective projects/ schemes. Thereafter, implementation on ground is done by the States/ UTs in the given timelines. Further, there  are  schemes,  which  require  recurring  expenditure  for  providing  services,  in respect of which, further funds are released upon receipt of Utilisation Certificates

(UCs) and Statement of Expenditure (SoE) from the Implementing Agency/ authority. The UCs are required to be submitted within twelve months of the closure of financial year, in which grant was released. Hence, it is possible that more funds have been actually utilised, but Utilisation Certificates (UCs) and Statement of Expenditure (SoE), as  required,  as  per  provisions  of  General  Financial  Rules  (GFR)  have  not  been submitted  by  the  concerned  States/  Implementing  Agencies  (IAs).   Government  of India follows up regularly with the States/IA's to submit UCs and SoEs. Various other factors such as time taken in getting required approvals from competent authorities, procedure to be followed for award of contract etc., also affected implementation of schemes/ projects.

(b)  :  The  projects  /  schemes  under  Nirbhaya  Fund  are   not  meant  for  direct  cash benefits to beneficiaries. However, under one of the projects under Nirbhaya Fund, Ministry of Home Affairs has released a onetime grant of Rs. 200 crores to States/ UTs  to  support  and  supplement  the  Victim  Compensation  schemes  in  respective States/ UTs. under this project, over 2000 victims have been benefited.

(c): The details of the funds allocated/ released and reported as utilized for Women Helpline,  One  Stop  Centres,  Swadhar  Greh  (Shelter  Homes),  Fast  Track  Special Courts (FTSCs) are as under :

(Rs. in Crore)

|   Sl. No. | Schemes                                          |   Released |   Utilized |
|-----------|--------------------------------------------------|------------|------------|
|         1 | Women Helpline                                   |      80.17 |      54.01 |
|         2 | One Stop Centre/ Sakhi Centres                   |     735.43 |     327.51 |
|         3 | Swadhar Greh (Shelter Homes)                     |      66.77 |      43.37 |
|         4 | Fast Track Special Courts (As on December, 2022) |     621.48 |     280.81 |

(d): The State / UT-wise number of operational One Stop Centres and Swadhar Greh are at Annexure.

(e): The Empowered Committee constituted under the framework of Nirbhaya Fund reviews  the  status  of  implementation  of  projects,  and  expenditure  on  approved projects, from time to time, in conjunction with the concerned Ministries/ Departments/ Implementing Agencies. Further, the concerned Ministries / Departments /Implementing Agencies also monitor the progress of implementation at their levels.

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Annexure

## Annexure referred to in reply to part (d) of Lok Sabha Un-starred Question No. 4044 for answer on 24.03.2023 regarding 'Nirbhaya Fund'

The State / UT-wise number of operational One Stop Centres and Swadhar Greh

| Sl. No.   | State/ UTs        | Operational Status   | Operational Status   |
|-----------|-------------------|----------------------|----------------------|
| Sl. No.   | State/ UTs        | One Stop Centres     | Swadhar Greh         |
| 1         | A&N Islands       | 3                    | 1                    |
| 2         | Andhra Pradesh    | 13                   | 21                   |
| 3         | Arunachal Pradesh | 24                   | 1                    |
| 4         | Assam             | 34                   | 17                   |
| 5         | Bihar             | 38                   | -                    |
| 6         | Chandigarh        | 1                    | 1                    |
| 7         | Chattishgarh      | 27                   | 2                    |
| 8         | DNHDD             | 3                    | -                    |
| 9         | Delhi             | 11                   | 2                    |
| 10        | Goa               | 2                    | 2                    |
| 11        | Gujarat           | 35                   | 6                    |
| 12        | Haryana           | 22                   | -                    |
| 13        | Himachal Pradesh  | 12                   | 1                    |
| 14        | Jammu and Kashmir | 20                   | 2                    |
| 15        | Jharkhand         | 24                   | 5                    |
| 16        | Karnataka         | 30                   | 51                   |
| 17        | Kerala            | 14                   | 7                    |
| 18        | Ladakh-UT         | 2                    | -                    |
| 19        | Lakshdweep        | 1                    | -                    |
| 20        | Madhya Pradesh    | 52                   | 15                   |
| 21        | Maharashtra       | 37                   | 10                   |
| 22        | Manipur           | 16                   | 23                   |
| 23        | Meghalaya         | 11                   | 2                    |
| 24        | Mizoram           | 8                    | 11                   |
| 25        | Nagaland          | 11                   | 2                    |
| 26        | Odisha            | 30                   | 52                   |
| 27        | Puducherry        | 4                    | -                    |
| 28        | Punjab            | 22                   | 2                    |
| 29        | Rajasthan         | 33                   | 8                    |
| 30        | Sikkim            | 4                    | 1                    |
| 31        | Tamil Nadu        | 38                   | 35                   |
| 32        | Telangana         | 33                   | 18                   |
| 33        | Tripura           | 8                    | 3                    |
| 34        | Uttar Pradesh     | 75                   | 13                   |
| 35        | Uttrakhand        | 13                   | -                    |
| 36        | West Bengal       | 22                   | 33                   |
|           | Total             | 733                  | 347                  |

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