Lok Sabha Question No. 73 (STARRED), answered on 2024-11-29
Subject: She-Box Portal
Ministry: WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Ms. S Jothimani, Shri Rajesh Ranjan

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN & CHILD DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 73

TO BE ANSWERED ON 29.11.2024

## She-Box PORTAL

- *73 . MS. S JOTHIMANI:

SHRI RAJESH RANJAN: Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

(a) the number of complaints received, addressed or disposed of through the SheBox portal since its inception, state-wise; (b) whether the Government  proposes  to  make  the resources on sexual harassment available on the She-Box portal in regional languages, if so, the details thereof indicating the languages proposed to be included therein; (c) whether the Government proposes to exercise any regulatory oversight on the composition of Internal Complaints Committees (ICCs) responsible for addressing complaints of sexual harassment at the workplace; and (d) if so, the details of the measures taken by the Government to improve safety at

- the workplace?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI ANNPURNA DEVI)

(a) to (d) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

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## Statement referred to in reply to Part (a) to (d) of Lok Sabha Starred Question No. 73 to be answered on 29.11.2024 regarding 'She-Box PORTAL'

(a): The Ministry of Women and Child Development recently launched the SHe-Box portal duly encompassing various provisions of 'the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition, and Redressal) Act, 2013' (SH Act). This portal is an  initiative  of  the  Ministry  to  provide  a  publicly  available  centralised  repository  of information related to Internal Committees (ICs) and Local Committees (LCs) formed across  the  country,  whether  in  government  or  private  sector.  It  also  provides  a common platform to file complaints and track the status of such complaints. The portal includes a feature where complaints registered on it will be automatically forwarded to the IC/ LC of the workplaces concerned within the Central Ministries/ Departments, States/ UTs and in Private sector. The portal provides for designating a nodal officer for  every  workplace  who  is  required  to  ensure  updation  of  data/  information  on  a regular basis for real time monitoring of complaints. The complaint registration system is live with effect from 19th October, 2024 after onboarding of maximum number of Central  Ministries/  Departments.    Since  then,  a  total  of  9  complaints  have  been received on portal.

(b)  to  (d):  The  SH  Act  mandates  the  appropriate  Government  to  monitor  the implementation of the Act and maintain data on the number of cases filed and disposed of. She-Box is not a mechanism for statutory or regulatory oversight, but to provide a centralized online system to facilitate dissemination of information about the ICs and LCs constituted at various workplaces so that any aggrieved woman may file complaint in a secure and hassle free manner and track its progress.  Any complaint filed on the SHe-Box portal reaches directly to the IC of the workplace concerned or LC of the district, as the case may be. Except the Chairperson of the IC, no other person is able to see the details or nature of the complaint. Making the SHe-Box available in regional languages is part of the project.

In addition to SHe-Box portal, following measures have been taken by Government to improve safety at the Workplace-

- i. Ministry of Women and Child Development being the Nodal Ministry for SH Act observes the Enactment day i.e. 9th December of the SH Act every year and issues letters/ advisories to all sectors (including Central Government/ State Government/ Private Bodies/ Trade organization/ Educational Institutions/ and other  organizations)  for  effective  implementation  of  the  Act  and  also  to constitute IC/ LC immediately.
- ii. The Ministry has also issued a Handbook on SH Act, 2013. The Handbook provides information about the Act in an easy-to-use practical manner. The soft copy of  the  Handbook  has  been uploaded on the Ministry's  website  for the purposes of mass dissemination and it has also been sent to Ministers and

officials concerned of various Ministries/ Departments, State Governments and Union Territory Administrations.

- iii. The Ministry has prepared a training module in collaboration with Institute of Secretariat Training  and Management  (ISTM)  for  training  and  Gender Sensitization  programmes  of  personnel.  Ministry  also  launched  a  'Guide  on Gender-Inclusive Communication' on 28th November 2023 to help removing gender stereotypes.
- iv. The  Department  of  Personnel  and  Training,  Government  of  India  has  also issued advisories from time to time to all the Central Ministries/ Departments to complete the inquiry in a time bound manner and to include the information related to number of cases filed/ disposed under the SH Act in their annual report.
- v. Under Nirbhaya Fund, Government has taken several measures to improve safety of women at workplace:
- a) To ensure safety of public places where women work and live, Safe City Projects have  been  implemented  in  8  Cities  (namely  Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow and Mumbai). To ensure safe transportation for women, rail and road transport projects like Integrated  Emergency  Response  Management  System  (IERMS), Video Surveillance System at Konkan Railway, Artificial Intelligence (AI) based Facial  Recognition  System  (FRS)  integrated  with  Video  surveillance Systems,  including  Command-and-Control  Centre  at  7  major  railway stations and tabs for safety of women passengers on board the train  by Ministry  of  Railways,  and  projects  like  Vehicle  Tracking  Platform  with command and control centre across States/ UTs, and some State specific projects like Uttar Pradesh  Road  transport  Corporation  (UPSRTC), Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation (BMTC), Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC), etc. by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, have been implemented.
- b) To  provide  help  and  support  to  needy  women  and  women  in  distress, Emergency Response Support System (ERSS-112) has been established in  all  36  States  and  UTs  for  various  emergencies,  with  computer  aided dispatch of field resources. A fully functional dedicated Women Helpline181 (WHL) is also functional to provide emergency and non-emergency response to women affected by violence and in distress across the country. This helpline is fully integrated with 112.

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