Under Smriti Irani, WCD ministry tackles violence against women on priority

 In the four months since taking over as Women and Child Development Minister, Smriti Irani has given a major push to the setting up of One Stop Centres (OSC) for tackling the problem of violence against women.

Since she took over the ministry at the end of May this year, Irani has ensured setting up of 85 new OSCs in the country, at the rate of more than 21 new such centres every month.

In the earlier tenure of the Narendra Modi government, the number of such OSCs set up were 471, at a rate of around 10 a month.

Besides setting up more centres, the ministry has also updated the Standard Operating Procedures for addressing the problems of violence-affected women at OSCs.

Irani has also also got developed a special IT platform, Sakhi Dashboard, for effective, efficient and standardised management of grievances at OSCs and the 181 Women Help Lines, "which form two important components of the Sakhi Vertical visualised by her as a functional composite of the OSC, WHL and MPV (Mahila Police Volunteer) Schemes".

"The Sakhi Dashboard also provides for online MIS of establishment matters pertaining to these three components in the time to come."

Of the new OSCs, the most were set up in Telangana, with 16, followed by Haryana, with 10, Nagaland and Punjab got nine each, while seven were set up in Gujarat, and six each were set up in Arunachal Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand and Odisha. Five OSCs were set up in Rajasthan, three in Tripura and two in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

The ministry's target is to set up one OSC in each district across the nation.

"Under PM Modi's leadership setting up of 85 one stop centres in the first 100 days of the new government is a reflection of the government of India's commitment towards ensuring women's safety. The speed at which states have come forward to help bring these 85 centres to light is a clear example of the ethos of Cooperative Federalism espoused by the Prime Minister," Irani said.

The One Stop Centres provide integrated support and assistance under one roof to women affected by violence, both in private and public spaces. They suppors all women, including girls below 18 years of age, affected by violence.IANS