The Supreme Court has sought more information from the government about Mission Shakti
Key Points
- Mission shakti is an umbrella scheme for the safety, security, and empowerment of women, intrigued by a possible chronic shortage in protection officers to deal with domestic violence cases.
- A government document in the top court shows that 4.4 lakh cases of domestic assault are pending across a sample 801 districts.
- Though most of these districts have ‘one-stop centres’, established under Mission Shakti, to receive victims, there is still a lack of clarity about how many of them actually employ protection officers to effectively help the traumatised survivors.
- Appointment of protection officers is mandated under Section 8 of the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005.
- Protection officers, who should ideally be women, have a pivotal role under the law. They help victims file complaints, give Information to the police, provide immediate protection and support, inform victims about their legal rights and support them through the court proceedings.
- With 4.4 lakh cases pending in 801 districts, a protection officer in each of these districts would be saddled with more than 500 cases. There is an urgent necessity to have more protection officers
Mission Shakti
Components Of Mission Shakti
- Mission Shakti has two sub-schemes -‘Sambal’and ‘Samarthya’.
- Sambal sub-scheme is for Safety and Security of Women.
- It consists of schemes of One Stop Centre (OSC), Women Helpline (WHL), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP), with a new component of Nari Adalats – women’s collectives to promote and facilitate alternative dispute resolution and gender justice in society and within families.
- Samarthya scheme is for Empowerment of Women.
- It consists of erstwhile schemes of Ujjwala, Swadhar Greh and Working Women Hostel have been included with modifications.
- In addition, the existing schemes of National Creche Scheme for children of working mothers and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) under umbrella Integrated Child Development Services ICDS have now been included in Samarthya.
- A new component of Gap Funding for Economic Empowerment has also been added in the Samarthya Scheme.
- The existing subschemes of Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK) and Mahila Police Volunteers (MPV) have been discontinued
Objectives Of Mission Shakti
- Provide immediate and comprehensive continuum of care, support and assistance to women affected by violence and for those in distress;
- To put in place quality mechanisms for rescue, protection and rehabilitation of women in need of assistance and victims of crime and violence;
- To improve accessibility to various government services available for women at various levels;
- Making people aware about Government schemes and programmes as well as legal provisions to fight social evils like dowry, domestic violence, Sexual Harassment at Workplace and to promote gender equality etc
- Capacity building and training of functionaries/ duty bearers under various schemes/ Legislations;
- Collaboration with partner Ministries/ Departments/ States/ UTs for convergence of policies, programmes/ schemes and to create an enabling environment for public private partnership for safety and empowerment of women across sectors.
- Create awareness among masses for inducing positive behavioural change towards women and girls.
- To prevent gender-biased sex selective elimination; to ensure survival, protection, education and development of the girl child.
Significance Of Mission Shakti
- Women and children accounted for 67.7% of India’s population as per the 2011 census.
- For sustainable and equitable development of the country, it is crucial to empower, protect and ensure wholesome development of women and children.
- Through its numerous missions, the Ministry of Women and Child Development works hard to achieve this objective by promoting social & economic empowerment of women and ensuring care, development and protection of children.
- On March 08, 2021, the Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) decided to classify all key schemes under three umbrella categories—Mission Poshan 2.0, Mission Vatsalya and Mission Shakti—to effectively implement various schemes and programmes.
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