Nirbhaya Fund
Topic: Safeguards for Vulnerable Sections: SCs, STs, OBCs, Minorities, Women and Children · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Nirbhaya Fund was created in 2013 to pay for projects on women's safety. It is non-lapsable: money not spent in one year does not lapse at year-end and stays available for later years. The Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal ministry, meaning the lead ministry that coordinates the fund. It followed the December 2012 Delhi gang rape.
Example
The fund pays for one-stop centres, which give women survivors of violence medical, legal and counselling help in one place. It also funds the ERSS-112 emergency line and fast-track courts.
Don't confuse with
- Justice Verma Committee (2013): a committee that recommended changes to criminal law. The Nirbhaya Fund is money for women's safety schemes.
Related concepts
- Equal Remuneration Act 1976
- Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace Act 2013
- Internal Committee
- Maternity Benefit (Amendment) Act 2017
- Babita Puniya case
- Dowry Prohibition Act 1961
- Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005
- Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act 2021
- Justice Verma Committee (2013)