About Nirbhaya Fund Framework

• • Nirbhaya Fund is a dedicated fund set up by the Government of India in 2013 which can be utilized for projects specifically designed to improve the safety and security of women.
  • It is a non-lapsable corpus fund administered by the Department of Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Finance.
  • As per this framework, the Ministry of Finance through the Department of Economic Affairs is the nodal Ministry for any accretion into and withdrawal from the corpus, and the Ministry of Women & Child Development (WCD) is the nodal authority for appraisal of the schemes/proposals received under Nirbhaya Fund. 

• Funding to Non-Governmental Organisations is not envisaged under the framework.

• The proposed projects under the Nirbhaya Fund should have the following features:
  • Direct impact on safety and security concerns of women
  • Optimum use of existing infrastructure
  • Innovative use of technology
  • No duplication of existing government schemes/programmes
  • Provision for real time intervention as far as possible.

Why in News?

• Union Minister Smriti Irani said that one-stop centres to help women who have faced violence have been established in over 700 districts across the country and around 8.3 lakh women have received help through them. 
• The one-stop centre is a scheme of the Women and Child Development Ministry set up under the Nirbhaya Fund and aims to support women facing violence in public and private spaces.