Nirbhaya fund unused, why another Rs 1,000 cr for it Mr FM?

Finance minister P Chidambaram today allocated an additional Rs 1,000 crore to the Nirbhaya Fund for the safety and empowerment of women. “In order to make it clear that the (Nirbhaya) fund will be a prominent fund, I intend to declare the grant of Rs 1,000 crore as non-lapsable and in order to support more proposals, I propose to contribute to the fund another Rs 1,000 crore next year,” Chidambaram said while presenting the interim budget in Parliament. However, here’s why the finance minister’s gesture  disappointed us again. The symbolical Nirbhaya fund that was started last year for the empowerment of women will have access to Rs 2,000 crore – which lies unused and the government can’t even decide where it can be  used. [caption id=“attachment_1119565” align=“alignright” width=“380”]  Ladies compartment in a Mumbai local train. AFP. [/caption] The fund was part of a series of reactionary measures by the government after the Delhi gangrape, in which it announced a Nirbhaya Fund for the safety and empowerment of women on budget day as tribute to the 23-year-old victim. However, a year later, even as they allotted more funds, it is yet to spend a rupee from the much-publicised Rs 1,000-crore fund. According to a report in The Hindu last month, an RTI reply has revealed that the Nirbhaya Fund has not yet been used. “Parliament has approved the setting up of a Rs 1,000-crore fund titled the Nirbhaya Fund. The funds have not been used so far as the relevant schemes are yet to be finalised,” Amit Bansal, Under Secretary of the Economic Affairs Department of the Finance Ministry said in response to a RTI query. However, the government claims the Cabinet had cleared two proposals that will receive support from the fund. The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs has reportedly approved a Rs 1,405-crore project to track and monitor public transport and provide alarm buttons for alerting authorities. Installation of closed circuit television cameras at important public places, GPS and emergency buttons in transport buses to link them with police stations, toll-free numbers, and self-defence lessons for the needy were included in the proposed project. But, clearly nothing has happened in the last one year. From access to healthcare and education to land and property rights, from threats of physical and sexual violence to harmful customary practices such as female foeticide and ‘honour killings’, Indian women face a plethora of challenges. Wouldn’t it have been a better idea if the finance minister spent the extra funds on education–for both male and female? Or maybe fast-track courts for crimes against women? Or increasing police force on streets? Or even building some toilets for women? Clearly, the FM has a few more questions to answer and this interim budget didn’t even address them.