Strict measures taken to reinforce women’s safety & security: Govt

Jammu, Mar 19: The Jammu and Kashmir government on Wednesday said it has been taking several steps to ensure safety and women empowerment by reinforcing concrete measures.
Responding to a question raised by MLA Ranbir Singh Pathania in the Assembly regarding the measures taken to enhance women’s safety protection and empowerment in the Union Territory, the minister concerned informed the house that in J&K, Mission Shakti, an integrated women empowerment scheme was rolled out during 15th Finance Commission period 2021-22 to 2025-26 as an umbrella scheme to ensure safety, security and empowerment of women.
“The objectives of this Mission Shakti are to provide to all women and girls, including differently-abled, socially and economically marginalised and vulnerable groups, in need of care and protection with short-term and long-term services and information for their holistic development and empowerment,” the minister said.
The house was informed about the efforts put in place to enhance women’s safety, protection and empowerment in the UT which included providing an 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 improvising accessibility to various govt services available for women at various levels.
The initiatives also aim at creating awareness about government schemes and programmes as well as legal provisions to fight social evils like dowry, domestic violence and sexual harassment in the workplace and to promote gender equality, he said.
The government said 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 are creating an enabling environment for public-private partnership for safety and empowerment of women across sectors.
The initiatives of awareness among the masses for inducing positive behavioural change towards women and girls were also highlighted.
The government said it is actively working to prevent gender-based sex-selective elimination and ensure the survival, protection, education and development of the girl child.