‘Mission Shakti’ – An Initiative towards Women Safety, Security and Empowerment

16 Jul 2022

On 14th July 2022, the Ministry of Women and Child Development issued detailed guidelines for ‘Mission Shakti' scheme - an integrated women empowerment programme as umbrella scheme for the safety, security and empowerment of women.

Implementation

It will be implemented during the 15th Finance Commission period 2021-22 to 2025-26.
The norms of ‘Mission Shakti’ will be applicable with effect from 01.04.2022.

About ‘Mission Shakti’

‘Mission Shakti’ is a scheme in mission mode aimed at strengthening interventions for women safety, security and empowerment.

Women-led Development: It seeks to realise the Government’s commitment for “women-led development” by addressing issues affecting women on a life-cycle continuum basis and by making them equal partners in nation-building through convergence and citizen-ownership.
Empowerment: The scheme seeks to make women economically empowered, exercising free choice over their minds and bodies in an atmosphere free from violence and threat. It also seeks to reduce the care burden on women and increase female labour force participation by promoting skill development, capacity building, financial literacy, access to micro-credit etc.

Objective of ‘Mission Shakti’

The objective of the Mission Shakti is to provide to all women and girls including differently-abled, socially and economically marginalized and vulnerable groups, in need of care and protection, with short term and long-term services and information for their holistic development and empowerment.
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.

‘Mission Shakti’ has two sub-schemes - 'Sambal' and 'Samarthya'

"Sambal"

This scheme is for safety and security of women.
Components of 'Sambal' Sub-Scheme consists of:
- Erstwhile Schemes: One Stop Centre (OSC), Women Helpline (WHL), Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP)
- New Component: Nari Adalats - women's collectives to promote and facilitate alternative dispute resolution and gender justice in society and within families.

Nari Adalat

Nari Adalat, a new component of “Sambal”- a sub scheme of ‘Mission Shakti’ - for providing women with an alternate Grievance Redressal Mechanism for resolving cases of petty nature (harassment, subversion, curtailment of rights or entitlements) faced by women at Gram Panachayat level will be implemented in a phased manner.

Other Function

Awareness Generation: This platform will also be utilized for engaging with the public for awareness generation and getting feedback for improvement in the schemes and for effective public delivery of services.

Logistic Support

These Nari Adalats will be provided logistic support through Gram Panchayats in convergence with the Ministry of Panchayati Raj, Ministry of Rural Development, and Common Service Centres (CSCs) run by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.
Composition: Nari Adalats or women collectives will be formed of committed and socially respected women chosen for that purpose.

Implementation

Initially, it will be launched in identified States/UTs, preferably where Elected Women Representatives (EWRs) are heading the Gram Panchayats (GPs) in Aspirational Districts.
In the first year, an awareness drive regarding legal, constitutional rights and entitlements under various schemes/ programs will be undertaken. In the second year, committed and socially respected women will be identified and extensively trained in all women-related laws and schemes and a formal setup of women collectives having 7 to 11 members will be made who will address the socio-economic, and cultural issues faced by the women of that area and will provide alternative resolution to disputes by mediation and by connecting them to the duty bearers.
Remuneration: Under this component, no remuneration to the selected members shall be provided. However, out-of-pocket expenses will be provided by the Ministry for organising the meetings and for providing the badge/ uniform to the members.

"Samarthya"

This sub-scheme is for empowerment of women.

Components of 'Samarthya' sub-scheme:

Erstwhile Schemes: It consists of erstwhile schemes of Ujjwala, Swadhar Greh and Working Women Hostel with modifications.
Existing Schemes: In addition, the existing schemes of National Creche Scheme for children of working mothers and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana (PMMVY) under umbrella ICDS have now been included in Samarthya. The existing sub-schemes of Mahila Shakti Kendra (MSK) and Mahila Police Volunteers (MPV) have been discontinued.
New Component: A new component of Gap Funding for Economic Empowerment has also been added in the Samarthya Scheme.

Gender Budgeting (GB) Under Samarthya Component: HEW Model

Under the Samarthya component, Gender Budgeting, Research, Publication & Monitoring schemes have been included under the Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW).
The goal of Gender Budgeting is to enable government stakeholders at the central, state and district level to undertake gender budgeting through enhanced capacities, knowledge and skills.

Gender Budgeting & India

GB was adopted by the Government of India in 2005-06 as a tool for promoting gender equality and ensuring continued investments through Government planning and budgeting. Financing for gender equality is central to mitigate gender inequalities, and GB is a critical strategy in this endeavour.
Gender Budget aims to disaggregate the government’s budget according to its differential impact on women and men.
Gender Budgeting has been adopted as a tool to facilitate a gender sensitive analysis in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of policies, programmes and budgets (expenditure and revenue).

Hub for Empowerment of Women (HEW)

Hub for Empowerment of Women aims to facilitate inter-sectoral convergence of schemes and programs meant for women both at the central (NHEW), State/ UT level (SHEW) and district level (DHEW) with the mandate to create an environment in which women realize their full potential.
The support under the HEW would be for guiding, linking and hand-holding women to various institutional and schematic set ups for their empowerment and development including equal access to healthcare, quality education, career and vocational counselling/ training, financial inclusion, entrepreneurship, backward and forward linkages, health and safety for workers, social security and digital literacy at districts/ Blocks/ Gram Panchayats level across the country.
The Empowerment of women is a long-term process requiring sustained interventions to be effective, hence immediate outcomes may not be visible. However, baseline data collected/ collected by the HEW at State and District level for Women will provide the basis for assessing the outcomes.
For smooth functioning of the Mission Shakti, the Central Government will provide financial assistance to States/ UTs/ Districts for hiring of manpower. This will be provided under the sub-scheme of “Samarthya”. There shall be a single PMU for the Umbrella Scheme at Central/ State/ District level.

Mandate of HEW

The mandate of HEW is to address gaps in state action for women and for promoting inter-ministerial and inter-sectoral convergence through strengthening the processes that promote holistic empowerment of women by creating an environment conducive to social change by improving access and utilization of government schemes by women.
It will also strive to create an independent identity for women through economic empowerment, eradicating all forms of exploitation and discrimination with their rightful share in the allocation of resources and decision making, etc., for them to become equal partners in the process of national building for a Women-led Development by the year 2025.

Working Model of “Mission Shakti” through HEW

NHEW: At Central level, “Mission Shakti” will be looked after by a single and dedicated PMU named National Hub for Empowerment of Women (NHEW) consisting of 26 specialists/manpower.
SHEW: At State Level, dedicated PMU named as State Hub for Empowerment of Women (SHEW) will work for convergence/ coordination with Central Ministries as well as districts.
DHEW: At District level, a single dedicated PMU named as District Hub for Empowerment of Women (DHEW) with financial assistance from MWCD will provide technical/ manpower support to State/ District machinery.

Functions of HEW

Some of the specific activities to be included under Hubs at various levels are:

To act as PMU for all Components under Mission Shakti
To bridge the information and knowledge gap regarding schemes and facilities available for women.
To sensitise and build capacity of government functionaries at National/State/ District/ Block level and orient them about various schemes/ Programs meant for empowering rural women.
To facilitate convergent action through frontline workers to spread awareness about government schemes, programmes and services (as mentioned above) and motivate rural women to join various programs meant for their development and help in improving access.
Organise awareness campaigns involving grassroots level for gender equity and convergence and awareness generation which fuels demand by women as rightful entitlement holders for delivery of services under different schemes/programs meant for them.
Facilitate women in preparation of documents for establishing identity for enrolling in government programmes through existing government mechanisms like BPL survey, Aadhar (UID), MNREGS enrolment which can be utilized for establishing identity through CSCs.
Bring issues affecting women as an agenda before National/ State/ Districts/ Block/ Gram Panchayats for suitable redressal.
Creating a common platform at the delivery level with focus on women-centric schemes/ programmes.
To identify best practices (Government, CSO, PRI) in various sectoral areas like health, education, microfinance, livelihoods, etc. from a gender perspective, document initiatives and disseminate the same to intended recipients.
It will engage in feedback collection, evaluation and analysis of all initiatives of MWCD and other Ministries/ Departments of GoI pertaining to women and girls.
Mobilize women into joining collectives like ‘Saurya Dal’ and to help strengthen existing collectives at village level.
To act as a forum for addressing women’s issues in the near vicinity and give women a platform to come together and explore their potentials and possibilities.
Provide easy access to informational and other resources to the community members for effective participation in Gram Sabhas and PRIs.
To increase women’s participation in the functioning of PRI institutions and village level institutions like Anganwadi Centres.
Mobilize women to participate in Gram Sabha meetings.
Organize community meetings (for instance: through Nariki Chaupal/Nari Adalat) to engage with the community to build awareness about social issues, facilitate discussions on issues concerning women. The existing platform of Gram Sabha/ Mahila Sabha/Village Health Sanitation & Nutrition Committee (VHSNC)/ Village Health and Nutrition Day (VHND) may be used.
To organize meetings of the State/ District/ Block Level Convergence Committees to highlight issues related to women and provide solutions and to ensure effective monitoring of convergence efforts at the grass root level.
Coordinate and encourage involvement of retired citizens in various activities related to women empowerment
Facilitate grievance redressal through articulation and follow-up cases in right forums such as Panchayats, One Stop Centre, VHSNC/VHND.
Coordinate with other local Civil Society Organizations (CSOs)/Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) and their staff working in the same region to utilize opportunities for collaboration.
Grassroots coordination among women SHGs/ other women collectives under different programs.
Any other activity assigned by the MWCD/ State/ District in furtherance of the above.