Government gives the highest priority to ensuring the safety and security of women and has undertaken various interventions in this regard

Ministry of Women and Child Development Government gives the highest priority to ensuring the safety and security of women and has undertaken various interventions in this regard Posted On: 11 FEB 2026 3:03PM by PIB Delhi “Police” and “Public Order” are State subjects under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India. Accordingly, the primary responsibility for maintaining law and order, investigation, prosecution, conviction and prosecution of crime against women and children including protection of women from domestic violence, rests with the respective State Governments and UT Administrations; they are competent to deal with such offenses/ criminal acts. However, the Central Government gives the highest priority to ensuring the safety and security of women and has undertaken various interventions in this regard, including measures aimed at supporting women victims/ survivors of Domestic Violence. During the 15th Finance Commission period, the Ministry of Women and Child Development implements Centrally Sponsored Schemes under three verticals, viz. (i) Mission Shakti for safety, protection and empowerment of women, (ii) Saksham Anganwadi & Poshan 2.0 for improving nutrition and health indicators, and (iii) Mission Vatsalya for protection and welfare of children in difficult circumstances. Mission Shakti aims at strengthening interventions for women’s safety, security and empowerment, and comprises two verticals. Sambal, for safety and security of women, and Samarthya, for women’s empowerment. Under the Sambal vertical, the One Stop Centre (OSC) provides integrated support and assistance under one roof to women affected by violence and those in distress, both in private and public spaces. It provides services like medical aid, legal aid and advice, temporary shelter, police assistance and psycho-social counselling to needy women. The scheme is demand-driven. As per the Mission Shakti guidelines, the Central Government provides 100% financial assistance to States and UTs under Sambal sub-scheme. Adequate staff and infrastructural support is provided for smooth operationalization of OSCs across the country. However, the implementation of the all schemes under Mission Shakti lies with the State Governments and UT Administrations. Funds are released to the States/ UTs as per the procedure prescribed by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, including Single Nodal agency (SNA) or SNA SPARSH of the Public Financial Management System (PFMS). Further, once in a year, the Programme Approval Board (PAB) monitors with States and UTs, the progress of activities under the scheme and reviews status of achievement of objectives and effective delivery of services to women and children including rural and marginalized communities. Apart from this, officials of the Ministry continuously review the scheme through meetings, video conferencing and by making field visits to States and UTs from time to time. As on 09.02.2026, a total of 896 OSCs (including 35 OSCs in Gujarat) are operational across the country. Since inception i.e. 1st April, 2015 up to 30th September, 2025, over 12.67 lakh women have been assisted by the OSCs.Under the overarching ‘Mission Shakti’, erstwhile schemes of ‘Swadhar Greh’ for Women in difficult circumstances and ‘Ujjawala Home’ for victims of trafficking, have been merged and named ‘Shakti Sadan Scheme’, which is an Integrated Relief and Rehabilitation Home for women in distress situations including trafficked women. It aims at creating a safe and enabling environment for the women in distress, to enable them to overcome the difficult circumstances. The residents of Shakti Sadan are provided with shelter, food, clothing, counselling, primary health facilities and other daily requirements, vocational training, facility for opening of bank accounts, social security benefits etc. in convergence with the relevant departments. The Scheme is a demand driven Centrally Sponsored Scheme, under which funds are directly released to the States/ UTs for implementation of the scheme. The States/ UTs assess their requirement as per local needs and proposals are approved by the Programme Approval Board (PAB) after discussion with States/ UTs. Under the Scheme, financial assistance is provided for running of Shakti Sadan in rented premises. Presently, 413 Shakti Sadans are functional across the country. In order to strengthen transparency and accessibility in service delivery with respect to reliefs and rehabilitation to women in distress, the Ministry of WCD launched Mission Shakti Dashboard, on 22.01.2025 (https://missionshakti.wcd.gov.in/). The Mission Shakti Dashboard data is now accessible via the Mission Shakti Mobile Application with multi-lingual feature thereby expanding outreach and convenience for users. These enhancements mark a significant step towards strengthening last-mile connectivity, improving ease of access and empowering women with digital tools for safety and support. A new feature has also been added whereby a woman in distress can now book an appointment with her nearest OSC through both the portal and the mobile application. The location of the nearest OSC can be easily identified through the mobile application ensuring timely support and access to essential services. Furthermore, the Ministry has also developed a SOP for OSCs to provide a comprehensive framework for coordinated survivor-centric operations and management ensuring uniform support for women in distress with the objective to establish clear consistent guidelines to standardize service delivery across all OSCs and define roles and responsibilities for stakeholders including OSC staff, health professionals, police, lawyers and legal aid providers. The SOP for OSC is accessible on Mission Shakti dashboard. Further, a publicly accessible list of Protection Officers (POs) under the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act, 2005 (PWDVA) is now available on the dashboard. As on 09.02.2026, The States and UTs have updated the details of over 2,431 POs. In addition, the dashboard hosts updated lists of Nodal Officers of various schemes, including One Stop Centres (OSCs), Women Helpline (WHL), Shakti Sadan, Sakhi Niwas etc. The portal also consolidates all major helplines for easy public access: Women Helpline (181), NALSA Legal Aid (15100), Child Helpline (1098), Emergency Response Support System (112), National Cyber Crime Helpline (1930), Tele Manas (14416). The Ministry of WCD vide letter dated 11th Nov, 2024, has conveyed approval to all States/ UTs for provision of extension of stay of distressed woman for a longer period than initial five days and provision of items like wheelchair, Stretcher and additional beds. While OSCs currently provide temporary shelter for a maximum of 5 days, a longer stay may be required in specific cases where relocation to Shakti Sadan is not feasible. In such cases, Centre Administrators have been given discretion to extend the stay up to 10 days on a case-by-case basis. For any further extension beyond 10 days, the District Nodal Officer (DNO)/ District Program Officer (DPO) has been authorized to allow additional stay of up to 10 more days, ensuring victims have continuous access to essential services, as required. States/UTs have also been intimated that they may ask for establishment of more than one OSC in a district should the need justify this. This information was given by the Minister of State for Women and Child Development Smt. Savitri Thakur in Rajya Sabha in reply to a question today. ****SS (Release ID: 2226336) Visitor Counter : 95 Read this release in: ही