Against 338 approved, only 135 Anganwadi Centres upgraded
*Nirbhaya Fund guidelines not being strictly followed
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Apr 4: In violation of Nirbhaya Fund guidelines, women are heading only 29 Women Helpdesks against a total 150 established in the Police Stations of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Nirbhaya Fund is a dedicated corpus fund established by the Government of India to improve the safety and security of women particularly after the 2012 Delhi gang rape incident. This fund supports various projects and schemes and establishment of Women Helpdesks is one among them.
The Women Helpdesks are established in the Police Stations to make law enforcement more accessible and responsive to women’s issues and to ensure that the Police Stations are more women friendly and approachable, as they would be the first and single point of contact for any woman walking into a Police Station.
As per the guidelines, the Women Helpdesk should be headed by a Women Police Officer who should preferably be of the rank of Junior Sub-Inspector (JSI) or Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) but not below the rank of Head Constable. Moreover, the State/UT Government is supposed to notify a Nodal Officer at the district level for coordinating the functioning of Helpdesks in every Police Station.
As per the data of the Union Ministry of Women and Child Development, which has established the Nirbhaya Fund, a total of 150 Women Helpdesks have been established in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. However, only 29 Women Helpdesks are being headed by women in blatant violation of the guidelines.
A concern over this has also been expressed by Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Education, Women, Children, Youth and Sports in its report submitted to the Parliament during the ongoing session.
The objective behind prescribing Women Police Officer as head of the Women Helpdesk is to ensure increased comfort for women in approaching the Police Station and for counseling and reporting crime; increase in confidence of women to visit Police Stations and reduction in response time by the law enforcement agencies to react to crisis or to track and identify criminals.
Meanwhile, the Parliamentary Panel has pointed out that a total of 338 Anganwadi Centers were approved by the Union Ministry for upgradation in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir. Of these, 86 were approved during Financial Year 2022-23, 50 in Financial Year 2023-24 and 202 during the year 2024-25. However, only 135 have been upgraded till date.
The objective behind upgradation of Anganwadi Centers is to improve nutrition delivery for stimulating the creative, social, emotional, cognitive and intellectual development of children under 6 years of age in convergence with education development programmes. Due to ‘slackness’ in upgradation of large number of Anganwadi Centers, this objective could not be achieved in the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir.
The Parliamentary Panel has also pointed out that an amount of Rs 5,095.68 lakh was pending in the State Nodal Agency (SNA) account of J&K as on February 21, 2025 under Poshan Abhiyan, which is Prime Minister’s overarching scheme for holistic nourishment aimed to improve the nutritional status of children, adolescent girls, pregnant women and lactating mothers, focusing on reducing stunting, wasting and anemia and promoting holistic development and adequate nutrition.
Similarly, unspent balance under Mission Vatsalya in respect of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir as on February 21, 2025 was to the tune of Rs 3.76 crore. This Mission, formerly the Integrated Child Protection Scheme, aims to support and protect children in need, ensuring their best interests are always prioritized and promoting their rights to survival, development, protection, and participation.
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