Need to Create Safe Homes & Safe Neighbourhoods for women & Children : Irani

Speed Post News Network

New Delhi : Union Minister Women and Child Development (WCD) and Textiles Minister Smriti Zubin Irani on November 19, 2019, said  in New Delhi that there was an urgent need to ensure safety for women and children within their homes and create safe neighbourhood in order to protect them against violence and abuse. She was delivering the keynote address at the 2nd edition of South Asia Safety Summit organised by the Ministry of WCD and FACEBOOK.

Quoting NCRB data of 2017, Irani stated that the 3 lakh crimes against women are committed by husbands and relatives so the challenges to women and children safety issues lie closer to home. She further added that as per the NCRB data 42% of men justify domestic violence and 62% of women support domestic violence.

The South Asia Safety Summit has been organised to highlight the issue of safety while individuals and communities are connected on the digital platform. Participants from 125 civil society organisations, feminist groups, child safety experts, academics focused on gender and mass communication, safety practitioners, mental health and suicide prevention organisations, disabilities rights groups, and partners who have expertise in running digital literacy programmes and creating tools for social-emotional development of young people are attending the Summit. They are from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and Afghanistan, according to a PIB release.

In her keynote address, Irani highlighted the steps taken by the WCD Ministry like one stop centres to service the needs of women in the locality and informed the gathering that 10 one stop centres open every month across the country and by the end of this year every district will have an operational one stop centre.

She further informed that every district of India will have anti-trafficking units which is the first ever such initiative undertaken by the Government. To make police stations more accessible to women and children, Women’s help desks are being set up at each police station across the county as a police station is the first place that a woman reaches whenever she faces a threat to her security and life, said Irani. Along with Ministry of Home Affairs, the Ministry of WCD has launched the cyber-crime portal and the Ministry of WCD is helping to strengthen this portal so that women are able to lodge complaints of cyber bullying, online shaming and online threats.

Irani further informed that WCD Ministry is digitally listing all sex offenders in India. She also requested digital platforms to keep linguistic and cultural aspects and give special attention to DIVYANG women and children who need additional support on digital platforms if holistic policy is to be put in place.

During the Summit, Smriti Zubin Irani launched “We Think Digital” website. This website is an online education portal with interactive tutorials aimed at helping people think critically and share thoughtfully online.