Interactive | How Nirbhaya Fund has been utilised over the years

Over the years, the fund has been subject of controversy with allegations of underuse and incorrect use

Ten years ago, the brutal gang-rape and murder of a young woman on a Delhi bus horrified the nation and shed light on women's safety across states including the national capital. In a move to ensure safety of women and girl children, the Centre then instituted a fund called the Nirbhaya Fund for rolling out safety schemes to check any untoward incidents against females in public spaces.

The Nirbhaya Fund, which was started by the Centre in 2013 with an initial fund of Rs 1,000 crore, has, over the years grown much larger, and become a subject of controversy of late, with a parliamentary panel flagging gross underutilisation and reports claiming the use of funds by other ministries for other purposes.

The fund recently came into the spotlight after it was alleged that some of the vehicles procured under the fund were used to provide Y-plus security cover to the MLAs and MPs of the Shiv Sena faction led by Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.

Now, as the country marks 10 years of the horrific incident, let's have a look at how the fund works, and how it has been utilised across the states and Union Territories in India.

The parliamentary panel noted that despite repeated recommendations, till now only 30 per cent of the Fund has been utilised. The panel said that out of the allocated funds of Rs 9,549 crore, of which Rs 4,241 crore were released till now, the funds utilised under the Nirbhaya Fund so far stands at around Rs 2,989 crore.

Here is how the funds have been utilised between 2016 and 2022 across all states and UTs:

Over the last five years, Delhi has remained the biggest beneficiary of the fund, with a total of Rs 413 crore allocated and utilised in the national capital. Other states that came close to Delhi in the use of fund were Uttar Pradesh at Rs 305 crore, Tamil Nadu at Rs 304 crore, Maharashtra at Rs 254 crore and Karnataka at Rs 228 crore. Ladakh, which became a Union Territory in 2019, was the biggest laggard, with a total fund use of only Rs 1.27 crore, with Lakshadweep coming in second last with fund utilisation of a mere Rs 4.96 crore .

Maharashtra, which is currently in the middle of a controversy over alleged misuse of the fund, saw its highest fund allocation in 2019-20 at Rs 132 crore, and the lowest allocation in 2021-22 at Rs 8.61 crore.

How Nirbhaya Fund works

An Empowered Committee of officers constituted under Nirbhaya Framework appraises and recommends proposals for funding under Nirbhaya Fund in conjunction with the concerned ministries or implementing agencies, according to a reply in the Lok Sabha by Minister of Women and Child Development Smriti Irani.

After appraisal by the committee, the concerned ministries are required to get a nod of their respective competent financial authorities to release funds from their budgets and implement approved projects or schemes through states/UTs.

According to Irani, projects under the fund are demand driven. The projects appraised by the committee under Framework for Nirbhaya Fund have a staggered implementation schedule. While some of the appraised projects are directly implemented by Central ministries or departments, majority of the projects are implemented through states/UTs in which Central government releases the funds to states/UTs as per prescribed fund-sharing pattern of respective projects/schemes.

The Empowered Committee also reviews the status of implementation of projects, and expenditure on approved projects from time to time in conjunction with the concerned ministries. Further, the concerned ministries also monitor the progress of implementation at their levels.