Women's Safety: Why Audits and Funds Have Not Closed the Gap Between Intention and Policy

Source: Original editorial ↗ The Indian Express

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The Lift Line

“Safety audits are increasingly being looked at as the end, and not the means for women’s safety.”

Why This Editorial Matters for Your Exam

Mitali Nikore, economist and founder of Nikore Associates, a policy research firm that has audited public spaces and transport in at least 10 cities, writes after the gang-rape in Delhi’s Aastha Kunj park, in which the Supreme Court has registered a suo motu case. The piece moves the debate from laws to implementation, which is where Mains answers on women’s safety usually need more substance.

GS Paper 1: Role of women; urbanisation, its problems and remedies. GS Paper 2: Mechanisms, laws and institutions for the protection of vulnerable sections; government policies and their implementation.

Background and Context

What changed after December 2012.

Measure	Detail
Justice J.S. Verma Committee	Report in January 2013 on reform of criminal law on sexual offences
Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013	Widened the definition of rape; new offences such as stalking and voyeurism
Nirbhaya Fund	Announced in the Union Budget 2013-14 with Rs 1,000 crore; a non-lapsable fund; the Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal ministry for appraising projects
Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013	Codified the Vishaka (1997) guidelines; Internal Committees at workplaces

Projects funded under the Nirbhaya Fund include One Stop Centres (Sakhi), the Emergency Response Support System (112), Safe City projects in eight cities, fast-track special courts and women’s help desks in police stations.

The author’s numbers.

Indicator	Figure
Nirbhaya Fund, 2015-2025	Rs 5,846.08 crore used of Rs 7,712.85 crore allotted
Women’s help desks in police stations	Nearly 15,000
States with free bus travel for women	At least 8
Delhi bus driver height rule, 2022	Lowered from 159 cm to 153 cm; 34 women drivers inducted the next year
Women in police	About 10 per cent, against a central target of 33 per cent

The Analysis

1. The framework exists. Funds, laws, help desks, fast-track courts and gender labs in cities such as Chennai, Surat and Bhubaneswar were meant to make urban design safer for women.

2. Failure one: accountability. Administrations cite the number of safety audits, not how the problems found are fixed. The author’s example: a known 500-metre dark zone behind Lady Sri Ram College. Her remedy: city agencies should publish how they fix audit findings, how they handle helpline calls and how long their crisis response takes.

3. Failure two: capacity. Free bus travel substitutes for investment in gender-sensitive infrastructure. Her firm’s study found free buses do little for safety if waits are long and unpredictable and the walk to the stop is unsafe.

4. Failure three: women’s absence. Few women in public spaces, especially in the evening, makes cities less safe. More women in public-facing jobs (drivers, conductors, station managers, park workers, e-auto drivers) would change that. Small regulatory changes, like Delhi’s height rule, can make a difference.

5. Police. Women are only about a tenth of the police force despite a central target of a third.

Data and Institutions Vault

Prelims-grade facts:

Laws and committees:

• Justice Verma Committee: report January 2013; led to the Criminal Law (Amendment) Act, 2013.
• POSH Act, 2013: based on Vishaka v. State of Rajasthan (1997); Internal Committees in workplaces with 10 or more employees.
• Sexual offences now fall under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023, in force since July 2024.

Funds and schemes:

• Nirbhaya Fund: Union Budget 2013-14, Rs 1,000 crore, non-lapsable; nodal ministry MoWCD.
• One Stop Centres (Sakhi): from 2015; ERSS: single emergency number 112.
• Safe City projects in eight cities: Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Lucknow, Mumbai.

Police:

• The Union Home Ministry has advised States to raise women’s share in police to 33 per cent.
• Police is a State subject (Entry 2, List II).

⚠️ Watch the trap: the Nirbhaya Fund is administered by the Finance Ministry’s Department of Economic Affairs; the Ministry of Women and Child Development is the nodal ministry that appraises projects.

The Debate

For the author’s view. Public reporting on audit follow-ups and response times is cheap and would expose inaction; more women in public jobs changes the character of public space.

The complications. Much violence against women happens at home or by acquaintances; conviction rates and investigation quality matter as much as lighting; and agencies may lack budgets to act on what audits reveal.

The balanced verdict. Combine transparency (published action-taken reports, response-time data), infrastructure (lighting, frequent transport, last-mile safety), representation (targets for women in police and transport) and justice delivery (fast investigation and trial) under clear accountability.

How to Think About This

Intention, capacity, accountability. For any implementation question, check three layers: is there a law or fund (intention), do agencies have the people and budgets (capacity), and does anyone answer publicly for results (accountability)? Most failures are in the last two.

Diagram-in-Words

Takeaway Box

• Framework: Verma Committee, 2013 amendments, Nirbhaya Fund, POSH Act.
• Use: Rs 5,846 crore of Rs 7,713 crore used, 2015-2025 (author’s figures).
• Gaps: accountability, capacity, women’s presence.
• Example: Delhi’s height rule change brought 34 women bus drivers.
• Target: 33 per cent women in police; actual about 10 per cent.

Sources: The Indian Express, The Hindu, Supreme Court suo motu case, Ministry of Women and Child Development

Source: Women's Safety: Why Audits and Funds Have Not Closed the Gap Between Intention and Policy — Ujiyari.com | Free UPSC & State PCS Editorial Analysis

Key Arguments at a Glance

Mitali Nikore argues that India built a legal and financial framework for women’s safety after December 2012, but that it fails through weak accountability, low administrative capacity and women’s absence from public spaces and public-facing jobs, and that governments must publicly report how they fix what safety audits find.

✓ Supporting

• Between 2015 and 2025, Rs 5,846.08 crore of the Rs 7,712.85 crore allotted under the Nirbhaya Fund was used, for nearly 15,000 women’s help desks in police stations and fast-track courts, among other things.
• Safety audits have become an end rather than a means: a 500-metre dark lane behind Lady Sri Ram College in Delhi was known and not fixed.
• At least eight States offer free bus travel for women, but free buses do little for safety if waits are long and the walk to the stop is unsafe.
• When Delhi lowered the height requirement for bus drivers from 159 cm to 153 cm in 2022, 34 women drivers were inducted the next year.
• Women are only about 10 per cent of India’s police, against a central target of 33 per cent.

⚠ Counter

Much violence against women happens in homes and among acquaintances, not in public spaces; urban design and audits cannot substitute for faster investigation, conviction and social change; and publishing audit follow-ups may expose agencies without giving them the funds to act.

→ Way Forward

Make city agencies publish action-taken reports on audit findings, helpline response times and crisis response; invest in lighting, frequent transport and last-mile safety rather than only free travel; raise women’s share in police and public-facing jobs through targets and regulatory changes; and fix accountability at every level of government.