Chairperson, National Commission for Women (NCW), GoI, Rekha Sharma, today chaired the second Monitoring Committee Meeting of 12 pilot Special Cells for Women at Institute of Hotel Management Raj Bagh, Srinagar.
The meeting was attended by Joint Secretary NCW, A. Asholi Chalai, Commissioner Secretary, Social Welfare Department, Sheetal Nanda; DIG Central Kashmir Range, Sujit Kumar Singh; DIG UT of Ladakh, S. Junaid Mehmood, Special Coordinator, NCW, GoI Neha Mahajan, Director Mission Shakti Harvinder Kaur, HoD Department of Social Work University of Kashmir, Assistant Professor Central University Jammu, Dr Vinay Kumar, Coordinator JK Special Cell for Women Saima Shah and other officers.
At the outset, Chairperson was given a brief about the work progress of 12 pilot Special Cells for Women in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh since April-2022 to October-2022. The meeting held detailed discussions on the Special Cells and suggestions for way forward from respective members of Monitoring Committee for effective functioning of the Special Cells for women.
It was given out in the meeting that 256 outreach activities about women safety and empowerment had been conducted by Special Cells for Women during that period. It was also revealed that 1307 total interventions have been carried out by Special Cells and 2755 meetings have been conducted in 575 cases of women who registered at Special Cells for Women which include individual/group/family meetings and home visits.
The Monitoring Committee has been constituted under “Violence Free Home – A Woman’s Right” project. While chairing the meeting, Chairperson NCW said that in the near future we will increase the number of Special Cells in order to expand our reach, adding that we need to strengthen the visibility through active engagement in communities on gender-based violence.
She stressed on the need for increasing awareness programmes in coordination with police and other allied departments for effective functioning of the Special Cells. She also enquired about the number of complaints received by women cells in different districts and said that all help should be provided to women who are facing violence in any form.
Joint Secretary, NCW stressed on the need for dissemination of information about the Special Cells and mobilise Self Help Groups and said that there is a need to work in a coordinated manner. Special Coordinator, NCW, GoI Neha Mahajan presented a vote of thanks on the occasion.