As part of our ongoing OXFAM project regarding spreading awareness about the evil of violence against women, the CSR team has been sending out letters to all the Members of Parliament, regarding the poor implementation of the PWDVA. Some of the key points we mentioned in the letter are:
1. Lack of financial provisions by the Central Government to the State Government for enforcement of law,
2. Lack of universality, meagre budget allocation, paucity of Protection Officers and Service Providers are
the hurdles to its effective execution,
3. Issue of Domestic Violence is found to be differently implemented in states without the central monitoring,
4. RTIs filed are directed and redirected without any clarity on the status of allocations,
5. The funds earmarked are tardy in many states, and in some others with no clarity on the allocation
and utilisation,
6. Inadequate fund allocation,
7. Insufficient Protection Officers,
8. Shortfall in training and capacity development of PO’s and stakeholders,
9. Inadequate data base to understand the magnitude of issue,
10. Lack of human resources to support aggrieved woman, support staff and infrastructure,
11. Lack of awareness generation in the society on the existence of DV Act, non-modalities of reporting
and monitoring of the Domestic Violence Act, and
12. Alarming statistics with respect to crime against women.
Along with this letter, a factsheet, containing specific details regarding the status of the implementation of the PWDVA was sent out to all the Members of Parliament (Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha). The letter was also sent out to Prime Minister’s Office as well as all the Ministries.
It is a matter of great pride for us at CSR that so far, we have got eleven responses so far. All these responses are extremely positive in nature, and we are happy that our demand for better fund allocation and appointment and training of PO’s, and monitoring of PWDVA, has been heard and understood in the correct light.
We hope to get more responses in the near future, and also hope that some action is taken in the next parliamentary session with respect to these points. PWDVA is a strong piece of legislation which needs to be taken seriously. It is only then can our vision of a gender sensitive society be achieved!
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