Driving Naari Programme launched in Chandigarh
A series of initiatves by UP Chief Minister, Yogi Adityanath to empower women for the last 5 and a half years, have started paying dividends if one goes by the rate of crimes against women in the state.
According to the officials, the State has witnessed a sharp decline in the cases of child marriages apart from the significant improvement in sex ratio. The number of school going girls has also gone up.
The NCRB 2021 figures show that the average rate of crime against women across the nation stands 64.5 per cent. The figure in UP is only 50.5 percent. Similarly, against the national average of conviction rate of criminals in crimes against women in the country is just 26.6 percent. But , Uttar Pradesh’s conviction rate was 59.1 percent.
According to the National Family Health Survey-5, the rate of child marriage nationwide in between 2019-2021 was 23.3 percent whereas, it was only 15.8 percent in Uttar Pradesh.
In terms of implementation of schemes, as many as 80 pink buses are being operated in the state for the safety and respect of women. More than 100 pink booths have been set up and 110 ‘Pink Patrols’ are operational.
Furthermore, the schools in the state now have 2 crore girl students. The bus stations now have 240 public address systems and a Women Child Protection Plan has been developed in all the districts. In all of the districts, gender sensitization workshops have been organized.
In addition to 11,528 drivers receiving practical training, 18 forensic labs have been established in the state.
When it comes to crimes against women, the State Government is taking prompt action to get the criminals punished. The conviction rate under POCSO, which was 535 in 2020, has jumped by 294 percent to 2110 in 2022.
In the rape cases, the conviction rate has increased by 254 percent to 627 as compared to 177 in 2020.
During this period, the authorities have strengthened the monitoring mechanism with regular training e-prosecution.
The Women and Child Security Organization (WCSO) was formed for the safety of women. It aims at creating a 360 degree ecosystem to ensure the safety of women and children. Various police units have been brought together for this purpose.
There has been an attempt to bridge that the gap between the police and the civil society organizations. Along with this, efforts are on to to create awareness by holding seminars and workshops. Women Power Line 1090 is working under the efforts of WSCO.
The authorities have set up anti-human trafficking units in each of the districts. This is apart from 3195 active Anti Romeo squads operating in the state. Women help desk is working in all police stations.
Around 3000 pink booths and 250 pink patrols are operational across the state with 10,417 new women police beats. The Government has set up 218 new fast track courts.
