Kerala Budget Focuses on Women Safety: Proposes Public Register of Sex Offenders

Date: March 3, 2017

Location: Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala

The 2017-2018 Kerala Budget set apart Rs. 68 Crore for various schemes to prevent atrocities against women, besides proposing a register for sexual offenders.

While announcing the measures presented in the budget in the Assembly, Kerala Finance Minister, T M Thomas Isaac said, “Rs. 68 crore has been provided for different schemes to prevent atrocities against women and focus on their rehabilitation. This includes Rs. 12 crore for ‘Pink Control Room’ and self-defence training and Rs.34 crore for awareness campaigns.

Besides, Rs. 19.5 crore will be allocated for shelter homes, short stay homes and ‘one-stop crisis centre’ and Rs. three crore for two SOS model homes.

On February 23, Governor Justice (Retd) P Sathasivam had said the Kerala government will launch a registry of sex offenders, the first of its kind in the country. It will contain all identification details of sex offenders and would be kept in public domain.

The state finance minister today said Rs. five crore has been earmarked for a special fund for protection and speedy rehabilitation of victims. A special department for women will be formed in the financial year 2017-18. The social welfare schemes for women, presently under the Social Justice Department, will be shifted to this new department.

He said gender budgeting is being reinstated and the State Planning Board has prepared a document under which allocations for women’s development have been divided into two parts.

Part A includes 64 schemes exclusively for women beneficiaries with an allocation of Rs. 1,060.50 crore. This amount will come to 5.23 per cent of the total state plan outlay, excluding the plan of local bodies, he said.

Part B includes general development schemes in which a special component for women or beneficiary numbers of women is distinguishable. “This will help in formulating more comprehensive document in the future,” he said.

Read the full NDTV article here.