‘Nirbhay Raho’ Initiative

About ‘Nirbhay Raho’ Initiative

• Initiative by: “Nirbhay Raho” is an initiative under the Nirbhaya Fund in collaboration with the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the National Law School of India University (NLSIU), Bengaluru.
• It was launched on 11th March 2026.
• Aim: The initiative aims to empower 14.5 lakh Elected Women Representatives through capacity building on legal rights and leadership and sensitise 17.5 lakh Male Elected Representatives to promote gender equality and accountability.
• Objective: It has been launched to advance women’s safety and empowerment in Panchayats.
• Features: Nirbhay Raho framework operates through three distinct channels:
  • Nirbhay Netri: It is focused on capacity building and legal awareness of Elected Women Representatives
  • Nirbhay Chetna: It aimed at sensitising elected male representatives towards gender equality and women-related issues
  • Nirbhay Drishti: It envisages the installation of CCTV cameras at strategic rural locations to strengthen technology-enabled safety infrastructure in Panchayats.

About Nirbhaya Fund The Nirbhaya Fund Framework provides for a non-lapsable corpus fund for the safety and security of women. It is to be administered by the Department of Economic Affairs (DEA) of the Ministry of Finance (MoF) of the Government of India. Under this framework, an Empowered Committee reviews and recommends projects for funding, while concerned Ministries implement approved schemes. As per this framework, the MoF, through DEA, is the nodal Ministry for any accretion into and withdrawal from the corpus. Ministry of Women & Child Development (MWCD) is responsible for reviewing and monitoring the progress of sanctioned projects/ schemes in conjunction with the concerned Central Ministries/ Departments.