Nirbhaya-Ek Pehel: Uttar Pradesh Govt Programme To Connect 75,000 Women To Banks

Nirbhaya Ek Pahal is a new programme launched by the Uttar Pradesh government under the Phase 3 of Mission Shakti in Lucknow.

Yogi Adityanath, the Chief Minister of UP, launched the programme on Wednesday and said that it will benefit as many as 75,000 women in the state as they will be connected to state banks to get cheaper loans in addition to subsidies under the PM Mudra Yojana for three months.

The CM said, "There was an atmosphere of chaos before 2017. Families used to be apprehensive of their daughters and sisters venturing out of the house. We first introduced anti-Romeo squads to combat the issue. Through our initiatives, we achieved many goals."

CM Yogi Adityanath added that the UP police earlier had negligible number of women officers before 2017 but now there are 30,000 women constables in the state police force. "Women can boost the work of readymade garments and we want UP to become a hub of this. If we can provide them with required supplies, they will leave Vietnam and China behind," he added.

The UP government had announced on September 14 this year that they were able to provide free legal advice and counselling to create awareness among women about their basic rights. The state government claimed that total 91,691 women benefitted from 75 'One Stop Centres across the state under the Mission Shakti programme.

Earlier this month, the Maharashtra police had also introduced an initiative called 'Nirbhaya Sqaud' which will have police officers especially dedicated towards preventing crimes against women. This happened after several cases of brutal crimes against women were reported in the state. A woman in her 30s was brutally raped and killed near Saki Naka area in Mumbai. A man had allegedly stabbed her private parts with a rod mutiple times.

As per the official circular, the Nirbhaya Squad will have a woman sub-inspector, a female constable,  a male constable and a driver patrolling areas near their assigned police stations. The woman police personnel of inspector level will the nodal officer at each of the five regions in the city and will frequently review the functioning of the squad. Read more about their duties.