In an inter-ministerial meeting which saw participation of nine line ministries, DAY-NRLM(Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana – National Rural Livelihoods Mission), Ministry of Rural Development announced its plans for the second year of its National Campaign Against Gender-Based Violence – ‘Nayi Chetna – 2.0’. The meeting held yesterday, was chaired by the Additional Secretary, MoRD Charanjit Singh. The Joint Secretary, Rural Livelihoods, Smriti Sharan, introduced the campaign to the gathered delegates. It was organized to foster convergence to collectively strengthen redressal mechanisms for survivors of GBV.

The campaign is to be launched on 25 November which is the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. It will be observed across 34 Indian states and UTs till 23 December. The annual campaign will be led by DAY-NRLM’s self-help groups network of over 9.8 crore rural women members with the spirit of a Jan Andolan or people’s movement.

Data from NFHS – 5 show that more than 77% women still do not report or talk about their experience of violence. Such findings, as well as experiences of violence of women SHG members across the country is what encouraged this initiative. The Nayi Chetna Campaign aims to advance the rights of women and gender-diverse individuals, for a life without fear, and gender-based discrimination and violence. Campaign activities will deepen awareness on gender-based violence (GBV) amongst self-help group members and encourage GBV reporting. It will also address social norms which sanction and help such forms of violence to prevail.

Through the deliberations, various ministries shared their interest and highlighted specific areas of support that could be provided. A key activity will be sensitization of service providers on their role in supporting survivors of gender-based violence. This will go a long way in creating a conducive environment for survivors to speak up and seek support and justice. Participating ministries included Ministries of Panchayati Raj, Women and child development, Home Affairs, Law and Justice, Information and Broadcasting, Youth Affairs and Sports, Education and Literacy, Social Justice and Empowerment, as well as Health and Family Welfare.

This campaign will compliment DAY-NRLM’s ongoing programmatic efforts to address GBV. In addition to multiple targeted activities which enhance women’s decision making, and agency, DAY-NRLM has been establishing Gender Resource Centres (GRC) at block level. These are to provide a community managed platform from where inequalities and discrimination on the basis of gender can be protested, and where survivors can seek redressal through the support of other departments and agencies working on those issues. More than 3000 GRCs have been established across the country till date, and measures are being taken to set up more.

This campaign is an attempt to bring together, and give impetus all initiatives aimed at fostering a societal level change with regards to gender-based violence.

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