The Minister of
Women & Child Development, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi launched an
online complaint management system titled Sexual Harassment electronic–Box
(SHe-Box) for registering complaints
related to sexual harassment at workplace in New Delhi today. The complaint
management system has been developed to ensure the effective implementation of Sexual
Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act
(the SH Act), 2013.
This portal is an initiative to provide a
platform to women working or visiting any office of
Central Government (Central Ministries, Departments, Public Sector
Undertakings, Autonomous Bodies and Institutions etc.) to file complaints
related to sexual harassment at workplace under the
SH Act. Those who had already filed a written complaint with the
concerned Internal Complaint Committee (ICC) constituted under the SH Act are
also eligible to file their complaint through this portal. The SHe-Box portal
can be accessed at the link given below:
http://www.wcd-sh.nic.in/
Speaking
at the launch, Smt Maneka Sanjay Gandhi said that though currently this
facility has been extended to employees of Central Government, the scope of the
portal will soon be extended to women employees of private sector also.
The WCD
Minister said that there are some surveys, which give the extent of sexual
harassment of women at workplace. However, the WCD Ministry will carry out a
national level survey to asses and understand the magnitude of the problem.
This portal (SHe-Box) is an effort to provide speedier remedy
to women facing sexual harassment at workplace as envisaged under the SH Act.
Once a complaint is submitted to the portal, it will be directly sent to the
ICC of the concerned Ministry/Department/PSU/Autonomous Body etc. having
jurisdiction to inquire into the complaint. Through this portal, WCD as well as
complainant can monitor the progress of inquiry conducted by the ICC.
Government of India is the largest
employer in the country employing 30.87 lakh people to carry out its various
functions. As per the Census of Central Government employees, 2011, women
constitute 10.93% (3.37 lakhs) of the total regular Central Government
employees.
The WCD Ministry has
taken several measures to ensure implementation of Sexual Harassment of Women
at Workplace Act. The Ministry has published a Handbook on the SH Act with the
objective to provide information about the provisions of the Act in an easy to
use practical manner. Further, the Ministry in collaboration with Institute of
Statistical Training and Management (ISTM), New Delhi has prepared a training
module to build the capacity of government officials above the provisions of
the SH Act and develop in them professional competence to implement the same. Recently, on 5th
May, 2017, the Ministry in collaboration with ISTM organised a day long workshop
for chairpersons of Internal Complaint Committee constituted in various
Ministries/Departments of Central Government.
Besides, in order to create wide spread awareness about the Act across
the country both in organized and unorganized sector, MWCD has identified a
pool of 29 resource institutions willing to provide capacity building programs
i.e. training, workshops etc on the SH Act. The list of these institutions is
available at the link given below:
Link:http://wcd.nic.in/act/recommended-panel-institutes-or-organizations-under-sexual-harassment-women-workplace
The SHe-Box will provide a platform to these empanelled
institutes/organisations to share their capacity building activities with the
Ministry which in turn will be able to monitor the activities of these
institutes/organizations so empanelled from across the country. As of now, as
per the reports received, in the past 5 months, the empanelled
institutes/organisations/companies have organised 35 capacity building
exercises which were attended by approximately 1700 people.
Ensuring the dignity and safety of women must be first
priority for any digital society. Towards realisation of the vision of the Digital
India programme, the Ministry is promoting utilisation of information
and communication technology to achieve the goal of gender equality and women
empowerment. It is an effort to utilise the digital space to enable speedier
response to the complaints of women against sexual harassment at workplace.
The Minister of State for Women and Child
Development, Smt Krishna Raj; Secretary WCD, Shri Rakesh Srivastava and senior
officers of the Ministry as well as its associated organizations were present
at today’s launch event.
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NB/UD