Even before the launch of the universal helpline for women, the Government has started the process of shutting down smaller or localised helplines started for aiding women for specific problems — the first casualty being Swadhar helpline.
Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) has issued a notice to discontinue women helplines under Swadhar scheme, which is expected to impair the working of at least 250 projects across India.
Swadhar was a scheme launched in 2001-02 to finance shelter homes for women in distress. The scheme was mostly run by non-governmental organisations based on recommendations of the State Government.
“The discontinuance of helplines under the Swadhar scheme is only a component of the existing scheme. After a lot of deliberation we have concluded that the concept of localised helplines is outdated and have outlived their utility,” said an official from WCD.
“Once the universal helpline — 181 comes into force, all these helplines will be rendered useless. All calls will reach a common database, from where they will be segregated into localised centres where problems can be redressed,” said the official.
According to the official, the Centre is also considering the closure of several other helplines — distressed women helpline (1091), distressed children (1098), rape crises cell, State commission for women helplines, the National legal Services Authority (Nalsa) Helpline for Free legal Service (15100) etc.
However, several NGOs are unhappy with the Government decision to close down helplines, before the launch of the universal helpline. Some NGOs working with women have also written letters of protest to the WCD Minister Maneka Gandhi.
“We have received a few letters from NGOs but they are just knee-jerk reactions. The effectiveness of these helplines and related responses were studied before a decision was taken last year and a notice was sent to all State Governments in March this year,” said the official.
“We were spending at least Rs2 lakh per project on the Swadhar helplines annually. The team which studied the scheme felt that they were not of much help so a decision was taken,” he said.
The official who admitted to slowly phasing out localised helplines said, “At the moment, the various private and public helplines which exist in the country are divided by the nature of support sought — police, fire services, ambulance, legal aid or counselling — and by location (city and State),” said the official.
“The idea is to unite all the helplines for women under a single number, 181, and merge their infrastructure across the states. A single call will bring speedy relief to women in distress, whether she needs rescue from violence, emergency medical treatment, counseling, shelter or legal aid,” he said.
“The helpline will have software to automatically trace caller’s location and send emergency help without the woman in need having to explain or spell out. This is common practice for helplines in many western countries,” said the official.