Sakhi-One Stop Centres

As on date, 733 One Stop Centres have been approved for 729 districts across the country, out of which 704 OSCs have been operationalized in 35 States/ UTs, which have assisted over 4.93 lakh women.

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Sakhi-One Stop Centres- Relevance for UPSC Exam

GS Paper 2: Governance, Administration and Challenges- Welfare schemes for vulnerable sections of the population by the Centre and States and the performance of these schemes.

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As on date, 733 OSCs have been approved for 729 districts across the country, out of which 704 OSCs have been operationalized in 35 States/ UTs, which have assisted over 4.93 lakh women.
This information about Sakhi-One Stop Centres has been provided by the Minister of Women and Child Development in Parliament.

What is Sakhi-One Stop Centre?

Sakhi is a One Stop Centre that provides a range of integrated services under one roof including police facilitation, medical aid, legal aid and counselling, psycho-social counselling and temporary shelter to women affected by violence or in distress.
The setting up of OSCs from the year 2015 onward, at the district level, has provided a dedicated platform for women facing violence and who are in distress to get necessary help and assistance, which was not available earlier.

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Key Objectives of the Sakhi-One Stop Centre

One-Stop Centres (OSC) are intended to support women affected by violence, in private and public spaces, within the family, community and at the workplace.
- Women facing physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and economic abuse, irrespective of age, class, caste, education status, marital status, race and culture will be facilitated with support and redressal.
Key Objectives:
- To provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence, both in private and public spaces under one roof.
- To facilitate immediate, emergency and non-emergency access to a range of services including medical, legal, psychological and counselling support under one roof to fight against any forms of violence against women.

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Implementation of Sakhi- One Stop Centre

State / District Authorities are responsible for the recruitment and appointment of suitable manpower/staff at these centres for effective implementation of the Sakhi scheme.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development reviews the implementation of the scheme and functioning of these centres from time to time through meetings, Video Conferencing and issuing advisories to States Governments/ UT Administrations.

Services offered in Sakhi- One Stop Centres

The Sakhi One Stop Centres will be integrated with a Women Helpline to facilitate access to the following services-

Emergency Response and Rescue Services: OSC will provide rescue and referral services to the women affected by violence.
- For this, linkages will be developed with existing mechanisms such as National Health Mission (NHM), 108 services, and police (PCR Van).
Medical assistance: Women affected by violence would be referred to the nearest hospital for medical aid/examination which would be undertaken as per the guidelines and protocols developed by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
Assistance to women in lodging FIR /NCR/DIR
Psycho-social support/ counselling: A skilled counsellor providing psycho-social counselling services would be available on call.
- This counselling process will give women confidence and support to address violence or to seek justice for the violence perpetrated.
Legal aid and counselling: To facilitate access to justice for women affected by violence, legal aid and counselling would be provided at OSC through empanelled Lawyers or National/ State/District Legal Service Authority.
- The aggrieved woman would be provided with an advocate of her choice in case she wants to engage the same to assist the State Prosecutors in trying her case.
- It would be the responsibility of the Lawyer /Prosecutor to simplify legal procedures for the aggrieved woman and advocate for her exemption from court hearings.
Shelter: The OSC will provide a temporary shelter facility to aggrieved women.
- For long term shelter requirements, arrangements will be made with Swadhar Greh/Short Stay Homes (managed/affiliated with government/NGO).
- Women affected by violence along with their children (girls of all ages and boys up to 8 years of age) can avail of a temporary shelter at the OSC for a maximum period of 5 days.
Video Conferencing Facility: To facilitate speedy and hassle-free police and court proceedings the OSC will provide a video conferencing facility (through Skype, Google Conferencing etc.).
- This facility will be provided only after consultation among the Superintendent of Police, District and Sessions Judge of the concerned district (place of an incident).