The Minister of State for Women and Child Development provided a comprehensive update to the Lok Sabha on March 27, 2026 — on the status of legislative and policy interventions for women’s security.
The response centred on the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (PoSH) Act, 2013, which mandates all employers with more than ten workers to constitute an Internal Committee (IC) for grievance redressal.
For smaller organisations or complaints against employers, the government has authorised Local Committees (LCs) at the district level. Highlighting the scale of support infrastructure, the Minister noted that 926 One Stop Centres (OSCs) have assisted over 13.37 lakh women as of 31 December 2025, providing integrated medical, legal, and psycho-social aid under the Mission Shakti scheme.
Strategic Outcomes and Support Infrastructure
Emergency Response: The Women Helpline-181 has managed over 2.88 crore calls, assisting nearly 99.09 lakh women in distress.
Police Convergence: 15,049 Women Help Desks are operational in police stations, with 14,363 specifically headed by women officers to ensure a victim-centric environment.
Digital Governance: The SHe-Box Portal serves as the primary digital lever for filing and tracking workplace harassment complaints, while the Mission Shakti Portal (launched Jan 2025) enhances service accessibility.
Mandatory Awareness: Employers are statutorily required to conduct regular sensitization workshops for staff and orientation programs for IC members to ensure operational compliance with the Act.
What is the "SHe-Box Portal"? The SHe-Box (Sexual Harassment electronic Box) is a centralised web-based portal developed by the MWCD to facilitate the registration of complaints related to sexual harassment at the workplace. It acts as a catalyst for transparency and accountability by allowing women in both public and private sectors to bypass internal organisational barriers and report grievances directly to a national oversight system. This mechanism manifests as a transition from "isolated organizational reporting" to "monitored statutory redressal," where the progress of the investigation can be tracked by both the complainant and the Ministry. Implementing SHe-Box provides a primary lever to benchmark the performance of Internal Committees across all registered corporate and government entities.
Policy Relevance: Fortifying Protections for the Female Workforce
Standardises the Framework for Professional Safety: By reiterating the IC/LC mandates in Parliament, the government reinforces a formal baseline that professional security is a non-negotiable statutory obligation for all employers.
Addresses the Unorganized Sector: The provision of District Local Committees (LCs) ensures that domestic workers and employees in micro-enterprises are not excluded from the legal protections of the PoSH Act.
Fortifies Victim-Centric Rehabilitation: The scaling of One Stop Centres establishes a formal baseline for immediate, multidisciplinary intervention, reducing the time-lag between an incident and essential support services.
Catalyses Institutional Accountability via Digital Tracking: Utilizing the Mission Shakti and SHe-Box portals provides the necessary technical infrastructure to aggregate national data on workplace safety, facilitating data-driven policy tweaks.
Anchors Women’s Representation in Enforcement: Maintaining over 14,000 women-led help desks in police stations provides a strategic safeguard against secondary victimization when reporting crimes.
Relevant Question for Policy Stakeholders: What specific protocols are being institutionalised to prevent the creation of "paper committees" where the Internal Committee exists only on record without functional training?
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