TISS team to conduct social audit of Delhi shelter homes
NEW DELHI: The team of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) Koshish, which exposed the horrors of Bihar Muzaffarpur shelter home, has been appointed by the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) to conduct social audit of all the shelter homes in Delhi. Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Thursday ordered this audit to all private and government shelter homes in Delhi.
"The Commission has engaged an external expert agency namely Koshish which is a field project of Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai to conduct the exercise. Koshish had earlier successfully conducted similar audit in other states especially the state of Bihar and was responsible for exposing the Muzaffarpur Shelter Home horror," observed the DCW in a statement. It added that an agreement was signed between DCW and Koshish, TISS in November and the Koshish team under the leadership of Md Tariq, Director Koshish and Assistant Professor TISS has started social auditing shelter homes in Delhi.
"Koshish team is visiting all the shelter homes in Delhi and auditing the same on various aspects which shall include the infrastructure, facilities provided, numbers training and attitude of staff, rehabilitation and restoration efforts amongst others. An agreement has been made between DCW and Koshish wherein the Koshish team shall inform the Commission immediately in case any instances of abuse are discovered in the homes. The team shall also document best practices and lacunae in policy in its report," the statement noted. In the meeting, the Deputy CM said that the Delhi government is keen to overhaul and improve the functioning of all the shelter homes and has therefore invited an external agency to examine the status and issues of homes in a non-partisan manner and present a clear picture to the government.
The DCW Chairperson Swati Maliwal said, "A pilot social audit of shelter homes had been initiated by the Commission in September and a report is being submitted to the Government. The Commission has now engaged TISS to independently conduct audits of all homes for women and girls in Delhi. The Commission shall leave no stone unturned to ensure that shelter homes in the Capital become places of protection and care for the women and girls."
