BENGALURU: Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani on Monday indicated the central government is ready to set up 'One Stop Centres (OSCs)' beyond the 10 countries already identified, aimed at servicing the security needs of Indian women living abroad.
She also said 300 more OSCs will be opened across the country.
One stop centres tackle cases of violence against women.
"In collaboration with the Ministry of External Affairs, our desire is that the Indian diaspora, especially where a lot of women fall into the category of professional services and part of the labour market internationally, they need to get the support of Indian missions overseas," Irani said in response to a question on OSCs abroad.
Speaking to reporters here, she said the government has identified 10 such countries in collaboration with the MEA.
"The MEA is currently in the process of progressively setting up those units across those 10 countries, and we are hoping that this will be the first tranche of service. We have implored the MEA to tell us if we need to go beyond those 10 countries to have additional desks. We will make sure that we provide budgetary support for the same," she added.
The Minister was speaking to reporters after the zonal conferences with states/UTs and stakeholders of the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
Noting that it has been announced in the Union budget that 300 additional one stop centres domestically will be opened, specially in those districts which have high-crime rate against women, Irani said, "We are hopeful, domestically and internationally, that we service the security needs of our women."