Bhubaneswar: Odisha Chief Minister Mohan Charan Majhi Saturday announced the launch of ‘Shaktishree’, a comprehensive initiative aimed at ensuring the safety and security of women students and staff across all higher education campuses in the state.
The announcement was made in the wake of the death of a 20-year-old student by self-immolation over an alleged sexual harassment incident at Fakir Mohan (Autonomous) College in Balasore.
Describing Shaktishree as a “transformative empowerment and self-defence initiative”, the chief minister said it will be implemented across 16 state universities and 730 government and aided colleges in the state for ensuring safety of girl students.
“This initiative will ensure the safety of girl students and create safer and more inclusive campuses in our higher education institutions,” Majhi said.
#Odisha takes a bold step with the #Shaktishree Initiative to ensure safer campuses for women. pic.twitter.com/eRzFhpeYUK
— CMO Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) July 19, 2025
‘Shaktishree will have eight focus points such as Shaktishree Empowerment Cell, Shaktishree Mobile Application, Code of Conduct for Teaching and Non-Teaching Staffs, SAFE Campaign (Shaktishree Actions for Female Empowerment), Annual Campus Safety Report, CCTV Surveillance, Online courses on POSH Act, 2013 and UGC Regulations and Shakti Swarupini (all persons involved in the initiative), officials said.
PTI
