Odisha Govt Orders POSH Act Awareness in All Workplaces, Schools, Colleges
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha Women and Child Development Department has issued a directive to all senior government officials to prominently display awareness materials related to the Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013, commonly known as the POSH Act, across government offices, educational institutions, and workplaces.
In an official communication, Jyotishankar Mohapatra, Additional Secretary to the Government, expressed concern over the inadequate implementation of the POSH Act in many institutions. He emphasized the urgent need to raise awareness among both genders to ensure safer and more inclusive environments at workplaces and educational spaces.
As part of this initiative, the department has circulated a draft IEC (Information, Education, and Communication) board titled “Do’s and Don’ts”, offering clear guidance on acceptable workplace behavior and outlining the process for identifying and preventing sexual harassment.
Key Guidelines:
- Do’s: Respect personal boundaries, speak out against harassment, support victims, understand legal rights under the POSH Act, and use official grievance platforms like the Internal Committee (IC) and the She-Box Portal (shebox.wcd.gov.in).
- Don’ts: Avoid inappropriate remarks, physical advances, sharing offensive content, seeking sexual favors, trivializing complaints, or misusing the law through false accusations.
The department also reminded that every organisation with more than 10 employees is legally required to form an Internal Committee (IC) to handle sexual harassment complaints. Authorities have been instructed to ensure that these committees are registered on the She-Box portal, the central government’s platform for reporting workplace harassment.
The directive aims to strengthen the POSH framework in Odisha and ensure a zero-tolerance approach to workplace harassment.
