What Women Received From Budget 2021: Gender Budget Rises 6.8% What Women Received From Budget 2021: Gender Budget Rises 6.8% The allocation for Pro-Women Schemes - those with at least 30 per cent allocation for women - has risen from Rs 1,14,893 crore to Rs 1,28,065 crore - an increase of 11.46 per cent
Allocation for Women Specific Schemes, with at 100 per cent allocation for women, has seen a decline
The Gender Budget has risen by a mere 6.8 per cent in the 2021 Union Budget - Rs 1,53,326 crore from Rs 1,43,461.72 crore in the 2020-21 Budget Estimates. However, the allocation for Women Specific Schemes - those with at 100 per cent allocation for women - has fallen from Rs 28,568.32 crore to 25,260.95 crore, a decline of about 13 per cent. Nevertheless, the allocation for Pro-Women Schemes - those with at least 30 per cent allocation for women - has risen from Rs 1,14,893 crore to Rs 1,28,065 crore - an increase of 11.46 per cent.
Gender Budgeting: A critical tool for women’s empowerment
The barriers to women’s equal participation in the economy and in public life need to be considered in policymaking and budgeting priorities Subhalakshmi Nandi
Representative image (PC- MoneyControl.Com)
Since 189 United Nations member states adopted the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action at the Fourth World Women’s Conference in 1995, the language of ‘gender mainstreaming’ has been adopted by many countries for shaping their public policy and programme priorities. In India, gender budgeting was enforced in 2004 with the recommendations of the Ashok Lahiri Committee, and the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) has been the principal unit that overlooks the strategic management and execution of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB).
Nearly 5 per cent of India s total Union Budget 2020-21 would be spent on schemes that benefit women, stated the gender budget for the year. Amounting to Rs 1.4 lakh crore ($19 billion) in 2020-21, the gender budget includes allocations made by different ministries for schemes that fully or partially benefit women. Gender-responsive budgeting, along with supportive laws and other policy measures, could help governments track whether public funds are effectively allocated in furthering gender equality and empowering women. India was ranked 112th of 153 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index 2020. India started releasing a Gender Budget along with the Union Budget in 2005-06. Ahead of the Union Budget 2021-22, we analyse how useful, or not, gender budgets have proved to be.