Context: This article is based on an Editorial “India is looked upon as a leader in child and gender-responsive budgeting: UNICEF” published in Indian express. Recently, UNICEF’s representative hailed India for making great progress in making plans and budgets more responsive.

About Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB):

• Gender Responsive budgeting is a fiscal strategy to achieve equality between women and men by focusing on how public resources are collected and spent. 
• Gender Responsive Budgeting initiatives can help to close the gender gaps, ensuring that public money is raised and spent more effectively.
• Gender Responsive Budgeting in India:
  • GRB began in India in 2005-2006 as a fiscal innovation, every year since then the Ministry of Finance has been publishing “Gender Budget Statements” along with the Union Budget.
  • Gender responsive budgeting in India encompasses four sequential phases viz. knowledge building and networking, institutionalizing of the process, capacity building, and enhancing accountability.
  • In the 2023-24 Union budget, the Finance Minister emphasised ‘Nari-Shakti’ (woman power) and shifted the focus from women’s development to women-led development.

Government Initiatives toward Gender Responsive Budgeting:

• Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana: Women applicants for housing loans get special interest rates and other benefits.
• Safe City Project: To ensure the safety of women by strengthening public resources.
• Samarthya Scheme: Launched by clubbing existing women’s empowerment programmes such as the Pradhan Mantri Vandana Yojana and Swadhar Greh etc.
• Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS)
• Saksham Anganwadi scheme and POSHAN 2.0
• Swachh Bharat Mission
• Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) and Health System Strengthening,
• Beti Bachao, Beti Padao
• Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana (PMUY)

Significance of Gender Responsive Budgeting:

• Achievement of Gender Equity/Equality – The Constitution of India not only grants equality to women, but also empowers the State to adopt measures of positive discrimination in favor of women.
• Improving Literacy: The Government has been successfully running the Vidhyashakti program with focus on female literacy.
• Monitoring The Achievement Of Policy Goals: GRB is a tool to monitor the achievement of the goals of the National Policy for Empowerment of Women 2001 and other policy goals.
• Economic Growth: India has also promoted female entrepreneurship through initiatives such as Start-up India, the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana etc. 
  • The Bharatiya Mahila Bank Ltd, first of its kind in the banking industry in India and the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana besides promoting financial inclusion are emerging as a catalyst for gender justice and equality.

Challenges need to be Tackled: Gender Disparities in India

• Education: According to the World Bank India report, while male literacy rate in the country is at 84.7 percent, for females, it is 77 percent.
• Economic Opportunities: According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey 2021-22, only 32.8 percent of women between 15-29 years were part of India’s labour force in 2021-2022, while men were at 77.2 percent.
• Political Representation: Women comprise only 14.44 % of the 545 members of the 17th Lok Sabha.
• Low Budgetary Allocation: Despite having been in operation for almost two decades, budgetary expenditure on it remains a mere 4-5 percent of the total allocation in Union Budget 2023-24.
• Quality Gender Dis aggregated Data: The government agencies who do not capture gender-dis aggregated information from their schemes and programmes may not be able to assess the targeted expenditure towards the empowerment of women and girls.

The Path Ahead toward Gender Responsive Budgeting: Strategies for Inclusive Budgeting and Policy Formulation

• Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action: It recommended devising mechanisms and taking positive action to enable women to gain access to full and equal participation in the formulation of policies.
• Gender Budgeting and Revenue Generation: It is also important to review the revenue generation aspect of the Budget.
• Transparency toward Gender Responsive Budgeting: A transparent mechanism to explain how weights are assigned to various schemes leading to their placement in either part of the gender budget statement should be introduced.
• Gender-Disaggregated Data: Building gender-disaggregated data and integrating it with the outcome budget will help in better evaluation and focused allocation. 
• Institutionalization: Further institutionalizing GRB within all ministries using a comprehensive strategy that includes in-depth gender analysis, identification of priority areas, proper planning, and setting of short- and long-term goals.
• Expansion of Scope: GRB should also be used in those areas which have an inseparable gender component or indirect impact on women’s welfare. 
• Addressing the Structural Needs: It is important to identify that fiscal remedy alone is not enough when it comes to addressing the socio-economic and structural needs stemming from gender.

Conclusion 

• Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) in India has made strides in promoting gender equality through government initiatives and budget allocations. However, challenges like disparities in education, economic opportunities, and political representation persist. To move forward, we must adhere to the Beijing Declaration’s principles and address deeper socio-economic issues beyond fiscal measures. By doing so, India can continue its journey towards a more inclusive and equitable society.