As she started her budget speech on a note of nari shakti, India’s longest-serving woman finance minister, Nirmala Sithraman, noted: “The empowerment of women through entrepreneurship, ease of living, and dignity has gained momentum in these 10 years.”

Focusing on the four pillars of the poor, youth, farmers and women, the interim budget of 2024-25 is the last before India goes to the polls.

With women turning up to vote in increasing numbers, in some states outnumbering men and in others influencing elections (see, for instance, here), it would seem self-evident that the government’s slogan of nari shakti would get a boost.

A separate statement of the Union budget, it provides an estimate of budgetary allocations and expenditure targeted towards women and girls.

This is not a separate budget for women. Rather, it is an accounting statement that clearly shows just how much is allocated under each scheme for women beneficiaries or girls.

The practice of issuing an annual gender budgeting statement (GBS) as part of the Union budget began in 2005-06. A charter on gender budget cells (GBCs) to be set up across various ministries was issued in 2007, and detailed guidelines to establish these calls at the level of the states were issued in 2012-13.

Over the past two decades, India’s GBS has evolved into a comprehensive document that provides item-wise allocation and expenditure details in a clear, predictable format. The number of ministries and departments included in the GBS has more than doubled from 14 to 38.

Over the last two decades, while the quantum of the gender budget has grown, allocations have averaged between 4% - 5% of the total expenditure. The exception was financial year 2020-21, when social protection schemes during COVID-19 provided for cash transfers and other benefits to women.

This year, the total allocation under the gender budget stands at ₹three lakh crore, which is almost 6.5% of the total expenditure. This is an increase of almost 40% over the gender budget for the previous year, and the highest increase in the last decade.

Nearly 35% of the total gender budget, or ₹one lakh crore, has been allocated towards the Ministry of Rural Development for the Mahatma Gandhi Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, which provides 100 days of guaranteed wage employment in a year, the PM Awas Yojana (rural), which aims to provide........

© hindustantimes