Throw some light on the concept of gender budgeting and mention reasons behind its poor status in India. Also, suggest measures to address these issues.
Gender Budgeting as a concept, was introduced in India in 2005, to incorporate three dimensions of gender in budgeting.
- Gender based allocations.
- Allocations to gender in lumpsum allowances.
- Women-centric schemes and programmes.
Issues plaguing gender budgeting:
- No data on gender related allocation and its after effects.
- Pre-estimation exercise lacking, leading to misallocation.
- Political will remains weak to incorporate gender as social group.
- Focus on funding rather than qualitative outcomes leading to no substantial gains.
- Motivation in bureaucrats and policymakers is lacking.
Measures required:
- Cooperative federalism which fosters gender allocations at every level including municipalities, state, and centre.
- Recognition of gender as a socially disadvantaged group and specific clauses in budget clearly determining the allocations.
- Research on effectiveness of women-centric schemes and making them more inclusive.
- Focus on women participation in budgeting, for including their concerns and properly delineating targets to be achieved.
Gender budgeting as a concept is not new. However, its lacklustre implementation is a major cause of female lagging behind (India ranks 112 in gender gap index).
Topics: GS-I: Role of Women and Women's Organization • GS-I: Social Empowerment Communalism Regionalism Secularism • GS-II: Welfare Schemes for Vulnerable Sections