A close look at outlays for various schemes targeted at women reveals the low priority accorded to them in India's Budget 2007-08

While there has been a 1% increase in the overall magnitude of the gender budget as a proportion of total Union government expenditure, in India's Budget 2007-08, a reduction in allocation for reproductive and child health and no financial outlay for the recently-enacted domestic violence legislation are major disappointments in the latest budget, from a woman's standpoint.

A hike in allocation for the Rural Family Welfare Sub-Centres Scheme -- crucial to the health of women in rural areas -- from Rs 1,494.56 crore to 1,824 crore is welcome, says an analysis of the Gender Budgeting Statement by the Delhi-based Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability (CBGA).

Likewise, the increase in allocation for the National Rural Health Mission, from Rs 8,141.90 crore to Rs 9,839 crore is also a positive move.

However, one of the biggest disappointments of Union Budget 2007-08 has been the reduction in allocation for the reproductive and child health programme, compared with the 2006-07 budgetary estimates, from Rs 1,765.83 crore to Rs 1,672.2 crore. This, despite the fact that India's infant and maternal health indicators are among the worst in the world.

What's more alarming is the fact that what is allocated shows poor utilisation, as, between the 2006-07 budgetary estimate and the revised estimate, there is a decline of over 24%.

Likewise, revised estimate figures have declined even between 2005-06 and 2006-07, by more than 26%.

According to the Gender Budgeting Statement, presented with Union Budget 2007-08, expenditure on women has risen from Rs 22,251.41 crore, or a 3.8% share in Union Budget 2006-2007, to Rs 31,177.96 crore, or a 4.8% share in the latest budget.

However, according to the CBGA, calculations of the share of expenditure on women are flawed as entire allocations for certain schemes such as rural housing and health are claimed as women-specific. Also, outlays on the education of girls vis--vis boys are considered to be the same, whereas experience shows that providing schooling to girls requires bigger investments in infrastructure. Thus the gender budget ends up either over- or underestimating expenditure on women.

According to the Gender Budgeting Statement presented in Union Budget 2007-08, women-specific allocations for education have increased from budgetary estimates of Rs 8,110.3 crore in the previous budget, to Rs 9,238.71 crore in the latest one, with the percentage share for women in schemes run by the department of school education and literacy standing at 39.2%.

However, the share of women-specific allocations within the department's total allocation shows a decline, from 43.4% to around 40%, says the CBGA.

In Budget 2007-08, the Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalaya scheme has been merged with the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, making it difficult to track outlays for this specific scheme. Additionally, allocations for the Mahila Samakhya scheme have been increased only marginally from the budgetary estimate of Rs 30 crore in 2006-07 to a budgetary estimate of Rs 34 crore in 2007-08.

Therefore, while increased allocation for education (link) appears to be one of the few creditable features of Union Budget 2007-08, in terms of priorities for women in allocations for education, there is little to cheer about.

Again, the Gender Budgeting Statement has shown 100% allocation under the Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) as women-specific. However, the rural development ministry's performance budget 2006-07 says that of the 15.16 lakh houses constructed in 2004-05, 7.38 lakh were allotted to women, 4.32 lakh were allotted jointly to husband and wife, and 2.72 lakh were allotted to men.

Since 91.38% of working women are employed in the informal sector, their specific needs require special attention. So, while the increase in the allocation for labour welfare schemes in the 2007-08 budgetary estimate is a step in the right direction, the meagre allocation of Rs 5 crore for social security in the unorganised sector is a disappointment, says the CBGA analysis.

The Sampoorna Grameen Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), important for women in non-NREGS (National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme) districts, has seen a sharp reduction in allocation since the launch of the scheme in 2006-07, a factor that has adversely affected employment-generation in non-NREGS districts.

With regard to self-help groups, while the outlay has been increased from Rs 1,080 crore to Rs 1,600 crore for the Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) for self-employed women in rural areas, there has been no increase in outlays for strengthening the cooperatives credit structure through NABARD grants.

Source: Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, February 28, 2007