The Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability does a gender analysis of public expenditure as presented in the 2008-09 budget

The Statement on Gender Budgeting has now been presented along with the Union budget for the fourth consecutive year.

In his budget speech, the finance minister pointed out that four more ministries/departments have set up gender-budgeting cells, taking the total number to 54. However, the number of ministries that are reporting women-specific allocations remains the same as last year, that is, 33 demands for grants.

The total magnitude of the gender budget has gone up only marginally, from 3.3% to 3.6% of total expenditure, a mere 0.3% increase over the previous year.

An analysis done by the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability looks at the requirements of women as laid down by various ministries and the Eleventh Five-Year Plan, and gauges whether the provisions made for women in the 2008-09 budget will meet these requirements.

Agriculture

The Eleventh Five-Year Plan stated that “the challenge is to improve the availability of agricultural inputs, credit, marketing facilities, technology and skill training for the increasing number of women farmers. Resources pooling and group investment, financial and infrastructural support will be provided”.

The Plan outlined a two-pronged strategy: (a) Ensuring effective and independent land rights for women, and (b) strengthening women’s agricultural capacities.

A specific scheme to address women’s vulnerabilities was also to be devised by the ministry of women and child development to identify and help women in states where the agrarian crisis has ravaged families.

Women-specific allocations in agriculture as a percentage of total allocations for agriculture has increased from 2.52% (2007-08 RE) to 3.66% (2008-09 BE).
This seems grossly inadequate to meet the above commitments.

Food supply and the PDS

The growing agrarian crisis and declining per capita foodgrain availability have serious implications for the public distribution system (PDS). NFHS-3 data shows that the proportion of underweight children among all children under the age of 3 in the country was as high as 46% in 2005-06, a figure that has remained practically stagnant over the last decade.

The National Commission on Farmers has calculated that the cost of reaching food to around 80% of the population, which is either malnourished or at risk of malnutrition, (ie, is food insecure) will be Rs 35,876 crore at current prices. The total subsidy needed for the universal public distribution system is as little as 1% of GDP.

Furthermore, food security is a deeply gendered issue. If food security is hit, the consequences will be felt most by women; women will be the first to get less food in the household.

This year’s budget allocates Rs 32,666.59 crore for food subsidy, up marginally from Rs 31,545.59 in the previous year, which is an insignificant amount. In fact, as a percentage of total expenditure, allocations on food subsidy have actually gone down from 4.68% in 2007 to 4.35% in 2008.

Skill development and self-help groups

Schemes that provide women with vocational training, credit support, marketing support and technological support, and generally strengthen women’s entrepreneurial activities, have received the following increases in allocations:

• Grants through NABARD for strengthening the cooperative credit structure -- Rs 3,542.91 crore (Rs 2,046.28 crore in 2007).
• Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana -- Rs 1,933 crore (Rs 1,620 crore in 2007).
• Training and employment programme -- Rs 33.3 crore (Rs 18 crore in 2007).
• Rashtriya Mahila Kosh -- Rs 31 crore (Rs 12 crore in 2007).
• Swayamsidha -- Rs 180 crore (Rs 22.41 crore in 2007). 

Health

Health has been a critical area of concern for women, as the poor health statistics show. The Eleventh Five-Year Plan recognises this and focuses on areas such as gender-budgeting in health to be made mandatory in all programmes of the Centre and the states; financial support for capacity-building, awareness-generation and effective implementation of the PC and PNDT Act; moving beyond the traditional focus on family planning and reproductive health; a National Research and Resource Centre in health for women under the NRHM; a multi-sectoral, decentralised, community-based health service, of which HIV/AIDS is an integral part; screening of all women during pregnancy, and appropriate referral to pre-designated institutions for management and safe delivery; providing skilled birth attendants.

To achieve all of this, the total allocation for the department of health and family welfare in the 2006 budget was Rs 11,366 crore, Rs 14,500 crore in the 2007 budget and Rs 16,968.25 crore in the 2008 budget.

Women-specific allocations for the three years are Rs 3,362.16 crore, Rs 7,817.61 crore and Rs 9,088.55 crore. In percentage share the figures are 29.58% (2006), 53.91% (2007) and 53.56% in 2008.

Allocation for reproductive and child health was Rs 1,629.17 crore in 2007; this has gone up to Rs 2,504.75 crore in 2008.

Education

Bridging gender concerns in education remains an important challenge. The chart below shows allocations for school education.

Comparison of percentage allocation for women for the last two years becomes meaningless since major schemes in elementary education like the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) and the midday meal scheme have not reported women-specific allocations in this year’s gender-budgeting exercise. This raises a serious concern.

In higher education, of the total allocation of Rs 10,852.87 crore made in 2008-09, women-specific allocation is Rs 1,859.2 crore, which is 17.13% of the share.

Marginalised and vulnerable women

Allocations have been made for special intervention schemes for working women and women in distress, mainly under the ministry of women and child development.

• Rajiv Gandhi National Creche Scheme for Children of Working Mothers -- from Rs 100 crore in 2007 to Rs 96.10 crore in 2008.
• Hostels for working women -- Rs 5 crore (2007) to Rs 20 crore (2008).
• Short-stay homes -- Rs 15.9 crore (2007) to Rs 15.9 crore (2008).
• Schemes for rescue of victims of trafficking -- Rs 4.50 crore (2007) to Rs 9 crore (2008).
• Machinery for implementation of the PCR Act 1955 and Prevention of Atrocities Act 1989 -- from Rs 39.40 crore (2007) to Rs 39 crore (2008).
• Deendayal Disabled Rehabilitation Scheme -- Rs 69 crore (2007) to Rs 60.50 crore (2008).
• Implementation of the Persons with Disabilities Act -- Rs 13.10 crore (2007) to Rs 15.50 crore (2008).

Minority women

Though the ministry of minority affairs has been given a significant increase in allocation from Rs 362.83 crore in 2007 to Rs 1,013.83 crore in 2008, following the Sachar Committee report which highlights the dismal social, educational and economic conditions of Muslims in India, no special provisions have been made for Muslim women who face double discrimination and are more vulnerable.

The ministry of minority affairs, as of now, has no schemes targeted specifically at women. It is therefore imperative that the government formulate a sub-plan for minorities, and earmark specific allocations for women.

The Eleventh Plan identified target areas: make education accessible for Muslim girls; link Muslim girls to employment; link Muslim women to credit, markets, technical training, leadership training, skill development especially for home-based female entrepreneurs and workers; and a pilot scheme for minority women to be launched by the ministry of women and child development.

Politics, legislation, institutional mechanisms

Allocations for women under the ministry of panchayati raj has gone down from even the revised estimates of last year -- from Rs 43.92 crore to Rs 34 crore.

There is no allocation for implementation of the Protection from Domestic Violence Act, 2005, which was passed after a long struggle. This puts a question mark on the government’s commitment to ensuring that the Act becomes a reality for women and does not remain confined to the law books.

Allocation for the National Commission for Women has gone up from Rs 6.20 crore in 2007 to Rs 7.25 crore in 2008.

Allocation for gender-budgeting has gone up from Rs 1.00 crore in 2007 to Rs 3 crore in 2008.