Gender Budget Statement in India 2024-25 and Contributing Factors

Context: This year’s share of allocations to pro-women schemes stands at approximately 6.8% of the total budget expenditure for 2024-25.

Overview of the Gender Budget Statement (GBS)

• The GBS has been instrumental in allocating funds to pro-women programs since its inception in 2005-06.
• This year marks a significant increase from the average 5% in previous years.
• This rise has resulted in a total allocation surpassing ₹3 lakh crore, achieving 1% of the GDP for the first time.

Factors Contributing to Increased Allocations

• Introduction of Part ‘C’ in the GBS: This new section includes schemes with less than 30% provisioning for women.
  • Example: The PM Kisan scheme is now part of Part C with a ₹15,000 crore allocation, accounting for 25% of its total outlay.
• Increase in Part A Allocations: Part A had previously constituted 15-17% of overall allocations reported in the GBS till BE 2022-23.
  • Now there was a sudden increase in the allocations in part A that raised the share of pro-women schemes with 100% allocations, for women to almost 40%.
  • A key change was the inclusion of the entire ₹80,670 crore allocation for the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) — rural and urban — under Part A, previously split between Parts A and B.

Instances of Misreporting

• Over-reporting: The PM Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP), which aims to assist entrepreneurs in setting up micro businesses in the non-farm sector.
  • The GBS reported an allocation of ₹920 crore or 40% of the total allocation to PMEGP, without providing any explanation for such reporting.
• Under-reporting: Previous budgets under-reported allocations for the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) and omitted schemes benefiting women entrepreneurs like PM Vishwakarma, SVANidhi, and Stand-Up India.
  • Example:
    • Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS): Despite women constituting 59.3% of person-days as of December 2023, only 33.6% of MGNREGS’s total budget (₹28,888.67 crore) is reflected in the GBS.

Need for Enhanced Reporting and Accountability

• Incorporating Detailed Explanations: By adding detailed explanations for the figures entered in the Gender Budget Statement (GBS) can also aid in gender audits and foster better gender outcomes in government programs.
• Reflection of Advocacy in Reporting Enhancements: The advocacy by experts for enhanced reporting is evident in the introduction of a third part in the GBS.
  • This development, however, also highlights that the GBS still lacks a scientific and systematic approach to reporting.
• Ongoing Efforts and Remaining Challenges: While there are clear efforts underway to address misreporting and enhance the quality of the GBS, substantial progress is still needed.
  • This is to ensure that funds are genuinely directed towards women’s development from the initial planning stages of all government programs.
• The Importance of Gender-Responsive Budgeting: Gender-responsive budgeting is essential for addressing and narrowing gender gaps within the economy.
  • Additionally it ensures that budgeting processes are more inclusive of women’s needs right from the start.

Conclusion

The enhancements in the GBS are a positive step towards more transparent and accountable gender-responsive budgeting. Still, further refinements are needed to ensure that the reported allocations truly benefit women and contribute to closing the gender gaps in the economy. This requires a continued focus on detailed reporting and an emphasis on actual spending directed towards women’s needs from the planning stages of all government programs.

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