{"id":42129,"date":"2024-08-30T07:32:51","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T02:02:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/?p=42129"},"modified":"2025-10-08T12:40:36","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T07:10:36","slug":"gender-budget-2024-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/gender-budget-2024-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Gender Budget 2024-25: Key Insights, Impact, and Future Directions"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2><strong>What\u2019s in today\u2019s article?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Why in News?<\/li>\n<li>Gender Budget in India<\/li>\n<li>The Gender Budget of 2024-25<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>Why in News?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>In the 2024-25 Budget, the Finance Minister emphasized women-led development, highlighting a strong commitment to women&#8217;s empowerment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>This dedication is evident in the Gender Budget Statement (GBS), which reported that <strong>the Gender Budget has reached 1% of GDP estimates for the first time<\/strong>. The overall budget allocations for pro-women programs now exceed \u20b93 lakh crore, reflecting a significant investment in initiatives aimed at advancing gender equality.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Gender Budget in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Gender budgeting is a policy strategy that integrates a gender perspective into the budgetary process.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>It aims to assess how government spending and resource allocation impact men and women differently.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The goal is to promote gender equality by ensuring that public resources are distributed in a way that benefits all genders equitably.<\/li>\n<li>Basically, Gender Budgeting is a tool for gender mainstreaming, applying a gender lens to the entire policy process.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>It involves gender-sensitive formulation, resource allocation, and continuous monitoring to address vulnerabilities faced by women throughout their life cycle.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Need for Gender Budgeting<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Despite India&#8217;s progress in various sectors, significant gender disparities persist in areas such as education, health, employment, and political participation.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Gender budgeting is necessary to address these disparities and to ensure that women&#8217;s specific needs are considered in policy formulation and implementation.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>It also promotes accountability in achieving gender equality goals.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Introduction of Gender Budgeting in India<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/gender-budgeting-in-india\/\" target=\"_blank\">Gender budgeting India<\/a> introduced in 2005-06.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The Ministry of Women and Child Development spearheaded this initiative, which was supported by the Ministry of Finance.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The Indian government began by identifying and classifying budgetary allocations into three categories:\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Part A<\/strong>: Schemes where 100% of the budget is allocated for women.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Part B<\/strong>: Schemes where at least 30% of the budget is allocated for women.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Part C:<\/strong> Schemes that allocate up to 30% of their funds to women\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Implementation of Gender Budgeting<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>Nodal authorities, including the Ministry of Women and Child Development at the central level, spearhead gender budgeting implementation.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Departments of Women and Child Development\/ Social Welfare, Finance or Planning Department are also responsible for gender budget implementation in states and Union territories.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>District subs for Empowerment of Women are also active in states and Union territories to coordinate and fulfil the objectives of schemes.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>These hubs are also required to have at least one gender specialist.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><strong>The Gender Budget of 2024-25<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>About<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The GB reached 1% of GDP estimates in 2024-25 for the first time, and overall allocations currently stand at more than \u20b93 lakh crore for pro-women programmes.<\/li>\n<li>Since its introduction in 2005-06, the Gender Budget Statement (GBS) has consistently accounted for an average of 5% of total budgetary allocations, with minor fluctuations.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>However, in 2024-25, the share of allocations to pro-women schemes has risen to approximately 6.8% of the total budget expenditure.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Reason for the increase<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>This increase is driven by two main factors.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>First, the <strong>introduction of Part \u2018C\u2019 in the GBS<\/strong>, which includes schemes with less than 30% allocation for women.\n<ul>\n<li>E.g., the PM Kisan scheme in the agriculture sector, which now reports \u20b915,000 crore, or 25% of its total outlay, under this category.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li>Second, the rise in Part A allocations, which cover schemes with 100% allocation for women.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>Previously, Part A constituted 15-17% of GBS allocations, but this has surged to nearly 40% since 2023-24.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>This change is largely due to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) \u2014 both rural and urban \u2014 being reclassified from Part B to Part A.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Issues of both over-reporting and under-reporting<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>The GBS for 2024-25 highlights issues of both over-reporting and under-reporting in gender-related allocations.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Over-reporting is evident in schemes like the <a href=\"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/prime-minister-employment-generation-programme-pmegp\/\" target=\"_blank\">PM Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP)<\/a>, where 40% of the total \u20b9920 crore allocation was reported without explanation.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Conversely, under-reporting deflates the actual spending on women\u2019s needs.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>For instance, the National Rural Livelihoods Mission (NRLM) is now correctly reflected in Part A of the GBS with 100% allocation for women, which was underreported in previous years.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Additionally, while increased allocations for the Ministry of Electronics &amp; IT have been correctly reported, pro-women allocations in schemes like PM Vishwakarma, SVANidhi, and Stand-Up India were omitted.<\/li>\n<li>In another example, the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), despite women constituting 59.3% of all person-days under the scheme, only has 33.6% of its budget reflected in Part B of the GBS.\u00a0\n<ul>\n<li>This discrepancy suggests that the actual benefits to women under MGNREGA are not fully captured in the GBS.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<li><strong>Way forward<\/strong>\n<ul>\n<li>To minimize anomalies in the Gender Budget Statement (GBS), it is essential to include explanations for budgetary entries.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>Providing these rationales would enhance accounting accuracy, facilitate gender audits, and lead to better gender outcomes in government programs.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>The recent inclusion of a third part in the GBS reflects years of advocacy by experts for improved reporting.\u00a0<\/li>\n<li>However, the persistent anomalies indicate that the GBS still lacks a scientific and systematic approach.<\/li>\n<li>While efforts to reduce misreporting and improve the GBS quality are evident, more progress is needed.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<h3><strong>Q.1. What is the significance of the Gender Budget 2024-25?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>The Gender Budget 2024-25 marks a historic milestone, reaching 1% of GDP for the first time, with over \u20b93 lakh crore allocated to pro-women programs, reflecting a strong commitment to gender equality.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3><strong>Q.2. Why is accurate reporting important in the Gender Budget Statement?\u00a0<\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Accurate reporting in the Gender Budget Statement is crucial to reflect the true impact of allocations, facilitating better gender audits, and ensuring that women&#8217;s needs are effectively addressed in government programs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.thehindu.com\/business\/Economy\/analysing-the-gender-budget-of-2024-25\/article68582974.ece#:~:text=This%20commitment%20to%20women%20empowerment,crore%20for%20pro%2Dwomen%20programmes.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Analysing the Gender Budget of 2024-25 | Explained<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.indiabudget.gov.in\/doc\/eb\/stat13.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">India Budget<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/www.business-standard.com\/economy\/news\/gender-budgeting-in-india-what-does-it-mean-and-how-it-impacts-policy-123122000890_1.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Business Standard<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Explore the Gender Budget 2024-25, which reaches 1% of GDP for the first time. Learn about increased allocations, the significance of gender budgeting, and the challenges of accurate reporting.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":42130,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-42129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-upsc-mains-current-affairs","8":"no-featured-image-padding"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vajiramandravi.com\/current-affairs\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}