Articles by Bhumika Jhamb

The web version of this article corrects a few errors that appeared in the print edition.

Despite the steps towards gender responsive budgeting, the budgetary allocations for promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment show a decline. Not only has the magnitude of the gender budget as a proportion of the total expenditure of the Union Budget decreased, but the projected gross budgetary support for the “women and child development” sector for the Twelfth Five-Year Plan period also shows a decline from the Eleventh Five-Year Plan if the allocations for Integrated
Child Development Services are not factored in. Will this affect the government’s ambitious gender agenda?

This article evaluates the United Progressive Alliance government's budgets over the past five years through the lens of gender - both from reviewing the gender budgeting statements in union budgets since 2005-06 and assessing the allocations to major programmes and schemes across various sectors that affect women. First, although the gender budgeting statements still suffer from flaws in methodology, it is clear that women are accorded low priority in government spending on development. Second, the creation of an independent Ministry of Women and Child Development has not resulted in any significant change in priorities for women. Third, a whopping 42% decline in allocations for schemes meant for women's welfare under the MWCD in the union budget 2009-10 puts a big question mark on how serious the UPA is in its stated commitment to women's empowerment.