What Does the State Do for Indian Women?

This paper examines the budgets of the West Bengal government to study the share of the state's budgetary resources that accrued to women in its various schemes. It is obvious from the study that West Bengal has taken little initiative to promote true gender equality or to remove the barriers that prevent women from availing of public facilities offered by the state. Expenditure on education has not been sensitive to the special needs of girls. West Bengal's budgetary expenditure compared with its NSDP is lower than other major states. The government has not done much to improve its own resource position, complaining instead that it has been denied its due share in central revenues - a claim that does not stand up to scrutiny.