Women-centric schemes see marginal allocation,finds CAG report

The government has allocated not more than 3 per cent of the state’s total budgetary allocation for absolute women-centric schemes between 2017 and 2021, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report has found, raising concerns about the efficacy of gender budgeting.

Gender budget is a policy tool to promote gender equity by allocating budgetary resources on programmes and schemes.

The funds for hundred percent women-centric schemes also saw a gradual decrease over the years — from over Rs 5,900 crore in 2017 to Rs 5,400 crore in 2021 — according to the state finance audit report by CAG for the year ended 2022 released recently.

Karnataka has been allocating a gender budget since 2007. A gender budget cell in the Fiscal Policy Institute prepares this budget in co-ordination with stakeholders.

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Under gender budgeting, hundred percent women-centric schemes are considered as Category A schemes. In 2021-22, 2.15 per cent of the total budget outlay of Rs 2,52,391 crore was allocated for Category A. The rest of the money has gone into women-oriented but not hundred percent women-centric schemes. For example, 15.47 per cent of the funds went into Category B schemes, which are less than 100% but more than 30 per cent women-centric.

This year, the state’s gender budget has seen an increase to Rs 70,427 crore, with the government allocating Rs 26,826 crore for absolute women-centric schemes, which adds up to 8.18 per cent of the Rs 3,27,747-crore budget, still a marginal allocation for such schemes.

Activists point out that gender budget is often misused for generic works. Speaking to DH, women’s rights activist Brunda Adige pointed out that, for instance, if a road is laid and a large number of women use that road, it cannot be considered as gender budget. “There are instances where money has been used for a road from a bus stop to a community hall, with the claim that women pass through this road. But there is no road after the community hall. How will the women pass it?”

As per the government’s gender budget, all departments must allocate at least 30 per cent funds specifically for women’s concerns, safety, nutrition and other indicators towards gender empowerment. But, some of the money gets diluted with other schemes, she added, alleging that the budgeting process was bureaucracy-centric, with no participation of the citizens and civil society.

The state must conduct a baseline study to understand gaps in gender equity and only then will gender budgeting make sense, observed Tara Krishnaswamy, co-founder, Political Shakti & Citizens for Bengaluru. “For example, if public schools have missing toilets, we need to know if they are more missing for girls or equally missing for both boys and girls. In order to fix a gap, you need to understand the gap,” she explained.