The Government is committed for promoting gender equality in all sectors and at all levels of governance. Financing for gender equality is central to mitigate gender inequalities and Gender Budgeting is a critical strategy in this endeavour. The Government has adopted Gender Budgeting as a strategy to incorporate a gender perspective in all stages of policy making.
The Government has emphasised that Gender Budgeting includes gender sensitive formulation of legislation, policies, plans, programs, schemes, resource allocation, implementation, monitoring, audit and impact assessment of programs and schemes. In this regard, the Ministry has focused on (i) establishing institutional mechanisms and processes to undertake Gender Budgeting in all Ministries/Departments at the national and State/UT level and (ii) strengthening capacities and building expertise across levels of governance on undertaking Gender Budgeting.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development is implementing a scheme on Gender Budgeting to provide financial grant-in-aid to government departments, national and state training institutes and organisations to conduct training and workshops to build capacities of various stakeholders on Gender Budgeting. The funds allocated/released during the last three years are as under:
(In Rs. Crore)
|
S. No.
|
Year
|
BE
|
RE
|
Released/Expenditure
|
|
1
|
2018-19
|
3.50
|
3.50
|
3.17
|
|
2
|
2019-20
|
3.50
|
3.50
|
1.70
|
|
3
|
2020-21
|
5.00
|
5.00
|
0.24*
|
* Due to COVID-19 pandemic, virtual trainings were conducted leading to less expenditure
The Government publishes a Gender Budget Statement (Statement13) annually along with the Union Budget. The Gender Budget Statement is a reporting mechanism for Ministries/Departments to review their programmes from a gender perspective and present information on allocations for women and girls.
In Financial Year 2021-22, 43 Ministries/Departments/Union Territories reported an amount of Rs. 1.53 Lakh Crore in the Gender Budget Statement, an increase of 7% over 2020-21 (Budget Estimates).
In Financial Year 2022-23, 41 Ministries/Departments /Union Territories reported an amount of Rs. 1.71 Lakh Crore in the Gender Budget Statement, an increase of 11.5% over 2021-22 (Budget Estimates).
This information was given by the Union Minister of Women and Child Development, Smt. Smriti Zubin Irani, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
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