The Gender Budget, an annual financial statement of the total allocation to women-centric schemes, stands at ₹3.27 lakh crore in the 2024-25 Budget. This is a 31.46% increase from the 2023-24 Budget allocation of ₹2.38 lakh crore.
The Gender Budget is divided into three parts. While Part A covers schemes with 100% provision for women, Part B includes schemes with 30-99% allocations for women. For the first time ever, Part C includes schemes with allocations of up to 30% for women.
“With the addition of Part C, the GBS now expands on the scope of including reporting by more ministries on pro-women expenditures under several government schemes,” says Sona Mitra, Director – Policy and Research, Institute for What Works to Advance Gender Equality.
Part A schemes have been allocated ₹1.12 lakh crore, nearly 25% higher than in the 2023 Budget. Part B schemes have seen a 38.56% increase in allocation in this year’s Budget, standing at little less than ₹2 lakh crore. Part C, which only includes the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme, has received ₹ 15,000 crore — the same amount as last year.
While welcoming the record allocation, Raghwesh Ranjan, Director, Social & Economic Empowerment, IPE Global, argues that it is more important to observe how the schemes are implemented as part of the reform agenda of Modi 3.0.
A closer look at the scheme-wise allocation reveals that several key initiatives have recorded an absolute increase in funding compared to last year.
The Rural Housing scheme under Part A has received ₹54,500 crore in funding – the highest across all schemes. The Urban Housing scheme, also in Part A, will receive ₹26,170.61 crore.
An interesting addition under Part A is the National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM), which has received ₹15,000 crore after missing out on the 2023-24 Budget.
“Beefing up allocations for NRLM will further support the economic empowerment of women in general,” says Ranjan, adding that setting up of working women hostels and crèches in partnership with the private sector will boost women’s workforce participation rate which stands at about 37%.
The Jal Jeevan Scheme and MGNREGA, both under Part B, have been allocated ₹34,162 crore and ₹28,888.67 crore, respectively. Notably, there was no allocation for the Jal Jeevan scheme in the last Budget.
The Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 programme of the Ministry of Women and Child Development has been allocated ₹15,900 crore, while the Ministry of Education’s flagship Samagra Shiksha programme has been earmarked ₹11,250 crore.
“It is not about inflating the amount of money spent on women in the Budget documents but about reflecting a correct quantum of expenditure towards women for a better outcome and impact-oriented implementation of the Gender Responsive Budget tool,” adds Mitra, whose organisation was instrumental in pushing for a Part C in the Gender Budget.
