Opinion: Placing women and children better
By Dr Vanishree Joseph, Dr N V Madhuri
The union Budget 2022-23 focuses on enhancement of productivity and investment; infrastructure development; financing of investments and all-inclusive welfare. In its inclusive welfare and development, women and children have also been given a prominent place.
The Ministry of Women and Child Development schemes are completely revamped and Mission Shakti, Mission Vatsalya, Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 are launched with new dynamism. For Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0, the budget has been enhanced to Rs 20,263.07 crore in 2022-23 from Rs 19,999.55 crore in 2021-22. Saksham Anganwadis are new generation anganwadis that have better infrastructure and audio-visual aids, powered by clean energy and providing an improved environment for early child development. Under this scheme, two lakh anganwadis will be upgraded.
More Money
Mission Vatsalya, which is meant to provide services for child protection and welfare, has got a considerable share in the Budget. In 2021-22, the allocation for these services was only Rs 829.65 crore. But, in the present Budget, it is Rs 1,472.17 crore. Likewise, the Budget allocated for Mission Sakti has doubled. Under this , for protection and welfare for women, different schemes are implemented viz, ‘Sambal’ (Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao, One-stop Centre, Nari Adalat, Mahila Police Volunteer, Women’s Helpline, etc) and ‘Samarthya’ (Swadhar Ujjawala, widow home, working women hostel, National crèche scheme, National Hub for women etc).
The overall allocation for women and child development has increased from Rs 23,200 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 25,172.28 crore. However, there is a decline in the allocation of funds under the Development Heads in social services of nutrition. Last year, the amount allocated was Rs 15 crore and this year, it is only Rs 9 crore. Efforts to strengthen autonomous bodies like the National Institute of Public Cooperation and Child Development (NIPCCD), Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA), National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) and National Commission for Women (NCW) are also evident in the union Budget 2022-23 with an increase in allocation to these bodies.
But, for the Central Social Welfare Board (CSWB), the budget has been reduced to almost half from last year. The changing role of different bodies and an effort to strengthen the institutions to address the issues of women and children are reflected in this Budget.
Widening Gender Parity
The Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM-POSHAN), earlier known as the National Programme of Mid-Day Meals in Schools, is one of the foremost rights-based centrally-sponsored schemes under the National Food Security Act, 2013. The primary objective of the scheme is to improve the nutritional status of children studying in classes I-VIII in eligible schools. In the financial year 2022-23, the corpus of Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh is kept at Rs 10,000 crore in PM-POSHAN. However, support for the National Scheme for Incentive to Girl Child for Secondary Education did not find a place in this Budget. This may widen gender parity in secondary education.
Under health, there is an increase in the allocation to manufacture Sera and BCG vaccine for children — from Rs 104.37 crore to Rs 149.59 crore — and also a marginal increase in Reproduction and Child Health under National Rural Health Mission from Rs 3,118.50 crore to Rs 3,174.57 crore. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has got a fair share to produce children films, organise children film festivals and have an exhibition of children films in schools. For all these activities, the estimated budget is Rs 16.71 crore from Rs 1.57 crore.
Falling Short
Overall, the allocation of funds in the union Budget 2022-23 for the activities of women and children looks reasonable compared with last year. In spite of this, when we look at the status of women and children in the attainment of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) much more need to be done. At present, the sex ratio at birth (ratio of female babies to 1,000 male babies) is 899 whereas our SDG target is 950; the target for reducing underweight children in 1.9% but our present status is 33.4%. The maternal mortality ratio in India is 113 and our target to achieve in SDG by 2030 is 70.
We need to go many long miles to achieve many targets pertaining to women and child development in SDGs. The SDG’s ‘leave no one behind’ principle requires political commitment demonstrated through the provision of efficient delivery of public services and appropriate investments to resource these initiatives. The judicious use of resources allocated and the effective functioning of institutions will play a crucial role in placing our women and children in a better position.
(Dr Vanishree Joseph is Assistant Professor, and Dr NV Madhuri is Head, Centre for Gender Studies and Development, NIRDPR, Hyderabad)
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