UN report praises India’s gender budgeting initiatives

Preetam B Yashwant, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, speaks at the UN Ministerial Conference in Bangkok, Thailand, on Tuesday, November 19, 2024 | Photo Credit: PTI

The adoption of gender-responsive budgeting by Asia-Pacific countries such as India demonstrates their strong commitment to ensuring efficient allocation of resources according to the identified needs of women and girls, according to a United Nations report that analyzes how countries in the region are doing. This compares favorably with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted in Beijing 30 years ago.

However, it was stated that India faces challenges in implementing gender budgeting due to the lack of gender-disaggregated data and the exclusion of key programs that benefit women.

Apart from India, she mentioned the Philippines as one of the countries that has successfully adopted gender-responsive budgeting. “These countries recognize the importance of integrating a gender perspective into the public financial management system in promoting gender equality and women’s empowerment,” the report said.

Report ‘‘Charting New Paths for Gender Equality and Empowerment: Beijing Asia-Pacific Regional Report + 30 Reviews’However, the report published here on Tuesday, November 19, 2024, noted that despite the significant steps taken by both India and the Philippines to ensure that their budget allocations are in line with their commitment to gender equality, both countries face challenges. India, for example, struggles with the limited effectiveness of GRB due to the exclusion of key programs that benefit women and the lack of gender-disaggregated data.

“Therefore, it is recommended that the Ministry of Women and Child Development and the Ministry of Finance continue to make joint efforts to address the gaps in the design and use of the Gender Budget Statement and establish stronger monitoring mechanisms to improve the quality of GRB work. sectoral level; integrating GRB considerations into the budget prioritization phase; and encourage sub-national governments to adopt GRB practices with the ultimate goal of ensuring the participation of the most vulnerable groups of women in planning and budgeting purposes,” she said.

There has been a 218% increase in gender budgeting in the country in a decade, the Indian government said at the Beijing+30 Review’s Asia Pacific Ministerial Conference.

Preetam B. Yashwant, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development, said that the gender budget allocation in the current financial year is worth $37 million.

He said India’s implementation of the Beijing Sustainable Development Goals targets was driven by “women-led” development.

“India has witnessed a paradigm shift in governance to enable women as architects to lead the way in conceptualising, designing and monitoring measures that shape our development project,” he said.

In a separate side event at the conference, India showcased this “women-led” model of development by highlighting women’s leadership based on 33% reservation in Panchayati Raj Institutions and Urban Local Bodies, as well as leadership of women’s collectives or Autonomy organisations. Charity Groups that contribute significantly to their financial empowerment.

The Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action was adopted by countries around the world in 1995 as a framework for advancing gender equality and empowering women and girls.