Skip to main content

Union budget: New stage in making women more vulnerable to corporate 'sharks'

By Malini Bhattacharya, Mariam Dhawale*
In her budget speech the Finance Minister quoted Swami Vivekananda to state, “There is no chance for the welfare of the world unless the condition of women is improved. It is not possible for a bird to fly on one wing”. She boasts that her government has provided adequate opportunities for women to develop and provide livelihood opportunities.
However, this statement of the Finance Minister is hollow and full of half-truths if it is seen in the context of the current ground realities. As the post-election Periodic Labour Force Survey, 2019-20, confirmed, women’s employment has been at an all-time low and is driven by the agrarian distress within the country.
This was reflected in the overall growing job crisis as well as the inability of the government to respond to the drought situation within the country. It is significant that this budget comes at a time when more than 500 million people are battling drought and there is a severe water crisis in all urban and rural centres of the country.
Seen in this context, it is obvious that the Union Budget should have increased public expenditure to boost the rejuvenation of the agrarian sector which has seen a massive displacement of women’s livelihood.
However, this is not to be, as the size of the budget remains at 13.2 percent of the GDP which has been calculated at the nominal growth of 12 percent. The allocations for women oriented schemes have decreased from 0.66 percent of the GDP in 2018-19 to 0.64 percent of the GDP in 2019-20.
The allocation for the Ministry of Women and Child Development has decreased from 5.1 percent to 4.9 percent of the total expenditure between 2018-19 (revised estimate) and 2019-20 (budget estimate). All the purported ‘good intentions’ of the government to benefit women are therefore not backed by its actions.
It is important to note that even within this budget, the expenditure on Centrally Sponsored Core schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or MGNREGS (whose allocation has come down by Rs 1,000 crore), schemes for social assistance and for the welfare of Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and minorities has seen a slight decrease of 2.9 percent from the fiscal year 2018-19. This is reflective of the orientation and thrust of the government policy which is not geared towards arresting the trend of increasing inequalities.
The allocations for women-oriented schemes have decreased from 0.66 percent of the GDP in 2018-19 to 0.64 percent of the GDP in 2019-20
Further, the share of other core schemes in the expenditure has come down marginally from about 9 percent to 8.9 percent. The scheme for the pension to widows (which falls under the National Social Assistance Programme) has seen a decline in funding, as has the public funding to the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana.
Food subsidy has gone up by approximately 7.1 percent, but this may not be enough to even cover the cost of inflation which is likely to rise after post-budget impact on petrol and diesel prices. There is also an increase for the much touted Ujjwala Yojana, but its shortcomings are not addressed.
One of the central features of this budget is the liberalisation of the financial markets, which will make women vulnerable to non-banking finance corporations. It is well known that such financial companies charge high interest rates from women and put them in a debt trap.
The budget projects women as a fertile market for such companies by stating that one woman in every Self Help Group (SHG) will be given Mudra loan of Rs 1 lakh (most of which are administered through small banks and Non-Banking Finance Companies or NBFCs).
But the budget does not say anything about giving interest free loans to SHGs. It also recapitalises public banks to service these NBFCs so that they can give credit to women. In this sense this budget marks a new stage in the integration of women into financial markets, making them more vulnerable to corporate sharks.
It is also significant that a budget that should have helped the rehabilitation of farmers’ families, who are experiencing distress, is actually providing micro-finance companies incentives to exploit women. The slight increases in the National Rural Livelihoods Mission need to be seen in the context an attempt to boost the demand for credit by women.
Though the government claims that the safety of women is its priority, the allocations for the Nirbhaya Fund have decreased and the allocations for the National Mission for Empowerment and Protection of Women have decreased by Rs 50 crore.
The expenditure on major initiatives impacting women like the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS)and the Midday Meal Scheme have hardly seen any significant expansion or increases, and the rise in allocation is only likely to meet the increasing cost of implementation.
The maternity benefit scheme has seen an increase of Rs 100 crore, and most significant rise in health expenditure is on health insurance. The National Scheme for the Education of the Girl Child has in fact only seen a decrease in allocation.
The cutbacks in the first post-poll budget show the real character of the new government. It is significant that the government has slashed the rates of corporate taxes, but has not provided any relief to rural women or even middle class urban women. The projected increase in petrol and diesel prices is likely to further increase the misery of and burden on women.
---
President, general secretary, respectively, All-India Democratic Women's Association

Comments

TRENDING

Junk food push causing severe public health crisis of obesity, diabetes in India: Report

By Rajiv Shah  A new report , “The Junk Push: Rising Consumption of Ultra-processed foods in India- Policy, Politics and Reality”, public health experts, consumers groups, lawyers, youth and patient groups, has called upon the Government of India to check the soaring consumption of High Fat Sugar or Salt (HFSS) foods or ultra-processed foods (UPF), popularly called junk food.

Avoidable Narmada floods: Modi birthday fete caused long wait for release of dam waters

Counterview Desk  Top advocacy group, South Asia Network on Dams, Rivers and People (SANDRP), has accused the Sardar Sarovar dam operators for once again acting in an "unaccountable" manner, bringing "avoidable floods in downstream Gujarat."  In a detailed analysis, SANDRP has said that the water level at the Golden Bridge in Bharuch approached the highest flood level on September 17, 2023, but these "could have been significantly lower and much less disastrous" both for the upstream and downstream areas of the dam, if the authorities had taken action earlier based on available actionable information.

From 'Naatu-Naatu' to 'Nipah-Nipah': Dancing to the tune of western pipers?

By Dr Amitav Banerjee, MD*  Some critics have commented that the ecstatic response of most Indians to the Oscar for the racy Indian song, “Naatu-Naatu” from the film, “RRR” reeks of sheer racism, insulting visuals and a colonial hangover. It was perhaps these ingredients that impressed the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, one critic says.

Astonishing? Violating its own policy, Barclays 'refinanced' Adani Group's $8 billion bonds

By Rajiv Shah  A new report released by two global NGOs, BankTrack and the Toxic Bonds Network, has claimed to have come up with “a disquieting truth”: that Barclays, a financial heavyweight with a “controversial” track record, is deeply entrenched in a “disturbing” alliance with “the Indian conglomerate and coal miner Adani Group.”

Buddhist shrines were 'massively destroyed' by Brahmanical rulers: Historian DN Jha

Nalanda mahavihara By Our Representative Prominent historian DN Jha, an expert in India's ancient and medieval past, in his new book , "Against the Grain: Notes on Identity, Intolerance and History", in a sharp critique of "Hindutva ideologues", who look at the ancient period of Indian history as "a golden age marked by social harmony, devoid of any religious violence", has said, "Demolition and desecration of rival religious establishments, and the appropriation of their idols, was not uncommon in India before the advent of Islam".

Savarkar 'criminally betrayed' Netaji and his INA by siding with the British rulers

By Shamsul Islam* RSS-BJP rulers of India have been trying to show off as great fans of Netaji. But Indians must know what role ideological parents of today's RSS/BJP played against Netaji and Indian National Army (INA). The Hindu Mahasabha and RSS which always had prominent lawyers on their rolls made no attempt to defend the INA accused at Red Fort trials.

A Hindu alternative to Valentine's Day? 'Shiv-Parvati was first love marriage in Universe'

By Rajiv Shah*   The other day, I was searching on Google a quote on Maha Shivratri which I wanted to send to someone, a confirmed Shiv Bhakt, quite close to me -- with an underlying message to act positively instead of being negative. On top of the search, I chanced upon an article in, imagine!, a Nashik Corporation site which offered me something very unusual. 

Asset managers hold '2.8 times more equity' in fossil fuel cos than in green investments

By Deepanwita Gita Niyogi*  The world’s largest asset managers are far off track to meet the  2050 net zero commitments , a new study  released by InfluenceMap , a London-based think tank working on climate change and sustainability, says. Released on August 1, the Asset Managers and Climate Change 2023 report by FinanceMap, a work stream of InfluenceMap, finds that the world’s largest asset managers have not improved on their climate performance in the past two years.

Insider plot to kill Deendayal Upadhyay? What RSS pracharak Balraj Madhok said

By Shamsul Islam*  Balraj Madhok's died on May 2, 2016 ending an era of old guards of Hindutva politics. A senior RSS pracharak till his death was paid handsome tributes by the RSS leaders including PM Modi, himself a senior pracharak, for being a "stalwart leader of Jan Sangh. Balraj Madhok ji's ideological commitment was strong and clarity of thought immense. He was selflessly devoted to the nation and society. I had the good fortune of interacting with Balraj Madhok ji on many occasions". The RSS also issued a formal condolence message signed by the Supremo Mohan Bhagwat on behalf of all swayamsevaks, referring to his contribution of commitment to nation and society. He was a leading RSS pracharak on whom his organization relied for initiating prominent Hindutva projects. But today nobody in the RSS-BJP top hierarchy remembers/talks about Madhok as he was an insider chronicler of the immense degeneration which was spreading as an epidemic in the high echelons of th

Victim of 'hazardous' jobs, Delhi sanitary workers get two thirds of minimum wages

By Sanjeev Kumar*  Recently, the Dalit Adivasi Shakti Adhikar Manch (DASAM) organized a Training of Trainers (ToT) Workshop for sewer workers and waste pickers from all across Delhi NCR. The workshop focused on bringing sanitation workers from different parts of Delhi to train them for organization building and to discuss their issues of minimum wage, contractual labour, regular jobs and social security.