Welfare, empowerment of women suffer due to poor Budgetary support

By Bharat Dogra
Recent times have been extremely difficult for weaker sections in India due to not just the pandemic but several highly adverse policy decisions as well. Within weaker sections it is often the women who suffer more and face the most difficulties and distress in managing essential household expenses at times of eroding livelihoods and income on the one hand and increasing price of essential goods on the other hand. In the middle of such difficulties, various women’s welfare and empowerment schemes and programs of the government can make an important contribution to reducing the problems of women but unfortunately these have not been receiving adequate budgetary support with the result that their reach as well as their potential to help women has been adversely affected.
In 2013 the National Food Security Act made available certain maternity benefits to Indian women. Section 4 of ths law stated that every pregnant and lactating mother shall be entitled to ( nutritious food and )maternity benefit of not less than Rs. Six Thousand, in such instalments as may be prescribed by the Central Government. On the basis of assuming a population of 132 crore, a birth rate of 20 per thousand and an effective coverage of 90%, it has been estimated by experts that the annual budget needed for implementing this legal commitment is Rs. 14,000 crore ( one crore+=10 million).
However when we look at the actual expenditure on this, then what is needed for one year (Rs. 14,000 crore ) was actually spent over a period of seven years ( or probably even less than this was spent). The actual availability has been just around Rs. 2000 crore per year for the Pradhan Mantri Vandana Yojana scheme under which this legal commitment has been operationalised in a half-hearted sort of way after limiting this to just the first birth. Due to various implementation problems, even the limited benefits fail to reach several very needy mothers, or reach them only after a lot of difficulties and delay.
Allocations of many important schemes are not just indequate but in addition face heavy cuts later at the time of preparing revised estimates (RE) or on terms of actual exenditure. In financal year 2014-15, for example, the original allocation or Budget Estimate (BE) for the Indira Gandhi National Widow Pension Scheme was Rs. 3189 crore but the actual expenditure was only Rs. 1877 crore. One can imagine the distress this cut must have caused among a very vulnerable section of our society.
The importance of curbing trafficking cannot be over-emphasized, yet the budget of Ujjwala scheme devoted to this important work was cut drastically in financial year 2018-19 from Rs. 50 crore (BE) to Rs. 20 crore (RE). During the same year the budget for Swadhar Greha (rehab of distressed women) was cut from Rs. 95 crore to Rs. 40 crore.
Around this time employment prospects of women, most of whom work in the unorganized sector, had suffered a lot due to the overall crisis in the sector caused by the double hammer impact of demonetisation and GST, and an important scheme which could have checked this harm was that of Mahila Shakti Kendras ( National Mission for Empowerment of Women). However even the budget for this faced a cut during 2018-19 from BE of Rs. 267 crore to RE of just Rs. 115 crore.
During the next year 2019-20 even the overall budget of the Ministry of Women and Child Development suffered a cut from Rs. 29165 crore (BE) to Rs. 26185 crore (RE). Sabla, the most important scheme for improving health and nutrition of adolescent girls specifically faced a drastic cut from Rs. 300 crore (BE) to Rs. 150 crore (RE).
Clearly these cuts and low spendings, on top of inadequate allocations to start with for important programs, had an adverse impact of the welfare and empowerment of women. In the case of some programs like Beti Bachao Beti Padhao the emphasis generally speaking was on media publicity and promotion rather than actual work.
The important task of improving welfare and empowerment of women needs much better and stronger budgetary commitments.
—
The writer is Honorary Convener, Campaign to Save Earth Now. His recent books include 'India’s Quest for Sustainable Farming' and 'Healthy Food and Protecting Earth for Children'

Comments

The golden crop: How turmeric is transforming women's lives in tribal India

By Vikas Meshram* When the lush green fields of turmeric sway in the tribal belt of southern Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, and Gujarat, it is not merely a spice crop — it is the golden glow of self-reliance. In villages where even basic spices once had to be bought from the market, the very soil today is yielding a prosperity that has transformed the lives of thousands of families. At the heart of this transformation is the initiative of Vaagdhara, which has linked turmeric with livelihoods, nutrition, and village self-governance — gram swaraj.

Swami Vivekananda's views on caste and sexuality were 'painfully' regressive

By Bhaskar Sur* Swami Vivekananda now belongs more to the modern Hindu mythology than reality. It makes a daunting job to discover the real human being who knew unemployment, humiliation of losing a teaching job for 'incompetence', longed in vain for the bliss of a happy conjugal life only to suffer the consequent frustration.

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

Nalanda mahavihara By Rajiv Shah 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".

Authoritarian destruction of the public sphere in Ecuador: Trumpism in action?

By Pilar Troya Fernández The situation in Ecuador under Daniel Noboa's government is one of authoritarianism advancing on several fronts simultaneously to consolidate neoliberalism and total submission to the US international agenda. These are not isolated measures, but rather a coordinated strategy that combines job insecurity, the dismantling of the welfare state, unrestricted access to mining, the continuation of oil exploitation without environmental considerations, the centralization of power through the financial suffocation of local governments, and the systematic criminalization of all forms of opposition and popular organization.

Echoes of Vietnam and Chile: The devastating cost of the I-A Axis in Iran

By Ram Puniyani The recent joint military actions by Israel and the United States against Iran have been devastating. Like all wars, this conflict is brutal to its core, leaving a trail of human suffering in its wake. The stated pretext for this aggression—the brutality of the Ayatollah Khamenei regime and its nuclear ambitions—clashes sharply with the reality of the diplomatic landscape. Iran had expressed a willingness to remain at the negotiating table, signaling a readiness to concede points emerging from dialogue.

False claim? What Venezuela is witnessing is not surrender but a tactical retreat

By Manolo De Los Santos The early morning hours of January 3, 2026, marked an inflection point in Venezuela and Latin America’s centuries-long struggle for self-determination and independence. Operation Absolute Resolve, ordered by the Trump administration, constituted the most brutal and direct military assault on a sovereign state in the region in recent memory. In a shocking operation that left hundreds dead, President Nicolás Maduro and First Lady Cilia Flores were illegally kidnapped from Venezuelan soil and transported to the United States, where they now face fabricated charges in a New York federal detention facility. In the two months since this act of war, a torrent of speculation has emerged from so-called experts and pundits across the political spectrum. This has followed three main lines: One . The operation’s success indicated treason at the highest levels of the Bolivarian Revolution. Two . Acting President Delcy Rodríguez and the remaining leadership have abandone...

The selective memory of a violent city: Uttam Nagar and the invisible victims of Delhi

By Sunil Kumar* Hundreds of murders take place in Delhi every year, yet only a few incidents become topics of nationwide discussion. The question is: why does this happen? Today, the incident in Uttam Nagar has become the centre of national debate. A 26-year-old man, Tarun Kumar, was killed following a dispute that reportedly began after a balloon hit a small child. In several colonies of Delhi, slogans such as “Jai Shri Ram” and “Vande Mataram” are being raised while demanding the death penalty for Tarun’s killers. As a result, nearly 50,000 residents of Hastsal JJ Colony are now living in what resembles a state of confinement.

The price of silence: Why Modi won’t follow Shastri, appeal for sacrifice

By Arundhati Dhuru, Sandeep Pandey* In 1965, as India grappled with war and a crippling food crisis, Prime Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri faced a United States that used wheat shipments under the PL-480 agreement as a lever to dictate Indian foreign policy. Shastri’s response remains legendary: he appealed to the nation to skip one meal a day. Millions of middle-class households complied, choosing temporary hunger over the sacrifice of national dignity. Today, India faces a modern equivalent in the energy sector, yet the leadership’s response stands in stark contrast to that era of self-reliance.

Love letters in a lifelong war: Babusha Kohli’s resistance in verse

By Ravi Ranjan* “War does not determine who is right—only who is left.” Bertrand Russell’s words echo hauntingly in our times, and few contemporary Hindi poets embody this truth as profoundly as Babusha Kohli. Emerging from Jabalpur, Madhya Pradesh, Kohli has carved a unique space in literature by weaving together tenderness, protest, and philosophy across poetry, prose, and cinema. Her work is not merely artistic expression—it is resistance, refuge, and a call for peace.

Search This Blog