Gender Budgeting in India: Concept and Progress

TOPIC CLASSIFICATION

Subject: Social Issues / Governance Sub-area: Gender Budgeting / Fiscal Policy Prelim PYQ Trend: Low-Moderate (budget allocation questions) Mains Relevance: GS-1 (Society), GS-2 (Social Justice, Governance), GS-3 (Budget)

EXAMINER REASONING

Gender budgeting is a tool for fiscal transparency and gender equality. The examiner tests: (a) concept - gender-responsive budgeting, not separate budgets for women; (b) mechanism - Gender Budget Statement (GBS) presented with Union Budget since 2005-06; (c) allocation trends - percentage of total budget, Part A (100% women-specific) vs Part B (30%+ women-specific); (d) effectiveness - utilisation of allocated funds, impact on outcomes; (e) state-level - 30+ states have adopted gender budgeting. Expect questions linking gender budgeting to SDG 5, women's economic empowerment, and fiscal federalism.

Core Concept

Definition: Gender budgeting is a public expenditure and revenue framework that integrates gender perspectives into all stages of the budgetary process - ensuring fiscal policies work for both men and women equally.

Key Concepts:

• Gender-responsive budgeting (GRB): Not a separate budget for women; it's mainstreaming gender in all budget allocations
• Gender Budget Statement (GBS): Statement 13 of Expenditure Budget (Union Budget) since 2005-06
• Two Parts: Part A (100% women-specific schemes - e.g., Mission...