GENDER RESPONSIVE BUDGETING: THE INDIAN EXPERIENCE

Generally known as "gender budgets,” or "gender-sensitive budgets "or “Gender Responsive Budget” the practice of incorporating gender needs into national budgeting processes--and including gender sensitization at the table in the budget-writing process--is gaining attention across the globe. The latest count shows that over100 countries have initiated GRB practices and processes to varying extents. Gender budgeting has the potential to alter global priorities radically. The queries relating to gender in the context of fiscal policy are not new in the discourse on development and public policy in India. In India, gender sensitivity in the government budget has been gaining ground since the publication of the Committee on the Status of Women report. As the Status of Women in India Report of 1975 demonstrated, in almost all walks of life, education, health, and employment, discrimination against women was rampant. From top-sided sex ratios at all stages of life (produced by the 'customs' of dowry, polygamy, and child marriage) to discriminatory legal frameworks and general neglect of the economic and social contribution of women, the Report underlined how a fundamental inequality was rooted in social structures. It was being exacerbated by the path of development being pursued. The system of Gender Budgeting, as a tool for achieving gender mainstreaming, has been put in place by the Government of India to ensure a definite flow of funds from the general developmental sectors to women. The rationale for GB arises from recognizing that national budgets impact men and women differently through the pattern of resource allocation. It is also one of the critical tools to tackle the mounting violence against women. Many state governments in India have also prepared a Gender Budget Statement and have started reflecting allocations for women in the GB Statement of the State Budgets. They have stated commitments to mainstreaming gender in their state programs and have targeted the education, health care, justice, and police sectors as priorities. However, the proper implementation of Gender Budgeting has still been a distant dream for the North-Eastern States. There is still a fair way to go in developing legislation and regulations that enable the implementation of gender equality goals and objectives. GB Statements are prepared in Tripura, Nagaland, and Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram. Recently, Mizoram, along with Assam and Tripura, adopted the Results Framework Document (RFD) policy and is at various stages of implementation. Given this, the paper urges all the state governments in the North-Eastern Region to enhance gender-specific resource allocation for women and ensure that funds under these heads are not diverted. It concludes by calling for an urgent need for proper institutionalizing gender budgeting in the entire north-eastern region and for making an adequate provision for women with proper gender budgeting by all departments, besides ensuring accountability and transparency in implementing the schemes.