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UPSC MainsGeneral Studies Paper IIIIndian EconomyPractice question

Role of Gender Budgeting in Developmental Policy

Gender budgeting can be a useful tool to mainstream gender-responsiveness in developmental policy formulation and resource allocation. Discuss.

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Define gender budgeting and trace its institutional evolution in Indian fiscal planning. Discuss how it mainstreams gender responsiveness across resource allocation and policy formulation with programmatic examples. Highlight structural limitations such as ex-post accounting and data deficits, and conclude with strategic interventions like ex-ante impact assessments and decentralisation.

Model answer

496 words

Introduction

Gender Budgeting (GB) is a strategic fiscal approach that integrates gender perspectives into all stages of the budget cycle—from planning and formulation to execution and audit. Aligned with Sustainable Development Goal 5 (Gender Equality), it does not create a separate budget for women, but evaluates fiscal priorities to bridge structural inequities and ensure gender-equitable resource allocation.

Mainstreaming Gender-Responsiveness in Policy and Resource Allocation

Gender budgeting operationalises the principle that macroeconomic policies are rarely gender-neutral, driving targeted interventions across several domains:

  • Quantified Resource Allocation: Institutionalised through Statement 13 of the Expenditure Profile, India's gender budget reflects structured allocations categorized into Part A (100% women-specific schemes), Part B (30–99% women-targeted), and Part C (allocations below 30%). In the Union Budget 2025–26, the Gender Budget allocation reached ₹4.49 lakh crore, representing approximately 8.86% of total Union expenditure.
  • Shift from Welfare to Agency and Asset Creation: Gender budgeting has facilitated a paradigm shift from protective welfare to women-led developmental empowerment. Developmental schemes actively mandate female asset ownership, such as mandatory joint or sole female property titling under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), collateral-free credit mobilisation via Deendayal Antyodaya Yojana - National Rural Livelihoods Mission (DAY-NRLM), and technology-driven livelihoods through the Namo Drone Didi initiative.
  • Cross-Sectoral Mainstreaming: Beyond traditional social sector departments, over 50 Central ministries and departments have established Gender Budget Cells (GBCs). This has introduced a gender lens into non-traditional domains, including the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME), Science & Technology, and Civil Aviation.

Key Structural Challenges and Limitations

Despite significant fiscal allocations, the effectiveness of gender budgeting faces systemic impediments:

  • Ex-Post Accounting vs Ex-Ante Planning: Gender budgeting in India operates predominantly as a post-facto reporting exercise rather than an ex-ante policy formulation instrument. Departments often engage in retrospective arithmetic adjustments rather than designing schemes around identified gender gaps.
  • Asymmetric Sectoral Concentration: Outlays remain overwhelmingly concentrated within a handful of ministries—predominantly the Ministry of Rural Development, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, and Ministry of Women and Child Development—leaving core infrastructure and economic ministries with nominal gender integration.
  • Absence of Sex-Disaggregated Data: Management Information Systems (MIS) across various public programs lack comprehensive sex-disaggregated data, making rigorous, objective outcome-based evaluations difficult.

Measures for Enhancing Effectiveness

  • Integration with Outcome Frameworks: Gender budgeting outlays must be explicitly integrated into NITI Aayog's Output-Outcome Monitoring Framework (OOMF) to track tangible socioeconomic changes rather than merely financial expenditures.
  • Mandatory Gender Impact Assessments: Instituting mandatory ex-ante Gender Impact Assessments (GIAs) during the appraisal of major public projects will ensure gender mainstreaming at the conceptual stage.
  • Decentralised Fiscal Implementation: Gender budgeting must be institutionalised at the tier-three level by empowering Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs) and Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) to conduct local gender audits and participatory planning.

Conclusion

Gender budgeting holds transformative potential for bridging gender disparities when treated as an active governance philosophy rather than an accounting formality. Institutionalising rigorous ex-ante impact evaluations, resolving data deficits, and extending fiscal decentralisation will enable public expenditure to translate effectively into substantive gender equity and empowerment.

Key facts to remember

definition
Gender Budgeting

A fiscal methodology that applies a gender lens to planning, resource allocation, implementation, and audit to ensure public spending addresses structural gender inequalities.

statistic

The Gender Budget allocation in Statement 13 of the Union Budget 2025–26 stood at ₹4.49 lakh crore, accounting for roughly 8.86% of total budgetary expenditure.

— Union Budget 2025–26, Statement 13
scheme
Statement 13 (Expenditure Profile)

The Union Budget statement categorising gender-responsive public expenditure across Part A (100% targeted for women), Part B (30%–99% targeted), and Part C (under 30%).

Frequently asked questions

Why is gender budgeting often criticised as an ex-post exercise?

Because departments frequently calculate the gender component retrospectively to populate budget statements rather than designing schemes from the start based on ex-ante gender impact assessments.

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