Where we fall is where we rise

 

 

Punjab, for all its fabled prosperity, has earned notoriety for being one of the lowest sex ratios in the country. Besides, the status of women in the state is much lower on most indicators, including health and education. The practice of female foeticide is rampant. Violence against women inside their homes as well as outside is common whether it is reported or not.

In this grim scenario, it is appreciable that the state has gone for gender budgeting for the first time, in its budget plan for 2008-2009. Finance Minister Manpreet Badal, who presented the state budget on March 17, says: “It is just a modest beginning but a beginning has been made and we can enhance it in the years to come because gender is an area of priority.” The component of gender budgeting with an allocation of Rs 684 crore has been introduced. It is appreciable that this move has come in the state that lags behind in women’s empowerment.

The concept of gender budgeting is relatively new in the world, with Australia having taken the first step in 1984. South Africa followed in 1997. The gender budgeting initiative in India started in July 2000 when a Workshop on ‘Engendering National Budgets in the South Asia Region’ was held with the support from United Nations Development Fund for Women. Finance Minister P. Chidambaram included the gender component in the Union budget in 2005 for the first time. Since then Kerala, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Haryana and now Punjab have introduced gender budgeting in one way or another.

Gender budgeting should not be confused with budgets for women, or for men. It is an attempt to break down the mainstream budget to include development of the disadvantaged and raising the standard of the whole society. Progress towards gender equality is slow, and this is, in part, due to the failure to attach money to policy commitments. The Punjab chapter of Women’s Power Connect has welcomed this step with the hope that it will not be mere tokenism in its implementation.