core sector communique

WCD Ministry Organises Conference on Gender Budgeting

A two day conference on Gender Budgeting is being organized by the Ministry of Women and Child Development in collaboration with National Gender Centre, Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration, Mussoorie on 6th and 7th June 2012. Around 30 senior and middle level officials from the Gender Budget Cells in the Central Ministries/Departments are expected to attend the conference. With the aim to review the process of Gender Budget Statement Development by the Central Ministries, the theme of the conference is “Gender Budget Statement: Issues and Challenges”. Eminent experts in the field of Gender Budgeting along with officials from the Ministry of Women and Child Development and Ministry of Finance will facilitate the workshop. The workshop is expected to further the understanding of the concept and tools of Gender Budget Statement and to suggest methodologies to improve budgeting processes and reporting in the Gender Budget Statement. This will be a further step towards building Government Capacities towards achieving women’s empowerment, especially those which aim to reduce the burden of poverty and promote the status of women. Gender Budgeting is noted to be a powerful tool for achieving gender mainstreaming so as to ensure that benefits of Government programmes and schemes reach women as much as men. Through Gender Budgeting the Government aims to ensure the translation of Government’s policy commitments on gender equity into budgetary allocations. It is not an accounting exercise but an ongoing process of keeping a gender perspective in policy/ programme formulation, its implementation and review. The Ministry of Women and Child Development as the nodal agency for Gender Budgeting, has been focusing on building the capacities of the Gender Budget Cells in various Departments and Ministries. A very important tool for Gender Budgeting is the Gender Budget Statement, introduced in the Union Budget 2005-06, which comprises two parts- Part A and Part B. The first part reflects programmes and schemes which have 100% allocation for women and the second part reflects those schemes where at least 30% of the allocation is for women. The Statement is an important tool for bringing together all information on the allocations for women and provides an indication of the funds flowing to women. Over the last three years, the allocation reflected in the Gender Budget Statement has increased from Rs. 67,749 crore in 2010-11, to Rs.78,251 crore in 2011-12 and Rs. 88,142.80 crore in 2012-13. Officers from the following Ministries/Departments are expected to attend the conference- Animal Husbandry and Fisheries, Telecommunications, Textiles, Water Resources, Rural Development, Social Justice and Empowerment, Power, Steel, Chemical and Petrochemicals, Commerce, Electronics and Information Technology, Food and Public Distribution, Home Affairs, Petroleum and Natural Gas, Sports, Panchayati Raj, Justice, Legislative, External Affairs, Information and Broadcasting, Overseas Indian Affairs, Defence, and Statistics and Programme Implementation.