Gender budgeting in the State has continued to move in the right direction with allocations for women going to 19.54%, a huge improvement from 11.4% in 2017-18. The gross provision for women in the State budget in 2020-21 was 18.4%.
While the allocation for women-specific schemes has come down from 7.3% in 2020-21 to 6.54%, indicating slower growth, that for composite schemes has risen from 11.1% to 13% in the same period.
In 2020-21, ₹1,509.33-crore was allocated for women-specific schemes and ₹2,300.54-crore for composite schemes, taking the total gender budget for the year to ₹3,809.87 crore, which was 18.4% of the total Plan outlay.
The total outlay for 2021-22 has increased to ₹4,025.4 crore (19.54%), with the allocation for women-specific components coming to ₹1,346.91 crore and that for composite schemes to ₹2,678.49 crore.
The budget acknowledges that though slow, there has been a growth in flow of resources to women in 2021-22 despite the shortfall in GST revenues, fiscal constraints, and huge losses in production and employment. This is owing to the emphasis on women’s employment and livelihood support measures.
Funds have been allocated for livelihood support projects for Kudumbashree, agriculture, animal husbandry, women and child development, and fisheries under the Rebuild Kerala Initiative.
Though women have been included in composite schemes in agriculture and allied activities and sectors such as IT and ITes and industry and services, their share in employment generation though small is growing.
It is expected that this year women will set up enterprises in select industrial parks, in nine of which women facilitation centres to support educated women’s participation in the workforce are proposed to be set up. A women entrepreneurship mission proposed by KSIDC, women entrepreneurship start-up programmes under the Kerala Startup Mission, Skill development and capacity building programmes, Gender Data Centre in collaboration with UN Women, a women football academy under the Kerala State Sports Council, building materials production unit by women, and allocation for civil defence of Kerala are some of the highlights of the gender budgeting this year.
For Anganwadis
The outlay for the Women and Child Development Department is ₹901 crore. Of this, ₹607 crore is for anganwadis. Monthly pension of anganwadi teachers has been increased to ₹2,000, and that of helpers to ₹1,500. Their monthly allowances too have been hiked. The outlay for women protection and development is ₹208 crore. Child friendly model grama panchayats will be encouraged. An amount of ₹84 crore has been earmarked for child protection and development.
