Government has adopted gender budgeting: Smriti Irani

"The government is committed to promoting gender equality in all sectors and at all levels of governance. Financing for gender equality is central to mitigating gender inequalities and gender budgeting is a critical strategy in this endeavor," stated Irani.

New Delhi: The Union Government had adopted gender budgeting as a strategy to incorporate a gender perspective in all stages of policy-making, Women and Child Development Minister Smriti Irani said in Rajya Sabha on Wednesday. The Union Minister in a written reply stated that Gender Budgeting includes the gender-sensitive formulation of legislation, policies, plans, programs, schemes, resource allocation, implementation, monitoring, audit, and impact assessment of programs and schemes.

"The government is committed to promoting gender equality in all sectors and at all levels of governance. Financing for gender equality is central to mitigating gender inequalities and gender budgeting is a critical strategy in this endeavor. The government has adopted gender budgeting to incorporate a gender perspective in all stages of policy-making," stated Irani.

She also said that her Ministry has focused on establishing institutional mechanisms and processes to undertake gender budgeting in all ministries at the national and state level. She also said that the Women and Child Welfare Ministry is also focused on strengthening capacities and building expertise across levels of governance on undertaking gender budgeting.

"In Financial Year 2021-22, 43 Ministries/Departments/Union Territories reported an amount of Rs. 1.53 lakh crore in the Gender Budget Statement, an increase of 7% over 2020-21 (Budget Estimates). In Financial Year 2022-23, 41 Ministries/Departments /Union Territories reported an amount of Rs. 1.71 lakh crore in the Gender Budget Statement, an increase of 11.5% over 2021-22 (Budget Estimates)," stated Irani.