For promoting women-led development, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said the budget carries an allocation of more than Rs 3 lakh crore for schemes benefitting women and girls. Presenting the Union Budget for 2024-25 in the Lok Sabha, Sitharaman said this signals the government’s commitment in enhancing women’s role in economic development.
“For promoting women-led development, the budget carries an allocation of more than Rs 3 lakh crore for schemes benefitting women and girls,” she said.
Sitharaman said the government will set up working women hostels to promote their participation in the workforce. “We will facilitate higher participation of women in the workforce by setting up of working women hostels in collaboration with industries and establishment of creches in addition the partnership will seek to organise women specific skilling programmes and promotion of market access for women SHG enterprises,” she said.
These initiatives are aimed at enhancing work-home balance for women, thus encouraging their greater participation in the workforce. As mentioned in the interim budget, there is a need to focus on the poor, women, youth and farmers, she said.
Additionally, the budget outlines the launch of women-specific skilling programmes designed to boost female workforce participation, which has increased to 24 per cent in Q2FY24. The budget showed that the recent payroll data shows a notable rise in female workforce participation.
However, the Ministry of Women and Child Development has seen a marginal increase of 2.5 per cent in its Budget allocation for the fiscal year 2024-2025. The total budget for the ministry stands at Rs 26,092 crore, up from the previous year’s revised allocation of Rs 25,448 crore.
The SAMARTHYA sub-scheme, supporting projects such as Women Hostels, Swadhar Greh and Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana, has been allocated Rs 2,516 crore, a slight increase from the previous Revised Budget when Rs 2,325 crore was allocated.
A significant portion of this budget of the WCD ministry is directed towards the centrally sponsored schemes, which received Rs 25,848 crore.
The flagship schemes under the ministry, such as Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0, Mission VATSALYA, and Mission Shakti, have been given substantial funds to continue their efforts in improving nutrition, child protection, and women’s empowerment. Specifically, Saksham Anganwadi and POSHAN 2.0 have been allocated Rs 21,200 crore, aiming to combat malnutrition and support early childhood care.
Other key allocations include Rs 5.60 crore as India’s contribution to UNICEF and continued funding of Rs 500 crore for the Nirbhaya Fund, which supports initiatives aimed at enhancing the safety and security of women.
