A provision of Rs 845 billion 11 crore 72 lakh 28 thousand has been made by the state government in the gender budget in the financial year 2022-23. In the financial year 2021-22, the gender budget was 27 percent, which has been increased to 34 percent. Instead of 28, 33 departments have now been included in the gender budget statement.
In the year 2022-23, arrangement for gender budget has been made for about 403 schemes. There are 47 schemes benefiting 100 percent women and 356 pro-women schemes. Gender budgeting is being done with the help of State U. N. Women.
In the current financial year 35 departments in the state have presented their schemes in gender related reports. It includes Home, Finance, Transport, Sports and Youth Welfare, Industrial Policy and Investment Promotion, Farmer-welfare and Agricultural Development, Cooperatives, Labour, Public Health and Family Welfare, Urban Development and Housing, School Education, Law and Legal Affairs, Panchayat, Tribal Affairs, Social Justice and Disabled Welfare, Food, Civil Supplies and Consumer Protection, Culture, Tourism, Animal Husbandry and Dairying, Fishermen Welfare and Fisheries Development, Higher Education, Technical Education, Skill Development and Employment, Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief and Rehabilitation, Women and Child Development, Cottage and Village Industries, Medical Education, Backward Classes and Minorities Welfare, Scheduled Castes Welfare, Rural Development, Horticulture and Food Processing, AYUSH, Nomadic and Semi-nomadic and Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises departments.
It may be noted that gender budgeting is a continuous process, which ensures that the benefits of development reach women at par with men. This year, the state government has made a budget provision of Rs 50 crore to start the fisheries scheme. This will benefit the women of fisheries sector.
It may be noted that according to the Periodic Labour Force Survey Report for the year 2017-18, Madhya Pradesh was the only state in India which has registered an increase in female workforce participation rate in 2017-18 as compared to 2011-12. The female labour force participation was 36 percent in the year 2020-21 as compared to 23.4 percent in the year 2019-20. Madhya Pradesh is the second largest state of India, in which males and females constitute 52 percent and 48 percent respectively.