INTERIM BUDGET, 2024-2025: A BETRAYAL OF WOMEN BY BJP GOVERNMENT
The All India Democratic Women’s Association expresses deep disappointment at the Central Government’s interim budget 2024-25 which is nothing but a pre-election propaganda document. The pronouncement of the so-called successes in ‘women’s empowerment’ should be seen in the context of the continued economic distress, falling women’s paid employment and rising hunger. This has taken a huge toll and created tremendous misery in the lives of women.
The Finance Minister must take a reality check and stop deceiving the women of the country. India’s position in WEF’s Gender Parity Index is 127 out of 146 countries in 2023; its position in the Global Hunger Index is continuously worsening and is 111 out of 125 nations in 2022. Further, as per the latest NCRB report of 2021, suicides amongst daily wage workers went up by 170 percent for male workers, and 137 percent for women workers between 2014 and 2021. This reveals the extent of the distress of women and their families in the current times.
The Finance Minister's claims that women’s empowerment depends on ‘outcomes and not outlays’, implies that budgetary allocations are not important for women’s development. It is therefore not surprising that the Budget speech makes no announcements about immediate relief for the people reflecting in the continued abysmal levels of public spending.
The projected total expenditure of the state is down to 14.54 percent of the GDP, of which about 24 percent are interest payments. The allocations under the gender budget are projected at about 5-6 percent of the total expenditure, which is a near constant from the last year, whereas the allocations to the Ministry of Women and Child development continues to be about 0.5 percent of the total expenditure. These allocations make a mockery of the government’s claim of fostering ‘Nari Shakti’.
It is significant that there is no mention of the MGNREGS, which has significant number of women beneficiaries, in the speech. This is a reflection of the continuous efforts of the government to kill the scheme; the actual allocations where the budgetary estimate for 2024-25 is the same as that of the revised estimate of 2023-24, and about 5 percent lower than the actual expenditure of 2022-23. This also includes the back wages of workers that have not been paid by the government. It is also important to highlight that less than 1 percent of the 56 million households applying for work got 100 days of work, while job cards of more than 5.48 Cr MNREGA workers were deleted in 2022-2023.
Similarly, the government mentions free food to 80 Cr people as an achievement; but the budget document shows that the Modi government is not bothered about hungry people. The allocation for food subsidy is about 25 percent lower than the actual expenditure made in 2022-23 and 5 percent lower than the revised estimate of 2023-24. The Mission Anganwadi Saksham and POSHAN, which is crucial for addressing malnutrition has been facing cutbacks for a few a years now. In this budget, the government has reduced the allocation by 1.5 percent as compared to the revised estimates of 2023-2024. It is clear that the government is opening up this sector to private players and corporate NGOs, as the expenditure under it has been going down.
Another claim being made by the government is about the benefit to women from the PM Awas Yojana, where 70 percent beneficiaries are meant to be women. This so-called achievement is exposed by the fact that the revised estimate of the scheme is about 26.5 percent less than the actual expenditure of 2022-23. The government itself states in the implementation document, that though they had targetted completion of 53 lakh houses, only 13 lakhs were completed. Further, the government has also made tall claims about ‘lakhpati didi’, through the NRLM, whose allocation is abysmal and has seen no significant increases. In fact, the scheme is being used to entice women into production and operation of drones for agriculture with an allocation of 1261 Cr, as stated in PM’s independence day speech. This shows that the NRLM is being used as an instrument to create the links between rural women and agri-businesses (like the NAMO drone didi scheme).
The savings scheme for girl children announced in the last budget has been a non-starter, and the frauds in Jan Dhan scheme have been exposed by CAG. Hence, the governments propaganda on these schemes as ‘women’s empowerment’ in untenable.
Social sector expenditures have seen stagnant and declining trends. 70 percent of the Nirbhaya fund was unspent by December 2023, and the level of expenditure of Mission Shakti schemes are also more or less stagnant. The demands of ASHA and Anganwadi workers for regularisation and increased wages have been ignored; instead the government only promises to link them under the Ayushman Bharat Scheme. The expenditure of scholarships for girls and students from vulnerable groups sees no significant changes. The declining trend in the allocations for minorities continues, and whereas the allocation for National Social Assistance scheme is stagnant. In the case of development of SC, ST and other vulnerable groups, revised estimates of 2023-24 are about 30-40 percent of budget estimates, implying that implementation of programmes is not taking place. This shows that its hype of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikaas and Sabka Vishwas’ is just an illusion.
Finally, the government claims that it has passed the triple talaq and women’s quota bill as proof of its commitment to Nari Shakti. The AIDWA has made extensive critiques of these claims in the past and will continue to expose this anti-women government. It calls upon all democratic forces and women to unite for defeating this authoritarian and manuwadi government in the general elections of 2024.
