The Left Democratic Front government has continued to prioritise gender budgeting.
The Budget fixes the total outlay for schemes meant for women in the 2020-21 financial year at ₹1,509 crore, which is 7.3% of the Plan outlay.
This is up from ₹1,420 crore last year and double the total outlay of ₹760 crore in the 2016-17 fiscal, which came to 4% of the Plan outlay.
When the special component for women in other 50 schemes is taken into account, the gross provision for women in the State Budget comes to 18.4%. This was 11.5% during 2017-18.
Emphasis has been placed in the Budget on restoring women’s livelihoods by promoting women entrepreneurship, both traditional and non-traditional. These include women start ups and nano-micro enterprises under the IT and industries sectors.
Violence against women
A major initiative to prevent violence against women is Year of Women Safety 2020, which will be implemented by the Police Department. An amount of ₹1 crore has been earmarked for programmes under Saddhairyam Munnottu gender awareness programme of the Women and Child Development Department. These include night walks by women.
An international women’s trade centre will be set up on the Kozhikode campus of the Gender Park for women to start and expand enterprises safely and market their products globally.
A sum of ₹8.4 crore has been earmarked as the State’s share for the 28 POCSO courts to be set up.
The outlay for Women and Child Development Department, including that for Centrally sponsored schemes, is ₹1,053 crore.
Nirbhaya homes
The maintenance aid for the 16 Nirbhaya women and children’s homes in the State has been increased to ₹10 crore. Secure rooms will be arranged in working women’s hostels for women travellers.
Facilities will be arranged in select anganwadis for children with special needs. Anganwadis that lack proper buildings and enough children will be integrated to make model centres that remain open during the day.
The child Budget showed an increase in allocation as compared to the past two years. A total of ₹1,847.33 crore has been allocated, which is 8.9% of the Plan outlay. This was 7.7% in 2019-20 and 8.2% in 2018-19.
Kudumbashree’s contribution to increasing the visibility of women came in for praise in the Budget.