Nearly 5 per cent of India s total Union Budget 2020-21 would be spent on schemes that benefit women, stated the gender budget for the year. Amounting to Rs 1.4 lakh crore ($19 billion) in 2020-21, the gender budget includes allocations made by different ministries for schemes that fully or partially benefit women. Gender-responsive budgeting, along with supportive laws and other policy measures, could help governments track whether public funds are effectively allocated in furthering gender equality and empowering women. India was ranked 112th of 153 countries on the Global Gender Gap Index 2020. India started releasing a Gender Budget along with the Union Budget in 2005-06. Ahead of the Union Budget 2021-22, we analyse how useful, or not, gender budgets have proved to be.
Updated Jan 25, 2021 | 19:04 IST | Manu Kaushik
India’s 100 billionaires have seen their fortunes increase by Rs 12,97,822 crores since March 2020, enough to give every one of the poorest 13.8 core Indians a paycheque of Rs 94,000, according to Oxfam report 100 richest Indians can give Rs 94,000 each to 14 cr poorest from pandemic earnings alone: report | Photo Credit: AP
Key Highlights
Oxfam s The Inequality Virus report says wealth of Indian billionaires increased by 35% during the lockdown
An unskilled worker will take 10,000 years to make what Ambani made in an hour during the pandemic, it said
Just 11 richest Indians can sustain the massive MNREGS or health ministry for 10 years just from wealth earned during pandemic
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Major focus of the Indian government to revive the COVID-19-battered economy, has till now been on the supply side, but it is time to change gears and focus on the demand side as well, lest the ongoing recovery begins to lose steam, says India Ratings and Research (Ind-Ra).
According to the ratings agency, there is nothing wrong in addressing the supply-side issues, as it, indeed, was needed to restore or augment the broken supply chain, especially in an economy where micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSMEs) play an important role in terms of generating employment and output.
However, the absence of adequate demand may jeopardise the recovery and may even lead to a second-round impact. Even if the supply side gets restored on account of the various measures announced by the government or the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), it may soon run into difficulty due to the lack of adequate demand for goods and services, Ind-Ra says in a note.
Budget for the masses? The dominant themes likely to get Nirmala Sitharaman’s attention this year
Generous budgetary support for construction, MGNEGA and rural infrastructure can ensure income transfers to the lower level of the pyramid
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman (File image: Reuters)
The challenges before Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman as she prepares to present the Union budget for 2021-22 are all too well known. The nation is just about emerging from a year of economic contraction, business shutdowns, and job and income losses, all brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic and policy decisions taken to contain it. Measures are needed to accelerate growth, create more jobs, increase household incomes, boost investment and consumption and nurse the fisc back to health.