The first budget announced by the newly-elected BJP government of West Bengal is being seen as the government’s intention to present itself as “gender-friendly”, which itself is an encouraging sign, some experts feel. Others, however, are sceptical about the sustainability of some of the proposals, or about the actual number of women benefiting from the much-touted Annapurna Yojana, the scheme for women that was a highlight of the BJP’s electoral promises.
The total outlay of the budget is INR 4.38 lakh crore.
“I would like to highlight that special emphasis shall be placed on empowering women as equal partners in the journey of development,” said state finance minister Swapan Dasgupta, underlining the claim on prioritising gender.
But his critics are wondering how much of the promises will translate into actual allocations, how many women will benefit, and, despite placing women at the centre of development, what percentage of the budget allocations are actually earmarked for gender.
Welfare schemes
The budget has announced an allocation of INR 36,000 crore for Annapurna Yojana, the monthly cash transfer scheme for women. It takes off from the previous Trinamul Congress (TMC) government’s Lakshmir Bhandar scheme.
As an anti-dropout measure for girl students, who have remained unmarried at the time of enrolling in undergraduate courses at government and government-aided colleges will receive a one-time financial support of INR 50,000. A total of INR 1,000 crore has been earmarked for this initiative. This similar to the TMC government scheme of Kanyashree, which awarded INR 25,000 to girls who were unmarried and enrolled at an institution of higher education till 18.
Dasgupta announced a 33% reservation for women in state government jobs as part of the drive to fill 1 lakh existing vacancies.
The budget has announced free bus-rides for women and also encouraged women to turn their home kitchens into cloud kitchens.
Nutrition, safety, hope for ASHA workers
Dasgupta announced “financial compensation for wage loss to pregnant and lactating mothers” and said the budget has addressed “improved nutrition for mothers and infants”.
Women’s police stations will be set up in district sub-divisions and women’s police officers’ patrolling teams in busy city areas. Two all-women battalions will be established.
Pointing out the critical role played by Anganwadi workers and Anganwadi helpers of Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) and ASHA health workers, Dasgupta announced an increase of INR 5,000 in their monthly honorariums.
SDG-aligned
The budget took care to align its development aims with the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In a separate document, it published the allocations made for each goal.
This helps to show the small percentage of funds that is allocated for gender-related areas in the budget. In total, SDG 5, Gender Equality, has been allocated INR 24,412.44 crore.
The highest allocation is for SDG 10, Reduced Inequalities, at INR 53,000.97 crore, which is expected to touch the lives of women and marginalised communities.
The document demarcates the alignment of different sectors with each SDG and marks the share allocated to different SDGs within a sector.
In agriculture, INR 34.07 crore, a small percentage of the total spend on agriculture, INR 8,565.84 crore, has been linked to SDG 5, or gender equality. In higher education, SDG 5 does slightly better: of the INR 6,858.89 crore allocated for higher education, INR 333.88 crore is for gender equality.
This does not look too promising.
Fewer women to benefit?
Activists and experts welcomed the focus on women, but were concerned about how the schemes will be executed and the number of women who will actually be able to access them.
Annapurna Yojana emerged a major concern.
Former West Bengal Women’s Commission chairperson Sunanda Mukhopadhyay was extremely critical about the Annapurna Yojana.
She felt that the Annapurna Yojana is inherently flawed because of the way it judged a woman’s economic status based on the assets of the family. “We have to understand that even if her husband or her family possesses wealth or assets, she may not be entitled to any of these. A man enjoys the benefits of assets, say, of a vehicle, or even the family income, much more than a woman. It is unfair to determine her needs based on her family’s status,” Mukhopadhyay said.
The form asks women to provide details of how much land is owned by a woman’s family. “How does it matter to the woman? Often she has no money, irrespective of the land her family owns,” Mukhopadhyay added. “And a woman hardly owns land herself,” she reminded.
A state should take this into consideration when making financial decisions, she added, along with the fact that a woman’s income usually goes into the family’s welfare.
A math problem
“Just do the math of Annapurna Yojana,” said an activist who did not want to be named. “If INR 36,000 crore is allocated for 8 months, to be given to individual women at the rate of INR 3,000 per month, then the number of beneficiaries comes to 1.5 crore,” he said.
The number is significantly less than Lakshmir Bhandar beneficiaries. “Before Lakshmir Bhandar was withdrawn, 2.4 crore women were receiving the monthly cash benefit,” the activist pointed out.
How many women will finally be eligible to receive Annapurna Yojana cash is a question that many are asking.
A marked shift
Some activists are ready to look at the promise of the budget more than its grey areas.
“While economists flag valid structural concerns— specifically the fiscal strain of an INR 8.15 lakh crore debt and the shrinkage of the welfare net to 1 crore beneficiaries from the previous 2.4 crore — the budget undeniable places women at the very steering wheel of Bengal’s economic revival,” said Ujjaini Halim, social worker and West Bengal coordinator for Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an organisation that researches and analyses election data, often through the lens of gender.
“By tripling direct cash assistance to INR 3,000 per month through the Annapurna Yojana, mandating a landmark 33% reservation for women in upcoming government recruitments, and rolling out free bus transit via the Pink Card scheme, the budget actively tackles the twin challenges of female financial dependence and low workforce participation,” said Halim.
She, however, flagged a basic concern. “Quota alone will not solve unemployment situation, thus the budget’s ambitious long-term success hinges heavily on real economic expansion,” said Halim.
Kanyashree replaced, with a rider
Some experts felt that the one-time grant for girl students to prevent school dropouts is more limited than Kanyashree, the similar scheme instituted by the previous government that it replaced, though the current scheme promises to be double the amount.
“But Kanyashree did not require girls to get admitted to colleges to avail of this incentive. How many girls get to enrol at colleges? Maybe the government should look at that first,” said an activist who works with adolescent girls.
Anotherprevious state government scheme, Swasthya Sathi, which allowed free treatment facilities, has been replaced by Ayushman Bharat. Swasthya Sathi had an additional feature. Families were registered in the name of the oldest female member of the household, which was considered to have been empowering for the women. Ayushman Bharat has no such feature.
Free rides, but where are the buses?
“The government has promised free bus rides for women.But how many government buses are running?” asked Prajnaparamita Dutta Raychaudhuri, a researcher on gender issues.
She welcomed the increase in the ICDS and ASHA workers’ honorariums was a very good decision. “Anganwadi workers, women who cook mid-day meals and ASHA health workers are a pillar of support for the health system in rural areas for women and children,” she said.
Now, however, there is a huge question mark hanging over the fate of mid-day meal cooks, as the organisation ISKCON has been assigned to provide the meals for students.
“I had also welcomed the idea of starting cloud kitchens to generate women’s income initially and boost the economy,” said Dutta Raychaudhuri. “But on second thoughts, I feel this is another way of pushing women further into the interior of the household, discouraging them from coming out into the world and participating in it as workers,” said Dutta Raychaudhuri.
It is a patriarchal approach to women’s welfare, which reinforces the stereotype of the woman as belonging to the home. Why is not the same option offered to men?
Health initiatives wanted
“If the government was really interested in women’s empowerment and well-being, it would have looked at other things,” said Mukhopadhyay.
Health was an important factor, she said.
Primary health centres should be attuned more to treating women, said Mukhopadhyay. “It should consider facilitating services such as ultrasonography, something many women need to go through, and is expensive,” said the former official. An examination such as ultrasonography could be declared free of cost for women who cannot afford it.
Instead of promising free rides on buses that are hardly plying, Mukhopadhyay said, the government could have installed free sanitary napkin vending machines at train stations or other convenient public places. This would really facilitate free movement of women.
And if it was to encourage movement for higher education or work for women, it would look at the deplorable state of government hostels for women in Kolkata.
“Before we call this budget gender-friendly, we should consider such things,” she said.
The budget remains silent on any non-binary gender identity.