New Delhi, Mar 1 (UNI) Expressing disappointment with the Budget, women groups today said it has practically nothing for women as Rs 8795 crore allocation made for fair sex was totally inadequate and no funds were allocated for implementation of laws protecting women.
Ms Ranjana Kumari, President of Women Power Connect, a coalition of women NGOs, told UNI that the budgetary provisions for women, who constitute 50% population, was just about 0.01% of the total annual Budget. Moreover, no special measures have been taken to check inflation which impact women the most.
Charging Finance Minister P Chidambaram with trying to mislead women by giving figures of Rs 22,382 crore outlay, she said only one third of that amount would be available to women as it was for schemes with at least 30 per cent women specific programmes.
There has been no resources allocated for implementation of women specific laws especially Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, pointed out Ms Kumari, who heads the Centre for Social Research.
''Only passing a legislation is not sufficient. There has been no resources allocated for short stay homes required for putting up women victims of domestic violence. Also money required for training of Protection Officers and other staff has not been granted in the Budget,'' she said.
Moreover, despite much hype about the Sarva Siksha Abhviyan, there were as many as 30 districts where 70% of Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribe girls do not go to school. She said the Budget has made an in block sanction for Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, with no attention given to the specific needs of girls.
Regarding the Finance Minister's claim that the government has made sincere efforts to remove the last year's errors regarding gender budgeting, she said there has been no incidence analysis of the Budget to find out how the money meant for women was utilised.
She said the money was basically from non-lapsable pool but it either is not properly utilised or gets lapsed.
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Ms Ranjana Kumari, President of Women Power Connect, a coalition of women NGOs, told UNI that the budgetary provisions for women, who constitute 50% population, was just about 0.01% of the total annual Budget. Moreover, no special measures have been taken to check inflation which impact women the most.
Charging Finance Minister P Chidambaram with trying to mislead women by giving figures of Rs 22,382 crore outlay, she said only one third of that amount would be available to women as it was for schemes with at least 30 per cent women specific programmes.
There has been no resources allocated for implementation of women specific laws especially Prevention of Domestic Violence Act, pointed out Ms Kumari, who heads the Centre for Social Research.
''Only passing a legislation is not sufficient. There has been no resources allocated for short stay homes required for putting up women victims of domestic violence. Also money required for training of Protection Officers and other staff has not been granted in the Budget,'' she said.
Moreover, despite much hype about the Sarva Siksha Abhviyan, there were as many as 30 districts where 70% of Scheduled Castes/ Scheduled Tribe girls do not go to school. She said the Budget has made an in block sanction for Sarva Siksha Abhiyan, with no attention given to the specific needs of girls.
Regarding the Finance Minister's claim that the government has made sincere efforts to remove the last year's errors regarding gender budgeting, she said there has been no incidence analysis of the Budget to find out how the money meant for women was utilised.
She said the money was basically from non-lapsable pool but it either is not properly utilised or gets lapsed.
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