Gender budget takes a big leap in U'khand

The gender budget has taken a giant leap in Uttarakhand. According to an official estimate, nearly 25 per cent of the state plan size of Rs 4,000 crore this fiscal would be spent on the empowerment of women, who had been the driving force behind the formation of Uttarakhand.

In the budget, which was presented in the state Assembly last evening by Chief Minister R P Nishank, the provision of gender budget has been increased from Rs 333 crore in 2007-08 to Rs 1,205 crore in 2009-10.

Last year, the gender budget provision was for 20 departments. But this year, four more departments have been added in this bracket where the welfare of women would be the top most priority of the government.

“Women empowerment is one of our key goals. The provision of Rs 1,205 crore is indeed phenomenal for gender budgeting since the total plan size will be around Rs 4,000 crore,” said Finance Principal Secretary Alok Jain.

Gaura Devi Kanya Dhan Yojna, Nanda Devi Yojna and various other such schemes are likely to go a long way as far as welfare of women is concerned.

These schemes are mainly in two broad categories. The first one is for women and in the second category, a minimum of 30 per cent benefits of the scheme are exclusively meant for the female population.

The Nanda Devi Kanya scheme is for preventing female foeticide and providing economic and educational protection for the female child.

For Scheduled Tribes / Scheduled Castes and BPL female students, the government has introduced Guara Devi Kanya Dhan scheme, under which they will get Rs 25,000 for future courses after passing the intermediate examination.

Moreover, a provision of Rs 48.73 crore has been made for the department of women empowerment.

With the government turning its special focus on women, the concept of gender budget, which was introduced in 2007-08, is likely to pick up in near future, officials said.