Budget:Allocation to women's schemes hiked 4 pc to Rs 1.21L cr

With a view to bridging the gender gap, the government has increased the allocation for women- specific programmes by 4 per cent to Rs 1,21,961.32 crore for the next fiscal.
The revised budget estimates for 2017-18 for such schemes stood at Rs 1,17,221.47 crore, according to budget documents.
Under the government's flagship programme for the girl child 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao', the proposed allocation in 2018-19 has increased to Rs 280 crore against revised estimates of Rs 186.04 crore for this fiscal.
However, Rs 2,400 crore has been assigned to the Maternity Benefit Programme in 2018-19, lower than the revised estimate of Rs 2,594.55 crore in 2017-18.

The allocation towards the scheme for safety of women (Nirbhaya Fund) has increased to Rs 19.75 crore, against Rs 11.20 crore in the revised estimate of 2017-18. However, Rs 359.09 crore has been allocated to Other Scheme Funded from Nirbhaya Fund in 2018-19, lower than the revised estimate of Rs 400 crore in the current fiscal.
The allocation for Women Helpline has been increased to Rs 28.8 crore as against Rs 10 crore in the revised estimate of 2017-18. A sum of Rs 24 crore has been assigned for the National Commission for Women in 2018-19, lower than the Rs 25.60 crore allocated in the current fiscal.

A sum of Rs 60 crore has been allocated towards the Ujjawala scheme for prevention of trafficking, against Rs 35 crore in the revised estimate for the current financial year.

National Scheme for Incentive to Girl Child for Secondary Education has been allocated Rs 255.9 crore, much lower than the Rs 320 crore assigned in the revised estimate of 2017-18.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today raised the target of beneficiaries under Ujjwala scheme to 8 crore, besides proposing lowering female employees' provident fund contribution to 8 per cent for the first three years.
Asserting that the government's commitment towards its flagship programme for the girl child 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' is unflinching, Jaitley said the 'Sukanya Samriddhi Account' scheme launched in January 2015 has been a great success.