By Syeda Hameed and - -
NEW DELHI, Dec 10 2008 (IPS)

The Five Year Plans (2007-2012) reflect the evolution of India as a nation; they capture the emergence from the under-development stigma to a country that has donned the mantle of a progressive developing economic power. Development that is not just sustainable but also humanistic. Development which reaches out to young girls working in dingy looms for paltry wages, to women rendered homeless due to unavailability of credit and land, to Dalit families abused and burnt by upper caste oppressors for demanding rights and young women killed and victimised in the name of honour, writes Syeda Hameed, member of India’s Planning Commission and former member of the National Commission for Women. While India aims for double digit growth in the next Plan period, we are trying to ensure that economic growth encompasses women, especially poor and marginalised women. There is a growing concern that women’s contribution to the economy is increasing but their share of the economic pie is only getting smaller and smaller. There is a compelling need to take steps to ensure a fair allocation of government budget resources to women otherwise we will only be providing lip service to women’s empowerment. Removing gender inequity and influencing the budget making process go hand-in-hand.

The Five Year Plans reflect the evolution of India as a nation; they capture the emergence from the under-development stigma to a country that has donned the mantle of a progressive developing economic power. Development that is not just sustainable but also humanistic. Development which reaches out to young girls working in dingy looms for paltry wages, to women rendered homeless due to unavailability of credit and land, to Dalit families abused and burnt by upper caste oppressors for demanding rights and young women killed and victimised in the name of honour.

In the four years as a member of the apex body responsible for Planning in India I have realised with an increasing urgency each day the cross-cutting importance of gender. All over India, women are the poorest of the poor: disproportionately, they lack access to land, water and sources of energy; they lack access to education and other social services. Too often women are absent from decision- making, not only at the national, regional or local level, but also even within their own families. Where are we failing? What is it that we need to focus our energies on and move ahead? Why is it that financing for gender equality through government schemes and programmes has not gained strength?

Gender budgeting or financing for women’s development has been identified as a priority area and a tool for engendering macro economic policy-making. The 11th Plan has also stressed on that. Be it energy, infrastructure, education or agriculture, women’s needs and concerns have been kept in mind while framing policies in each of these sectors. For rural women, for example, the Plan hopes to ease their burden by catering to their energy and fuel needs which otherwise require back breaking work, as also ensuring their access to land rights and strengthening their capacities to work the fields.

Women have always been a part of the Plan process in India. The problem though, was one of approach where women were seen as welfare recipients. This however, has long been changed. Since the 9th Plan, empowerment of women became a primary objective and the Women’s Component Plan was introduced where 30 percent of the funds and benefits would flow to women. Women’s empowerment is not a new mantra nor is the concept of gender sensitivity a new idea…yet in the midst of huge numbers, allocations, outlays, revenues etc., the government sometimes loses sight of this priority.

For example, when I visit areas like Bhadohi in Uttar Pradesh, or Malegaon in Maharashtra, there is no visible sign of any of our ambitious schemes benefiting women. The allowances or pensions for widowed women are too little and sometimes don’t reach them. I often get explanations about limited funds and budgets. To this my response is, that while drawing budgets, it is important to realise that it is not only a question of numbers to be added, but faces and lives of women and girls who are going blind weaving carpets in Bhadohi, who have not seen the face of a school and who die in childbirth en route to hospitals.

While India aims for double digit growth in the next Plan period, we are trying to ensure that economic growth encompasses women, especially poor and marginalised women. There is a growing concern that women’s contribution to the economy is increasing but their share of the economic pie is only getting smaller and smaller. There is a compelling need to take steps to ensure a fair allocation of government budget resources to women otherwise we will only be providing lip service to women’s empowerment. Removing gender inequity and influencing the budget making process go hand-in-hand.

Budgets cannot be reduced to mundane exercises of numbers; they must characterise rationality, realism, sensitivity and a vision. They must be built with nuanced understanding of public spending and women’s development. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)

Excerpt: