Should the government make it mandatory that the benefits to women be made clear in all policies announced through the year instead of doing so in the Budget? Former Chief Economic Adviser Ashok Lahiri was instrumental in introducing the concept of the 'Gender Budget' from 2005-06. Since then, each ministry every year tries to show through numbers how much of the Budget exercise is geared towards women. There have been some accurate interpretations and some that were plainly over-the-top. Does expanding a hospital help women more than the money spent on police modernisation? It could be a lively debate.
This is because making public policy in India through the Budget is a most difficult task. Not only is the government often ill-suited to the task but there are also competing challenges from different interest groups that make it impossible to adopt a sage position. The Budget is, after all, an accounting exercise and can only go so far. Taking care of the needs of women through the Gender Budget framework is very promising, according to Lekha Chakraborty, Professor at the National Institute of Public Finance and Policy. "However, gender budgeting is neither an earmarking of Budgets for women nor is it confined to specifically targeted programmes," she said. "Gender budgeting is applying a 'gender lens' to the entire Budget and such models are in an evolving stage."
Instead, one should better examine the policies pursued beyond the Budget to make sense of the extent to which governments have taken care of half of the population. As an example, the Power Ministry recently announced a charter of rights for electricity customers. At first glance, it could appear to be an anodyne statement. Look closer, however, and you'll see that the document promises that a power consumer has rights to have 24X7 electricity at his or her house. In the middle of a city, the shutdown of electricity is a bother but it has far more dangerous implications for women’s safety in a small town or a rural area. The rights, if they are enforced rigorously, can be a game-changer.
Or take the case of the faceless assessment introduced for income tax. When the government is pushing the cause of involving more women in start-ups, it cannot be the case that they should be hemmed in with visits to tax offices. Those visits can be daunting tasks. At this stage, one must make a disclaimer that the tax officers are mostly not to be blamed for this perception. However, the environment of middlemen that ring these offices makes the prospect most unwelcome.
Both examples - power companies ensuring electricity supply and tax departments offering an easy path for women entrepreneurs to solve tax disputes - are smart policies of significance to women.
Therefore, it is in the development of a frictionless operational environment for not only women but also disadvantaged sections of society that a government’s role becomes critical. Unfortunately, these cannot be measured through the rise and fall of outlays in the annual Budget.
For instance, there is a massive dip in the number of women entering the workforce in India. The data is unqualifiedly dismal. It is not possible or realistic for the government or any other body to provide employment reservations to make up for this deficiency. However, let's turn the argument around on its head.
We know from plenty of studies that commuting is a major safety issue for women. In most towns in India, the public transport system is abysmal. This weakness cannot be made up by offering to build metro networks. Those are sub-optimal for non-metro cities because of the heavy capital outlay required. A much smarter alternative is to expand bus services in the towns and make them run on a strict timetable. This requires time investments from the state and municipal administrations to keep them running on schedule, keep the staff accountable and offer a safe avenue for women to travel long distances for jobs.
A corollary to this is the issue of illuminated streets. Budget allocations to build highways provide employment but there's a far more pressing issue that needs attention. At a more modest outlay, a network of well-lit roads and lanes in towns and villages will provide women with the security to travel from their homes to bus stops and back.
There is, of course, the issue of the maintenance of the facilities. State and municipality leaders cannot score brownie points to inaugurate the lights, which work desultorily after the first night or provide a fleet of buses that are sent to bus sheds the next day and never venture out. Instead, the leaders have to ensure that the roads are lit every night for the poor women and daughters who walk on those roads and that the buses are available on time for them to reach colleges or places of work.
It is a grunge job at the end of the day for the government authorities to make these things happen. The impacts do not show up in Budget numbers but these actions are far more effective in ensuring that the larger policies meant to help women actually end up doing so.
(The writer is a business journalist and can be reached at s.bhattacharjee@ris.org.in)
Disclaimer: The views expressed above are the author’s own. They do not necessarily reflect the views of DH.