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UNIT 3 INDIAN INITIATIVES

Structure
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Objectives
3.3 The Union Budget
3.4 State Budget
3.5 Local Government Budget
3.6 Summing Up
3.7 Glossary
3.8 Answers to Check Your Progress Exercises
3.9 References
3.10 Questions for reflection and practice

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3.1 INTRODUCTION

In India, budget is an annual function of the government. The financial calculations of the
state in respect to receipts are estimated on a yearly basis. Similarly, the expenditures or
money to be spent in various areas by the government in the form of grants are estimated
and proposed every year for the forthcoming financial year. The financial year is counted
from 1st April to 31st March. Thus, budgetary grants approved by the legislature are valid
or effective only for one financial year (upto 31st March of that financial year). After the
31st March, the grants that could not be utilized and it considered as lapsed. With the
appropriate approval from the legislatures, it may carry forward to the next financial year.

Budget in India is a document that is complete in itself. The budget document includes
all items of receipts and expenditures within the territory of India, and informs the reader
regarding various programmes and schemes of the government. Thus, by reading the
budget document, one can get a holistic picture of the financial functioning of the
existing government.
Another important point about the Indian budget document is its specificity in stating all
items of receipts and expenditures within the territory of India for the concerned financial
year. It is clear in stating the necessity of a certain department or ministry for a specific
purpose. The Indian provisions in relation to budgeting do not permit the diversion of
funds for a purpose other than what has been stated in the budget and approved by the
legislature.

The budget process in India follows the principle of gross budgeting. This principle has
its basis in the Article 204 (3) of the Constitution which prohibits withdrawal from the
Consolidated Fund of the state except under appropriation made by law passed in
accordance with the Constitutional provisions. This necessitates authorization of gross
expenditure notwithstanding the receipts or recoveries adjustable under the same
expenditure head as reduction in expenditure. This is a preventive tool to check misuse of
money accrued through large recoveries.

In India, the budgetary process also involves reviews of the progress of actual both on the
receipt and expenditure and updation of estimates periodically. This is followed by
actions as considered necessary by the administrative departments.
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3.2 OBJECTIVES

After studying this Unit, you should be able to

 explain the Union Budget of India
 examine the state budgets of the state of India and
 analyze the local governments budgets in India
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3.3 THE UNION BUDGET
The Finance Ministry (budget division) is primarily responsible for the preparation of the
union budget. It initiates the process for the coming year by issuing an annual budget
circular around the last week of August/ first fortnight of September each year. The
annual budget circular directs the various ministries and departments at the centre to
provide the budget estimates, revised estimates and the Actuals. It also lays down a
detailed time-table for the various stages of the budgetary process. The importance of the
time-table lies in the fact that budget preparation, presentation and implementation is a
time-bound programme. The information provided by the departments and ministries
must include the budget estimates and revised estimates of the Plan expenditure for the
financial current year, the budget estimates and revised estimates of the Non-planned
expenditure for the current financial year and the non-plan expenditure for the next
financial year. Thereafter, the ministries and departments present the budget estimates of
the Plan expenditure after consultation with the central Planning Commission. The
various departments and ministries are also involved in consultations with the Finance
Ministry to finalize the estimates of non-plan expenditures. Based on these processes, the
various departments prepare and send the Final statements of budget estimates to the
Finance Ministry.

Based on the information provided by the departments and ministries about the expected
requirement of funds, the Finance Ministry starts the process of preparing the estimates of
Revenue receipts for the next financial year. This involves the Budget division of the
Finance Ministry finalizing the estimated figure of non-tax revenue receipts for the
government. The revenue department of the Finance Ministry looks into the tax revenues
that can be collected in the next financial year. Once the figures are estimated, the
Finance minister examines the budget proposals that include the proposals of funds
required and proposals of sources of receipts. Subsequently, the finance minister consults
the Prime Minister and briefs the Union Cabinet about the budget. It is during this time
that the Finance Minister also holds meetings with interest groups such as business
groups and trade unions. The preparatory stage of the budgetary process of the union
ends with the finance Minister taking permission of the President of India to present the
budget in the parliament.

The constitution of India directs the union budget to be presented on such a day as the
president may direct. However, it has now become a convention to present the union
budget in the Lok Sabha on the last working day of the month of February every year.
The budget is introduced in the Parliament by the Finance Minister through what is called
the „budget speech‟ subsequent to which it is presented before the Rajya Sabha. The
members of Parliament can access the budget document only after the Finance Bill has
been introduced in the Lok Sabha.

The discussion on budget in Lok Sabha is conducted in two stages: first, a general
discussion and second, a detailed discussion and voting on demands for grants. In the first
stage, the broad outlines of the budget along with the policies of the government are
reviewed and critiqued in both the houses of the legislature. Neither any motion is moved
at this stage nor is there any voting on budget. Subsequent to this, the demands for grants
included in the budget are examined by the Standing Committees of the Parliament
comprising of members of both the houses of the Parliament. These Standing Committees
are to submit their report within a specified period of time.

The detailed discussion and voting on demands for grants begins in Lok Sabha once the
Standing Committees have presented their reports. With regards to any demands for
grants, the Lok Sabha can accept or reject or reduce the grant made under the demand but
it has no right to propose a higher grant under the demand. Reduction of the demand for a
grant can be made through passing a cut motion. Since it is almost impossible to have
detailed discussion on each of the demands for grants, the last day of the voting period all
pending demands are put before the Lok Sabha for voting. This is known as „Guillotine‟.

This is followed by the introduction of the Appropriation Bill by the government in the
Lok Sabha. Once it is enacted, the government gets authorization to spend money from
the Consolidated Fund of India.

In the next stage, the Finance Bill is taken up for consideration in Lok Sabha. Once
approved, the Finance bill authorizes the government to go ahead with the tax proposals.

The parliament‟s role in relation to budget is not over yet. It is also responsible for
undertaking a review of the implementation of the budget. It does so through the Public
Accounts Committee, Estimates Committee, Committee on Public Undertakings,
and the Department Related Standing Committees. Another institution involved in this
process is the Comptroller and Auditor General that is responsible for auditing the
Government‟s accounts once the budget is implemented.

Box:1 Women’s Empowerment through Gender Budgeting: A Review in the Indian

Context
Ajali Goyal in her article “Women‟s Empowerment through gender budgeting: A review
in Indian context” (Ritu Dewan and Seeta Prabhu, 2009) has stated about the initiatives
taken up India over last decades. She has also mentioned few milestones in the context of
gender budgeting as mentioned below:
i) Government of India adopted Women‟s Component Plan approach for ensuring
gender sensitive resource allocation. Reviewing the performance of the WCP
during the Nineth Plan, the 10th plan document indicates that 39 per cent of the
GBS of 15 women related Ministries/Departments flowed to women under the
Women‟s Component Plan.
ii) The first formal exercise in gender budgeting at the national level was undertaken
by the National Institute of Public Finance Policy (NIPFP) when they analyzed
the Union Budget. The Report of NIPFP categorized public expenditure under
three main types
a) Women specific allocations which are specifically targeted to women and
girls;
b) Pro-women allocations which are the composite expenditure of schemes with
women component; and
c) Mainstream public expenditure that have gender differential impacts.
This study highlighted the lacunae from gender perspective and recommended the
following for gender sensitive budgeting:
 Mechanism to collate gender disaggregated data from relevant departments so that
it can be developed to obtain the gender-wise relevant statistical database, targets
and indicators.
 Gender audit of plans, policies and programmes of various Ministries with pro-
women allocations.
 Segregation of provisions for women in the composite programmes under
education, health and rural development in order to protect the provisions by
placing restrictions on their re-appropriation for other purposes.
iii) Studies in select states were commissioned by the then Department of Women
and Child Development through the National Institute of Public Cooperation and
child Development using the same model.
iv) The Department of Women and Child Development also commissioned a study
on gender analysis of budgets of all states for the period 1993-94 to 2002-03so as
to generate a time series data on budgeted expenditure for women by state
governments for the years 1993-94 to 2002-03.
v) At the state level, the state government of Karnataka was a pioneer in gender
budgeting of public expenditure. The state undertook to earmark resources for
women in most sectors. States like Kerala and Tamil Nadu have achieved a high
degree of progress in gender related indicators on literacy, health, employment
etc. through the introduction of several successful gender related programmes.
vi) The initiatives taken in the last few years by the Ministry of Finance have
reinforced the commitment of the government to gender budgeting as a tool for
women‟s empowerment.
vii) Abundant research in academic circles by gender and public finance experts and
studies have been conducted and the noted the following aspects:
 The overall inadequacy of allocation for women in budgets at both
national and state levels;
 The multiplicity of schemes with small budgets which have limited impact
and coverage;
 Too many layers of administration impeding the smooth flow of funds and
delays in implementation;
 Shortfalls in implementation on account of gender insensitivity in
implementing agencies or failure to address core gender related issues.
Scheme formulation not in line with filed level requirement. Scheme
design does not address barriers to access by women;
 Lack of availability of gender disaggregated data to isolate expenditure on
 women in pro-women schemes;
 Lack of transparency in indicating physical targets and achievements;
 Lack of women‟s involvement in decision-making.
She also stated that resource allocation and public expenditure are important inputs in the
empowerment process and thus gender budgeting has a very critical role to play.
However, the tool of gender budgeting has to lend itself to this process based upon the
requirements of women‟s empowerment. The allocation and expenditure has to be
focused and appropriately prioritized. The tool should not become an end in itself.

Box: 2 Analysis of Union Budget

In the current Union Budget 2010-2011 by the Ministry of Finance of the Government of
India, the Women and Child Development Ministry has received an additional allocation
of Rs. 2446 crores over Rs. 7218 crore in 2009-10. National Mission for Empowerment
of Women has been the new initiative this year. The ICDS platform is being expanded for
effective implementation of the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Adolescent girls. Barring for
this encouraging aspects, the current budget has not brought great hopes for women.
The financial allocation for the National Commission for Women that is an apex body for
women‟s empowerment has been reduced from 9.06 to 7.75 crores. The budgetary
allocation for working women‟s hostels is highly inadequate with an increase of only 5
crores at a time when the number of working women is continuously increasing. The
Rashtriya Mahila Kosh allocation has come down from 20 to 15 crores that will cast
serious blow to livelihoods for women. Leaving this crucial area to financial market will
further increase the vulnerability of women‟s self help groups.
It is shocking to know that the budget provides shamefully low expenditure for relief and
rehabilitation for victims of rape. Whereas the allocation was 53.10 crores in the previous
budget, the actual expenditure was only 16 lakhs, and the current budgetary outlay has
been reduced to 36.2 crores. Yet again, there has been no allocation in the central budget
for providing infrastructure, etc, for the Protection of Women from Domestic Violence
Act, 2005.
The budget has reduced food subsidy of over 400 crores and the fertilizer subsidy by
3000 crores. The need for a stronger public distribution system to combat widespread
hunger and malnutrition which has been the demand of women‟s organizations has been
completely ignored. In fact, the government seems inclined to move towards a
dismantling of the existing PDS, to be substituted by food coupons, which can only mean
further exclusion of women and the BPL population from food security.
The mid day meal scheme has seen an increase of 16 per cent in the budget, but in the
context of a 20 per cent rate of inflation, neither full coverage, nor minimum quality can
be ensured. This will further exacerbate the malnutrition status of women and children,
particularly those from already marginalized sections like adivasis and Scheduled Castes.
The increase for ICDS is 461 crores- which is just about enough to cover existing centres,
and cannot provide for the 14 lakh anganwadis to become functional, as per the Supreme
Court directive.
While the announcement of the Matritva Sahayog Yojna to assist pregnant and lactating
mothers is welcome, the allocations for health and education fall far short of women‟s
groups‟ demand that each of these ministries should account for 6 per cent of the GDP.
There is no mention of the ASHA worker, and no fund allocation to ensure just wages to
this woman health activist.
An escalation in prices of essential commodities with the increase in the excise duty on
petroleum and petroleum products by Rs 1.00 per litre will increase the retail prices of
petrol and diesel by more than Rs 2.00 per litre. It will place an additional heavy burden
on the shoulders of common women already reeling under an 18 % rate of inflation in the
last few months.
In its Pre-budget memorandum submitted to the Finance Minister,
WomenPowerConnect had stated that in all metropolises -class I, II, III, IV and V cities-
safe public transport in terms of buses and trains must be provided to working women.
For women vendors and traders, luggage compartments in the trains and buses should be
provided. Budget has completely ignored this demand.
In the Budget, 2010-11, the basic threshold limit for income tax exemption will remain at
Rs 1.60 lakh. Under the new proposal, 10 per cent tax will be levied between Rs 1,60,001
and Rs 5,00,000, 20 per cent on incomes between Rs 5,00,001 and Rs 8,00,000 and 30
per cent above Rs 8,00,000. For women, the tax exemption will remain at Rs. 1.9 lakh as
it was in the previous year‟s budget.
An analysis of the budgetary allocation by Centre for Budget and Governance
Accountability (CBGA) has revealed that child development schemes form 97.2% of the
WCD ministry's budget. The lion's share is taken up by the Integrated Child Development
Scheme (ICDS) leaving only a measly 2.4% for women-related programmes.
Women’s rights organizations have demanded that the Government should:
 Ensure adequate gender budgeting in all ministries and departments.
 Enact a comprehensive Food Security Bill
 Ensure universal PDS as a core component.
 Allocate 6% of GDP for Health
 Allocate 6% of GDP for Education
 Make budgetary allocation to cover special schemes for women workers
 Increase allocation for women farmers
 Enhance resource allocation for tribal, dalit, and minority women
 Increase budgetary support for schemes to assist women-headed households and
differently abled women

The target of 30% gender allocations under all ministries has not yet been achieved. This
must be implemented immediately. There is need for gender audit and gender outcome
appraisal of all ministries and departments at the central and state levels. Very often,
resource allocations made under gender budgeting do not reach in time and they remain
unspent. There should be proper monitoring and supervision of the allocated funds with
greater transparency and accountability at all levels.

Box 3 Women in the Five Year Plans

In the early years of planning, it was assumed that women would automatically benefit
from the overall measures for national development.
The First Plan (1951-1956) focused on women‟s role in the family and in the community
and emphasized the need for adequate welfare services. A social welfare department was
set up to look after women and child welfare.
The Second Plan (1956-1961) retained the welfare approach to women‟s issues, taking
cognizance of the plight of women workers on account of the social prejudices, and the
need to provide and implement maternity benefits, protection from injurious work,
crèches, and equal pay for equal work policies.
The Third Plan envisaged female education as a major strategy of welfare. Under „social
welfare‟ the emphasis was on the provision of rural welfare services and condensed
educational courses. Health services were geared to maternal and child welfare and also
health education, nutrition and family planning.
The Fourth Plan emphasized women‟s education and the promotion of women‟s welfare
within the family, bringing down the birth rate, and increasing expenditure on family
planning.
The Fifth Plan (1974-1978) marked the beginning of a shift from the welfare approach
to the development approach with the scope of social welfare expanding to cope with the
problems of the family and the role of women – integrating welfare with developmental
services. In 1975, the CSWI brought out its report making several recommendations to
secure social justice for women, remove obstacles for their advancement and provide
opportunities for them to realise their full potential. International Women‟s Year and
Women‟s Decade provided a thrust to the changes in policy towards women‟s issues.
Hence, the Sixth Plan (1980-1985) included a chapter on women and development and
attributed the low status of women to the lack of income-generating opportunities. Indian
women were seen as active partners in development rather than passive subjects for
welfare. Employment was the critical goal and bringing in data on women‟s position in
the occupational classification of India‟s labour and other such information was a big
leap forward. The plan focused on extending assistance to help women overcome
poverty, highlighted the need to improve women‟s accessibility to assets and
recommended that women receive joint titles to land and property. Special institutions for
women were set up during this time – one was the National Committee on
Women under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister.
The Seventh Plan (1985-1990) acknowledged the important role of women in
agriculture and allied sectors and the gap between social reality and its perception by
society at large. The strategy was to organize women around socio-economic activities,
with the twin objectives of making their projects economically viable and
adding to their social strength for the overall enhancement of their status by bringing
them into the mainstream of national development. However, in identifying concrete
strategies, there was a tendency to slide back into women specific-sectors.
The Eighth Plan (1992-1997) was to shift emphasis from women‟s development to
women‟s empowerment, to „ensure that the benefits of development from different
sectors do not bypass women and special programmes are implemented to complement
the general programmes.‟ It reiterated the formation and strengthening of grassroots
organizations to articulate local women‟s needs and play an important role in
decentralized planning and implementation. It emphasized the convergence and
integration of services offered by health, education, employment and welfare
programmes at the grassroots level. A policy was adopted to earmark specific percentage
of allocations and numbers for women in all anti-poverty schemes in rural and urban
areas. But in Volume I of the Eighth Plan Document, women were only mentioned in the
context of the need for population control, and in Part II of the same, they are not
mentioned at all except in the context of women specific programs.
In the Ninth Plan (1997-2002), a new process was tried out. In 1996, the Planning
Commission, the UN system, civil society organizations and the Government of India
came together in a process to engender the policy and planning process. UNIFEM created
a think tank to bring the concerns and experiences of women, from a gender perspective,
to the Ninth Five-Year Plan. An effort was made to get women from all parts of India in
different walks of life to participate. The concept of Women‟s Component Plan to
identify and ensure the flow of benefits to women in every development sector was
initiated and became a mandate.
The same civil society initiative was taken forward in the Tenth Plan (2002-2007): the
focus for women was on the creation of self-help groups and the Plan suggested
strategies, policies and programs for the empowerment of women.
During the preparation of the Eleventh Plan, along the Planning Commission constituted
an additional Working Group of Feminist Economists (WGFE) in addition to the usual
process of consultation.
Source: Planning Commission, Engendering Public Policy: A Report on the work of the
Working Group of Feminist Economists during the Preparation of Eleventh Five Year
Plan 2007-2012, Government of India, May 2010.

Box 4 : Government agenda on Gender Budgets in Tenth and Eleventh Plan

Extracts from Tenth Plan:
"---the Tenth plan will continue the process of dissecting the Government budget to
establish its gender –differential impact and to translate gender commitments into
budgetary commitments. -----the Tenth Plan will initiate immediate action in tying up
these two effective concepts of Women Component Plan and Gender Budgeting to play a
complementary role to each other , and thus ensure both preventive and post facto action
in enabling women to receive their rightful share from all the women – related general
development sectors. "

The Approach Paper to the Eleventh Five Year Plan mentions "Gender Equity requires
adequate provisions to be made in policies and schemes across Ministries and
Departments. It also entails „strict adherence to gender budgeting across the board „.

Mission Statement - Budgeting for Gender Equity

The Ministry of Women and Child Development issued
CLARIFICATION REGARDING USE OF WOMEN
COMPONENT PLAN Vide letter no. PC/SW/1-3(13)/09-WCD,
dated, 5th January, 2010, Planning Commission, Government of India,
has stated that, "the concepts of Women Component Plan and Gender
Budgeting are not complementary but often contradictory and the world
over countries have moved to using Gender Responsive Budgeting as a
tool for gender mainstreaming and ensuring gender equity" and has
clarified that, "Women Component Plan should no longer be used
as a strategy either at the Centre or at the State level. In its place as
already initiated by the Ministry of Finance and Ministry of
 Women and Child Development, we should adopt Gender
Responsive Budgeting or Gender Budgeting only".
FM in his Budget Speech while presenting the Union Budget 2007-08 said:
"This year‟s Gender Budgeting Statement covers 33 Demands for
Grants covering 27 Ministries / Departments and 5 Union Territories. The total
magnitude of the Gender budget has also gone up to Rs. 31,177.96 crore."
4.0 Gender Budgeting – State level
In the meeting of the National Development Council held on 27-28 June 2005, the Prime
Minister has emphasized upon the need for State Governments to join hands in this area.
"The issue of gender bias is another area which needs focused attention. In the Union
Budget for 2005-06, we have made a beginning in gender budgeting by incorporating a
separate statement highlighting gender sensitivities of budgetary allocations under 10
Demands for Grants, to be extended to all Central Ministries. But this task will remain
incomplete unless all the States join hands in ensuring development justice to women.
This is one of the important instruments to tackle the growing violence against women,
which begins even before their birth and continues through their entire life span. It cuts
across caste, class community and prevails in all parts, rural and urban. This is the right
forum to pledge our wholehearted and unequivocal support for ensuring a violence-free
world for our women and girl children."
(quoted from the presentation made by the Prime Minister on 27th June 2005 in the
51st meeting of the National Development Council)
The State Governments collectively reflect a higher amount of women related
expenditure than GOI.
(Source:- Annual Report 2004-05, Department of Women and Child Development, GOI)
Increasing trend in Public Expenditure on Women over the decade 1993-94 to 2002-
03- total expenditure on women development has increased from Rs. 1083.57 crores in
1993-94 to Rs. 3719.16 crores in 2002-03 (B.E.).
The share of the Central Government has ranged between 40 to 50% in expenditure on
women.
The above position only reinforces the importance of extending Gender Budgeting
initiatives to the State Governments. Further, implementation of all important GOI
schemes is with State Governments. Thus any exercise in Gender Budgeting is
incomplete without State Government initiatives States could consider setting up Gender
Budget Cells in key Departments.
Back ground note on gender budgeting ,[Link] accessed on 21.11.2012

Check Your Progress Exercise 1

Note: i. Use this space given below to answer the question.
ii. Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this U nit.
1. State the role of parliament in budget making process in India
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3.4 STATE BUDGET

The budgetary process in the state is not different from that of the union. In the state, the
budget-making function is discharged by order and in the name of the governor by the
Finance department of the state. As in the case of the union, the budget exercise of the
state for the coming financial year also starts in the month of August/September. It starts
with the issuance of a circular from the Finance department that is addressed to all state
government offices, departments and ministries. The circular gives guidelines about the
exact information that the offices, departments and ministries are to provide the finance
department within a stipulated time period. The heads of various offices prepare the
estimates of standing charges relating to all their non-plan activities, and forward these to
their respective heads of departments. It is the responsibility of the heads of the
departments and ministries to scrutinize the estimates, alter wherever required, and
consolidate the estimates received from different offices under their control. Such
consolidated estimates are then submitted to the budget division of the state Finance
Department. In the finance department, the non-plan estimates received from various
sources (departments, ministries) are scrutinized and altered wherever required after due
consultation with the administrative department or ministry concerned. Thereafter, the
expenditure estimates provided by various departments are consolidated so as to arrive at
the figure of estimated non-plan expenditure of continuing nature for the entire state for
the next financial year is prepared. The budget division of the finance department also
prepares the estimates of revenues and receipts from various sources for the next
financial year. These estimates include tax receipts, non-tax receipts, grants-in-aid,
receipts under public debt and recovery of loans and advances. The budget estimates of
tax receipts are based on existing rates of taxes, the progress of actuals during the year
current and the trend of actuals in the past. Estimates of receipts of Central taxes from the
Central government such as Income Tax and excise duties are based on the criteria
approved by the Finance commission. Along with estimating the various resources
available in the state, the Finance department also gives a helping hand to the planning
department in preparation if the annual Plan. Subsequent to a series of meetings between
the Central Planning commission and the State planning and finance departments, the
Plan size is finalized and the central assistance in the form of loans and grants is decided.

Subsequent to the preparation of the final annual financial statement in the form of a
document, it is presented in the state legislature by the finance minister. As in the case of
the union budget, the state budget also passes through general discussion focusing on
achievements and failures of the government, fresh taxation measures presented in the
budget etc. On the last day of the general discussion, the finance minister is to respond to
the various points raised during this period. States with bi-cameral legislature have
discussions in both the houses of the legislature. The legislative council does not have
much to do with the budget once the general discussion is over. In the next stage,
discussions are held on demands for grants raised by specific departments. At the end of
discussion of each demand and the time limit set for the discussion by the chairman of the
house, the demand is put to vote of the assembly. As in the case of the union, the next
step is the passage of the appropriation Act which authorizes the state government to
spend money from the consolidated fund of the State.
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3.5 LOCAL GOVERNMENT BUDGET

The following case provides us the understanding of local government budget in India.
This case study was adopted from UNIFEM local level gender responsive budget
initiatives published in the year, 2005.
Local Government Budget- A case Analysis of Karnataka, India
UNIFEM initiated the Gender Budgeting process at the local level with help of local
NGO partners. The process started by conducting a series of capacity building activities
relating to planning, budget formulation and governance for elected women co-operators
and officials from the municipality and panchayats. Impact of the training was noted with
examples of how local women leaders are using the information and skills obtained for
building political support towards more gender responsive budgeting and building
alliances with municipal officials. Examples that demonstrate these results include:
• Women councilors have successfully ensured the participation of the Municipal
Commissioner as part of the gender budget initiatives in Mysore city.
Consequently, the municipality of Mysore started hosting the gender budgets
training activities which in turn resulted in an increased participation of larger
numbers of council members in addition to the elected women representatives.
• Upon request from the Commissioner, two women counselors were called upon to
provide advice on the most pressing needs in five wards. The elected women
counselors of these wards were requested to identify the main priorities in those
wards and are receiving full support from the municipal commissioner. The
identified wards are now part of activities for gender responsive budgeting
including the introduction of people monitoring systems such as the use of
PROOF (Public Record of Operations and Finance) which is a tool that enables
people to track how their money is being spent.

Ward meetings are increasingly providing a forum for women to make demands for
provision of priority services such as toilets, women‟s safety, water tanks etc. A
specific demand was placed by the women to address the problems caused by a
weed-like parthenium which grows in the open drains in the city and causes
 allergic colds and coughs and other respiratory problems. The lobbying by the
women representatives was successful in ensuring that a large number of drains
were covered by the municipality.
• Capacity building workshops organized by Singamma Foundation (Non-
Governmental Organization) have enabled two of the Elected Women
Representatives to bring about great change in their wards. These elected women
representatives have are now being looked at as „role models‟ by other EWRs.
• Women are mobilizing to demand the completion of the construction of the
government Primary Health Center in ward 35 as it would provide the only health
service in the area. Though this problem had been identified earlier, nothing had
been done. It has now been taken up by the women themselves as their priority.
• In a number of gram panchayats it was found that the secretary was made in charge
of more than one gram panchayat and hence found it difficult to maintain records
up to date. Similarly, in two Gram Panchayats action plans for 2005-06 were not
prepared on time resulting in delaying the budget formulation in those
Panchayats.
In this state, the project has also partnered with the Urban Research Centre (URC),
which supports urban governance initiatives since 1998. The collaboration with URC is
in two locations of Karnataka, namely Mangalore and Udupi and entails building the
capacity of elected women councilors, conducting monthly meetings in Mangalore and
Udupi for identifying needs in the ward, budgeting, effective participation in council
meetings and so on. The meetings entail orientation for the corporators (elected
representative at the municipal level in city councils) and councilors on the concepts of
budgeting, gender responsive budgeting and how they can use these tools effectively.
Other meetings targeted civic associations in order to orientate them on the concepts of
citizen participation and gender budgeting. Interaction with the women about a few
selected schemes, for example whether they meet their needs or how they can be
improved.

URC has been working in Karnataka looking at citizens and other stakeholders‟ action in
governance and in particular at citizen participation with urban local governments,
especially local councillors. URC is currently interacting with women councilors of
Udupi, Saligrama and Mulki Panchayats in Costal Karnataka, India. Their focus is on
developing a model map of a ward, service providers‟ booklets and facilitating the
formation of learning forums for councillors at ward, city and regional level. URC has
been working with women councillors since 2003, and has organised regional level and
State level consultations with them.

Check Your Progress Exercise 2

Note: i. Use this space given below to answer the question.
ii. Compare your answer with the one given at the end of this U nit.
1. Discuss the concept of gender budgeting from Urban Local Governments
perspective
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3.6 SUMMING UP

The present chapter gives us idea about what one means by the budget in India. It also
informs us that budgeting or annual financial calculations is a constitutional requirement
in our country. We have also understood that these annual financial calculations are
integral to the various levels of administrative set up in India. Budget funds or outlays are
meant for certain programmes or schemes of the government that the government pursues
with a certain goal or objective. The amount or value of budgetary allocation is a very
important factor in deciding the level of achievement of the goals set by the government
through the schemes or programme. For example, the government sets 100 percent
literacy as its goal. In order to achieve this goal, it initiates programmes that makes
people aware of the importance of literacy, and curtails the drop-out rate at various levels.
This necessitates allocation of a substantial amount of funds towards education. Without
the necessary amount of funds, the schemes and programmes remain just slogans.
What follows from the above example is that a careful reading and analysis of the budget
document also informs us about the policy priorities of the government that has prepared
it. Mere announcement of a policy without the necessary budget allocation
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3.7 GLOSSARY

Detailed Head: It means a division of accounts subordinate to the sub-head indicating

object of classification such as salaries, travel expenses, etc.
Major Head: It means the main unit of account for the purpose of recording and
classifying the receipts and expenditure of the State according to various functions such
as agriculture, education, health, etc.
Minor Head: It means a head subordinate to a major head or a sub - major head denoting
plan or non-plan programme under that major head/sub - major head dealing with a
particular function of Government.
Revised estimate: It is an estimate of the probable receipts or expenditure for a financial
year framed in the course of that year with reference to the transactions already recorded
for a part of the year and anticipations for the remainder of the year, in the light of the
orders issued or contemplated to be issued or any other relevant facts.
Sub-head: It means an unit of account next subordinate to a minor head which normally
denotes the scheme or organizations under that minor head or programme.
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3.8 ANSWERS TO CHECK YOUR PROGRESS

Check Your Progress Exercise 1

1. The constitution of India directs the union budget to be presented on such a day as
the president may direct. However, it has now become a convention to present the
union budget in the Lok Sabha on the last working day of the month of February
every year. The budget is introduced in the Parliament by the Finance Minister
through what is called the „budget speech‟ subsequent to which it is presented
before the Rajya Sabha. The members of Parliament can access the budget
document only after the Finance Bill has been introduced in the Lok Sabha. The
 discussion on budget in Lok Sabha is conducted in two stages: first, a general
discussion and second, a detailed discussion and voting on demands for grants. In
the first stage, the broad outlines of the budget along with the policies of the
government are reviewed and critiqued in both the houses of the legislature.
Neither any motion is moved at this stage nor is there any voting on budget.
Subsequent to this, the demands for grants included in the budget are examined by
the Standing Committees of the Parliament comprising of members of both the
houses of the Parliament. These Standing Committees are to submit their report
within a specified period of time. The detailed discussion and voting on demands
for grants begins in Lok Sabha once the Standing Committees have presented
their reports. With regards to any demands for grants, the Lok Sabha can accept or
reject or reduce the grant made under the demand but it has no right to propose a
higher grant under the demand. Reduction of the demand for a grant can be made
through passing a cut motion. Since it is almost impossible to have detailed
discussion on each of the demands for grants, the last day of the voting period all
pending demands are put before the Lok Sabha for voting. This is known as
„Guillotine‟. This is followed by the introduction of the Appropriation Bill by the
government in the Lok Sabha. Once it is enacted, the government gets
authorization to spend money from the Consolidated Fund of India. In the next
stage, the Finance Bill is taken up for consideration in Lok Sabha. Once approved,
the Finance bill authorizes the government to go ahead with the tax proposals.
The parliament‟s role in relation to budget is not over yet. It is also responsible for
undertaking a review of the implementation of the budget. It does so through the
Public Accounts Committee, Estimates Committee, Committee on Public
Undertakings, and the Department Related Standing Committees. Another
institution involved in this process is the Comptroller and Auditor General that
is responsible for auditing the Government‟s accounts once the budget is
implemented.
Check Your Progress Exercise 2

1. The Urban Research Centre (URC), which supports urban governance

initiatives since 1998 in the state of Karnataka initiated the gender budget process
 in the two urban municipalities. The collaboration with URC is in two locations of
Karnataka, namely Mangalore and Udupi and entails building the capacity of
elected women councilors, conducting monthly meetings in Mangalore and Udupi
for identifying needs in the ward, budgeting, effective participation in council
meetings and so on. The meetings entail orientation for the corporators (elected
representative at the municipal level in city councils) and councilors on the
concepts of budgeting, gender responsive budgeting and how they can use these
tools effectively. Other meetings targeted civic associations in order to orientate
them on the concepts of citizen participation and gender budgeting. Interaction
with the women about a few selected schemes, for example whether they meet
their needs or how they can be improved. URC has been working in Karnataka
looking at citizens and other stakeholders‟ action in governance and in particular
at citizen participation with urban local governments, especially local councillors.
URC is currently interacting with women councilors of Udupi, Saligrama and
Mulki Panchayats in Costal Karnataka, India. Their focus is on developing a
model map of a ward, service providers‟ booklets and facilitating the formation of
learning forums for councillors at ward, city and regional level. URC has been
working with women councillors since 2003, and has organised regional level and
State level consultations with them.

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3.9 REFERENCES

Budlender, Debbie, Diane Elson, Guy Hewitt, Tanni Mukhopadhyay, (2002), Gender
Budgets Make Cents, Commonwealth Secretariat, IDRC CRDI, UNIFEM.

Himmelweit, Susan (2002), 'Making visible the hidden economy: the case for gender-
impact analysis of economic policy', Feminist Economics, 8 (1), 49-70.

Rake, Katherine (2002), 'Gender Budgets: The experience of the UK's Women's Budget
Group', A paper prepered for the conference 'Gender Balance – Equal Finance', Basel,
Switzerland, March.

Sharp, Rhonda (2003) Budgeting for equity: Gender budget initiatives within a
framework of performance oriented budgeting. New York, UNIFEM.
Sharp, Rhonda and Ray Broomhill (2002), 'Budgeting for equality: The Australian
experience', Feminist Economics, 8 (1), 25-47.

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3.10 QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND PRACTICE

1. Trace the budget making process in the Government of India.

2. Discuss the significance of gender budgeting in the local government system with
suitable examples.