Gender budget—larger allocations, little impact

• The Union Budget 2025-26 increased the total gender budget to ₹4.49 lakh crore, a 37.25% increase from the previous fiscal year’s allocation of ₹3.27 lakh crore.
• Despite the increase, the economic benefits to women, particularly from marginalized populations, have not percolated in the same ratio.
• The government has failed to include evaluations from previous Budgets to inform a gender budget that incorporates the intersectionality of caste, class, and tribal identities.
• Digitization has created new barriers for women, making accessing welfare schemes without middlemen difficult.
• The government’s move to eliminate intermediaries through digitisation necessitates urgent investments in digital literacy programmes.
• The Ministry of Tribal Affairs received an allocation of ₹14,925.81 crore, a 45.79% increase from the previous year’s revised estimate of ₹10,237.33 crore.
• Over 35% of the funds allocated under the Scheduled Castes Sub-Plan (SCSP) and Tribal Sub-Plan (TSP) are underutilised due to bureaucratic red tape and lack of community involvement.
• The literacy rate among tribal women is 49.4%, compared to the national female literacy rate of 64.63% (Census 2011).
• The government needs to strengthen local institutions and ensure better utilization of existing funds.
• Gender budgets must be designed after an audit that accounts for intersectionality of caste, class, and tribal identities at the central and State levels.
• The government must adopt community-led participatory methods that involve women, especially those from SC/ST backgrounds, in planning and monitoring schemes.
• The creation of a gender budget tracking portal could foster greater public accountability.