Children receive lowest share of Union Budget in 10 years: Report

NEW DELHI: Children have received the lowest share of Union Budget 2021 in the last 10 years, according to a report by HAQ Centre for Child Rights.

The report also found that the budget for children was reduced by 16.22 percent during the COVID-19 pandemic at a time “when the financial resources were needed the most”.

HAQ Centre for Child Rights is a non-profit that works for child rights.

The report notes that despite the promise in the National Education Policy (NEP), 2020, the child education sector remains underfunded. It said that the department of school education and literacy has received 9.71 percent less funds despite the NEP 2020 touting inclusive and quality education.

Activists alleged that this reduction of funds for school education schemes such as the Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan is the government’s effort to push privatisation.

The share of child education has gone down from 2.18 per cent in 2020-21 to 1.74 per cent in Union Budget 2021-22, the report noted. NEP 2020 recommends an allocation of 6% budget for education.

Despite this, child education received only Rs 60,706.92 crore in the Union Budget 2021-22, a decrease of 8.62 per cent as against allocations in the previous budget, the report noted.

Union Budget 2021: Cuts in child protection

Child protection remains least prioritised in terms of resource allocation with 0.03 per cent in the total Union Budget 2021-22.

“Now, in the Union Budget 2021-22, Child Protection Services and Child Welfare Services are merged to constitute what is being called Mission Vatsalya, which has received a total of Rs 900 crore. This is a huge shortfall of 40 percent when measured against an allocation of Rs 1,500 crore for Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) alone in Union Budget 2020-21,” the report, Budget for Children 2021-22, noted.

The report also noted that COVID-19 has impacted girl’s education and has increased the gender divide. Yet, the budget for education “does not bring any focused scheme/programmes to address the emerging concerns of girls’ education”, it noted.

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