According to a report, in the Union Budget 2022-23, children have received the lowest share of financial allocation in the last 11 years. This has been told in a report by Haq Center for Child Rights, a non-profit organization.
The lowest allocation to children in the Union Budget in a decade (indicative picture)
Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday presented the budget for the financial year 2022-23.Budget 2022) Presented. Many small and big announcements were made in the budget. For which reactions are coming from every sector. At the same time, many decisions have also been welcomed. Efforts have been made to benefit almost all the areas from its budget. But some areas are left in the budget, which have only got disheartened. According to a report, in the Union Budget 2022-23, children have received the lowest share of financial allocation in the last 11 years. Haq Center for Child Rights, a non-profit organizationHaq Center for Child RightsAccording to a report by the NITI Aayog, the budget allocation earmarked for the benefit of children has been less than 2.35 per cent of the total budget. Children’s issues vary from prolonged school closures, severe nutrition gaps, loss of learning opportunities to deep digital divide, the report said. Further reduction in the share of children’s budget, especially as the country is grappling with the COVID-19 situation, is beyond comprehension.
In fact, the total allocation for children (in absolute numbers) has increased by 8.19 per cent to Rs 92,736 crore, while the total Union budget in 2022-23 has increased by 13.25 per cent.
Fund allocation reduced for ministries related to children
According to a Business Today report, within the budget for children, the share of allocations for child health and child development decreased by 0.02 and 0.12 percent. At the same time, child education has got the maximum share of 1.17 percent of the total share. The budget for 2022-23 has seen a 0.01 percent increase in the share of child protection. The report further states that the fund allocation for key ministries related to children has also come down. The Ministry of Women and Child Development has reduced the budget allocation of last year by 7.56 percent to Rs 18,858 crore. Although the government has launched 159 new programmes, the share of funds for children in the Union Budget has fallen from 2.46 per cent in 2021-22 to 2.35 per cent in 2022-23.
Child education share increased by 0.3% points
Despite the persistent health risks due to the corona pandemic, the allocation for child health has come down from Rs 3,727 crore in 2021-22 to Rs 3,501 crore in the Union Budget 2022-23. According to the report, the allocation for child education in the Union Budget 2022-23 has increased by 15.04 percent in absolute terms with a total allocation of Rs 69,836 crore. However, the share of child education in the entire Union Budget 2022-23 has seen a marginal increase of only 0.3 percentage points (from 1.74% in 2021-22 to 1.77% in 2022-23).
Child Protection Least Priority Sector – Report
The report also revealed that child protection has been one of the lowest priority areas in resource allocation over the years. In 2022-23, child protection has received 0.04 per cent of the total Union budget, while the total allocation for child protection is Rs 1,574 crore.
Although the report also said that there has been an increase of 44.72 per cent over the current allocation for child protection, but this increase should be examined in the context of child protection concerns. Because the covid pandemic has only increased child protection concerns.
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