Union Budget: Vulnerable children left high and dry
Posted on February 02, 2022
Union Budget 2022-23 causes serious concerns regarding its impact on the wellbeing of children, especially those from the most marginalised communities. Every aspect of their protection, growth and development has been gravely affected by COVID and its aftermath. At such a time when optimum resources had to be allocated to ensure their best interests, they have received the lowest share of financial allocations since the past 11 years. Along with the diminished fund allocation to MGNREGA, they deliver a very hard blow on the most impoverished citizens of our country.
The total allocation for children this year is 92736.5 crores. The share of the budget for children is a meagre 2.35 per cent of the total Union Budget, and is a reduction of 0.11 per cent compared to last year!
Consider all the programmes below which are critical for the most hard-pressed communities and their children, especially during these times when the budgetary allocation for the Ministry of Women and Child Development has been reduced by 7.56 per cent against the overall budget. Despite challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic on school education, the overall budget for child education has also seen a decline this year.
The budget for the National Child Labour Programme (NCLP) has been drastically reduced by 75 per cent in the Union Budget with only 30 crores. This is a travesty considering 2021 is the UN’s International Year for the Elimination of Child Labour where multi-sectoral responses are supposed to enable children to exit exploitative labour.
The budget allocation for the National Programme for Mid-Day Meal in Schools – now called Pradhan Mantri Poshan Shakti Nirman (PM POSHAN) meant to provide nutrition for 11.80 crore children in about 11.20 lakh schools across the country has also been reduced by 11.01 per cent.
While there is an increase of 63.57 per cent for Mission Vatsalya (under which Integrated Child Protection Scheme – ICPS – has been included) this year, the allocation of 1472.17 crore is still lower than what was the allocation for the Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS) alone in 2020-21. Child Protection programmes have received only 0.04 per cent of the total Union Budget with 1573.82 crores.
The family members of children from the most vulnerable communities are highly dependent on MGNREGA programmes for their survival. They have been reeling under long spells of unemployment during COVID. Despite the urgent demand for jobs under MGNREGA, it is very distressing that the present budget has slashed 25 per cent of its budgetary allocation! During the first COVID – 19 lockdown in 2020, when the scheme was promoted and given the highest budget of 1.11 lakh crores, it provided a lifeline for a record 11 crore workers.
By the end of 2019, around 1.7 crore households had availed employment under the MGNREGA scheme. This number saw a dramatic jump by December 2020, indicating that the rural poor were desperate and struggling for survival. More than 2.7 crore households availed employment in the year 2020. The demand for work under the programme has only seen an upward move, with 2.4 crore people demanding work under MGNREGA.
Now, the programme has an allocation of only 98000 crores. The reduction in funding will have a grave impact on livelihoods of the families of workers employed under the programme. Payments due will get carried over to the next financial year, pushing these families into further economic distress. Many families will be forced into migration again under distress, further affecting the lives of their children. Children will be forced to resort to labour, early marriages, trafficking and abuse.
Entire families, already suffering, will be at the end of their tether.
It is disheartening that the MGNREGA with immense potential to revive the rural economy and the living standards of rural India is being sidelined and seeing a slow demise.
We urge the Central government, as a matter of urgency, to review the budgetary provisions for children and for programmes like MGNREGA which are crucial to ensure not only development but even survival for those who need State support, the most.
Reference:
1. Detailed analysis by HAQ – Centre of Child Rights ‘Pushed and juggled beyond margins – Budget for children 2022 – 23’
2. https://www.thehindu.com/business/budget/union-budget-2022-mgnrega-budget-slashed-25-amid-high-rural-unemployment/article38359937.ece
3. https://thewire.in/government/union-budget-rise-demand-mgnrega-allocation-unchanged
