“The prime minister firmly believes that we need to focus on four major castes: Garib (poor), mahilayen (women), yuva (youth) and annadata (farmers). Their needs, aspirations and welfare are our highest priorities," Finance Minister (FM) Nirmala Sitharaman said in her Interim Budget speech. A significant focus of the budget was on Nari Shakti or women empowerment through entrepreneurship, ease of living, and dignity for them, which according to the FM, has “gained momentum in the past 10 years".
There has been a rise in female labour force participation rate from 23.3 percent in 2017-18 to 37 percent in 2022-23, as per the government, yet as per observation of the year-on-year figures (see chart), the percentage increase has been rather stagnant. To increase the scope of women entrepreneurship in the country, the FM mentioned that 30 crore Mudra Yojana loans have been given to women entrepreneurs.
Mitali Nikore, a feminist economist and founder of youth-led think tank, Nikore Associates, feels Nari Shakti is a major theme for ViksitBharat @ 2047, with women entrepreneurs receiving over 70 percent of the total MUDRA loans and about half the loan value. “This will have a huge impact on women"s financial independence," she says.
In an effort to further empower women, the government initially aimed to create 2 crore "Lakhpati Didis" (women with annual earnings of Rs1 lakh and more) by imparting marketable skills like plumbing, LED bulb-making, drone operation, and repair to SHG members. This target has now been expanded to include 3 crore women.
As per the fine print of the budget, allocations for the schemes for the safety of women have been increased from Rs321 crore to Rs955 crore. However, the allocations for the Protection and Empowerment for Women scheme have remained largely the same with Rs3,146 crore allocated to it.
According to Nikore’s analysis of the budget speech on the women empowerment front, industry pledge and advisory to the private sector to gather commitments to enhance women"s workforce participation, and investments in women entrepreneurship through national rural and urban livelihood missions are a great move for the development of women in the country. However, she believes that there is still a lot more to do. “We need more investments in care infrastructure and services for women, skill training of care workers, and gender intentional actions to bridge the gender digital divide," she concludes.First Published: Feb 01, 2024, 15:03
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