The Hindu Business Line : Child Budgeting

India can be rightly proud of the tremendous progress it has achieved over the last decade, particularly in terms of its remarkable economic growth and increasing global political influence. Yet, it is wanting in an area closest to people's hearts and homes: Children.

For, even as the per capita income increased by 40 per cent between 1990 and 2000, the number of children who die before they are one year old has remained practically constant and continues to be far higher than comparable countries with similar economic strength. To put this in context, more children in Bangladesh live to celebrate their first birthday than in India, while we have a higher percentage of malnourished children under-five than does Sub-Saharan Africa.

Child rights

The Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) believes that the solution lies in both increasing resources and also improving the effectiveness of their use. To ensure child rights, a "child budgeting" process needs to be taken up. This is examining the extent of resources the government is allocating to programmes that benefit children, and whether these efforts adequately reflect the needs and rights of children.

Low spending

In partnership with Unicef and the Centre for Budget and Governance Accountability, the MWCD has embarked on a child budgeting review for India. Positive findings of the initial analysis include the fact that the Central expenditure on social services as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product has gone up over the last decade. However, this is still low compared to other countries: Between 1993 and 2004, 2 per centof the Central government expenditure was on health and education, even as Bangladesh spent 7 per cent and 18 per cent respectively, while developing countries as a whole spent 4 per cent and 11 per cent respectively.

But, happily, the total budgetary provisions for children as a proportion of the total expenditure has increased in the last five years, though little of the additional funds went to issues such as protecting vulnerable children from abuse (child labour, child marriage, etc).

At the State level, a wide variance was found in social sector expenditure, and of particular concern is the trend of States cutting back their spending as the allocation by the Centre increase.

Outlays to outcomes

The other prong of the analysis was on "outlays to outcomes". That is, do the monies spent translate into to the desired results for children? So far, there has been a short-coming in this crucial area. With 240 Centrally-sponsored schemes to oversee, issues such as poor accountability, weak monitoring systems, and low levels of community involvement have contributed to management and systemic bottlenecks that need to be resolved to improve service delivery. The Centre's increasing focus on this challenge is evidenced by the Outcome Budget of the Planning Commission.

To take this initiative forward, the MWCD, in partnership with the Planning and Finance Departments, is supporting State-level exercises on Child Budgeting to strengthen the planning process for the Eleventh Plan (2007-2012) and beyond. If the expenditure on — and the quality of — social services is not improved, the country risks not only failing today's children, but ultimately, India's future itself.

(The author is Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women and Child Development.)