Parliament Question: Gender Budgeting Cells

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3351 TO BE ANSWERED ON 07.08.2026 GENDER BUDGETING CELLS 3351. MS. S JOTHIMANI: Will the Minister of WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state: (a) The details of the Ministries/Departments and State/UT Governments that have established Gender Budgeting Cells (GBCs) as mandated; (b) Whether the Ministry has set clear timelines/milestones for setting up of GBCs in all remaining Ministries/Departments and States/UTs, if so, the details thereof; (c) Whether the Government has formulated any strategy for systematic collection of gender- disaggregated/intersectional data to strengthen gender-responsive policymaking; (d) whether the Government proposes to conduct an independent audit of the performance of existing GBCs, including how effectively they have influenced budget decisions and outcomes for women; and (e) if so, the details of the mechanisms being adopted for data collection, coordination with the Ministries/integration of such data into programme design and budget decisions ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF WOMEN AND CHILD DEVELOPMENT (SHRIMATI SAVITRI THAKUR) (a) to (e) The Charter of Gender Budget Cells was issued by the Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance. It lays down guidelines for constitution, composition and functioning of Gender Budget Cells (GBC) in all Ministries/Departments. Gender Budget Cells in Ministries/Departments are set up with the objective of influencing and effecting a change in the policies, programmes in a way that could tackle gender imbalances, promote gender equality and development; and ensure that public resources through Ministry’s budget are allocated and managed accordingly. Gender Budget Cell is envisaged to function as focal unit for coordinating Gender Budgeting initiatives in a Ministry/Department. The Charter indicates that GBC may discharge functions such as, Identification of programme with a view to analyse gender issues addressed by them;Organizing discussions/consultations with all stakeholders for exchanging ideas and getting feedback on the efficacy of sectoral policies and programmes; Conduct performance audit for reviewing the actual physical/ financial targets of the programme etc. As per available information, Gender Budget Cells have been set up in 62 Central Ministries/Departments and 35 State/UTs. Ministry of Women and Child Development provides capacity building and technical support to central Ministries/ Departments/ States/ UTs to advance their gender budgeting processes. Financial support is also provided by the Ministry to training institutes to conduct training programmes for the government officials on Gender Budgeting. Ministries/ Departments/ UTs utilize their resources for ensuring proper implementation of the Gender Budget provisions either by themselves or through Implementing Agencies. They also monitor the progress, from time to time, for achieving the objectives of their schemes/ programmes. These Ministries/Departments report data in Output-Outcome Monitoring Framework (OOMF), which is an outcome monitoring framework for schemes of Government of India, and also comprise gender related indicators in a few schemes of Ministries/Departments. Progress in gender related indicators is also assessed in national level sample surveys such as National Family Health Survey (NFHS), Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) etc. Every year Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance issues Budget Circular, which mandates all Ministries/Departments to report allocations for women and girls in the Gender Budget Statement in a prescribed format. The gender budget allocations, which are compiled as Statement 13 of the Expenditure Profile of Union Budget, are prepared by Ministries/Departments/UTs for their schemes/programmes. An allocation of Rs. 5.01 lakh crore has been reported for welfare of women and girls in the Gender Budget Statement of Union Budget for FY 2026–27. This is an increase of 11.55% over the GBS allocation of Rs. 4.49 lakh crore in FY 2025–26. In FY 2026-27, a total of 53 central government Ministries/Departments and 5 UTs have reported allocations as against 49 Ministries/Departments and 5 UTs in FY 2025–26. *****