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For women and children of India, P Chidambaram’s budget is a story of mixed bag. 

While women got an almost 100 per cent fund hike from the Finance Minister, their share in the total outlays is less than one per cent of the total budget. The money for women specific schemes has been increased to Rs 8,795 crore from Rs 4,618 crore but it is just 0.1 per cent of the budget allocations.

For schemes, where 30 per cent of the amount is for women, the increase in allocation is over Rs 5,000 crore to Rs 22,382 crore, but, it has left the women organisations crying foul. "The money is no where close to women population in the country," said Ranjana Kumari, president of WomenPowerConnect, a conglomerate of about 300 women NGOs.
 
Chidambaram’s proposal to increase allocation for Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) by just 700 crores has left campaigners for Right to Food for 47 per cent India’s malnourished children gasping. Minar Pimple of UN Millennium Campaign reminded the government that it still was lagging behind in the targets for malnutrition, primary enrolment and under five-child mortality rate prescribed in the Millennium Development Goals (MGDs), to be met by 2015.

Although not critical of Chidambaram’s budget and terming is as a ‘step in right direction’, he quoted UNICEF figures to show that India’s neighbours like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and Bhutan had performed better in hunger abatement and primary school enrolment. 

Severe criticism of the Women and Child Development ministry’s flagship scheme, ICDS, by Supreme Court appeared to have dimmed WCD minister Renuka Chowdhury hopes of getting a whopping increase in the budget allocation. The allocation for the ministry has been increased by just Rs 954 crore to Rs 5,793 crores.

E-mail Chetan Chauhan: chetan@hindustantimes