02 March,2011 08:16 AM IST | | MiD DAY Correspondent
Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) hosted a workshop to sensitise men and women working in the university about gender mainstreaming.
Money matters:u00a0 Delegates at the conference organised by IGNOU
Officials from the Ministry of Women and Child Development (MWCD) conducted a workshop to disseminate the nuances of Gender Responsive Budgeting (GRB) and explain its advantages.u00a0 Dr Vinita Agarwal, Director, Gender Budgeting, MWCD, made a presentation wherein she described the concept which she said is relatively newer in India. "GB is a tool to translate gender commitments into budgetary commitments. It is an ongoing process which doesn't seek a separate budget. It is a tool to analyse if government and public sector budgets spend keeping the gender perspective in mind," she said while giving the key note address.
"The national budget impacts lives of women in many ways. It can, for example, directly promote women's development when funds are allocated for programmes that address their economic, social and other needs. It can also be done through funding of mainstream projects that are delivered in a way that is sensitive to women's situation and through funding of women targeted schemes," she added.
The Ministry of Finance recognised the potential for gender budgeting and mandated all the ministries to establish Gender Budgeting Cells (GBCs) by January 2005 and asked 18 ministries and departments to submit a report highlighting budgetary allocations for women.
