Women Farmers and Union Budget 2019-20: How beneficial is Notional Allocations in Gender Budget!

Nesar Ahmad and Mahendra Singh Rao[1]

Women and Agriculture

The agriculture sector in India contributes 16% of the GDP and employs 49% of the total workforce of the country. Public expenditure towards the agriculture sector has been poor, however, the Union government has promised the farmer’s income would be doubled by 2022. The role of women in agriculture is critical. As per Census 2011, out of total female main workers, 55 per cent were agricultural labourers and 24 per cent were cultivators[2]. However, women own only 12.08 % of all operational holdings (Agricultural Census 2011-12)[3]. The Economic Survey, 207-18 emphasized the need for “Policy for Women Farmers”. Some of the policy suggestions made by the Economic Survey 2017-18 are following[4]:

• Earmarking at least 30 per cent of the budget allocation for women beneficiaries in all ongoing schemes/ programmes and development activities.
• Initiating women centric activities to ensure benefits of various beneficiary-oriented programs/schemes reach them.
• Focusing on women self-help group (SHG) to connect them to micro-credit through capacity building activities and to provide information and ensuring their representation in different decision-making bodies.

Moreover, the Economic Survey highlights the need of recognizing women as farmers. But this is not reflected in the budgets presented by the Union Government.

Budget for the Agriculture Sector

Let us first take a look at the status of agriculture in the budget this year. The Finance Minister in her first budget speech said: “we will invest widely in agricultural infrastructure”. However, the budget for the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare does not show much increase in this. The total allocation for the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare is Rs. 142,301 crore for 2019-20 BE, which is increased to nearly 80% from the previous year 2018-19 RE (79026 Crore) (Table 1). However, this increase is mainly due to higher allocation (75000 cr.) for the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-Kisan) which was launched in the interim budget for 2019-20 presented by the government in February this year. If we exclude this amount the budget for the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare will be less than the previous year’s revised estimates.

Table 1: Union Budget Allocation under the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare (Rs. in crore)

Department	Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare	Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries	Dept. of Agricultural Research and Education	Total Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare   with Interest Subvention	Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
2014-15 (A)	25255	1822	4840	31917	5480.05
2015-16 (A)	28296	1410	5386	35092	6862.05
2016-17 (A)	36912	1858	5729	44500	4714.13
2017-18 (RE)	41105	2167	6992	50264	7660
2017-18 (AE)	37397	2022	6943	46362	5313.47
2018-19 (BE)	46700	3100	7800	57600	8860
2018-19 (RE)	67800	3273	7953	79026	7612.5
2019-20 (BE)	130485.2	3737	8079	142301.2	8245.25
Growth of expenditure over previous year’s RE (%)	92.5	14.2	1.6	80.1	8.3

Source: Union Budget, various years, Ministry of Finance (GoI)

Besides, Rs. 8245.25 crore has been allocated to the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation, which comes under the newly created Ministry of Jal Skati. This allocation is an increase by only about 8.3% over the previous year (2018-19) revised estimate.

Allocation under major schemes of the agriculture sector:

If we look at the scheme-wise allocation for major schemes of the agriculture sector, the incremental increase is seen for the schemes like National Food Security Mission (NFSM), Interest Subvention for Providing Short Term Credit to Farmers, Price Stabilization Fund in the Department of Consumer Affairs and Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojana (Under MoA). On the other hand budget allocation is decreased for the scheme likes White Revolution, Har Khet ko Pani etc.  Allocations for the Mission on Oilseeds and Palm oil have now merged with the National Food Security Mission, budget for which shows an increase of about 32%. But if we add the budget for NFSM and Mission on Oilseeds and palm oil for the previous year, the increase is not so impressive. There is a decline in budget for white revolution (cotton) and there is not much increase in budget for Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY). The FM announced Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for a focused fisheries management framework. However, the budget for Blue Revolution remains lower than the last year’s budget estimates and has shown an increase of only about 8% from last years revised estimate. 

Women and Agriculture Budget

If we look at this year’s budget from the perspective of women farmers and in light of the above-mentioned policy measures suggested by Economic Survey, 2017-18, we do not get a very optimistic picture. The Finance Minister did not say much about the women farmers in her budget speech[5]. She talked about the role of women in the economy, especially in the rural economy and said the government is going to form a committee to review the gender-responsive budget (GRB) as being presented now. The FM also announced a new Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana (PMMSY) for focused development of the fishery sector, which employs a significant percentage of women. She also announced that every member of women SHGs who has a Jan Dhan account will be entitled to Rs. 5,000 overdraft, which can benefit the women farmers as well.

Status of Gender Budget in Agriculture Sector:

As we know, the government has been presenting a Gender Budget Statement (GBS) in the name of Gender Responsive Budget for more than a decade now. The GBS provides a list of schemes under each Ministry/Department and in which either all the budget is going towards women (Part A of the GBS) or at least 30% of the budget of the scheme is going towards women beneficiaries (Part B of the GBS). The GRB process is promoted and monitored by the Minister of Women and Child Development and all the Ministries/Departments are supposed to have a Gender Budget Cell which should guide the Ministry/Department on how to make their policies, programmes and budget more gender sensitive. As mentioned above, the Finance Minister has announced to set up a committee to review the GRB / GBS process in the country.

The annual report of the Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmer Welfare informs that the Department has a Gender Budget Cell and also a National Gender Resource Centre under the Sub-Mission on Agriculture Extension (SMAE)[6]. Budget for SMAE, however, declined from Rs. 1020 crore in last year’s budget estimates to Rs. 950 crores this year. In Previous year (2018-19) the revised estimate shows a huge decline in the budget for this scheme from Rs. 1020 crores to Rs. 875 crores.

Now if we turn to the GBS of the MoA&FW, there are only two schemes reported by the ministry in the part A of GBS and both are under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education (Table 2). It shows that neither of two main departments, the Department of Agriculture, Cooperation and Farmers Welfare and the Department of Animal Husbandry and Fisheries has any women specific programme. One of the 100% women specific allocations under the Department of Agricultural Research and Education is going towards the Central Institute for Women in Agriculture, located in Bhubaneswar and other is going towards a research project on home science, again in Bhubaneswar. Now, whether the research on home science is beneficial to women farmers or is actually something which reinforces gender stereotypes and inequality is something one should look into. However, this year in the Part B there are two schemes of Department of Dairy Development and Fisheries of which 100% allocation have been reported as gender component (Table 4).  These schemes are Blue Revolution (for fishery development) and Diary Entrepreneurship Development. But then, why these two schemes are not shown in Part A is a mystery. Also, though there is a high percentage of women working in fisheries, how fair it is to report 100% allocations as gender budget because men also are engaged in the sector.

Table- 2: PART A- 100% Women specific programmes of MoA&FW (Rs. crores)

MINISTRY/DEPARTMENT	2017-18 BE	2017-18 RE	2017-18 AE	2018-19 BE	2018-19 RE	2019-20 BE
Department of Agricultural Research and Education
Central Institute for Women in Agriculture, Bhubaneswar	14.94	9.64	2.89	10.64	11.00	11.50
All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Home Science, Bhubaneswar	29.1	10.1	7.82	11.10	9.00	9.34
Total:	44.04	19.74	10.71	21.74	20.00	20.84

Source: Union Budget, 2018-19 and 2019-20, Ministry of Finance (GoI)

Since last year the government is also providing revised estimates and actual expenditure made under the schemes listed in Part A of the GBS. And, as the table above suggests the actual expenditure under both the schemes listed in Part A has been much lower than the budget estimate during the year 2017-18. In 2018-19 as well, the revised estimate for the All India Co-ordinated Research Project on Home Science, Bhubneshwar is lower than the budget estimate.

Now, looking at Part B of the GBS of MoA&FW (Table 4), 14 schemes of the Department of Agriculture Cooperation and Farmers Welfare are listed here and in all of them the gender component i.e. budget going towards women is shown to be 30%.

Table- 3: PART B- 30% Women specific programme of MoA&FW (Rs. Crores)

Scheme	2018-19 BE			2018-19 RE			2019-20 BE
	Total  Budget	GB component	%  of GB	Total Budget	GB component	%  of GB	Total Budget	GB component	%  of GB
Sub-Mission on Agriculture Mechanisation	1165	350	30	898	269	30	1000	300	30
National Project on Soil Health and Fertility	400	120	30	300	90	30	324	97	30
National Food Security Mission	1691	507	30	1510	453	30	2000	600	30
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna	3600	1080	30	3600	1080	30	3745	1124	30
National Mission on Oil Seeds and Palm Oil	400	120	30	352	106	30		...
Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yojna	360	108	30	300	90	30	325	98	30
Sub-Mission on Seed and Planting Material	332	100	30	332	100	30	380	114	30
National Project on Organic Farming	8	...		3			2
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna-Per-Drop More Crop	4000	1200	30	2955	886	30	3500	1050	30
Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture	2536	761	30	2100	630	30	2225	668	30
Sub-Mission on Agriculture Extension	1020	306	30	875	263	30	950	285	30
Organic Value Chain Development for North Eastern Region	160	48	30	182	55	30	160	48	30
Rain fed Area Development and Climate change	234	70	30	225	68	30	250	75	30
National Project on Agro-Forestry	75	23	30	40	12	30	50	15	30
Total	15981	4792	30	13672	4101	30	14911	4473	30
Department of Fisheries
Blue Revolution- Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries							550	550	100
Department of Animal Husbandry and Dairying
Dairy Entrepreneurship Development							325	325	100
National Livestock Mission							480	380	79
Total							805	705	88

Source: Union Budget, 2018-19 and 2019-20, Ministry of Finance (GoI)

This year three schemes of Department of Dairy Development and Fisheries are also listed in the Part B of the GBS. Two of those schemes, as mentioned above, are showing 100 allocations towards women and should be listed in Part A. The third in the list is National Livestock Mission in which 79% allocation has been reported as gender component.

The ritualistic reporting of 30% as gender component in almost all the sachems reported in Part B indicates towards a notional or nominal reporting without any particular basis. The MoA&FW must come out with realistic figures based on concrete data on women farmer beneficiaries of these schemes.  Additionally, since the Part B of the GBS only provides a budget estimate and no revised estimates and actually expenditure figures, as it has started giving for the schemes in Part A of GBS, it is also not known how much of these allocations shown as gender component is actually being spent.

Also, the important Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation or even the newly created Ministry of Jal Shakti, of which this department is now a part, does not report any of their schemes in either Part A or Part B of the GBS, showing their schemes for irrigation and other purposes in the water sector have no gender concerns at all. 

Conclusions

The union budget 2019-20, which is the first budget of the second tenure of Modi government, does not sound very promising for the millions of women farmers. The budget speech does not even mention women farmers, there are no specific programmes announced for women farmers except for one in the fisheries sector. The Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman under which the farmers are to be given support of Rs. 6,000 (announced in the interim budget before the general election) is also linked to land ownership and is therefore not likely to benefit the majority of women farmers who do not own land. The gender budget statement of ministry is mechanically reporting 30% gender component in almost all the schemes listed in the Part B of the GBS and the two schemes in which 100% allocation is going towards women are not able to utilize the allocated budget fully. This year two more schemes have been reported to be having 100% gender component but these are reported in Part B instead of Part A. we hope that next year onwards these two schemes are also reported in Part A and their revised estimates and actual expenditure are also reported. We also hope that the Department of Water Resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation which is an important department for agriculture sector also devices women centric programmes and thinks ways of benefiting women farmers.

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[1] Authors are associated with Jaipur based Budget Analysis and Research Centre Trust (www.barctrust.org) 

[2] https://mofapp.nic.in/economicsurvey/economicsurvey/pdf/099-119_Chapter_07_Economic_Survey_2017-18.pdf

[3]

[4] https://mofapp.nic.in/economicsurvey/economicsurvey/pdf/099-119_Chapter_07_Economic_Survey_2017-18.pdf

[5] https://www.indiabudget.gov.in/budgetspeech.php

[6] http://agricoop.nic.in/sites/default/files/Krishi%20AR%202017-18-1%20for%20web.pdf