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Only about 2.46 percent of the Union Budget presented by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has been earmarked for children, which is the lowest such allocation for this age segment in the last decade, reveals an analysis by ‘HAQ: Centre for Child Rights’.
Moreover, the report says that the share of child education has gone down from 2.18 percent in 2020-21 to 1.74 per cent in Union Budget 2021-22. The allocation for Samagra Shiksha too has been reduced by 19.87 percent, as compared to last year.
The data insights are based on an overall reduction in Budgetary allocation on education, which was slashed by over Rs 6,000 crore, as compared to the 2020-21 Budget.
Moreover, only 0.03 percent of the Union Budget is devoted to child protection, in terms of allocation of resources. According to data provided by NCRB, the number of crimes against children had increased by 4.5 percent to 1,48,185 in the year 2019.
“The Integrated Child Protection Scheme (ICPS), one of the major flagship schemes had been merged under Child Protection Services. Now, in the Union Budget 2021-22, Child Protection Services and Child Welfare Services are merged to constitute what is being called Mission Vatsalya, which has received a total of Rs 900 crore,” the report said.
This is a huge shortfall of 40 per cent when measured against an allocation of Rs 1,500 crore for ICPS alone in Union Budget 2020-21.
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