Women counting money at a garment sewing machine unit.
| Photo Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto
Observing that India is transitioning from women’s development to women-led development, the Chief Economic Advisor on July 22 said there has been a 218.8% increase in budgetary allocation for schemes for the welfare and empowerment of women even as it acknowledged that women in India face the “’motherhood penalty” with a drop in female labour force participation rate around childbearing years.
“The share of the Gender Budget in the total Union Budget has increased to 6.5% in Financial Year 2025, the highest since the introduction of Gender Budgeting Scheme in Financial Year 2006,” the Chief Economic Advisor (CEA) said in the Economic Survey, which was tabled in Parliament.
Economic Survey 2023-24 highlights
This shows that India is shifting from women’s development to women-led development. He also underscored the government’s commitment towards ensuring employment opportunities for women in various fields.
The survey said that skilling schemes have put a dedicated emphasis on covering women, and the number of women trained under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY) has increased from 42.7% in financial year 2016 to 52.3% in financial year 2024. Under the Jan Shikshan Sansthan (JSS) scheme, women constitute about 82% of the total beneficiaries and in institutes like ITIs and National Skill Training Institutes (NSTIs), the participation of women has gone up from 9.8% in FY16 to 13.3% in FY24.
With rural India propelling the trend, the survey observed that the female Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR) rose to 37% in 2022-2023 from 23.3% in 2017-2018. The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) has facilitated the opening of 52.3 crore bank accounts, of which 55.6% account holders are women, as of May 2024.
Read the full document of Economic Survey 2023-24
Delving on the crucial aspect of care economy, the survey estimated that direct public investment equivalent to 2% of the GDP has the potential to generate 11 million jobs in the sector, nearly 70% of which will go to women.
It flagged international models of Australia, Argentina, Brazil, and the U.S. in this sector to get insights for India.
“The economic value of developing a care sector is two-fold — increasing female labour force participation rate (FLFPR) and promoting a promising sector for output and job creation. According to International Labour Organisation (2018), the care sector is one of the fastest-growing sectors globally, and investments in the care services sector are estimated to generate 475 million jobs globally by 2030,” it said.
