Focus on self-help groups, education and cervical cancer vaccine: Why Sitharaman’s mid-term budget hinges on ‘Nari Shakti’

Thursday’s interim budget presentation gave a hint that Nari Shakti is one of the main focus areas of the Narendra Modi government.

In an all-male team, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman emerged as the only powerful woman to present a record sixth consecutive budget.

One of the major achievements of the budget or accounting polls was the focus on women’s empowerment, in keeping with the slogan coined by the government, “Saksham Nari, Sashakt Bharat”.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi congratulated Sitharaman for focusing the budget on women. For example, the interim budget increased the expenditure on the ‘Lakhpati Didi’ scheme from Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore. The initiative aims to train women in self-help groups so that they can earn a sustainable income of at least Rs 1 lakh per family per year. Sitharaman also said that 8.3 million self-help groups and 90 million women are changing the rural socio-economic landscape through empowerment and self-reliance.

This and other initiatives focus on ensuring women’s empowerment. The Finance Minister announced a Rs 30-crore Mudra Yojana loan to women entrepreneurs. In fact, the Ministry of Finance estimates that female labor force participation has increased from 23.3% in 2017-18 to 37% in 2022-2023.

Parallel to this are stories of more and more women coming out and getting better opportunities. For example, female enrollment in higher education has increased by 28% in 10 years. Currently, enrollment in STEM courses is 43%.

Recently, the government, the Ministry of Women and Child Development, and the Ministry of Labor announced a series of targets and directives for businesses and those employing manual labor, the most important of which is pay equality between male and female workers.

Basic health and hygiene are also a focus of the government and the interim budget. Funds have been allocated to vaccinate young girls in the age group of 9 to 14 years against cervical cancer. Cervical cancer is the second most common cancer among Indian women.

Although the interim budget did not make many announcements given its nature and limitations, the focus on women is a clear indication that the government has more plans for this group.