Only 3% of total Budget for children needs serious reflection

With the first Union Budget round the corner, expectations are high. In the midst of the pursuit of the economic growth paradigm, the government will also need to balance its prime objective of ‘Sabka Vikas’, which aims at providing basic amenities to all citizens in an equitable and just manner.

Children, accounting for more than 40% of the population, will be crucially affected if the equity and inclusion agenda is not given the priority it truly deserves.  No one can deny that it’s time for the government to seriously consider child rights indicators and duly prioritise entitlements for children, especially those who are most vulnerable. 

The needs of children are paramount and prioritising financial resource allocations towards fulfilling them cannot be emphasised enough. 

Consistently low allocations amounting to just a little above 3% of the total Union Budget towards their requirements ensuring safe and protected childhood need serious reflection and appropriate intervention.  On a positive note, we saw a much-awaited attempt in the Interim Budget of 2019-20 to make a positive shift through a substantial increase in allocation for child protection services from Rs 648 crore (BE) in 2017-18 to Rs 1,500 crore. 

However, a closer look reveals that the focus and investment of our child protection system at present is on responding to violations of child protection issues. Going beyond investing in a reactive mode addressing the gaps, there is further need to urgently invest in pre-emptive, preventive and rehabilitative measures for child protection.

This would require concerted and premeditated efforts in building capacities of local governments in rural and urban areas i.e. Panchayati Raj institutions (PRIs) and municipalities by prioritising child protection in their annual development plans, in facilitating access to benefits of schemes for children – especially the marginalised ones – and to monitor child protection and development in the gram panchayat and municipality areas, both for preventive and rehabilitative aspects.

Implementation of crucial legislation and programmes related to child protection such as the Prohibition of Child Marriage Act (PCMA) 2006, Child and Adolescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act (CLPRA) 1986, and the National Child Labour Project (NCLP) need to be allocated more resources. 

For example, there is little financial investment made in supporting child marriage prohibition officers to dispense their duties in terms of provision of capacity building, support staff, travel etc, which has led to poor implementation of the legislation. 

Apart from adequate allocations on preventive mechanisms, the government should also prioritise capacity building processes for the duty bearers at various levels of the child protection system.  Under the newly designed Child Protection Services Scheme or the CPSS (erstwhile known as Integrated Child Protection Scheme or ICPS), allocations should be increased for capacity building of functionaries who are part of district child protection units (DCPU), child protection committees (CPC) at village and block levels and special juvenile police units (SJPU) to enable them to perform their role effectively across the child protection continuum. 

This includes allocating wisely and adequately, towards effective functioning of officials such as the child marriage prohibition officer,  child labour rescue teams, protection officers under Protection of Women from Domestic Violence Act 2005, district nodal officers under Child Labour Act, 2016, and officials responsible under the POCSO Act, 2012, among others.  Another important piece in the puzzle is about sensitising the community on rights to protection of children, and earmarking a sizable amount of money for long-term results. 

Making community members aware of the overall child protection scenario can help them take informed decisions, and is the starting block towards making an effective community safety-net for children.  Hence the need of the hour is to invest in campaigns so that people at large are aware of the effects of child protection violations on children and their families, availability of redressal mechanisms and support through various government schemes and programmes such as sponsorship, foster care, National Child Labour Project Scheme etc. 

To conclude, Union Budget allocations, if well designed and adequate, have the potential to improve upon, and transform the lives of millions of children in this crucial phase of their lives.

The author is the CEO, CRY