Union Budget 2022-23: A Journey Towards Economic Recovery?
Overview of budget priorities and allocations for children in India
Highlights
UNICEF India has prepared this brief on the Union Budget of 2022-23 from a child rights perspective through its in-house social policy specialists as well as by consulting domain experts through a webinar that was held on 01 March, 2022 with the participation of the Ministry of Women and Child Development (Government of India), National Institute of Public Finance and Policy, Centre for Budget Governance and Accountability, Accountability Initiative (Centre for Policy Research) and Centre for Budget and Policy Studies.
For children, the budget matters because of the heightened vulnerabilities they face, especially girls, most recently due to the global pandemic. As 286 million children experienced learning losses from school closures as of November 2021, this time away from schooling has increased their vulnerability to hardships like child labour and their access to healthy diets.
India’s inclusive financial recovery will come from sustainable economic growth, a strong resource base and allocations for priority social sectors including education, health, nutrition, drinking water and sanitation, child protection and social protection.
Furthermore, India has an incredible opportunity to leverage the transformative potential of a 440 million-strong generation of children, which is one-third of its population being at the cusp of a demographic transition and in the midst of its youth bulge.
In our joint efforts to increase investments towards critical social sectors for children and women, we hope this brief informs policymakers and development practitioners to better understand programmes and portfolios of support that advance the rights of all children, especially the most vulnerable
