Conference on Budget Decisions and Economic and Social
Rights
November 14-15, 2009
Queen’s University, Belfast, Ireland
Presented by
Enakshi Ganguly Thukral,
Co-Director, HAQ: Centre for Child Rights
HAQ: Centre for Child Rights works through:
Children and Governance
Budget Tracking of Government Expenditure & Executive
Decisions (Budget for Children)
Performance Monitoring – Status of India’s Children Reports
Monitoring & Analyzing Parliament Questions (Says a Child…)
Child Protection
Legal Support to Children
Counselling Support to Children
Monitoring Judicial Process
Training and Capacity Building for police,
judicial officers & NGOs
Monitoring State Accountability
Child Rights Impose Three Distinct
Obligations on Governments: The
Obligations to Respect, Protect and Fulfill
those Rights
The obligation to fulfill rights necessitates
that governments fulfill the rights of
children, through the implementation of
legislative, administrative, budgetary,
judicial and other measures.
Through HAQ’s other work we look at the
others
While holding state accountable is a
distinctive, complex and central feature
of human rights, there is very little work in
this regard on children
HAQ’s work on Budget for Children (BfC) must be
understood in this context of the obligation of the
States to fulfill rights through the provision of adequate
and appropriate financial resources. It is a tool for
monitoring state performance in order to hold it
accountable
This Presentation looks at
• Budget for Children (BfC): analysishistory, method and process
• Using BfC and other tool:
completing the circle of advocacypolicy change- implementationimpact-advocacy
• Challenges before us
There are Several Reasons Why the
Budget should give Priority Attention
to Children
• The well being of the society depends on the investment in its human resource
development, particularly development of children and the youth
• India continues to rank poorly on several key counts. Children continue to
suffer from poor nutrition, inadequate health services, and still don’t have
access to clean water, sanitation and basic education
• Most importantly- National Commitments (Constitution, Laws
and Policies) and International Commitments (UN Conventions,
Concluding Observations and General Comments)
• Political Commitments Must Translate Into
Financial Commitments- But does it?
“State parties shall undertake such measures to
the maximum extent of available resources and
where needed the framework of international
cooperation”
-Article 4, UN Convention on the Rights of the Child
“Implementation of the human rights of children must not be seen
as a charitable process, bestowing favours on children…The
implementation duties of article 4 and other provisions of the
Convention demand rigorous monitoring of the effects of such
changes and adjustment of policies to protect children’s economic,
social and cultural rights.”
- General Comment no.5 on general measures of implementation
for the Convention on the Rights of the Child (2003)
Question before us?
In the wider context of poverty, diseaseprevalence, malnutrition, high mortality,
world’s highest child labour and sexual
abuse cases, and the increase in the
number of children coming into conflict
with law, can the neglect of children’s
rights – in financial terms – be justified?
What is Budget for Children
(BfC)?
Budget for children is not a separate
budget.
It is an attempt to disaggregate from all
allocations made, those made
specifically for children.
WHO IS A CHILD?
ALL PERSONS UPTO THE AGE OF
EIGHTEEN YEARS
A Little History…
• HAQ is not a organisation that focuses only on
budget analysis. It works on CHILD RIGHTS and uses
Budget analysis to monitor state performance
• HAQ started budget analysis in 2001 with a decadal
analysis 1990-2000 a period of economic change
and structural adjustment. Since then it has
continued doing so…
• HAQ complements its BfC work with other tools that
measure state performance and with policy
analysis and advocacy
• HAQ believes that it is both Economic Social and
Cultural Rights as well as Civil and Political Rights
that need to be monitored such as Juvenile Justice
BfC At Two Levels:
Union and State
• Analysis at both levels is necessary to
comprehensively gauge the Governments’
commitment to Child Rights
• Policy making, planning and allocation of funds – at
both levels
• Flow of Funds – From Union to State
• Tracking the budget flow—how and where does it
go?
Questions Before Us
What were the resources being invested by the
government for children?
What proportion of the allocation was actually spent?
How did it match the outcomes in terms of indicators
for children? More importantly, are the resources
being allocated and spent “adequate”?
What is the Performance of programmes at the
implementation level vis-a-vis allocation?
For HAQ, budget analysis fitted perfectly into the work
of watching over and monitoring state performance
in all matters pertaining to the realisation of Child
Rights.
Challenges before us at that time
• Developing a methodology
• Gaining acceptance for the concept
• Using the findings
Budget for Children
A Study by HAQ: Centre For Child Rights
• First phase: HAQ’s work on
the Budget for Children (BfC)
established the need for
such analysis and set the
initial direction for
developing a methodology
to do this more effectively
Since 2002…
• Began BfC in the
States- 6 states now
• Union Budget
through out….
For Our Analysis, We Refer To….
• Government’s budget documents (Finance
Bill as well as Detailed Demands for Grants)
• Other govt documents
– Reports of the Comptroller and Auditor General
– Appropriation Accounts (Report of the Accountant
General) AND Performance Budget of Departments
and Ministries
– Annual Reports
– Economic Survey
– Parliamentary Standing Committee Reports
• Reports and studies that reflect on the
implementation of schemes and programmes
and situation of children
Share of Children in the Budget:
A Quick Peek
Fig.1 Share for Children in the Union Budget
(Average Allocation for 2004-05 to 2008-09)
4.45
Fig.2 Sectoral Allocation (BE) as Percentage
within Budget for Children Average for 2004-05 to
2008-09
1.08
17.14
16.54
95.55
49.05
BfC in the Union Budget
Union Budget other than BfC
Development
Education
Health
Protection
Of every Rs.100 allocated to the Union Budget, an average of Rs. 4.45
has been allocated to children during 2004-05 to 2008-09. Of every
Rs.100 within the budget for children, Rs. 49.05 has been provided for
education, Rs. 17.14 for health, Rs. 16.54 for development and 1.08
paise for protection.
What is Allocated and What is Finally
Spent on Children?
•
•
The difference in the
budget estimates (BE)
and revised estimates RE)
shows how the budget
undergoes a change in
the middle of the
financial year
The actual expenditure
(AE) is the reflection of
the implementation of
any programme as
envisaged in the
beginning of the year
On an average, 2.74
percent allocations
remained unutilised…
Governments almost
always report only on
allocations
BE, RE & AE in BFC
45,000
40,000
35,000
30,000
Rs Crore
•
25,000
20,000
15,000
10,000
5,000
0
2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10
BE
RE
AE
Share of Children in Different Sectors
in the Union Budget
Sectoral Allocation on Children as Percentage of Union Budget
4.0
3.5
Percent
3.0
2.5
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
2000-01 2001-02 2002-03 2003-04 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10
Health
Development
Education
Protection
Health and
Protection
have the
lowest
allocation
and also
show underspending
Advocating for BfC - At the National Level
• Presentation and discussions with the
government since 2001. (First
recognition was MWCD’s chapter in its
Annual Report in 2003 (since then
almost every year)
• To file a Petition with the National
Commission for Women to argue for
inclusion of 0-6 in Right to Education
Amendment
• Developing a Children’s Manifesto
• File legal petitions
• Questions in Parliament and Legislative
Assemblies
• Strengthening arguments of various
campaigns
• Arguing for better allocations for
Protection Sector
Some Success:
Government of India has adopted Child Budget as its
mandate
• On October 26, 2005 in a
meeting of State
Secretaries organised by
the Ministry of Women
and Child Development,
the government
promised that it would
henceforth undertake
Child Budgeting
• Inclusion in various other
important policy
documents
But final recognition only when
Finance Minister Finally Accepts BfC
“We will score another 'first' this year. A
statement on child related schemes is
included in the budget documents and
Honourable Members will be happy to note
that the total expenditure on these schemes
is of the order of Rs. 33,434 crore.”
- P. Chidambaram, Budget 2008-2009
Finally a separate statement in
the Expenditure Budget
“Recognising that children under 18 constitute a
significant percentage of the Indian population, the
Government is committed to their welfare and
development. This statement reflects budget
provisions of schemes that are meant substantially
for the welfare of children. These provisions indicate
educational outlays, provisions for the girl child,
health, provisions for Child protection, etc.”
Expenditure Budget. Volume 2
State Level
• Advocacy with local
self governments,
panchayats (linking
BfC with
communities)
• Setting up of alliances
• Starting a campaign
• Linking up with
national level
campaign on child
labour
• Tracking the flow
Advocacy at International Level
• For alternate report to the UNCRC
Committee and
recommendations in the
concluding observations
• Submission at the
General Day of
Discussion on Right to
Adequate Resources
HAQ Works On…
• Financial accountability, which is about allocation,
disbursement and utilisation of funds (through Budget
for Children (BfC) analysis)
• Performance accountability, which is about
demonstrating and accounting for performance
through implementation of initiatives in the light of
agreed indicators (through Status of Children reports
and other research)
• Political or democratic accountability involves policy
making, political process and elections (through its
Parliament Watch and other policy advocacy work)
• Judicial Accountability involves responsiveness and
performance of the judicial process (Through direct
legal intervention as well as action research,
particularly Juvenile Justice)
It is each of them
separately and also
together
(complimenting each
other) forms the basis
of advocacy…
BfC is only one dish in
the menu and not the
whole meal
Case Example:
Enhanced Budget for Protection and
New Comprehensive Programme
•
HAQ’s BfC analysis, since its very first time, has been pointing out that child
protection was inadequately resourced and received the least allocation. Every
BfC document that HAQ put out pointed to this
•
The 2nd status report highlighted the need for a protective environment and
programming and investing on it
•
The Juvenile Justice work pointed to the urgent need for intervention in protecting
children
•
Concluding observations have made comments on both need for more resources
and greater protection
Based on HAQ’s status report and BfC –argued This was picked up by the
government and the ministry argued for a new and comprehensive
scheme –The Integrated Child Protection Scheme that was approved by
the Planning Commission
“Provision of Child Protection will be a key
intervention in the Eleventh Plan. ‘Child Protection’
refers to protection from violence, exploitation,
abuse, and neglect. It has also recognized that
some children are in ‘especially difficult
circumstances’, such as child labour, street
children and children under the juvenile justice
system, and has made specific programme
interventions for them. This recognition is
underpinned by the fact that every child has a right
to protection, even if he/she is not in difficult
circumstances. Thus the Eleventh Plan intervention
for Child Protection takes both a preventive and a
protective approach. During the Eleventh Plan, the
Ministry of WCD will launch an Integrated Child
Protection Scheme.”
Challenges That Remain
• Accessing and Unpacking the Data
• Selection of programmes and schemes for children
remains a huge challenge, especially when there are
several of them that address both women and children
• Direct transfer of funds from centre to autonomous
bodies—no reflection in state budget documents
• Abdication of state responsibility—Privatisation of
services
• Good things happen when there are good
people...and then they sometimes stop..
• Going beyond UNCRC to other treaty bodies
• States have adopted the rhetoric...this makes
our task more difficult
• The methodology is still evolving. Hence,
even if they draw upon each other,
researchers tend to customise the
methodology to their needs leading to
different results
• The most difficult challenge remains the
acknowledgment and acceptance of
citizenship of children and the relevance of
focussing on children in the larger
governance and human rights discourse
THANK
YOU