In a big boost to the development of the fairer sex, the Government today increased the allocation for development of women and children by almost 50 per cent.
Besides this, the Union budget presented today also proposed allocation of a total Rs 44,961.41 crore for development of children from every ministry and Rs 67,749.80 crore for women-specific programmes as part of its gender budgeting programme.
In order to meet the specific needs of women farmers, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee also announced Rs 100 crore as a sub-component of the National Rural Livelihood Mission.
"I propose to set up up the plan outlay for Women and Children by almost 50 per cent. Several new initiatives that were launched in 2009-10 are now ready for implementation," Mukherjee said.
He also announced a National Mission for Empowerment of Women. "The ICDS platform is being expanded for effective implementation of the Rajiv Gandhi Scheme for Adoloscent girls," he added.