Incorporating a gender criterion in the tax-transfer formula is conceptually a solution for ‘engendering’ intergovernmental fiscal transfers. Discuss (200 Words)
Refer - Financial Express
Enrich the answer from other sources, if the question demands.
IAS Parliament 3 years
KEY POINTS
· Gender budgeting is an approach that uses fiscal policy to promote gender equality by trying to translate gender commitments into fiscal commitments through processes, resources and institutional mechanisms.
· The frameworks for gender budgeting in India are confined only to fiscal fiat, inclusive of taxation and public expenditure policies and, to a limited extent, the intergovernmental fiscal transfers.
· There is a heterogeneity of stakeholders, from various stages of budget formulation to implementation at multiple levels of governance.
· Time-use surveys are conducted in India only in six states, though it is likely to be extended to all states.
· Higher Budget Estimates do not ensure higher spending. There is significant deviation between Budget Estimates and Revised Estimates and Actuals in India. We find that errors are high for different expenditure components of gender budgeting.
· In India, the mechanism of intergovernmental fiscal transfers plays a major role in providing states sufficient financial resources to carry out their expenditure assignments.
· In a multi-level governance system, designing conditional grants for gender budgeting should also have positive effects on gender equality.
· The 15th Financial Commission’s final report is due in October 2020. We will have to wait and see whether they design a conditional grant for strengthening gender budgeting at the state level.
· Designing a conditional transfer (specific purpose grant) to strengthen gender budgeting can be directly linked to gender equality outcomes. However, if the conditional grants are tied to a ‘menu of activities’ to be performed under this grant at the state level as “priorly-determined” by the Union (the top-down approach), it can adversely affect the gender equality outcomes due to the lack of flexibility in utilising such fiscal transfers.
