Gender Budgeting in India by Dr. Vibhuti Patel was presented at a National workshop on Gender Budgeting: An Effective Tool for Achieving Women's Empowerment, organised on 15-4-2007 by Equity Foundation, Patna and Supported by Planning Commission of India, Delhi.

In India, Gender budgeting as a distinct tool was institutionalized by the introduction of gender budgeting statement in the Union Budget 2005-06. This paper tries to trace the steps taken in this direction by analyzing the pattern of resource allocation under gender budgeting with an in-depth analysis of schemes included in Union Budget 2007-08.

Following a commitment by the Finance Minister of Karnataka to create a separate cell in the Finance Department tasked with identifying the quantum and resource allocation and expenditure for women, the first ever Gender Budget document was presented in the year 2007-08 at the Legislature with a hope to improve the sensitivity to address the issues which concerns women.

The following document, a product of a UNIFEM supported program, is one of 7 analytical reports on Gender Responsive Budgets that were completed and published in the Follow the Money' Series, South Asia. The well-received reports, have been in wide demand by GRB practitioners from around the world. This initiative has also been highly influential in the increase of allocations reflecting women's priorities as well as the inclusion of women in the planning process of economic governance at the local level in India.

This article from the World Bank Institute's Development Outreach Journal discusses the importance of citizen's efforts to audit directly the activities of development programs. The piece, which emphasizes that local accountability to the poor can be served in the form of gender-sensitive participatory planning, budgeting and auditing, provides examples from the Indian context.

The guide brings together and synthesises several innovative and tested strategies on gender responsive planning & implementation from across India. It is designed as a selflearning tool or a practitioner’s reference book that provides a knowledge base of experiences which can be used as a reference for gender responsive planning & implementation initiatives. It draws extensively from inputs provided by a cross section of policy makers, feminist economists, representatives from civil society and women’s organisations.