There are over 44 crore children (0-18 years) in India who constitute more than 40 % of the country’s population. Of these, 22 crore are between the age of 6-14 years. Needless to say, development programmes that are meant for the society as at large are also going to benefit children, as they will to all other sections of society. However, from time-to-time the government makes special commitments towards children. A Budgetary analysis is an effective tool for reconciling child specific governmental policy and programme commitments with financial commitments made for the same. Indeed, are we putting our money where our mouth is? HAQ: Center for Child Rights B1/2, Ground Floor, Malviya Nagar New Delhi - 110017 Tel: +91-26677412,26673599 Fax: +91-26674688 Website: www.haqcrc.org FaceBook Page: https://www.facebook.com/HaqCentreForChildRights

1. 1
WHAT DOES THE BUDGET 2005-2006
HAVE FOR CHILDREN?
208, Shahpur Jat, New Delhi-110049
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2. 2
A 1 India’s Children and the Union Budget (2005-06)
There are over 44 crore children (0-18 years) in India who constitute more than 40 % of the
country’s population. Of these, 22 crore are between the age of 6-14 years. Needless to say,
development programmes that are meant for the society as at large are also going to benefit
children, as they will to all other sections of society. However, from time-to-time the
government makes special commitments towards children. A Budgetary analysis is an
effective tool for reconciling child specific governmental policy and programme
commitments with financial commitments made for the same. Indeed, are we putting our
money where our mouth is?
Having ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (1992) India is obliged to
submit periodic reports on its progress towards realising the rights of all children to the
Committee on the Rights of the Child. Based on its report that came up for review in January
2004, the Committee, in its concluding observations said:
‘Make every effort to increase the proportion of the budget allocated to the realisation of children’s
rights to the “maximum extent … of available resources” and, in this context, to ensure the provision,
including through international cooperation, of appropriate human resources and to guarantee that
the implementation of policies relating to social services provided to children remain a priority’;
‘Develop ways to assess the impact of budgetary allocations on the implementation of children’s
rights, and to collect and disseminate information in this regard.’
(Thirty-fifth session vide letter no. CRC/C/15/Add.228, dated 30 January 2004)
Realising that ‘Child Budget’ is an important tool for monitoring government’s commitment
to children, HAQ: Centre for Child Rights undertook a path breaking decadal analysis of the
Union Budget from a child rights perspective in 2000 in the country. This helped in
establishing the need for such an analysis and also developing a methodology. Since then
HAQ: Centre for Child Rights has been undertaking a similar analysis of the Union Budget
every year.
This is a quick analysis of the budgetary
allocations made specifically for children based
on the budget presented by the Finance Minister
Shri P. Chidambaram [Expenditure Budget Vols. I
& II; Performance Budget & Annual Reports of
concerned ministries].
Clearly this has to be read and understood in the context of the status of children in the
country and the commitments that have been made to them. Only then will ‘Child Budget’ be
an effective tool for monitoring the government’s commitments to child rights and also for
policy and media advocacy.
A 2 Methodology
A 2.1 Who is a child?
For purposes of this Child Budget analysis, ‘child’ has been defined in consonance with the
Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Juvenile Justice Act, 2000. For
Box A 1.1: Child Budget
‘Child Budget’ is not a separate budget. It is
merely an attempt to disaggregate from the
overall allocation made, those made
specifically for programmes that benefit
children directly.

3. 3
practical purposes we disaggregate all programmes and schemes, from various
ministries/departments, that are meant for persons below the age of 18 years.
A 2.2 Choice of Sectors, Ministries and Schemes
Sectors: The four basic rights of children according to the CRC include the rights to
Survival, Development, Protection and Participation. While schemes/programmes
addressing the right to participation are yet to find a place on Government of India’s
mandate, there are several social sector schemes that fall within the ambit of the other
three rights.
For purposes of analysis the programmes and schemes have been clubbed under four
heads:
1. Early Childhood Care and Development
2. Child Health
3. Child Education (Elementary and Secondary Education)
4. Child Protection
Ministries: Schemes and programmes from the following ministries have been used
for analysis:
1. Ministry of Human Resource and Development
2. Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
3. Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment
4. Ministry of Labour
5. Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
6. Ministry of Tribal Affairs
Programmes and Schemes: Any development programme that aims at development
of the community will undoubtedly help in improving the status of children. That
would be true of any water, sanitation or primary health care programme, as for any
other developmental intervention undertaken. However, it is difficult to disaggregate
financial commitments made only to children from such programmes. Bearing this
limitation in mind our analysis includes child specific programmes and sectors
including Central Government/Centrally Sponsored Schemes.
A 2.3 Data Analysis
The attempt here is to calculate the budgetary allocation for children in the current fiscal year.
Since a number of schemes do not specify the exact age group catered to (especially those
that include persons over the age of 18 years), we have decided to err on the side of excess.
The whole budgeted amount has been assumed, although only a part of it would, in reality
devolve to the persons falling within the relevant age category.
Data analysis has been presented sector-wise and also as percentage of the total Union
Budget. The increase or decline has been calculated on the basis of last year’s Budgetary
Estimates.

4. 4
A 3 What Does The Union Budget Of 2005-06 Have For Children?
The Finance Bill of 2005-06 as presented by the Finance Minister has allocated only 3.77% for
children out of its total budget estimates. Will this be enough to meet the needs of 40% of the total
population?
Table A 3.1: Share of Children in the Union Budget (BE)
(In percentage)
Year Child
Development*
Child
Health**
Education*** Child
Protection****
Total
2003-04 0.49 0.34 1.47 0.03 2.33
2004-05 0.42 0.42 1.57 0.03 2.44
2005-06 0.65 0.52 2.56 0.03 3.77
Source: GOI Expenditure Budget 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 (Vols 1&2).
* Min. of HRD
** Min. of H &FW.
*** Min. of HRD, Min. of SJ&E, Min. of YA&S, and Min. of TA.
****Min. of SJ&E, Min. of Labour and Employment
Figure A 3.1: Share of Various Sectors in Union Budget (2005-06)
Share of Various Sectors in Union Budget (2005-06)
Child Development
Child Health
Education
Child Protection
Union Budget
Of every 100 Rupee allocated by the government, only Three Rupees and
Seventy Seven paise is allocated for children

5. 5
Table A 3.2: Percentage Share of Various Sectors in the Total Child Budget (BE)
Year Total Child
Budget
% Share of
Early
Childhood
Care and
Development
% Share of
Child Health
% Share of
Education
% Share of
Child
Protection
2003-04 10264.23 21.3 14.6 62.7 1.3
2004-05 11695.72 17.2 17.3 64.02 1.3
2005-06 19459.22 17.4 13.9 67.7 0.9
Source: GOI Expenditure Budget 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 (Vols 1&2).
A 4 Early Childhood Care And Development
The analysis is based on budget allocations made by the Department of Women and Child
Development, Ministry of Human Resources Development, the nodal agency for early
childhood care and development. Needless to say the largest allocation is for ICDS. This
crucial programme addresses the needs of children in the 0-6 age group, who had been left
out of the ambit of the 86th Constitutional Amendment (making education a fundamental
right only for children in the of 6 to 14 year age group).
As per the Annual Report (2004-05) of Department of Women and Child Development,
Ministry of Human Resource and Development there are around 15.786 crore children in the
of 0 to 6 years age group, which constitutes 15.42% of the total population and 41% of
children in the age group of 0 to 18 years. The programmes and schemes that have been
selected as child specific in the sector of ‘Early Childhood Care and Development’ have
bearing on 15.42% of the total population of the country These programmes are crucial as
they are meant to cater to children in the definitive periods of their lives.

6. 6
Table A 4.1: Policy Goals (Child Health)
The Government has set for itself various targets and goals through various policy and
planning papers at various points of time. But as the prevailing status of the children in 0 to 6
years age group reveals, it is a case of shifting goal posts. (See Table A 4.1).
In response to a situation when there is an alarming number of hunger deaths and 66.9%
percent of children (1-5 years) suffer from anaemia1
a National Nutrition Monitoring
Mission (NNM) has been set up under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister and was
notified on 31 July 2003. This is a two tier supervisory structure and will serve as an Inter-
agency coordination mechanism at the highest level. Minister of State, Department of
Women and Child Development is the chairperson of the Executive Committee of the
NNM
In an important step of nutrition advocacy of policy makers the Secretary of Department of
Women and Child Development has written to Chief Secretaries of States, State Secretaries
(WCD) and Secretaries of Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Department of Food and
Public Distribution and Department of Elementary Education. In the letter she has
addressed infant and young child nutrition, importance of re-imposing ban on sale of non-
iodised salt, providing iodised salt through Public Distribution System (PDS) and to school
children through Mid Day Meal Scheme, and adopting fortification of foods with special
emphasis on double fortified salt for controlling the widespread problem of nutritional
anaemia. But only a token budget provision of Rs. 3.00 lakhs was made for NNM in the
Budget of Department of Women and Child Development. Same provision has been made
for the year 2005-06.
1
National Nutrition Monitoring Bureau (NNMB), 2003
GGOOAALLSS SSEETT BBYY TTAARRGGEETT// GGOOAALLSS
National Policy for Children 1974 Policy of the state to provide adequate services to
children both, before and after birth to ensure full
physical, mental and social development.
National Policy on Education 1986 Focus on Early Childhood Care and Education;
recognises and reiterates the need for interventions for
the crucial 0-6 age group.
National Plan of Action 1992 • Reduction in severe and moderate malnutrition
among under-5 children by half between 1990 and
the year 2000 A.D.
• Reduction in incidence of low birth weight babies
(2.5 kg or less).
• Control of Vitamin 'A' deficiency and its
consequence.
• Expansion of early childhood development activities
including appropriate low-cost family and
community-based interventions
10
th
Five-Year Plan (2002-07) Universalisation of ICDS will be achieved during the
Tenth Plan in all the 5652 blocks of the country.

7. 7
Table A 4.2: Share of Early Childhood Care and Development in Union Budget
(In Crore Rs)
Source: DWCD, Min of HRD, GOI Expenditure Budget 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 (Vols 1&2).
Figure A 4.1: Early Childhood Care And Development Budget (0-6 Years)
A 4.1 ICDS
The Integrated Child Development
Services (ICDS) scheme assumes a
very special significance in a country
like India where the development
indicators project an absolutely
dismal picture. In India 47 per cent
of children in the age group of 0 to 3
years are undernourished, 51 per cent
of the children suffer from severe or
moderate anaemia, and the number
of child deaths (0 to 5 years) are
highest in the world. In these
circumstances ICDS is the only
glimmer of hope for children in the
age group of 0 to 6 years. The
allocation for ICDS increased from
2003-04
(BE)
2003-04
(RE)
2004-05
(BE)
2004-05
(RE)
2005-06
(BE)
1. Integrated Child Development Services 2120.82 1801.46 1947.44 1934.4 3315.25
2. Day Care Centres 32.50 21.40 41.00 29.25 41.50
3. Contribution to UNICEF 3.10 3.10 3.10 3.10 3.10
4. National Institute of Public
Cooperation &Child Development
10.70 10.20 11.75 11.75 11.35
5. Other Schemes 8.69 4.62 14.61 13.56 14.12
6. Balika Samridhi Yojana 13.50 0.01 0.03 48.00 0.03
Child Development Budget—Total 2189.31 1840.79 2017.93 2040.06 3385.35
Union Budget—Total 438795.07 474254.67 477829.04 505791.41 514343.80
Child Dev. Budget as %age of total
Union Budget 0.499 0.388 0.422 0.403 0.658
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
3500
2003-04 2004-05 2005-06
BE
RE
Box A 4.1: Universalisation of ICDS
"Universalisation" roughly involves tripling the coverage of
ICDS. If expenditure per child is doubled across the
board, as an essential first step towards improved quality,
the overall resource requirements also double. Tripling the
coverage an d doubling unit costs would imply a six-fold
increase in ICDS expenditure. As far as the central
government is concerned, this would mean raising the annual
budget allocation for ICDS from Rs 1,600 crores to Rs
9,600 crores per year. If this increase is spread over a
period of two or three years, it is well within the realm of
feasibility. Indeed, this is not a high price to pay to protect
15 crore children from hunger and disease.
Source: Recommendations on ICDS (based on deliberations
of the National Advisory Council on 28 August 2004)

8. 8
Rs. 1490.40 crore (Revised Estimates 2004-05) to Rs. 3142.25 crore (Budget Estimates 2005-
06).
This appears to be a huge increment. However, it is insufficient to cover the cost of universal
coverage of all 17 lakh habitations in India. Supplementary nutrition is currently provided to
3.7712 crore2
children, as opposed to the existing 16 crore children (47 per cent of whom are
undernourished) in the 0-6 age group.
The coverage of settlements is also highly inadequate — there are only 6.923
lakh
anganwadis in the country, compared with an estimated 17 lakh required for universal
coverage based on existing norms. To implement the Supreme Court’s order in true letter and
spirit, the allocation should have been increased six fold, which the National Advisory
Council headed by Ms. Sonia Gandhi, also accepts (See Box A 4.1).
A 4.2 Crèches/Day Care Centres
The Government set up a National Crèche Fund during 1993-94 with a Corpus Fund of 19.90 crores
to meet the growing requirement for opening more crèches. In addition, assistance is also provided to
convert some of the existing Anganwadis into Anganwadi-cum-Creche Centres from the Fund.
Assistance from the fund is provided out of the interest earned on the National Creche Fund. Details
of the funds released out of the interest earned on the National Creche Fund are as indicated in Table
A 4.3.
Table A 4.3: National Crèche Centre Funds
(Rs. Lakh)
Year
Amount released
2002-03 407.14
2003-04 252.98
2004-05 250.86*
* Up to 31 December 2004
These allocations are over and above the allocations for the programme, which have been Rs. 2700
lakh, Rs. 3450 lakh and Rs. 4400 lakhs in the years 2002-03, 2003-04 and 2004-05 respectively.
The Parliamentary Standing Committee on Human Resource Development in its 160
th
report has
observed, “Enhancement in allocated funds for the scheme was also meant for starting more
crèches” and further goes on to say, “The Committee is not happy with the coverage of children as
well as number of crèches in the country.” The number of crèches continues to remain the same,
which is 12451 crèches in the whole country. Total number of children benefiting from this
programme is 3.11 lakh, which too has remained virtually unchanged over for the last few years.
A 4.3 Balika Samriddhi Yojana
The allocation for this scheme is just Rs. 3 lakh for the financial year 2005-06. There is a
proposal to transfer this scheme to States/UTs. However, in the interim, it was decided that
unspent balances lying with State Governments/UTs under the scheme may be utilised for
giving benefits to the beneficiaries during financial year 2004-05. It was also decided that
states, which have utilised funds already released, may be released further funds. In
accordance with this decision Rs. 48 crore was releasedto the states and union territories as
2
Annual Report 2004-05, Department of Women and Child Development, Ministry of Human Resource
Development, Government of India.
3
Ibid.

9. 9
grant-in-aid at the RE stage of the financial year 2004-05, even though the allocation for the
scheme at the BE stage for the financial year 2004-05 was just Rs. 1 lakh. The irony of
this scheme is that up to December 2004, total number of beneficiaries was just 3.58 lakhs
against a target of 10 lakhs beneficiaries.
A 5 Child Health
The budget for children’s health has been drawn out of the two departments of the Ministry
of Health and Family Welfare. These programmes target only specific needs of children’s
health such as immunisation or adolescent health, etc. most other needs are met under the
composite health programmes through the regular health services provided to everyone in the
community. The health services for children are provided through a network of sub-centres,
Public Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs). In addition, facilities
for children are provided through Post-Partum Centres, District Hospitals and rural and urban
Family Welfare Centres. However, for this analysis we have only included those programmes
that have been designed specifically for children.
Some commitments made towards ensuring every child’s right to health are:
Table A 5.1: Child Health (Domestic Commitments)
GGOOAALLSS SSEETT BBYY TTAARRGGEETT// GGOOAALLSS
National Health Policy, 1983 Health for All by the Year 2000 A.D. through the universal
provision of comprehensive primary health care services
National Plan of Action for Children, 1992 • Reduction of infant mortality rate to less than 60 per 1000
live births and reduction of child mortality rate to less than
10 by 2000 A.D.
• Eradication of Poliomyelitis by the year 2000 and
elimination of Neo-natal tetanus by 1995
• Reduction by 95% in measles deaths and reduction by 90%
of measles cases compared to pre-immunisation levels by
1995
• Achievement of 100% immunisation coverage for infants
and against tetanus for women of child-bearing age
• Reduction by 50% in deaths due to diarrhoea in children
under the age of 5 years
• Reduction of mortality rates due to ARI among children
under 5 by 40% by 2000 AD from the present level
National Health policy, 2002 • To achieve an acceptable standard of good health among
the population by increasing access to decentralised public
health system and by establishing or upgrading the
infrastructure in the existing institutions
• Reduce IMR to 30/1000 and MMR to 100/Lakh by 2010
• Eradicate polio and yaws and eliminate leprosy by 2005
• Improve nutrition and reduce proportion of LBW babies
from 30% to 10% by 2010
• Reduce Mortality by 50% on account of TB, Malaria and
Other Vector and Water Borne diseases by 2010
• Reduce Prevalence of Blindness to 0.5% by 2010
• Achieve zero level growth of HIV/AIDS by 2007
10
th
Five-Year Plan (2002-07) Reduction of infant mortality rates to 45 per thousand life births
by 2007 and to 28 by 2012

10. 10
Table A 5.2: Child Health (International Commitments)
GGOOAALLSS SSEETT BBYY TTAARRGGEETT // GGOOAALLSS
International Conference on Population and
Development (ICPD), Cairo 1994
Efforts should be made by all the states to reduce
the infant mortality rate by one-third by the year
2000
Millennium Development Goals (MDG) • Reduce by two-thirds, between 1990 and 2015,
the under-five mortality rate (goal 4)
• Reduce by three-quarters, between 1990 and
2015, the maternal mortality rate
• Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases
According to the estimates made by Registrar General of India, infant mortality in 2002 was
63 per 1000 live births while child mortality (0 to 4 yrs) was 17.8 per 1000 live births.
Against this the RCH survey carried out in 2002-03 indicates that institutional delivery rate
was still only 39.8%. According to the Minister of State, in the Ministry of Health and Family
Welfare, Smt. Panabaka Lakshmi the second phase of RCH Programme has been launched on
1 April 2005. This further strengthens the Reproductive and Child Health Services. It is
envisaged that the RCH programme will be further strengthened through the National Rural
Health Mission through:
• Implementation of Janani Suraksha Yojana (JSY) under which cash incentives are provided to pregnant
women belonging to, families Below Poverty Line (BPL) if they deliver at a health centre/ hospital.
• Appointment of Accredited Social Health Activist (ASHA) for every village with a population up to 1000.
ASHA will facilitate in accessing health care services to the community and will have specific responsibility
of mobilizing pregnant women for antenatal care, institutional delivery and post-natal checks and
immunization to children.
• Operationalising 2000 Community Health Centres as First Referral Units (FRU) for providing Emergency
Obstetric and Child Health services.
• Making 50% Primary Health Centres functional for providing 24-hours delivery services, over the next five
Years.
• Ensuring quality of services by implementing Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS) for Primary Healthcare
Facilities.
The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) seeks to provide effective health care to rural
population of 18 states having weak public health indicators and/or weak infrastructure. This
will operate over a period of seven years from 2005 to 2012. However there is no allocation
for NRHM in the Union Budget of financial year 2005-06. In this circumstance it is unclear
as to how the envisaged convergence between RCH – II and NRHM will be operationalised.
The increase in allocation for RCH from Rs. 485.93 crore (BE 2004-05) to Rs. 1304.60 (BE
2005-06) is primarily for expansion of the package of services to cover Diagnosis and
Management of Reproductive Tract Infections/Sexually Transmitted Infections.
In the existing context of poverty and the miserable health scenario, access to public health
services becomes very critical. Health policy in India since independence has moved from
being a comprehensive universal healthcare system (Bhore Committee (1946)), to
becoming a selective and targeted programme based healthcare policy. In this, the public
domain is limited to family planning, immunisation, selected disease surveillance and
medical education and research. The time has come to reclaim public health and make a
paradigm shift from a policy-based entitlement to a rights-based entitlement. Further this

11. 11
rights-based entitlement must also be backed with the necessary financial allocations (See
Appendix for a calculation for comprehensive healthcare in public health by Dr. Ravi
Duggal).
Table A 5.3: Share of Child Health in Union Budget4
(In Crore Rs)
Source: Min. of Health & Family Welfare, GOI Expenditure Budget 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 (Vols 1&2).
Figure A 5.1: Child Health Budget (0-18 Years)
A 5.1 Strengthening of Immunisation Programme and Eradication of Polio
Percentage of children not fully vaccinated 58
Percentage of children not vaccinated at all 14
Source: International Institute for Population Sciences - 2001
Children who have not been immunised against vaccine preventable diseases – 46.4 %
Source: Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question 2286, 11 August 2003
4
Details of programmes and schemes are i n Anexure2
2003-04
(BE)
2003-04
(RE)
2004-05
(BE)
2004-05
(RE)
2005-06
(BE)
1. Kalawati Saran Children’s
Hospital, New Delhi
14.70 15.08 17.25 17.25 18.07
2. BCG Vaccine Laboratory,
Guindy, Chennai
5.95 6.33 6.05 6.05 6.05
3. Reproductive and Child Health
Project
712.41 442.35 710.51 485.93 1380.68
4. Strengthening of Immunisation
Prog. & Eradication of Polio
702.00 763.20 1186.40 1017.48 1304.60
5. Maternity Benefit Scheme 67.50 40.00 101.00 50.00 00.00
Child Health Budget--Total 1502.56 1266.96 2021.21 1576.71 2709.40
Min. of H & FW - Total 7620.08 7470.08 8438.12 8679.29 10687.11
Child Health Budget as
%age of Min. of H&FW 19.72 16.96 23.95 18.16 25.35
Union Budget —Total 438795.07 474254.67 477829.04 505791.41 514343.80
Child Health Budget as
%age of Union Budget 0.342 0.267 0.423 0.311 0.526
0
500
1000
1500
2000
2500
3000
2003-04 2004-05 2005-06
BE
RE

12. 12
When the “child health statistics” project such poor picture of India’s performance, it is worrisome to
know that there is abysmally low public health expenditure — around 0.9 per cent of gross domestic
product (GDP). This is below the average of low-income countries and even Sub-Saharan Africa. 5
The state’s policy objective to provide free universal health care to the entire population is totally
divorced from ground realities. The allocation for “Strengthening of Immunisation Programme and
Eradication of Polio” is Rs. 1380.68 crore (Budget Estimates 2005-06) as against Rs. 1186.40 crore
(Budget Estimates 2004-05) and Rs. 485.93 (Revised Estimates 2004-05). The major share in any
allocation for immunisation goes towards eradication of polio. Last year (2004-05), of the allocation
of Rs. 1186.40 crore, the share for Eradication of Polio Programme was Rs. 1123 crore (Lok Sabha
Unstarred Question No. 359, 7 July 2004). That left only Rs. 63.40 crore for the other 5 vaccine
preventable diseases viz. childhood tuberculosis, diphtheria, pertusis, measles and neo-natal tetanus.
This has to be looked into against the fact that 46.4% children in the country have not been
immunised against vaccine preventable diseases (Rajya Sabha Unstarred Question 2286, 11 August
2003).
The point to be noted is that a large majority out of the 53.6% children who have been immunised, are
not because of government’s initiative, but because India has one of the highest levels of private
financing (87 per cent). Out of pocket expenses are estimated at as high as 84.6 per cent.
6
Therefore
based on the simplistic argument of immunising all children on state’s initiative (which is highly
recommended as “the highly skewed pattern of health finance in India is a major contributor to the
perpetuation of poverty”7
) the allocation should have been increased 14-fold over the last years
Budget Estimates of Rs. 1186.40 crore to Rs. 16609.60 crore. Else, a system should have been put in
place to generate the aforementioned amount. The government of India needs to look into this matter
seriously as the National Health Policy 2002 itself sets a target of reduction of Infant Mortality Rate
(IMR) to 30 by the year 2010, from the present alarming figure of 63.
A 5.2 National Maternity Benefit Scheme (Janani Suraksha Yojana)
The National Maternity Benefit Scheme is being revised as Janani Suraksha Yojana
(JSY) with the aim of promotion of institutional delivery to bring down the high
Maternal Mortality Rate as stated in comment no 8.1 (8th
report). Under this scheme,
a mother of BPL family will get Rs. 1000 per girl child and Rs. 400 per male child, if
delivered in a health institution as against uniform rate of Rs. 500 per child for the
first two live births under the earlier scheme. Besides, transport assistance upto Rs.
150 and incentive to dais @ Rs. 200/150 for female/male child has been envisaged in
lieu of appropriate antenatal and postnatal care and referral for institutional delivery.
The scheme is also aimed to operationalise First Referral units (FRUs) at district
levels to ensure 24 hours services for improved delivery.
The exercise of revision of this scheme has been going on for the last two years. As a
result funds allocated have remained underutilised. Against the allocation of Rs. 500
crore in the Tenth plan, the expenditure for first two years is only Rs. 87.57 crore and
the balance available for the remaining period is Rs. 300.43 crore8
.
5
Misra Rajiv, Chatterjee Rachel and Rao Sujatha; ‘India Health Report’, Oxford University Press, 2003
6
Ibid.
7
Ibid
8
Comment 8.2, 8th
report, Parliamentary standing committee on Health and Family Welfare

13. 13
A 6 Child Education
The budget of Child Education has been drawn out of Department of Elementary Education
and Literacy and the Department of Secondary and Higher Education (Ministry of Human
Resources Development. These
Departments are primarily
responsible for Child Education.
Some schemes from Ministry of
Social Justice and Empowerment,
Ministry of Tribal Affairs and
Ministry of Youth Affairs and Sports
linked with the school system,
contribute directly towards Child
Education and have also been taken
into account.
An Education Cess of 2% on
all central taxes has been
levied through the Finance
(No. 2) Act, 2004, 'To fulfil the
commitment of the
Government to provide and
finance universalised quality
basic education'’. The receipt
on this account, according to
the Revised Estimates in the
financial year 2004-05 will be
Rs. 5010.00 crore. According
to the Union Finance Minister
this collection was to be used
for ensuring “Quality Basic Education”.
The allocation on elementary education in the proposed budget has seen an increase of Rs.
3991.91 crore.
§ Rs. 7227.88 crore (Revised Estimates 2004-05)
§ Rs. 11219.79 crore (Budget Estimates 2005-06).
The collection from the Education Cess in the financial year 2004-05 alone has been Rs.
5010.00 crore (Revised Estimate 2004-05). It is therefore a clear case of abdication of state’s
responsibility of implementing the fundamental right to education for children in the age
group of 6 to 14 years as the allocation has actually gone down by Rs. 1018.09 crore.
This has happened in a situation where there is an additional requirement of Rs. 9800 crore
per year to fulfil the target of eight years of free and compulsory education to all children in
the age group of 6 to 14 years, according to the financial memorandum to the 86th
amendment
to the Constitution of India.
Box A 6.1: Education Cess
A cess of 2% has been levied by Government on central
taxes and is expected to yield about Rs. 4000 -5000 crore in a
full year. The amount collected as cess will be earmarked for
elementary education and mid-day meal scheme.
Union Minister for Human Resource Development, Mr.
Arjun Singh in reply to a question in Rajya Sabha on 6
December 2004 (No. RSSQ 70)
Box A 6.2: Prarambhik Skiksha Kosh
“It has been decided to create a 'Prarambhik Shiksha Kosh' - a non-
lapsable fund into which receipts of the Education Cess would be
credited. Details in regard to the Kosh are being worked out.
During 2004-05, after the imposition of the Education Cess, outlays
for Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan and the Mid Day Meal Schemes were
augmented to the extent of Rs. 2000 crores and Rs. 1232 crores
respectively:, and these additional outlays were fully' utilized.
During 2005 -06, outlay for elementary education schemes has been
more than doubled compared to Budget Estimates, 2004-05.”
- - Minister Of Human Resource Development Shri Arjun
Singh in reply to Rajya Sabha Starre d Question 5533

14. 14
Article 21A of the Constitution of India makes Right to Education for children in the age
group of 6 to 14 years a Fundamental Right. This was introduced in the Constitution via 86th
Amendment. The Financial
Memorandum to the Amendment
mentions that an amount of Rs. 98000
crore is needed over a period of ten
years to put all children in the school
system and ensure eight years of
compulsory and quality schooling,
which implies that Rs. 9800 crore
should be allocated annually for
elementary education over and above
the existing levels of expenditure in
2001. On this point too the Honourable
Finance Minister has failed to live up
to the expectations of those children
who are still waiting to avail their right
of free and compulsory education of
good quality. It is worthy of special
mention that the Finance Minister
talked about Outcomes as against
Outlays. This has to be appreciated,
since he has also talked about
measurable development indicators.
However, measurable development
indicators make sense only when the
data of the department of elementary
education and literacy can be relied
upon. This does not seem to be the
case at present, as shown by Dr.
Shantha Sinha in her paper “The
missing children” (See Box A 6.3).
This is the response of the government even while targets and goals at different points of time
were as under:
Table A 6.1: Educational Goals
GOALS SET BY TARGET/ GOALS
Constitution of India Free compulsory education for all children upto 14 years
by 1960
National Policy For Education
(NPE) (1986)
• All children having attained 11 years age by
1990 will complete 5 years of schooling.
• By 1995 all children upto 14 years will be
provided free and compulsory education.
National Policy for Education (NPE)
(modified in 1992) and the
Programme of Action
Universal Primary education by 1995, which was
subsequently, shifted to 2000.
Box A 6.3: A case of missing children
How serious is the government in implementing its
promises and in ensuring that the Prime Minister’s candid
acknowledgement is translated into concrete action? The
goal of universalisation of elementary education is still
elusive and only 47 per cent of children who enter Class I
stay on in school up to Class 8. The figures are even lower
when the children from the Scheduled Castes and
Scheduled Tribes and girl children are examined.
What must be done if the children’s right to education is to
be assured? First of all, the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA)
must verify that the statistics provided by each of the states
to the government of India on the number of children who
are in schools and those who are out of schools, are
accurate.
The numbers consolidated at the government of India level
show that there are only eight million children out of about
200 million children in the age group 6-14 years who do
not go to school as on December 2004. The State Project
Direct ors of SSA submitted this data. This means that only
4 per cent of all children are out of school according to the
SSA estimate. Furthermore, the total number of children
accounted for by the SSA does not match the number of
children enumerated in the 2001 Census of India. For
example, in the state of Andhra Pradesh, the SSA has
declared that there are 1.53-crore children of school going
age while the corresponding figure according to census
data is 1.77-crore. The figures simply do not add up.
Where have these missing children gone and who accounts
for them?
- Dr. Shantha Sinha

15. 15
National Planof Action, 1992 By the end of the current century.
Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan 2001-02 • All children in school, Education Guarantee
Centre, Alternate School, Back to School
Camp by 2003.
• 5 years of primary schooling for all children by
2007.
• 8 Years of Schooling and Universal Retention by
2010
10th Five-Year Plan (2002-07) • All children in school by 2003.
• All children to complete 5 years of schooling by
2007
Table A 6.2: Share of Child Education in Union Budget
(Rs. Crore)
2003-04
(BE)
2003-04
(RE)
2004-05
(BE)
2004-05
(RE)
2005-06
(BE)
Elementary Education (HRD)
1. District Primary Education
Programme
1200.00 800.00 600.00 600 600
2. Joint GOI-UN Prog. for Primary
Ed.
5.00 1.50 --- --- ---
3. Kasturba Gandhi Swantantra/
Balika Vidyalaya
8.50 1.0 100.00 90.00 225.00
4. Lok Jumbish 70.00 125.00 29.41 29.41 ---
5. Mahila Samakhya 30.00 14.00 30.00 15.00 30.00
6. National Bal Bhavan, New Delhi 6.40 4.83 7.25 6.78 7.03
7. National Council of Teacher
Education
6.25 5.82 7.75 0.22 4.50
8. NFE and Alternative Innovative
Ed.
0.00 0.00 0.00 --- ---
9. Nutritional Support to Primary Ed. 1175.00 1375.00 1675.00 1507.50 3010.76
10. Operation Black Board 0.00 0.00 0.00 --- ---
11. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan 1951.25 2732.32 3057.08 4753.63 7156.00
12. Shiksha Karmi Project in Rajasthan 10.00 10.00 39.04 39.04 6.50
13. Strengthening of Teacher Trainin g
Inst.
207.00 150.00 207.00 186.30 180.00
Elem Edu – Other Ministries
14.UNDP Asst. - Child’n with
Disabilities
1.00 1.00 0.3 0.30 ---
15.Ashram Schools in Tribal Sub-Plan
Area
14.00 7.00 14.00 6.00 ---
(A) Elementary Ed.: Sub-total 4684.40 5227.47 5766.83 7234.18 11219.79
Secondary Education (HRD)
16. Access with Equity 20.00 16.51 30.00 5.40 9.00
17. Central Tibetan Schools Society
Admn.
16.00 15.97 16.40 16.10 17.40
18. Information Commn. Technologies 111.00 25.00 97.00 24.30 45.00
19. Integrated Ed. for Disabled
Children
35.00 38.50 39.00 34.20 40.50
20. Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan 644.00 661.57 644.49 682.29 763.64
21. NCERT 50.00 54.00 55.00 53.35 63.23
22. National Open School 15.00 7.00 7.00 5.40 3.60
23. National Scholarship Scheme 10.18 2.23 9.22 3.06 2.24
24. Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti 490.00 569.56 523.00 524.86 638.85
25. Other Programmes 1.38 1.90 2.38 1.92 1.39
26. Population Education Project 0.00 0.00 0.00 --- ---
27. Quality Improvement in Schools 26.00 7.80 20.00 12.60 9.00

16. 16
Sec Ed. (Other Ministries)
28.Pre-matric Scholarship Scheme 14.50 10.00 16.00 10.00 0.01
29.Girls Hostels 20.00 20.00 22.0 15.00 0.01
30.Boys Hostels 23.00 33.00 26.0 26.00 0.01
31.Other Programmes for welfare of SC 75.50 21.50 35.70 4.72 21.56
32.Common Programme - SC, ST &
OBC
99.66 86.83 74.84 71.75 100.48
33.Schemes--PMS, Bk Bank, etc. 56.49 51.28 65.49 76.99 230.65
34. Schemes of Hostel for ST Girls &
Boys
24.00 19.38 24.00 13.00 ---
35. Grant- Rural School for Dev. of
Playfield
3.60 3.60 4.50 4.50 ---
36. Incentives- Promotion of Sports
Activities
15.06 9.76 9.00 25.30 22.00
(B) Secondary Ed.: Sub-total 1750.37 1655.39 1721.02 1610.74 1968.57
(A+B) Child Education— Total 6434.77 6882.86 7487.85 8844.92 13188.36
Union Budget—Total 438795.07 474254.67 477829.04 505791.41 514343.80
Child Ed. as %age of Union Budget 1.47 1.45 1.56 1.74 2.56
Source: GOI Expenditure Budget 2003-04, 2004-05, 2005-06 (Vols 1&2)
Note: Items 1-13 under Dept. of Elementary Education & Lit., Min. of HRD
Items 16-25 under Dept. of Secondary & Higher Education, Min. of HRD; Items 14, 26-32 under Min. of SJE
Items 15, 33-34 under Min. of Tribal Affairs; Items35-36 under Min. of YA&S
Figure A 6.1: Allocation for Education
(Elementary, Secondary and Other)
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
2003-04
2004-05
2005-06
Elementary
Secondary
Other
Box A 6.4: Elementary
Education vs. Secondary
Education
One very startling trend observed in
financing of education in India after
2001-02 (when right to elementary
education was made a fundamental
right) is that increased allocation for
elementary education has been at
the cost of secondary and other
education. (See Figure A 6.1).

17. 17
Figure A 6.2: EDUCATION BUDGET
(6-18 years)
A 6.1 Mid Day Meal Scheme
The allocation for Mid Day Meal scheme has increased from Rs. 1507.50 crore (Revised Estimates
2004-05) to Rs. 3010.76 crore (Budget Estimates 2005-06).
This looks nice to read but in light of the requirements after the Supreme Court’s order of April 2004,
which directed the Centre to provide for the conversion cost to the states, this falls woefully short of
ground requirements.
The Centre worked out a mechanism whereby it would provide Rs. 1 per school day per child to the
states, towards implementation of the recommendations of the Abhijit Sen Committee (appointed by
Government of India to look into sharing of conversion cost of implementing the cooked mid-day
meal scheme). The number of school days according to the Supreme Court has to be 200 days.
Table A 6.3: Mid Day Meal Scheme
(In crores of Rupees)
Budget 2004-2005 Revised 2004-2005 Budget 2005-2006
Head Plan Non-Plan Total Plan Non-Plan Total Plan Non-Plan Total
Nutritional Support to Primary
Education (MDM) 2202 1675.00 1675.00 1507.50 1507.50 1164.70 1164.70
3601 1825.07 1825.07
3602 20.99 20.99
Total 1675.00 1675.00 1507.50 1507.50 3010.76 3010.76
For the programme on Nutritional Support to
Primary Education (Mid Day Meal) the major
heads 3601 and 3602 are for Grant-in-Aid to states
and union territories respectively, which are
actually meant to cover the conversion cost which
the Centre had worked out as Rs. 1 per school day
per child. The total of these allocations that are
introduced in this year’s Budget (2005-06) is Rs.
1846.06 crore. However going by the Centre’s
commitment to implement the order of Supreme
Court it should have been Rs. 2572 crore to
provide for 12.86 crore children it has to cover.
0
2000
4000
6000
8000
10000
12000
14000
2003-04 2004-05 2005-06
BE
RE
Box A 6.5: Mid Day Meal and FCI
The allocation under the Head 2202 (cost of food
grains and their transportation) has decreased
from Rs. 1507.50 crore (Revised Estimates 2004-
05) to Rs. 1164.70 crore (Budget Estimates 2005-
06). According to the economists this amount of
Rs. 1164.70 crore will cover the transportation
cost and the Food Corporation of India will
provide the food grains from its own exchequer.

18. 18
There is a shortfall of Rs. 725.94 crore.
A 6.2 Pre-Matric Scholarships for the Children of those engaged in Unclean
Occupations
The objective of this scheme is to provide financial assistance to enable the children of the parents
traditionally engaged in unclean occupations like scavengers of dry-latrines, tanners, flayers and
sweepers having traditional links with scavenging, to pursue pre-matric education. Under the scheme,
Central assistance is provided to the State Governments on a 50:50 basis and 100 percent to UT
administrations, over and above their respective committed liabilities to be met by them from their
own State/UT budget.
Since 1 April 2004 the scheme has been enforced with the following modifications
• The rate of scholarship for day scholar, earlier ranging from Rs. 25 to Rs. 50 per
month, has been enhanced to Rs. 40 to Rs. 75 per month.
• The rate of scholarship for hostellers, earlier ranging from Rs. 200 to Rs. 250 per
month, has been revised to Rs. 300 to Rs. 375 per month.
• The rate of annual ad-hoc grant, which was earlier Rs. 500 per student for both day
scholars and hostellers, has been enhanced to Rs. 550 and Rs. 600 for day scholars
respectively.
During the year 2003-04, against the allocation of Rs. 14.50 crore, central assistance of Rs. 14.60
crore was released which assisted more than 5 lakh students. An allocation for 2004-05 for this
scheme is Rs. 16.00 crore against which Rs. 7.52 crore has been released up to 31 December 2004.
The scheme is expected to benefit about 6 lakh students during 2004-05.
A token allocation of Rs. 0.01 crore has been made for the year 2005-06. The matter of concern
is that children of those who leave their unclean occupation cease to get the benefit of
scholarship. Does it mean that the social and economic condition of those people changes
immediately after leaving the unclean occupation? Does it not amount to punishment for leaving
the unclean occupations?
A 6.3 Hostels for Scheduled Castes Girls and Boys
Girls Hostel
Allocation for 2003-04 was Rs. 20 crore against which Rs. 20.24 has been released for
construction of 611 hostels for accommodating 9,277 inmates. Allocation for 2004-05 was
Rs. 22 crore against which Rs. 5.37 crore had been released for 14 hostels accommodating
1146 inmates up to 31 December 2004. A token allocation of Rs. 0.01 crore has been made
for the year 2005-06.
Boys Hostel
The allocation for 2003-04 was Rs. 23.00 crore out of which Rs. 35 crore was released to
various States/UT’s/Universities for construction of 228 hostels accommodating 8789
inmates. The allocation for 2004-05 was Rs. 26 crore against which Rs. 20.36 crore had been
released for construction of 110 hostels accommodating 5608 inmates up to 31 December
2004. A token allocation of Rs. 0.01 crore has been made for the year 2005-06.
With a view to provide hostel facilities to the students belonging to weaker sections i.e. SC’s,
OBCs and Minorities in a more focussed manner for ensuring and enhancing facilities for
pursuit of higher quality education and for integrating the weaker sections within the

19. 19
mainstream of society, the on-going hostel scheme is to be modified by centrally sponsored
scheme of “Sangati Hostels” for student belonging to these sections.
A 7 Child Protection
There are children who are particularly disadvantaged because of their social, economic,
physical or mental conditions. These children are placed under the category of children in
special or difficult circumstances and are in need of care and protection. Recognising their
special needs, the government has designed programmes for them that fall under the Ministry
of Social Justice and Empowerment and Ministry of Labour. The government includes the
following groups of children in this category:
• Children engaged as labour
• Children in need of adoption
• Children who are trafficked
• Children who are physically and/or mentally challenged
• Street children
• Children who are neglected or treated as juvenile offenders
• Children who are physically/mentally abused
• Children in prostitution
• Children of prostitutes
• Children affected by conflict situations
• Refugee children
• Victims of natural and man-made disasters
• Children infected/affected by HIV/AIDS
• Victims of drugs and substance abuse
Table A 7.1: Share of Children in Difficult Circumstances in Union Budget
(Rs. Crore)
2003-04
(BE)
2003-04
(RE)
2004-05
(BE)
2004-05
(RE)
2005-06
(BE)
1. Other Schemes of Child Welfare 20.80 14.80 23.60 17.50 30.55
2. Prevention & Control of Juvenile
Social Maladjustment
14.40 14.40 18.90 18.90 0.01
3. Improvement in Working Conditions
of Child/ Women Labour
72.89 68.26 99.31 98.38 125.05
4. Initiative to Develop Skills, ITIs &
Elimination of Child Labour in 10th
Plan
0.00 0.0 0.00 --- ---
5. Swadhar 13.50 0.80 2.70 3.69 5.5
6. Short Stay Home 16.00 15.35 15.00 14.40 15.00
Children in Difficult
Circumstances--Total 137.59 113.61 159.51 152.87 176.11
Union Budget-Total 438795.07 474254.67 477829.04 505791.41 514343.80
Budget for children in difficult
circumstances as % of total
Union Budget
0.031 0.023 0.033 0.030 0.034
Source: GOI Expenditure Budget 2003-2004, 2004-2005, 2005-06 (Vols 1 & 2).
Note: Items 1 & 2 under Min. of SJE.
Items 3 & 4 under Min. of Labour.
Items 5 & 6 under Min. of Min. of HRD (W & CD)

20. 20
Figure A 7.1: CHILD PROTECTION BUDGET (0-18 years)
A 7.1 A Programme for Juvenile Justice
The Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act 2000 is the primary law for children in conflict with
law and children in need of care and protection. The programme for Juvenile Justice endeavours:
§ To provide for full coverage of services envisaged under the Juvenile Justice Act so as to
ensure that no child under any circumstances is lodged in prison;
§ To bring about qualitative improvement in the juvenile justice services; and
§ To promote voluntary action for the prevention of juvenile social maladjustment and
rehabilitation of socially maladjusted juveniles.
Under this scheme, the Ministry provides assistance to State Governments/UT Administrations on
50:50 basis for establishment and maintenance of homes and institutions for neglected and delinquent
juveniles.
During the year 2003-04, the allocation was Rs. 14.40 crore against which an amount of Rs. 16.33
crore was released to 22 States/UTs. During the tear 2004-05, the allocation is Rs. 18.90 crore out of
which an amount of Rs. 16.53 crore has been released to various States/UTs up to 31 December 2004.
A token allocation of Rs. 0.01 crore has been provided in BE 2005-06 for the scheme. However,
an official in the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment has confirmed that the allocation
has been increased at the Revised Estimate (RE) stage and is in fact more than it was in the last
financial year.
A 7.2 Central Adoption Resource Agency (CARA)
In pursuance of the directives of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, the Ministry of Social Justice
and Empowerment, Government of India, set up the Central Adoption Research Agency on 20 June
1990 this was subsequently registered under the Societies Registration Act, 1860 on 18 March 1999.
It has a mandate to act as a clearing house of information with regard to
abandoned/destitute/neglected/orphan children available for in-country and inter-country adoption and
to regulate, monitor and inspect the working of recognised social/child welfare agencies engaged in
both in-country and inter-country adoption.
So far, 73 Indian Placement Agencies have been recognised by CARA to carry out in-country and
inter-country adoptions of children, who are either relinquished by biological parents/unwed
mother/guardians or are abandoned/destitute children declared legally free for adoption. 162 foreign
agencies in over 25 countries including 45 Government Departments have been enlisted by CARA for
0
50
100
150
200
2003-04 2004-05 2005-06
BE
RE

21. 21
processing the application of foreign/NRI parents for promotion of Indian adoption and to formulate,
develop and execute programmes and activities for generating awareness in this regard.
During the year 2003-04, the budget allocation was Rs. 1.20 crore against which the expenditure was
Rs. 1.03. During 2004-05, the budget allocation was Rs. 1.40 crore against which the expenditure was
Rs. 0.85 crore up to 31 December 2004. Allocation for 2005-06 is Rs. 1.35 crore.
A 7.3 Scheme for Welfare of Working Children in Need of Care and Protection
In pursuance to the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide their orders dated 29 March 2001,
the Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment formulated a Scheme for the Welfare of Working
Children in Need of Care and Protection and submitted to the Hon’ble Court on 22 March 2002.
The aim of scheme is to provide opportunities including non-formal vocational training, etc. to
working children, to facilitate their entry/re-entry into mainstream education in cases where they have
either not attended any learning system or where for some reasons their education has been
discontinued with a view to prevent their continued or future exploitation.
The programme will lend support to projects in urban areas, not already being covered by the existing
schemes of the Ministry of Labour, which provides support for the wholesome development of child
workers and potential child workers especially those who have none or ineffective family support
such as children of slum/pavement dwellers/drug addicts, children working in shops, dhabas,
mechanic shops, children engaged as domestic workers, children whose parents are in jail, children or
migrant labourers/sex workers, leprosy patients etc.
A provision of Rs. 7.00 crore had been kept for the scheme in the year 2004-05. Since the scheme is
still under consideration of the Hon’ble Supreme Court of India, no expenditure could be incurred up
to 31 December 2004. Allocation for 2005-06 for the scheme is Rs. 7.00 crore.
A 7.4 Child Labour
The Indian Constitution requires the State to protect children against being forced by economic
necessity to enter vocations unsuited to their age and strength. In pursuance of the constitutional
mandate, the Government announced the National Policy on child labour in August 1987. The
action plan comprised a legislative action plan, focusing of general development programmes for
benefiting children wherever possible and project based action plans in areas of high concentration of
child labour engaged in wage/quasiwageemployment.
National Child Labour Project (NCLP)
With a view to fulfil the constitutional mandate, NCLP was launched on 15 August 1994 for
withdrawing children working in hazardous occupations and rehabilitating them through special
schools. As a consequence of this, 64 area-based projects were sanctioned in addition to the 12
continuing projects. The end of the 9th Plan extended NCLP Scheme extended to 100 districts
in 13 States.
In the year 1996 Supreme Court Judgement dated 10th
December 1996 in Writ petition (Civil)
No. 465/1986 has given directions regarding the manner in which children working in hazardous
occupations are to be withdrawn from work and rehabilitated. Directions were also given as to the
manner in which the working conditions of the children working in non-hazardous occupations
are to be regulated and improved upon. The need for concerted action on the part of all social
partners has been emphasized by the Hon'ble Supreme Court. The Hon'ble Court in it’s

22. 22
judgement dated 10th December, 1996 in Writ Petition (Civil) No. 465/1986 has given certain
directions regarding the manner in which the children working in hazardous occupations are to be
withdrawn from work and rehabilitated as also the manner in which the working conditions of
the children working in non-hazardous occupations are to be regulated and improved upon.
Important directions given in the judgement dated the 10th December, 1996 include payment of
compensation amounting to Rs 20,000/- by the offending employer for every child employed in
contravention of the provisions of the Act, constitution of the Child Labour Rehabilitation-cum-
Welfare Fund, giving alternative employment to an adult member of the family in place of the child
withdrawn in hazardous employment by the appropriate Government, completion of the survey of
children working in hazardous employments, payment of interest on the corpus of Rs. 25,000 (Rs.
20,000 to be paid by the employer and Rs. 5,000 to be contributed by the appropriate Government)
to the family of the child withdrawn from work, provision of education in a suitable institution for
the child withdrawn from work, constitution of a separate cell in the Labour Department of the
appropriate Government for the purpose of monitoring etc. The Government has already taken
action to implement these directions in letter and spirit.
After the Supreme Court Judgement to eliminate child labour from hazardous industry, NCLP
programme objective changed to elimination of child labour (10th Plan), from identified hazardous
occupations and processes by the end of the 10th plan period i.e. by 2007. In view of Supreme
Court judgement, NCLP has been extended to 150 new districts. During the 10th Plan, therefore,
the NCLP scheme covers 250 districts. Outlay in the 10th
plan has been fixed at Rs. 602 crore as
compared to Rs. 250 crores in the 9th
Plan.
Apart from the extension, the NCLP Scheme has also been revised in the 10th
plan. The revised
scheme places emphasis on convergence with other related programmes of the Departments in the
Government of India. In the 10th plan, while special schools run by NCLP Project society will
mainstream working children in the age group 9-14 years to the formal education system,
working children in the age groups 5-8 years will be mainstreamed directly through the Sarva
Siksha Abhiyan of the Department of Elementary Education & Literacy, M/O Human Resource
Development. Convergence with the on-going schemes of other Departments/Ministries such as
Health, Rural Development and Social Welfare at the State, District, Mandal/Block and Micro level
would also be critical for the attainment of the objective. Besides this, the revised scheme has
also strengthened other components such as health checkups, nutrition needs and vocational training.
Assistance to Voluntary organisation
Under the grant-in-aid scheme voluntary agencies are being financially assisted to the extent
of 75% of the project cost for taking up welfare projects for working children. During 2003-
04, about 87 voluntary organisations were extended assistance under the scheme.
Table A 7.2: Expenditure on NCLP(including grant-in-aid to voluntary agencies)
(Rs. Lakhs)
Year Budget Estimates Revised Estimates Actual Expenditure
2003–04 6738 6690 6672
2004-05 8900 8900 4236
2005-06 10330

23. 23
Table A 7.3: Physical Target and Achievement of National Child Labour Project
Sanctioned Strength Actual Strength MainstreamedYear No. of
NCLPs
School Enrolment School Enrolment Target Achievement
2003-04 100 4003 208000 3868 198584
2.1 ILakh
Children (till
March, 2004
2004-05 (a) 150* 3962 207392 3812 189424 50000 3.00 Lakh
Children (till
Sep. 2004
(b) 250@ 4077 213142 3812 195174 50000 -
2005-06 250 5003 - - I Lakh -
Note: *NCLP scheme was launched in the 50 new districts in Jan 2004. Of the 50 new districts,
Project Society has been sent up in 33 districts. These districts have been provided funds for
carrying out survey and for setting up the office of Project Society. No of schools to be
sanctioned to these societies will be decided subsequently after the results of the survey.
However, in respect of 4 new NCLPs, where proposals have already been received, 115 Special
Schools have been sanctioned.
@ 100 additional districts were informed about their inclusion in the NCLP Scheme in
October 2004. Project Societies have yet to be formed in these districts. These are likely to be
operationalised in 2005-06
(a) April - Sept' 04
(b) Oct'-March' 05
Table A 7.4: Grant-in-Aid to Voluntary Organisation
Year No. of
NGOs
Sanctioned Strength Actual Strength Mainstreamed Rema
rks
School Enrolment School Enrolment Target Achievement
2003-04 64 160 8000 160 8000 * * -
2004-05 87 202 10100 202 10100
2005-06 $ 100 220 11000 220 11000
Not * No physical targets, as such, are fixed. The Grant-in-aid is sanctioned to all on-going
projects as well as new complete proposals duly recommended by the State
Government and approved by the Grant-in-aid Committee.
$ Projection for 2005-2006.

24. 24
Indo- Us Matching Grant (Now Renamed As Indus Project)
Ministry of Labour & Employment, Government of India and the US Department of Labour have
launched a child labour project called INDUS (Indo-US) in February 2004 as a follow-up of the
Joint Statement on "Enhanced Indo-US Cooperation on Eliminating Child Labour" signed
between the Ministry of Labour & Employment and the US Department of Labour in August,
2000.
The project aims at ensuring elimination of child labour from identified hazardous
industries, in identified districts through effective convergence with the Department of Education.
The US Department of Labour would provide US $ 20 million to be matched, with equal funding
from the Government of India. The project will be implemented in 21 districts in 5 States
namely Government of NCT of Delhi, Maharashtra, M.P., Tamil Nadu and U.P.
Table A 7.4: Indo-US Matching Grant (now renamed as Indus Project)
(Rs. Lakhs)
Year Budget
Estimates
Revised Estimates Actual Expenditure
2003–04 500 100 57
2004-05 1000 1000 Nil
2005-06 2500
Table A 7.5: Physical Target & Achievement (INDUS Project)
Year No. of
Indus
Districts
Sanctioned Strength Actual Strength Mainstreamed Remarks
TECs Enrollment TECs Enrollment Target Achievement
2003-04 20 800 80000 - $
2004-05
(a)
21 410 20500 393 19444 - - #
(b) 21 973 48650 973 48650 - -
2005-06 21 973 48650 - - - -
Note
$ The scheme was initiated in February 2004. The duration of the Project is 3 years from the
date of commencement of the project.
# Children will be mainstreamed by the end of the project period i.e. in 2007. 80000
children will be mainstreamed at the end of the project period.
(a) April - Sept' 04
(b) Oct'-March' 05

25. 25
Scheme for Welfare of Working Children in Need of Care and Protection
In pursuance to the directions of the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide their orders dated 29 March
2001 the Ministry of social Justice & Empowerment formulated a scheme for the welfare of
working children in need of care and protection.
The programme will lend support to projects in urban areas, not already being covered by the
existing schemes to the Ministry of Labour, which provides support for the wholesome
development of child workers and potential child workers especially those who have none or
ineffective family support such as children of slum/pavement, dwellers/drug addicts, children
living on railway platforms/along with railway lines, children working in shops, dhabas,
mechanic shops, children engaged as domestic workers, children whose parents are in jail,
children or migrant labourers/sex workers, leprosy patients etc.
A provision of Rs. 7 crore has been kept for the scheme in the year 2004-05. Since the scheme
is still under consideration of the Hon’ble Supreme Court, no expenditure could be incurred up
to 31.12.2004. Allocation for 2005-06 for the scheme is Rs. 7 crore.
Need Vs Allocation — Child Labour
The Budget Estimate 2005-06 for NCLP & Grants in Aid to Voluntary organisation is Rs.
10,330 lakh, for the INDUS Project it is Rs. 2500 lakh and for Strengthening of Child Labour
Cell, Rs. 5 lakh. The total allocation for these three programmes amounts to Rs. 12,835 lakh
and covers 3,59,650 children. Thus Government of India’s expenditure for mainstreaming one
child labour in regular school education is Rs. 3569. According to the Census of India - 2001,
the total number of working children in India is 1,25,91,667. It means that for mainstreaming
all 1,25,91,667 child labourers in education, which is the commitment of government under the
article 21A of Indian Constitution, at the rate of Rs. 3569 per child per year, India will need Rs.
4,49,300 lakh per year. So in the Budget Estimates of 2005-06 there is a huge gap of Rs.
4,36,465 lakh between the need and allocation for elimination of child labour.

26. 26
Appendix
Calculation for comprehensive healthcare in public sector
Dr. Ravi Duggal
1. Primary healthcare with following features:
• Staff composition for each PHC-Dispensary to include 2 doctors, 1 PHN, 2
nurse midwives, 8 ANMs (females), 4 MPWs (males), 1 pharmacist, 1 clerk/stat
asst., 1 office assistant, 1 lab technician, 1 driver, 1 sweeper - this adds up to
salaries and benefits of Rs. 3,064,000 (salary structures across states may be
different and hence this could vary)
• 10 beds per PHC
• Average rural unit to cover 20,000 population (range 10-30 thousand
depending on density); average urban unit to cover 50,000 population (range 30-
70 thousand population depending on density)
• Non-salary costs separately for rural and urban units per unit cost as per table 1
below:
Table 1: Non-Salary Costs
Line item Rate Rural (20000
popn per unit)
Urban (50000 |
popn per unit)
Medicine and other
clinical consumables
Rs. 25 per capita per year Rs. 500,000 Rs. 1,250,000
Travel, POL etc. Rs. 6000 pm rural; and Rs.
3000 pm urban
Rs. 72,000 Rs. 36,000
Office expenses,
electricity, water etc..
Rs.10 and 12 thousand for r u r a l
and urban, respectively
Rs. 120,000 Rs. 144,000
Maintenance of
building and
equipment etc.
Rs. 100,000 Rs. 200,000
R e n t a n d / o r
amortisation
Rs. 144,000 Rs. 240,000
CHW honorarium Rural 1 CHW per 500 population
@Rs. 1000 pm per CHW; Urban
1 CHWper 1500 population @
Rs. 1250 pm per CHW
Rs. 480,000 Rs. 495,000
Total Non-salary Rs. 1,416,000 Rs.2,365,000
Total Primary care Cost
per unit
Rs. 4,480,000 (Rs.
224 per capita)
Rs.5,429,000 (Rs.
109 per capita)

27. 27
Total Primary care cost
for country
Rural: 700 million
population needing 35,000
PHCs; and urban 300 million
population needing 6000 PHCs
Rs 15680 crores Rs. 3270 crores
2. Secondary Care
In rural areas for every 5 PHCs there would be one 50 bedded hospital and this would
cost Rs. 200,000 per bed per annum or Rs. 10 million per such hospital. As per this ratio we
would need 7000 rural hospitals and this would translate into Rs. 7000 crores for the country
as a whole. In urban areas for each 10 PHCs one 200 bedded hospital would be needed and
this would cost Rs. 250,000 per bed per year or Rs. 50 million per hospital. As per this ratio
600 such hospitals would be needed and this would translate into Rs. 3000 crores for the
country as a whole.
3. Tertiary care / Teaching Hospitals
One such hospital per 2.5 million population, that is 400 hospitals of 500 beds each at
a cost of Rs. 350,000 per bed per year translating into Rs. 175 million per hospital or Rs.
7000 crores for the country as a whole. Primary + Secondary + Tertiary = Rs. 35950
crores
4. Other costs
§ Capital @ 10% or Rs. 3595 Crores
§ Research @ 4% or Rs. 1438 crores
§ Admin costs @ 4% or Rs 1438 crores
§ Audit costs @ 2% or Rs 719 crores
Grand Total would be Rs. 43140 crores or Rs. 431 per capita. This works out to 1.7%
of GDP and, should take care of 75% of the population as envisaged in the National
Health Policy.
Table 2: Summary Table
Type of Cost Amount in Rs. Crores
1. Primary care 18950
2.Secondary Rural 7000
3. Secondary Urban 3000
4. Tertiary care 7000
SUBTOTAL 35950
5. Capital© 10% 3595
6. Research @ 4% 1438
7. Admin @ 4% 1438
8. Audit @ 2% 719
TOTAL 43140
N.B. This calculation was done for a Jan Swasthya Abhiyan discussion on the NRHM