Nepal tops in gender responsive budget in South Asia

Nepal has made significant progress in bringing out a gender responsive budget among South Asian nations.

The government had allocated Rs 73.33 billion (about 19.05 per cent) of last fiscal year's budget for gender-based programmes. Budget allocation in gender responsive programmes has increased in the last five years, said secretary of the Office of the Prime Minister and Council of Ministers Krishna Hari Baskota. Other South Asian countries lag behind Nepal with regards to a gender responsive budget and are less successful, he said.

The government has adopted the gender principle in the budget making process by developing separate indicators including direct gender responsive, indirect gender responsive, and neutral. In fiscal year 2007-08, the gender responsive budget was about Rs 19.9 billion (11.3 per cent) of the total budget.

Similarly, secretary Baskota who returned from an international conference on gender responsive budget held in Vienna on Sunday said that the initiative has achieved remarkable success in all sectors.

Women's participation in civil service has jumped from eight to 13 per cent, whereas land registration in the name of women has increased from eight per cent to 23 per cent due to the registration fee rebate policy adopted a decade back.

The government has introduced social security benefits for aged and widows above 60 years of age.