Mixed Reactions to 2025-26 Budget: Child Welfare in Focus

The 2025-26 budget saw a small increase in allocations for children's welfare, rising to Rs 1,16,132.5 crore. However, activists express concern over the marginal budget share for child welfare, noting significant cuts to key programmes and inadequate increases to combat pressing child issues in India.

The recently unveiled 2025-26 budget proposals have garnered a spectrum of opinions from child rights advocates. While some commend the marginal increase in budget allocations for children's welfare, others voice concerns over cuts to crucial welfare and education schemes.

An analysis by Child Rights and You (CRY) highlights an increase in total child-related allocations from the previous budget, amounting to Rs 1,16,132.5 crore. However, the share of child-focused expenditure within the Union Budget barely rose, prompting doubts about its sufficiency in confronting challenges facing Indian children.

CRY's CEO, Puja Marwaha, remarked on the low proportional increase, with child budget allocation as a percentage of GDP decreasing slightly from 0.34% to 0.33%. Other organizations echoed similar concerns over significant cuts in essential education and welfare programmes.