Budget 2026-27: Women’s groups flag welfare stagnation despite higher health outlay

“Primary healthcare services have been sidelined. Reducing cancer and diabetes drug prices does not address women’s everyday health burdens,” said P K Srimati, national president of AIDWA.

The Budget prioritises infrastructure and research with sharp increases for the Ayushman Bharat Health Infrastructure Mission which has been raised by nearly 68% to Rs 4,770 crore and the Pradhan Mantri Swasthya Suraksha Yojana at Rs 11,307 crore for new AIIMS and medical college upgrades.

Funding for the National AIDS Control Organisation has risen 30% to Rs 3,477 crore while the Department of Health Research has been allocated ₹4,821 crore. A Rs 10,000 crore biopharma strategy has also been announced over five years.

However schemes directly linked to maternal health and nutrition remain unchanged. The Pradhan Mantri Matru Vandana Yojana stays at Rs 2,500 crore while the Janani Suraksha Yojana remains at Ra 1,600 crore despite supporting nearly 90 lakh institutional deliveries last year. The National Health Mission has been allotted Rs 37,000 crore with no significant increase and the Supplementary Nutrition Programme under ICDS remains capped at Rs 20,000 crore.

“ICDS and ASHA workers who form the backbone of rural health services have been ignored yet again. ASHAs still earn between Rs 4,500 and Rs 6,000 a month while anganwadi workers earn about Rs 7,500 unchanged despite inflation,” said Rekha Deshpande, AIDWA’s Mumbai secretary.

The Gender Budget for 2026 27 stands at Rs 5,00,878 crore raising its share of total expenditure to 9.37%. Yet the Ministry of Women and Child Development has been allocated Rs 28,183 crore less than 0.05% of the Union Budget’s total outlay. Revised estimates for 2025 26 show that allocations for schemes exclusively for women were cut by nearly Rs 30,158 crore compared to original estimates.

AIDWA criticised the restructuring of MGNREGA under the Viksit Bharat G Ram G scheme calling it “statistical jugglery” and said allocations remain largely stagnant. Spending on ministries dealing with marginalised communities has also declined including Minority Affairs and Tribal Affairs alongside cuts to several scholarship and residential school schemes.

“This Budget denies the lived realities of women particularly those from Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and minority communities. We will take our resistance to the streets,” Srimati said.