How does Union Budget 2025 align with the needs of working parents and young children?
The government has committed to establish 17,000 new Anganwadi-cum-creches. So, it is a very good move under the Union Budget, which has come for young children and working parents. The budget has also increased allocation for Saksham Anganwadi Centres and Poshan 2.0. The government is also working on reimagining the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) in a mission mode. So, the budget is really encouraging for young children, but we have to see how it is rolled out at the ground level.
Would you say that there has been sufficient increase in allocation in child care support schemes to advance quality early child care?
Definitely, I think it also depends upon the state intervention. Mostly, the schemes are 60: 40. 60% comes from the Union Budget and 40% comes from the state government. Haryana, Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry are very progressive and have put in additional budgets in addition to their share of 40% for young children. Besides, many schemes have been rolled out in a very successful way.
Maternity Benefit Amendment Act, 2017 was a progressive act in that it extended maternity leave from three months to six months for women in the organised sector. How is the implementation going on and what about the unorganised sector?
It was a very progressive Act by the government. We see most of the companies implementing it, but the Act also talks about creche provisioning where parents can leave their children within the workplace premises and work in a very productive way. But if we see its implementation, there are very few companies where there is creche provision within the premises.
For the informal workers, there are provisions under the Pradhan Mantri Matrata Vandana Yojana, which talks about providing Rs 5,000 as cash benefit in three instalments, which has been implemented over a widespread area and it is really doing good.
But again, getting those benefits is very difficult because migrant people who actually come to cities do not have an identity proof and in the absence of the identity proof, they are not able to access benefits under this programme.
Given the gaps in affordable childcare, what are the policy and budgetary measures needed to support home-based childcare models, community creches and supported childcare facilities?
The policies and the laws are there, but there are issues with the implementation. There is no data available where we can see how many creches are operational in the employer-run segment.
How would you sum up the highlights of the Delhi budget 2025?
We are very happy about the Delhi budget because FORCES has been making demands based on the needs of local people. These demands have been considered in the Delhi budget. We have to see how the implementation goes at the ground level. We all have to put in our efforts to make it a reality.
Finally, if you were to imagine the whole ecosystem for child care services in the country, what would be your ideal wish list?
My ideal wish list will be that Early Childhood Development (ECD) should become a fundamental right for young children and every child should get his/her rights in a better and proper way so that they can contribute to the human capital of India.
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