---
title: "Child Budgeting: Meaning, Process, India Example"
description: "Child budgeting tags government allocations spent on children under 18, distinct from gender budgeting. See India's Statement 12 and how UPSC GS2 frames it."
url: "https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/glossary/child-budgeting"
---

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Model Diplomat Research Team · Last reviewed June 22, 2026

TL;DR

- Child budgeting is a public-finance method that disaggregates government budgets to identify, track, and report allocations and expenditures intended for children's welfare.
- How does child budgeting differ from gender budgeting?
- What is the legal and institutional basis for child budgeting in India?
- Why do analysts criticise the child budget despite its growing visibility?
- Where in the Union Budget can the child budget be found?

[Civil Service & Diplomatic Exams](https://modeldiplomat.com/learn/civil-services/glossary)Updated June 22, 2026

Child budgeting is a public-finance method that disaggregates government budgets to identify, track, and report allocations and expenditures intended for children's welfare.

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## Positions at a glance

### Supporters

A further analytical layer organises child allocations into thematic sectors—commonly child development, child education, child health, and child protection. Child protection, covering schemes such as Mission Vatsalya, has historically commanded the smallest share, often well below one per cent of the total child budget, a structural imbalance repeatedly flagged by civil-society analysts. State governments replicate the method in their own budgets: Maharashtra, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, and Karnataka have produced child budget statements, frequently with technical support from UNICEF and HAQ: Centre for Child Rights. The instrument can be expanded into outcome budgeting, linking allocations to measurable indicators such as immunisation coverage, school retention, or the under-five mortality rate, thereby moving beyond input accounting toward results.

### Opponents

The mechanics begin with a definitional exercise: scheme-by-scheme, ministries identify programmes whose benefits flow wholly or partly to children. Each line item is then classified by the share of expenditure attributable to children—100 per cent for schemes exclusively serving children, such as the Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) under the Saksham Anganwadi and Poshan 2.0 umbrella, and a notional percentage for composite schemes where children are one of several beneficiary groups. These tagged allocations are aggregated and presented as a statement appended to the Expenditure Budget. From Budget 2024–25 the consolidated figures appear in Statement 12 of the Expenditure Profile, which sets out the "Allocation for Welfare of Children." The exercise is repeated annually, allowing year-on-year comparison of both budget estimates and revised estimates against actual expenditure.

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Example

In the Union Budget 2024–25, India's Ministry of Finance presented child allocations in Statement 12 of the Expenditure Profile, tagging schemes such as Saksham Anganwadi, PM POSHAN, and Mission Vatsalya across multiple ministries.

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