New Delhi, Feb 11: Forum for Creches and Childcare Services (FORCES), along with the Alliance for Right to ECD, organised a post-Budget consultation on Early Childhood Development (ECD) and Childcare. The consultation was attended by the Chief Guest, Hon’ble Sh. Balabhadra Majhi, Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, with Hon’ble Dr. Fauzia Khan, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, as the Guest of Honour. The discussions underscored the urgent need to treat investments in children’s early years as a core economic strategy and examined the impact of the Union Budget’s allocations for India’s growth, women’s workforce participation, and long-term human capital formation.
Civil society organisations from across 11 states and representatives from 5 civil society networks gathered to discuss the union budget response to issues of the young child in the country. Among the delegates included Annie Namala from Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, Biraj Patnaik from National Foundation for India, Dr Dipa Sinha from Azim Premji University to name a few.
The consultation was structured in two sessions: Session 1 reviewed the Union Budget 2026–27 from an ECD lens, analysing allocations, fiscal constraints, and policy shifts affecting early childhood outcomes. Session 2 brought together networks working on ECD and allied issues to develop a shared agenda for comprehensive public financing, focusing on childcare, early learning, and workforce strengthening.
Sh. Balabhadra Majhi said, “The Union Budget 2026–27 sends a decisive message that women and children remain at the centre of India’s development strategy. By elevating care as a core economic priority, expanding access to quality health and education, strengthening skilling and entrepreneurship, and advancing dignity and inclusion for Divyangjan, the Budget translates intent into structured action.
This enhanced allocation reflects the Government’s consistent commitment to embedding gender-responsive planning across sectors and ensuring that every rupee of public expenditure delivers measurable outcomes. The focus on health, nutrition, education, safety, livelihoods, and care services demonstrates a life-cycle approach that supports women and girls at every stage of their journey.”
Dr. Fauzia Khan, Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, virtually attended the event and emphasised that sustained investment in women’s education, child development, healthcare, and safety is fundamental to building an equitable and future-ready India. She underscored the need for targeted, component-specific budgeting, policy precision, and time-bound implementation to ensure that commitments translate into measurable outcomes. Highlighting that women and children cannot remain peripheral to policy priorities, she called for accountable governance and structured interventions that place them firmly at the centre of the national development agenda.
Evidence from the consultation highlighted that achieving effective early childhood development requires adequate, coordinated, and sustained investment across all components of the Nurturing Care Framework. The absence of a financial norm for universal childcare has led to skewed spending, limiting investments in care, early learning, and safety. While allocations increased by 4 percent between 2025–26 and 2026–27, unspent balances remain a concern, rising from ₹1,635 crore in 2024–25 to ₹2,895 crore in 2025–26.
Participants noted that public spending on early childhood remains limited—around 0.09 percent of the GDP and 0.66 percent of the union budget—with skewed allocations. Health and nutrition require more emphasis, however other components like care and early learning continue to be underfunded, underscoring the need for higher and more balanced investments to support full-day childcare and holistic child development.
Chirashree Ghosh, National Coordinator, FORCES, noted, “The post-budget consultation provides an opportunity to examine how the Union Budget addresses children’s care and development, which directly impacts women’s workforce participation. The Union Budget’s proposed training of 1.5 lakh care workers must meaningfully include childcare to unlock economic opportunities for women and families. At FORCES, we will continue to call for stronger public investment, disaggregated child budgeting, and integrated planning across care, nutrition, and education so that early childhood services are responsive to today’s social and economic realities.”
Key priorities included higher and inflation-indexed allocations, disaggregated child budgeting across ministries, adequate financing for full-day crèches, and integrated planning across care, nutrition, health, and early learning. Participants committed to sustained engagement with policymakers to advance stronger budgetary and policy action on ECD.