{
  "id": 19917875,
  "title": "Children's Day 2026 Special: MP's Child Budget Share Drops From 20.5% To 17% In Four Years",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/11/14/childrens-day-2026-special-mps-child-budget-share-drops-from-20-5-to",
  "topic": "world",
  "section": "World",
  "published": "2026-11-14T03:57:48.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Free Press Journal",
    "slug": "free-press-journal",
    "url": "https://www.freepressjournal.in/bhopal/childrens-day-2026-special-mps-child-budget-share-drops-from-205-to-17-in-four-years"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In four years, the allocation for children in Madhya Pradesh's state budget has decreased from 20.5% to 17% of the total budget. Despite children making up 40% of the state's population, Madhya Pradesh lags behind other regions in terms of child health and welfare. In 2022-23, the state introduced a separate child budget, with Rs 57,803 crore allocated to it, representing 20.5% of the total budget. By 2026-27, the total budget increased to Rs 4.38 lakh crore, but the child budget constituted only 17% of it, at Rs 75,877 crore. The child budget falls into two categories: child-specific schemes, where the entire allocation is for children's welfare, and child-responsive schemes, where at least 30% of the budget is spent on children. Madhya Pradesh has the highest Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) and Child Mortality Rate (CMR) in the country, with 39.7% of children under five being underweight and over 72.7% anaemic. However, only 19 state government departments participated in the child budgeting process for 2026-27, down from 17 in the previous year. The women and child development department, responsible for the child budget, has faced resistance in implementing child-friendly rules and policies. No representatives from certain departments attended a relevant workshop, and the state-level committee on child budgeting has not held a meeting in the last three years.",
  "summary": "Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The share of allocation for children in the state government's total budget has reduced from 20.5% to 17% in the last four years. This is when children form 40% of Madhya Pradesh's total population and the state lags behind most others in the indicators of child health and welfare. In 2022-23, Madhya Pradesh became the first state in the country to introduce a separate…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}