The State Planning Board and Department of Women and Child Development jointly conducted a state level one day workshop on ‘Institutionalization of gender responsive budgeting in Kerala’ at Craft Village, Vellar, Thiruvananthapuram on 18th October 2022. Prof. V K Ramachandran, Vice Chairperson, State Planning Board inaugurated the workshop. Priyanka, IAS, Director, Department of Women and Child Development was present on the occasion. Smt. Mini Sukumar, Member, State Planning Board, Dr. Mridul Eapen, Former Member, State Planning Board, and Dr. Bindu P Verghese, Chief, Social Service Division, State Planning Board made presentations on different aspects of mainstreaming gender and institutionalizing gender budget in the state.
Sri. K N Balagopal, Hon’ble Minister for Finance addressed the afternoon session. The senior officials of various government departments attended the workshop and discussions were held on themes such as women’s safety and gender mainstreaming, education, skilling and employment, health and social security, and gender friendly infrastructure. Group presentation and panel discussion session was also organized as part of the workshop. Dr. Santhosh V, Chief Perspective Planning Division, Sri. Nagesh S S, Chief, Agriculture Division, Sri. P Shaji, Chief Plan Co-ordination Division, Sri. Pradeep Kumar P, Chief (i/c), Industry and Infrastructure Division, Ms. Bindu Gopinath, Additional Director, Department of Women and Child Development and Ms. Sulakshana, Assistant Director, Department of Women and Child Development were the panel members in the discussion.