ABSTRACT
Policy is driven by the nature of the development process and also the nature of the state. The Indian States' engagement with gender is analyzed to highlight the inherent tensions in policy efforts and to decode the interlocking mechanisms of gender hierarchy and identity exclusiveness. Efficacy of the State policy to change women's positioning, particularly in North India's classical belt of patriarchy, is constrained to extent it can affect the relational exchange. Increased access and productivity do not reconfigure the gender positioning. Women are the predominant victims of gender differentiation and face the brunt of dowry exchange, domestic violence, female deselection, sexual harassment, unequal pay, disproportionate dropouts from the education system, and feminisation of poverty, among other discriminations. Early under the British rule, administrators suspected the prevalence of female infanticide. The allocation of gender budgets in 2010-11 was 6.11 per cent of the total allocated budget for India under different ministries.
