The government’s Economic Survey 2020 pegged the gross domestic product (GDP) growth at 5 per cent in the current financial year, which it said would pick up to 6-6.5 per cent in financial year ending March 2021. That marked a sharp downward revision from the estimate of 7 per cent growth for the current financial year in last year’s Economic Survey. Prepared by Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian and his team, the Economic Survey 2019-20 comes a day ahead of the presentation of the first full-year Union Budget of the Modi 2.0 administration.
Around 2.62 crore new jobs were created in rural and urban areas between 2011-12 and 2017-18 among regular wage and salaried employees. Around 69.03 lakh candidates were trained under the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana as in November 2019, while there was an 8 per cent increase in regular employment of women in 2017-18 over 2011-12.
Acknowledging the economic slowdown in the country, Chief Economic Advisor Dr Krishnamurthy Subramanian on Friday said: “We have a slowdown in the Indian economy. A part of it is because of the global economy slowing down in 2019”. He added that the Economic Survey’s theme this year is wealth creation.
Rural kids spend more on stationery than the urban ones
Expenses of a student on books, stationery and uniform in rural India on an average are over 10 percentage points higher than those in urban areas, although participation in education system has seen improvement at all levels, according to the Economic Survey. As per the Economic Survey 2019-20 tabled in the Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, the absence of suitable financial support system and high burden of course fee, especially in higher education, pushes the poor and underprivileged out of the education system.
Citing data from the National Sample Survey (NSS) report on ‘Key Indicators of Household Social Consumption on Education in India 2017-18’, the survey said that in 2017-18, there were about 13.6 per cent persons of age 3 to 35 years who were never enrolled in the education system. “The reasons they cite for not enrolling were ‘not interested in education’ and ‘financial constraints’,” it said. Among those who were enrolled, drop-out rate was as high as 10 per cent at primary level, 17.5 per cent at upper primary/middle, and 19.8 per cent at secondary level, the survey added.
“Along with efforts for generating additional employment, special focus has been on improving quality of jobs and formalisation of the economy,” noted the Economic Survey. Employment generation, coupled with improving employability has been the priority of the government.
The Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana, a key initiative under the government’s Skill India Mission, enables youth to take up short-term training and get their skills certified through recognition of prior learning. Under PMKVY (2016-20), 69.03 lakh candidates have been trained throughout the country as of November 11, 2019, details the survey.
The Economic Survey, prepared by a team headed by the government’s Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian also said there is room for rationalising subsidies, especially that on food.
The government distributes food grains at below-market prices to keep the costs low. Last year, it had budgeted Rs 1.84 lakh crore for food subsidies in 2019-20, making up more than half of its Rs 3 lakh crore subsidy bill.
India faces its worst economic slowdown in a decade. Growth slipped to 4.5 per cent in the July-September quarter, imperilling job prospects for millions of young people entering the workforce each year.
