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Economic Survey 2016-17 Volume-2

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Economic Survey 2016-17 Volume-2

Economic Survey generally comes in two volumes. But this year due to the paucity of time and some major ongoing economic developments like demonetization, GST bill etc. the second volume was delayed and only the first volume was released in January. Now when Economic Survey 2016-17 Volume-2  is released, let us check out some of its key highlights.

 

Fiscal Developments:

  • Real economy grew by 7.1 per cent in 2016-17 compared with 8 percent the previous year.
  • Fiscal Deficit was contained within 3.5% of GDP (2016-17). Thanks to strong growth in tax revenue and consolidation of non-salary/pension revenue expenditure.

Target   –    3.2% of GDP in 2017-18

3.0% of GDP in 2018-19

  • The integration of the Railway Budget with the Union Budget.
  • Elimination of the classification of expenditure into ‘plan’ and ‘non-plan’
  • The introduction of the Goods and Services Tax (GST) with effect from the 1stday of July 2017.
  • Trade deficit narrowed down to 5.0 percent of GDP in FY 2016-17 as compared to 6.2 per cent in the previous year.

 

Monetary Management and Financial Intermediation:

  • As of August 2017 Repo rate is at 6.00 per cent and reverse repo rate at 5.75 per cent.
  • Due to demonetization, as of 31st March 2017, currency in circulation contracted by 19.7% whereas reserve money contracted by 12.9 %.
  • Due to Sluggish growth and increasing indebtedness in some sectors of the economy, gross non-performing advances (GNPAs) ratio of Scheduled Commercial Banks (SCBs) rose from 9.2 per cent in September 2016 to 9.5 per cent in March 2017.

 

Prices and Inflation:

  • There was a significant moderation in CPI headline inflation and CPI inflation fell to a low of 1.5 percent in June 2017. (As food inflation declined significantly due to normal monsoon).
  • CPI and WPI inflation have started converging (WPI showing an upward trend due to recovering crude oil prices).
  • The gap between rural and urban inflation has narrowed down.

 

Climate Change, Sustainable Development and Energy:

  • India ratified the Paris Agreement on 2nd October 2016. India’s actions for the post-2020 period will be based on its Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC).
  • India is implementing the largest renewable energy expansion programme in the world. It envisages an overall renewable energy capacity of 175 GW by 2022. This includes 100 GW of solar, 60 GW of the wind, 10 GW of biomass, and 5 GW of small hydro power capacity.
  • Many schemes like Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, PAHAL scheme, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana are being implemented by the government to ensure a pathway to lower emission and climate resilient development.
  • To promote clean energy, Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) has, on May 2017, put in place the framework for the issuance of green bonds.

 

External Sector:

  • The current account deficit (CAD) narrowed down to 0.7 percent of GDP in 2016-17 from 1.1 percent of GDP the previous year.
  • India’s balance of payment (BOP) further improved in 2016-17, as a result of low& falling trade and CAD and moderate and rising capital inflows, resulting in further accretion of foreign exchange reserves (Forex).
  • India’s trade deficit narrowed down to US$ 112.4 billion (5 per cent of GDP) in 2016-17 as compared to US$ 130.1 billion (6.2 per cent of GDP) in 2015-16.
  • Net capital inflows were slightly lower at US$ 36.8 billion (1.6 per cent of GDP) in 2016-17 as compared to US$ 40.1 billion (1.9 per cent of GDP) in the previous year, mainly due to fall in NRI deposits.
  • Among the major economies running CAD, India is the second largest forex holder after Brazil with reserves at US$ 386.4 billion as on 7th July 2017.
  • In 2017-18 (April-June) there was double digit export growth at 10.6 per cent with export growth continuing to be in positive territory continuously for the last eleven months.
  • The rupee performed better than many other (Emerging Market Economy) EME-currencies in 2016-17.
  • The ratio of external debt to GDP ratio fell to 20.2 per cent from 23.5 per cent, while forex provided a cover of 78.4 per cent to external debt compared to 74.3 per cent in the previous year.
  • Gross FDI inflows to India increased significantly to US$ 60.2 billion in 2016-17 from US$ 55.6 billion in 2015-16.

 

Agriculture and Food Management:

  • The predominance of small farm size in India is a major limitation in reaping the benefits of economies of scale in agriculture operations.
  • The progress in agriculture needs to be evaluated in terms of outcomes such as catching up with global yields of various crops as a means to increase incomes of farmers.
  • Formal sources of credit for farmers need to be improved and regional disparity in the distribution of agricultural credit also needs to be addressed.
  • The key challenges that the horticulture sector faces in India are post-harvest losses, availability of quality planting material and lack of market access for the horticultural produce of small farmers.

 

Industry and Infrastructure:

  • Industrial performance declined to 5.6 percent in 2016-17 from 8.8 percent during 2015-16.
  • Industrial growth as per Index of Industrial Production (IIP) new series of 2011-12 shows overall IIP growth at 5 percent in 2016-17 as compared to 3.4 percent last year.
  • The Index of Eight Core Industries growth during 2016-17 was 4.8 percent as compared to 3.0 percent in 2015-16.

 

Services Sector:

  • The services sector continues to be the key driver of India’s economic growth, contributing almost 62 per cent of its gross value added growth in 2016-17. However, the growth of this sector has moderated to 7.7 per cent in 2016-17 compared to 9.7 per cent achieved in the previous year.
  • India’s services sector growth, which was highly resilient even during the global financial crisis, has been showing moderation in recent times.

 

Social Infrastructure, Employment and Human Development:

  • The Government’s Swachh Bharat Mission has had remarkable progress since its inception. With its focus on cleanliness and Open Defecation Free (ODF) India, there has been a significant decline in the number of people who defecate in the open, which is estimated at less than 35 crores.

 

To download Economic Survey 2016-17 (Vol 2) –>   Click Here

Water Pollution – Sources and Indicators

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Syskool
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water pollution

Several efforts have been made to prevent river water pollution because rivers have special importance for human beings. The Government of India passed an Act in 1974 for prevention and control of water pollution. In 1985, Central Ganga Tribunal was established to make the Ganga water pollution free. Under the ‘Yamuna Conservation Programme’ (1993), programmes were run in 21 towns in the country situated on the banks of the Yamuna to make the river free from polluted water. The Gomati River Conservation Programme was begun by the Government of India in 1993 with the financial assistance of the UK. The Damodar River Conservation Plan was begun in 1996 by Government of India. It is to be noted that the Damodar river has become a ‘biological desert’ between Giridih and Durgapur (300 km). The waste products coming from factories and cities have so much polluted this river that the existence of any living being is not possible.

Water Pollution can be classified on the basis of the source, mainly in the following way:

Industrial Pollution

The waste products coming out of industries are chief sources of water pollution. The chemical pollutants (e.g. chlorides, sulphides, carbonates, ammonium nitrates, nitrites etc.), heavy metallic pollutants (e.g. mercury, lead, zinc, cadmium) and other pollutants coming out of industries pollute aquatic ecosystem.

Agricultural Pollution

The chemicals and fertilizers dissolved in the soil flow with water and reach rivers and oceans to pollute them.

Water Pollution from city waste

City wastes are disposed of through drains directly to rivers and oceans without being treated this makes the river water poisonous.

Water Pollution due to oil leakage

The river and ocean get polluted due to leakage of oil from oil tankers. The Cuyahoga river and drains into Erie lake after passing through Cleveland is badly affected by oil pollution. Once the river had caught fire because of oil leakage.

Note: Super Bug is a bacterium prepared with the help of genetic engineering which eats out oil spread on the surface of water very rapidly. It may solve oil spill problem to some extent.

Pollution due to Natural Elements

For Example, pollution created by volcanic ash, dust, erosion, landslide etc.

Biotic Pollution

When sewage without being treated mixed in the river water, the number of saprophytes and pathogenic elements gets increased. It is known as biotic pollution. This polluted water gives birth to a disease called Schistosomiasis which is caused by blood fluke worm.

Indicators of Water Pollution

Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD)

The aquatic animals use oxygen dissolved in water for their respiration. If the quantity of this dissolved oxygen in water comes down to 16 percent the aquatic animals begin to feel problem in respiration. This kind of water is kept in the category of polluted water.

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)

The impurity of water is measured by it using chemicals. The sample of polluted water is heated with potassium dichromate. Potassium dichromate is an oxidising agent. When it is heated with polluted water, it is hydrogenized. The ratio between the quantity of oxygen in the water and the impurities is found out by the titration of hydrogenized potassium dichromate.

E. Coli Method

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), if the number of E. Coli is more than 10 in 100 ml water. it will be considered polluted. The increase in the number of E. Coli in water increased the level of water pollution gradually.

The purity of water is measured on the basis of the quantity of oxygen dissolved in water by ‘Winkler method‘. BOD and COD methods come under it.

Several times, the quantity of nitrate in underground water or wells increases too much because of the use of nitrogenized fertilizer urea. If the quantity of nitrate is more than 10 mg/l, it causes a disease called ‘Methemoglobinemia‘ (the blue blood disease) in children if they drink this water.

Endosulfan: Endosulfan is an insecticide which caused cancer in the people around the cashew nut plantations in the district of Kasaragod (Kerala). It is to be noted that this insecticide is totally banned in several developed nations whereas, in India, it has been kept in the ‘medium dangerous’ category.

Eutrophication: The gradual accumulation of nutrients in water results in the excess growth of algae and other aquatic plants. These plants begin to utilize oxygen dissolved in water in a large quantity. This creates the lack of oxygen for aquatic animals and they begin to die. This phenomenon is called eutrophication.

The sudden increase in the quantity of algae in water is called ‘algal boom’.

The increase in the number of water hyacinth increases the process of eutrophication. On one hand, it uses the oxygen dissolved in water whereas, on the other hand, it prevents the connection between water and atmosphere, the diffusion of atmospheric oxygen in water does not occur.

IAS Syskool

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Shadow economy, black money and currency demonetization

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Syskool
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demonetization black money

In India, along with our real legal economic structure, there exists a shadow economy of black money. This parallel economy has become significantly large and damaging national development in a big way. Monetary system of country is regulated by RBI and watched by various agencies and departments of government. Government makes assessment of economic activities in country from time to time, it helps them in making better policy decisions, estimate tax revenues and understand health of the national economy.

Accounting of money circulated in economy through banking system and books of accounts is not that difficult because of technology today. However, accounting of black money, which is a considerable portion of our Economy, is out of question as public or even private disclosure by its stakeholders is impossible. Estimates say it has grown as big as 40 per cent of real economy in size.

Black money is the amount of money in the economy for which tax has not been paid to the government in order to avoid taxation or to hide the source of income. The black money is in the form of currency notes, precious metals, real-estate etc. In most of cases the source of such income is illegal such as bribe, drugs, human trafficking, fake notes, illegal mining, various crimes etc. But, a good percentage of black money also comes from unaccounted avenues (of legal source) but aimed at avoiding tax payments such real-estate builders, retailers, doctors, professionals, etc.

With time, the accumulation and flow of this black money in economy has grown enough to be called a parallel economy in country. Cash currency in this illegal system acts like blood in body. Corruption, benami transactions, hawala, money laundering, unaccounted cash transactions, swiss banks deposits, election expenses, dowry etc. have developed a symbiotic mutualistic relationship with black money and growing together.

As in India, more than 80 percent of cash are in the form of 500 and 1000 notes and around 20-25 percent of it is in the form of black money kept as wealth. The surprise decision of government to declare 500 and 1000 notes a non legal tender and making it a piece of paper from immediate effect has snatched away scope of money laundering or conversion into other currency notes, gold, property etc. The stockpile of unaccounted cash at hands became somewhat useless as government has fixed various quantitative limits in exchange process for common public.

Now all these existing 500 and 1000 notes will have to go through banking system. And in this way the wealth of individuals and the nation will get accounted for various uses including tax assessment, at the same time a huge sum of black money in the form of 500 and 1000 notes will get flushed out of the system as well. Sudden loss of old currency notes will cause severe damage to this parallel economy. Even black money deposits in foreign banks will become stressed asset as hawala and other instruments of transactions will become weak.

Currency replacement is only beginning of crusade against this mammoth. Government will have to become far more vigilant toward money laundering and black money transactions in order to achieve goal of making this country corruption free.

Deputy Governor of RBI, mentioned that the number of 500 notes in economy is around 16.5 billion while 1000 notes are around 7.5 billion. Replacement of such a huge amount of notes in one of the largest economies of world is not an easy task. But this time people, banks, government/s are on same page today to make it a success.

This big decision has not been taken in arbitrary manner but with due diligence. Think tanks have been advocating for such steps from long time. This was right time to make it happen because of existing Jandhan Yojana accounts, payment banks, lakhs of ATMS, thousands of bank branches, aadhar cards, seamless governance and great political will.

Nobody was expecting such a bold and beautiful move, we have witnessed various crusades from Jantar-Mantar against black money but for first time it originated from PMO.

You may like reading: 

Facts About Indian Currency

Currency Notes and Coins

Important National Highways

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Syskool
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national-highways

The National Highways has 79,116 km. length comprising only 2 per cent of the total length of roads, carries about 40 percent of the total traffic of India. List contains some of the most important National Highways of India connecting important places.

NH 1: Delhi – Ambala – Amritsar – Indo-Pak Border (456 km)

NH 2: Delhi – Agra – Khanpur – Varanasi – Kolkata (1465 km)

NH 3: Agra – Gwalior – Indore – Nasik – Mumbai (1161 km)

NH 4: Junction with NH3 near Thane – Belgaum – Bangaluru – Ranipet – Chennai (1235 km)

NH 7: Varanasi – Jabalpur – Nagpur – Hyderabad – Bangaluru – Madurai – Kanyakumari  (2369 km)

NH 8: Delhi – Jaipur – Ahmedabad – Varodara – Mumbai (1375 km)

NH 9: Pune – Solapur – Hyderabad – Vijayawada – Machhilipatnam (841 km)

NH 15: Pathankot – Amritsar – Bhatinda – Ganganagar – Bikaner – Jaisalmer – Barmer – Samakhiali (1526 km)

NH 22: Ambala – Kalka – Shimla – Rampur – Indo-Tibet (China) Border near Shipki-La (459 km)

NH 24: Delhi – Barailly – Lucknow (438 km)

NH 39: Numaligarh – Imphal – Palel – Indo-Myanmar Border (436 km)

NH 44: Nongstoin and connecting Shillong – Passi Badarpur – Agartala – Sabroom (723 km)

NH 47: Salem – Coimbatore – Trichur – Ernakulam – Thiruvanantapuram – Cape Commorin- Kanyakumari (640 km)

NH 48: Bangaluru – Hassan – Mangaluru (328 km)

NH 49: Kochi – Madurai – Dhanushkodi (440 km)

NH 55: Siliguri – Darjeeling (77 km)

NH 80: Mokamah – Rajmahal – Farakka (310 km)

NH 102: Chhapra – Rewaghat – Muzaffarpur (80 km)

NH 205: Ananthpur – Renugunta – Chennai (442 km)

NH 217: Raipur (Chhattisgarh) – Gopalpur (Odisha) (508 km)

NH 229: Tawang – Bomdila – Ziro – Analong – Pasighat (Arunachal Pradesh) (1090 km)

NH 327 Ext.: Bangaon (Bariyahi Bazar) on NH 107 – Supaul – Pipra (106) – Tribeniganj – Bhargama – Araria – Bahadurganj – Raniganj – Thakurganj – Galgalia (225 km)

NH 947: Sarkhej – Virumgaon – Jamnagar – Dwarka – Okha (461)

NH 953: Vyara (NH6) – Netang – Rajpipla – Bodali (190 km)

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