INDIA @ 75 (Amrut Mahotsav)

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Manifest Pedagogy

Indian Planning has to be studied from the perspectives of economy and polity in UPSC. However issues such as autonomy of states, relevance of NITI Aayog etc  dominate political aspects whereas the performance of various schemes and programmes will be key focus in Indian Economy portion.

In News

NITI aayog report “NEW INDIA 2022-23”

Placing in the syllabus

Paper 3: Indian Planning and Resource mobilisation

Static Dimensions

1. Planning in India
2. Niti Aayog vs Planning Commission
3. Action Agenda
4. Gandhi@150 i.e. India-2019 (Bijli,Sadak,Pani,Roti,Kapda,Makan- Electricity, Water, Road, Food Security,Housing (2022))

Current Dimensions

1. Highlights of the Report
2. Key Features of the Report
3. Growth
4. Progress so Far
5. Challenges
6. Governance Reforms

HIGHLIGHTS

In light of India’s growing stature as a large emerging economy given its democratic base, it is important to plan for the future along with challenges of social progress. The Indian Economy has created various opportunities for its own people by its past efforts. These efforts and their aspirations into a reality need a consistent policy framework and an enabling environment. This has been highlighted by the recent vision documents which wish to make us stand out as a mature economy by 2022.

Key Features of the Report

Drivers                                                                               

1. Growth and Employment
2. Doubling Farmers’ Income
3. Make in India
4. Science, Technology & Innovation
5. Fintech
6. Tourism

Infrastructure

1. Energy
2. Transport
3. Smart Cities
4. Swachh Bharat Mission
5. Environment & Water Resources

Inclusion

1. Education
2. Health
3. Nutrition
4. Gender
5. Traditionally Marginalised Sections

Governance

1. Balanced Regional Development
2. Legal, Judicial, Police Reforms Civil Services Reforms
3. City Governance & Use of Land Resources
4. Data-Led GovernanceGrowth

Growth

An annual rate of growth of 9 per cent is essential for generating sufficient jobs and achieving prosperity for all.

a) Increase the investment rate as measured by gross fixed capital formation (GFCF) from present 29 per cent to 36 per cent of GDP by 2022.

b) In agriculture emphasis must shift to converting farmers to ‘agripreneurs’ by further expanding e-National Agriculture Markets (e-NAMs) and replacing the Agricultural Produce Marketing Committee (APMC) Act with the Agricultural Produce and Livestock Marketing (APLM) Act.

c) The creation of a unified national market, a freer export regime and abolition of the Essential Commodities Act are essential for boosting agricultural growth.A strong push would be given to ‘Zero Budget Natural Farming’ (ZBNF) techniques that reduce costs, improve land quality and increase farmers’ incomes.

d) To ensure maximum employment creation, codification of labour laws must be completed and a massive effort must be made to upscale apprenticeships.

Progress so far

A lot of progress has been made across all infrastructure sectors. This is crucial to enhancing the competitiveness of Indian business as also ensuring the citizens’ ease of living.

Three key steps, among others, are:

1. Expediting the establishment of the Rail Development Authority (RDA), which is already approved. RDA will advise or make informed decisions on an integrated, transparent and dynamic pricing mechanism for the railways. Investment in railways will be ramped up, including by monetising existing railway assets.
2. The share of freight transported by coastal shipping and inland waterways will be doubled.
3. With the completion of the Bharat Net programme in 2019, all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats will be digitally connected. In the next phase the last mile connectivity to the individual villages will be completed. The aim will be to deliver all government services at the state, district, and gram panchayat level digitally by 2022-23, thereby eliminating the digital divide.

Challenges

1. Successfully implementing the Ayushman Bharat programme including the establishment of 150,000 health and wellness centres across the country, and rolling out the Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Abhiyaan.
2. Upgrading the quality of the school education system and skills, including the creation of a new innovation ecosystem at the ground level by establishing at least 10,000 Atal Tinkering Labs by 2020.
3. As already done in rural areas, affordable housing in urban areas will be given a huge push to improve workers’ living conditions and ensure equity while providing a strong impetus to economic growth.
4. Implementing strategies to achieve regional equity by focusing on the North-East region and successfully rolling out the Aspirational Districts Programme.

Governance reforms

1. Implementing the recommendations of the Second Administrative Reforms Commission as a prelude to appointing a successor for designing reforms in the changing context of emerging technologies and growing complexity of the economy.
2. A new autonomous body, viz., the Arbitration Council of India, may be set up to grade arbitral institutions and accredit arbitrators to make the arbitration process cost effective and speedy, and to preempt the need for court intervention.
3. The scope of Swachh Bharat Mission may be expanded to cover initiatives for landfills, plastic waste and municipal waste and generating wealth from waste.

Test Yourself: Mould Your Thought

The policies of Niti Aayog relating to farmers’ income and vision of New India have failed to make note of ground realities . Critially comment

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