Economy
Summary of Economic Survey-2020-21 (Part I)

Highlights

• India's real GDP to record a growth of 11 per cent in 2021-22 and nominal GDP by 15.4 per cent-the highest since independence.
• The V-shaped economic recovery is supported by the initiation of a mega vaccination drive with hopes of a robust recovery in the services sector and prospects for robust growth in consumption and investment.
• The fundamentals of the economy remain strong as gradual scaling back of lockdowns along with the astute support of Atmanirbhar Bharat Mission have placed the economy firmly on the path of revival.
• This path would entail a growth in real GDP by 2.4 percent over the absolute level of 2019-20-implying that the economy would take two years to reach and go past the pre-pandemic level.
• These projections are in line with IMF estimate of real GDP growth of 11.5 per cent in 2021-22 for India and 6.8 per cent in 2022-23.
• India is expected to emerge as the fastest growing economy in the next two years as per IMF.
• India's GDP is estimated to contract by 7.7 per cent in FY2020-21, composed of a sharp 15.7 per cent decline in first half and a modest 0.1 per cent fall in the second half.
• Sector-wise, agriculture has remained the silver lining while contact-based services, manufacturing, construction were hit hardest, and have been recovering steadily.
• Government consumption and net exports have cushioned the growth from diving further down.

Key Service Indicators Showing a ‘V' Shaped Recovery after a sharp decline during Lockdown

• Key indicators such as Services Purchasing Managers' Index, Air passenger traffic, rail freight traffic, port traffic, foreign tourist arrivals and foreign exchange have bottomed out and are showing a V-shaped recovery.
• The Survey observes that India's Services sector witnessed a significant set-back during the COVID-19 pandemic mandated lockdown, owing to its contact-intensive nature.
• The sector contracted by nearly 16% during the first half of the financial year 2020-21.

FDI Inflows into India:

• According to the Survey, despite the disruptions being witnessed globally, FDI equity inflows into India's services sector grew robustly by 34% Y-o-Y during April-September 2020 to reach US$ 23.6 billion.
• This growth was led by strong inflows into Computer Software & Hardware sub-sector, where FDI inflows grew by over 336% during the same period.
• The Survey observes High growth in FDI inflows was also present in sub-sectors such as Retail Trading, Agricultural Services and Education.
• India has also improved its position from 12^th in 2018 to 9^th in 2019 in the list of world's largest FDI recipients according to World Investment Report 2020.

Gross Value Addition (GVA):

• The Service sector currently assumes immense significance for the Economy, accounting for over 54% of India's GVA and nearly four-fifths of total FDI inflow into India.
• The sector's share in Gross State Value Added exceeds 50% in 15 out of 33 States and UTs, and is particularly more pronounced in Delhi and Chandigarh.
• It further adds that even the states with relatively lower share of services in GSVA have witnessed strong services sector growth in the recent years.
• It also notes that Services sector accounts for 48% of total exports and it has outperformed goods exports in the recent years.

Tourism sector:

• The Survey notes a debilitating impact on world travel and tourism with restrictions on travel, low consumer confidence and global struggle to contain COVID-19 virus
• The increase in e-Tourist visa regime countries from 46 countries in 2014 to 169 at present, foreign tourist arrivals to India on e-visas have increased from 4.45 lakh in 2015 to 29.28 lakh in 2019.

IT-BPM Services (significant structural reforms)

• Telecom related regulations were removed from IT-BPM sector and consumer protection regulations were introduced for e-commerce.
• The IT-BPM Industry has also embraced recent policy reforms, such as relaxation of OSP guidelines and New Umbrella Entity, to drive greater innovation and efficiency.

Start-up Ecosystem:

• The Indian start-up ecosystem has been progressing well amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.
• The ecosystem defied the odds and had added a record number of 12 start-ups to the unicorn list last year, taking the total to 38.

Shipping:

• The shipping turnaround time at ports has almost halved from 4.67 days in 2010-11 to 2.62 days in 2019-20.
• As per the latest UNCTAD data, the media ship turnaround time globally is 0.97 days, suggesting that India has room to further improve upon the efficiency at ports.

Space Sector:

• India spent about US$ 1.8 billion on space programmes in 2019-20.
• However, the country still lags behind major players in the sector, such as USA, China and Russia which spent about 6 times more.
• It furthers says that the Indian Space ecosystem is undergoing several policy reforms to engage private players and attract innovation and investment.

The Bare Necessities Index

• Economic Survey 2020-21 underlined the importance of access to bare necessities of housing, water, sanitation, electricity and clean cooking fuel which are consumed by all the members of the household and which touch the life of every member.
• Economic Survey 2020-21 constructs a Bare Necessities Index (BNI) at the rural, urban and all India level.
• The BNI summarises 26 indicators on five dimensions viz., water, sanitation, housing, micro-environment, and other facilities.
• The BNI has been created for all States for 2012 and 2018 using data from two NSO rounds viz., 69th and 76^th on Drinking Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Housing Condition in India.

• Economic Survey says that the "basic needs" approach to economic development focuses on minimum specified quantities of basic necessities such as food, clothing, shelter, water and sanitation that are necessary to prevent ill health and under nourishment.
• The Bare Necessities Index (BNI) is an attempt to quantify this approach to economic development using data from National Statistical Office (NSO). It is created for all States/Union Territories by employing data at State Level.
• State-wise values of BNI in 2012 and 2018 for India (rural + urban), are shown in Figures 1.
• A higher value indicates better access to bare necessities in a State.
• The three colours, green, yellow and red, used in the maps show the level of a State in providing access to bare necessities to its households.
• Green (above 0.70) indicates ‘High' level and is therefore the most desirable, followed by yellow (0.50 to 0.70), which indicates ‘Medium' level. In contrast, Red (below 0.50) indicates very ‘Low' level of access.

• In most of the States the access to the Bare Necessities for the household in 2018 is significantly better compared to 2012.
• Economic Survey also underlines that due to the constant efforts made by the Government through network of schemes like Swachh Bharat Mission, National Rural Drinking Water Programme, Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, Saubhagya and Ujjwala Yojana access to bare necessities have improved in 2018 across all States in the country compared to 2012.
• Inter-State disparities in the access to the bare necessities have declined and access has improved disproportionately for the poorest household when compared to the richest household across rural and urban areas.

Improvements across various dimensions

• According to the survey access to drinking water to households in most of the States has improved in 2018 compared to 2012 in rural as well as urban areas.
• Survey also shows that the sanitation access has improved for all States in rural areas and for most of the States in urban areas in 2018 compared to 2012.
• It also notes that regional disparity in access to sanitation has declined as the States having low access to sanitation in 2012 have gained more. The level of access to safe sanitation has increased in lowest income quintile.
• Survey observes improvement in Housing Index also indicating improvement in access to housing and reduction in inter-States disparities with disproportionate benefits for the lowest income group in 2018 vis-à-vis 2012.
• The economic Survey also notes improvement in micro environment for all States in 2018 except for Assam in rural and Odisha and Assam in urban areas as compared to 2012. Here also the improvement is especially in the lowest income quintile.
• Similarly Survey has observed improvement in access to other facilities which captures the availability of Kitchen, Kitchen with a water tap, good ventilation in house, access to bathroom, electricity use and type of fuel used for cooking.

Improved health and education outcomes

• Survey also points to a positive correlation between access to bare necessities and better health and education outcome, it observes improvement in child survival, decline in still births, malnutrition, and infant mortality with improved access to sanitation and clean drinking water.

Prelims Factoids
Kala Utsav 2020

Relevance in - Prelims (about Kala Utsav 2020)
What's the NEWS

• Union Education Minister addressed the Valedictory Function of Kala Utsav 2020.
• Kala Utsav 2020 introduced new segment of the Indigenous Toys and Games and emphasized that this promotes ‘Vocal for Local'.
• Kala Utsav 2020 has also incorporated the recommendations of the National Education Policy 2020.
• Students, when indulging in any form of art, use their imagination and try to realise it and give it life thus turning it into reality. Kala Utsav gives an opportunity to this process.
• Such opportunities enhance the students' reasoning, comprehensibility, problem solving, cognitive and decisive abilities, which are helpful in the all-round development of the student.

Know! about Kala Utsav 2020:

• Kala Utsav 2020 was launched online on 10 January 2021 through a digital platform.
• A total of 35 teams have participated in Kala Utsav 2020, from different states, union territories, Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan and Navodaya Vidyalaya Samiti schools
• The Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education and National Council of Educational Research and Training havesuccesfully executed the Kala Utsav 2020
• In the competitions of Kala Utsav 2020 organised from 11 to 22 January 2021, a total of nine art forms, namely- 1. Classical singing 2. Traditional folk song 3. Classical instruments. Traditional/folk instruments 5. Classical dance 6. Folk dance 7. Visual Arts (Two-dimensional) 8.Visual Arts (Three-dimensional) 9. Local games-toys are included.
• Earlier there were only four art forms in Kala Utsav, now another five art forms have been added in it.

Social Issues
Nation Celebrates the National Girl Child Day

Relevance in - Prelims (about National Girl Child Day - Prelims Facts) + Mains ( GS II Social issues + government plan and intervention)
What's the NEWS

• Nation celebrated the National Girl Child Day
• The day is celebrated every year on 24thJanuary.
• The day is an initiative of the Ministry of Women and Child Development.
• The objective behind celebrating the National Girl Child Day is to provide all support and opportunities to the girls of the country.
• It also aims towards promoting awareness about the rights of the girl child and to increase awareness on the importance of girl's education, and their health and nutrition.

Gender Inclusion Fund

• National Education Policy (NEP)-2020 has introduced "Gender Inclusion Fund for targeting the development of girl child.
• The GOI will constitute a "Gender Inclusion Fund" to provide quality and equitable education for all girls.
• The fund will focus on ensuring 100% enrollment of girls in schooling and a record participation rate in higher education, decrease gender gaps at all levels, practice gender equity and inclusion in society, and improve the leadership capacity of girls through positive civil dialogues.
• Funds will also enable States to support and scale effective community-based interventions that address local context-specific barriers to girls and transgender students.
• NEP 2020 will focus on the safety and security of school-going girls both inside and outside of the campus.
• The policy will identify social mores and gender stereotypes that prevent girls from accessing education and causing regular dropouts.

Samagra Shiksha

• Department of School Education and Literacy, Ministry of Education (MoE) is implementing Samagra Shiksha - an Integrated Scheme for School Education (ISSE) under which various interventions have been targeted for Girls' Education.
• Bridging gender and social category gaps at all levels of school education is one of the major objectives of the Samagra Shiksha.
• In order to ensure greater participation of girls in education, various interventions under Samagra Shiksha have been targeted.

These interventions include:

• Opening of schools in the neighbourhood as defined by the State,
• Provision of free text-books to girls up to Class VIII,
• Uniforms to all girls, SC, ST children and Below Poverty Line (BPL) children up to class VIII,
• Provision of gender segregated toilets in all schools,
• Teachers' sensitization programmes to promote girls' participation,
• Provision for Self-Defence training for the girls from classes VI to XII,
• Stipend to CWSN girls from class I to Class XII,
• Residential Schools/Hostels,
• Construction of residential quarters for teachers in remote/hilly areas/in areas with difficult terrain.

• In addition to this, to reduce gender gaps at all levels of school education and for providing quality education to girls from disadvantaged groups, Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas (KGBVs) have been sanctioned in Educationally Backward Blocks (EBBs) under Samagra Shiksha.

Khelo India Scheme

• An exclusive component of the Khelo India Scheme focuses on barriers faced by girls & women to take part in sporting activities, and creating mechanisms to overcome these andincrease participation.
• There is 161% increase in women participation at the Khelo India Games from 2018 to 2020.

Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing (KIRAN)

• The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has launched ‘Knowledge Involvement in Research Advancement through Nurturing (KIRAN)' Scheme to provide various career opportunities to women scientists and technologists.
• It is primarily aimed to bring gender parity in Science & Technology sector by inducting more women talent in the research & development domain through various programmes.

The Department is running various programs and schemes for empowering women in science and technology.

• Program for Gender Advancement in S&T Institutions which started in 2020, aims to develop a Charter for Gender Equality in STEM with a focus on bringing about transformational changes at institutional level.
• The project aims to create a new ecosystem based on building competencies of institutions and provide them with ongoing mentoring support to achieve transformation.
• A new portal for S & T for women will be developed in the current year where all information to scholarships, fellowship, career, related to women will be placed.
• It will be a one stop information point for women students, phd student, post doc fellows, early career academic with list of mentors.

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