04/08/2020 - Government Policies

KEY POINTS

·         Substantial increase in defence expenditure over the next 5-10 years seems inevitable if India is to match the Chinese military might. With limited resources, that is going to be a daunting task.

·         The average Indian household size. It was 4.8 at an all-India level as per 2011 Census, almost same as what China had in 1971. Uttar Pradesh had the largest family size (6.0); Bihar, at 5.5, came next, followed by Jharkhand (5.3)—all above the India average, and a lot higher than China’s family size of just 3.03 in 2017.

·         The bottom line is that the economic reforms India launched in 1991, with changes in trade and industrial policies, had only limited success in these states of eastern India as their family sizes are large, while agricultural holding size is extremely small.

·         The only way out for India, therefore, is a massive education drive, especially of female children, with liberal scholarships for the girl child. That brings me back to the question of overall resources.

·         The New Education Policy, approved by the Cabinet recently, talks of raising the overall expenditure on education as a percentage of GDP, but is almost silent on education about population control and from where the resources will come.

·         The Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Rojgar Yojana, focusing on providing 125 days employment to migrant workers in 116 districts, is commendable as a short-term relief.

·         It provides `50,000 crore, spread over 25 activities drawn from various ongoing schemes. But, there is no medium- to long-term plan for massive infusion of development funds for the laggard states of Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, West Bengal and Assam as well as the northeastern states.

·         India needs a package for the eastern belt, to the tune of at least Rs 15 lakh crore over the next 3-5 years, to improve basic infrastructure of health, education (including population control), housing, roads, power, water, etc. It is this sustained investment plan that will create jobs and development. It has to be steered by public expenditure. Private sector can also be roped in through CSR in well-designed schemes.

·         One way to finance such a mega-investment plan is to control the culture of doles. There are massive subsidies on food, fertilisers, and power, and in funding recurrent losses of several public enterprises both at the Centre and the states. 

please review