Economic Survey paints a rosy picture of Indian economy

 

Virendra Singh Rawat / July 22, 2024

The Economic Survey 2023-24 painted a rosy picture of the Indian economy, which the report claimed had exhibited resilience in the face of several many geopolitical upheaveals.

The 476-page Economic Survey 2023-24 was presented in Parliament by Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman.

It underlined that India's economy has rebounded post pandemica. Indian policymakers played a crucial role in facilitating economic and financial stability.

"For the recovery to be sustained, there has to be heavy lifting on the domestic front because the environment has become extraordinarily difficult to reach agreements on key global issues such as trade, investment, and climate," the Survey read.

Public investment has been pivotal in sustaining capital formation, with the private sector starting to invest considerably since FY22.

The survey pointed out that the headline inflation is under control, although a few food items remain elevated.

Trade deficit in FY24 was lower vis-a-vis FY23, with the current account deficit around 0.7% of GDP even as the forex reserves remain robust.

National income data shows expansion in non-financial private capital formation in FY22 and FY23 after a decline in FY21.

Despite a slide in investment in machinery and equipment during FY20 and FY21, there was rebound.

Early corporate data for FY24 indicate capital formation in the private sector continued to expand at a slower rate.

Global economic growth posted 3.2 per cent in 2023 per the April World Economic Outlook.

India’s economy carried forward the momentum it generated in FY23 into FY24 despite a gamut of external challenges.

India's real GDP grew by 8.2% in FY24, exceeding 8% in three out of four quarters of FY24. The focus on maintaining macroeconomic stability ensured that external challenges had minimal impact on India’s economy.

Inflationary pressures stoked by global troubles, supply chain disruptions, and vagaries of monsoons were deftly managed by administrative and monetary policy responses.

UP launches virtual evaluation of Ayushman Arogya Mandirs

Virendra Singh Rawat / July 16, 2024

To upgrade the healthcare ecosystem, Uttar Pradesh will implement virtual evaluations for the National Quality Assurance Standards (NQAS) certification of Ayushman Arogya Mandirs.

Previously, the NQAS team conducted time-consuming physical verifications of these health units.

With this, the number of NQAS-certified Ayushman Arogya Mandirs is expected to increase rapidly, thus significantly improving the quality of health services and providing better healthcare.

The number of Ayushman Arogya Mandirs in India has surpassed 170,000 with over 17,000 located in UP.

Earlier, the union health ministry launched 'Ayushman Bharat, Quality Health' to faciliate a marked improvement in public healthcare infra.

Two other major initiatives include the introduction of a dashboard for the Indian Public Health Standard (IPHS) and smart food licenses for food vendors.

Additionally, revised guidelines were issued for NQAS and Kayakalp certification for integrated public health laboratories.

Pinky Jowel, Mission Director of the National Health Mission, has issued a directive mandating that each district must conduct virtual evaluations of 10-20 medical units every month. 

Jowal emphasised upon the goal of having 50 percent of the state's health units certified by NQAS by 2025 and all health units certified by 2026.

Nishant Kumar Jaiswal, General Manager of the National Health Mission, informed that 275 medical units in UP have received NQAS certification so far.

UP alert over Covid variant ‘Omicron’

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / Nov 29, 2021

The Uttar Pradesh government has sounded alert over new Covid-19 mutant ‘Omicron’ detected in several countries including South Africa, Hong Kong and Botswana.

All inbound travellers from these countries will be subjected to strict screening and genome sequencing to mitigate spread of infection. The airports have come under higher vigilance and scrutiny.

In his advisory, UP additional chief secretary, medical and health, Amit Mohan Prasad has instructed all the chief medical officers (CMO) to screen travellers arriving from, or transiting through, these countries.

Their samples will be collected for genome sequencing, and the district surveillance officers will follow-up with their contacts as well. Genome sequencing is a tool to check if a certain variant of Covid is present in the population.

Meanwhile, strict vigil will be kept on foreigners coming to Agra, Prayagraj, Varanasi, Lucknow and Kanpur.

Besides, the state health department has asked premier medical institutes, including Lucknow based SGPGI and King George’s Medical University (KGMU), where patients come from abroad for treatment, to compulsorily screen all patients.

Modi dedicates Rs 23,000 crore Purvanchal Expressway

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / Nov 16, 2021

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday dedicated to public the 341 km Purvanchal Expressway that cuts across nine districts in Eastern Uttar Pradesh.

It entailed an investment of about Rs 23,000 crore. Modi arrived in Sultanpur district for the inauguration ceremony aboard an Indian Air Force (IAF) Hercules aircraft and landed on the Purvanchal Expressway airstrip. An air show comprising IAF fighter jets viz. Mirage and Sukhoi was also held.

Addressing the gathering, the PM clubbed prosperity and national security, while he flayed the previous governments for doing precious little to enhance the country’s defence capabilities.

He observed Purvanchal Expressway will facilitate the emergency landing of fighter jets. “The air show will scare those elements who have neglected our defence capability needs for decades.”

The expressway spans Lucknow, Barabanki, Amethi, Ayodhya, Sultanpur, Ambedkar Nagar, Azamgarh, Mau and Ghazipur. It will connect the socioeconomically laggard Eastern UP (Purvanchal) region to the National Capital Region (NCR) via Agra-Lucknow Expressway and Greater Noida-Agra Yamuna Expressway.

Modi noted good connectivity was vital for industrial development. “The expressway, which has cost more than Rs 22,000 crore, will spur investment to the tune of several lakh of rupees and create lakhs of job opportunities.”

At present, four expressway projects totalling Rs 80,000 crore have been undertaken by the Yogi Adityanath government. These comprise 341 km Purvanchal Expressway, 296 km Bundelkhand Expressway, 91 km Gorakhpur Link Expressway and 600 km Ganga Expressway.

“We need balanced development for ensuring composite development and to alleviate disparities between different regions. The Purvanchal Expressway will put UP on the path of faster development, enhance its stature and spur all round growth in different sectors,” Modi said.

In his address, UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath said the project was completed in record time despite pandemic. “We are giving due importance to improving the infrastructure including roads, expressways, metro trains etc. UP will play a vital role in realising the PM’s vision of propelling India as the world’s leading economy.”

India discussing non-tariff trade barriers with Bangladesh

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / Nov 14, 2021

Union commerce and industry minister Piyush Goyal on Sunday said the central government was discussing the issue of non-tariff trade barriers with Bangladesh to promote Indian exports to the neighbouring country.

“Bangladesh allows for a restricted number of Indian goods train as well as road cargo transport to protect its indigenous industry. However, we are discussing these non-tariff barriers with the country,” Goyal said while interacting with Uttar Pradesh based exporters and entrepreneurs in Lucknow.

He underlined the Centre had taken a slew of measures to promote exports and realise the potential of the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) sector in job creation and spurring economic activities.

The union minister noted UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath had rightly espoused the concept that export promotion is as much a responsibility of the respective states as the Centre.

“UP is the country’s top landlocked exporting state in India. In fact, the state has the potential to achieve export volumes of Rs 7.5 trillion in the next five years from the current level of Rs 1.5 trillion,” he added.

Referring to UP’s flagship One District, One Product (ODOP) scheme that aims to promote indigenous industries and handicrafts, Goyal said UP was at the forefront of reviving the traditional industries of the state.

“There is a big potential for inward investment in UP given the improvement in the law and order machinery and pro-industry stance taken by the Yogi government,” he said.

Further, Goyal said inclusive policies which cater both to the industry and the deprived sections simultaneously were needed to take the country on the path of speedier socioeconomic growth and job creation.

Yogi flags off Rs 11,000 crore Kanpur Metro trial

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / Nov 1, 2021

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Wednesday flagged off the trial run of Kanpur Metro, which is expected to cost more than Rs 11,000 crore.

Last year, the European Investment Bank (EIB) had consented to provide a loan of Euro 650 million for the mega project.

Kanpur Metro is now expected to start the commercial operations before December 31, 2021, which means it would be up and running much before the crucial next UP assembly polls in the early months of 2022.

“Kanpur is now a metro city both in terms of population and on account of good passenger transport infra too,” the CM said in his message after the flagging off ceremony. He also travelled in a coach during the inaugural trial run to get the first hand information of the ambitious project.

In the first phase, Kanpur Metro will traverse nine km between IIT Kanpur and Motijheel stations. In all, two corridors of more than 32 km are proposed as part of the larger Kanpur Metro blueprint.

While, the first corridor spans 23.8 km from IIT Kanpur to Naubasta, the second 8.6 km corridor runs from Chandrashekhar Azad Agricultural University to Barra area.

Even during lockdown, the ‘strategic execution’ of the Kanpur Metro project ensured the civil work progressed unhindered on the 9 km priority corridor.

Interestingly, the Kanpur Metro is the first Indian metro where pre-cast double T-girders have been used for constructing the concourse level of metro stations.

Meanwhile, the Yogi government is working on another metro project in Agra. Last year, the Supreme Court (SC) had cleared the Rs 8,380 crore Agra Metro project, thus paving way for the mass rapid transit system (MRTS) in the Taj City.

Yogi government to set up ‘Social Media Monitoring Cell’

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / Nov 9, 2021

The Uttar Pradesh government will set up a specialised ‘Social Media Monitoring Centre’ as part of its general law and order control machinery.

According to UP additional chief secretary, home, Awanish Kumar Awasthi, the proposed Centre will be established in the state Intelligence department headquarters in Lucknow.

“On the directions of chief minister Yogi Adityanath, a slew of steps have been taken to fortify the law and order machinery and control crime,” he said in a statement here on Monday.

The new Centre will be equipped with advanced ‘news extractor’ and ‘database analytics’ software to monitor the social media outlets for possible breach of norms and culpable delinquency.

The Yogi Adityanath government has also approved the proposal to engage National Institute for Smart Government (NISG) as consultant and executing agency of the proposed Centre. NISG is a not-for-profit company incorporated in 2002 by the Centre and NASSCOM to support the digital and smart governance initiatives undertaken by the government departments and entities.

Moreover, the UP government has simultaneously been upgrading the cyber crime wing of the police to curb the growing incidents of online frauds and digital crimes, especially related to the financial and banking spectrum.