Union Minister for Finance and Corporate Affairs Nirmala Sitharaman on Thursday tabled the Economic Survey 2018-19 in the Parliament. The key highlights of Economic Survey 2018-19 are as follows:
PRIVATE INVESTMENT AS THE KEY DRIVER OF GROWTH:
* Survey states that pathways for trickle-down opened up during the last five years, and benefits of growth and macroeconomic stability reached the bottom of the pyramid.
* Sustained real GDP growth rate of 8 per cent needed for a $5 trillion economy by 2024-25.
* Private investment remains a key driver for demand, capacity, labor productivity, new technology, creative destruction, and job creation.
POLICY FOR REAL PEOPLE, NOT ROBOTS:
* Decisions by real people deviate from impractical robots theorised in classical economics.
* Behavioral economics provides insights to 'nudge' people towards desirable behavior.
NOURISHING DWARFS TO BECOME GIANTS:
* Survey focuses on enabling MSMEs to grow for achieving greater profits, job creation and enhanced productivity.
* Dwarfs (firms with less than 100 workers) despite being more than 10 years old, account for more than 50 pc of all organised firms in manufacturing by number.
* Contribution of dwarfs to employment is only 14 per cent and to productivity is a mere 8 per cent
* Large firms (more than 100 employees) account for 75 per cent employment and close to 90 per cent of productivity despite accounting for about 15 pc by number.
DATA OF THE PEOPLE, BY THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE:
* Society's optimal consumption of data is higher than ever given technological advances in gathering and storage of data.
* As data of societal interest is generated by the people, data can be created as a public good within the legal framework of data privacy.
* Government must intervene in creating data as a public good, especially of the poor and in social sectors.
HOW TO RAMP UP CAPACITY IN THE LOWER JUDICIARY
* Delays in contract enforcement and disposal resolution are arguably now the single biggest hurdle to the ease of doing business and higher GDP growth in India.
* Around 87.5 per cent of pending cases are in the District and Subordinate courts.
* 100 per cent clearance rate can be achieved by filling out merely 2279 vacancies in the lower courts and 93 in High Courts.
* States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Odisha, and West Bengal need special attention.
* Productivity improvements of 25 percent in lower courts, 4 percent in High Courts and 18 percent in Supreme Court can clear the backlog.
PLANNING PUBLIC GOOD PROVISION FOR THE 21ST CENTURY
* Sharp slowdown in population growth expected in next two decades.
* Most of India to enjoy demographic dividend while some states will transition to ageing societies by 2030s.
* National total fertility rate expected to be below replacement rate by 2021.
* Working age population to grow by roughly 9.7 million per year during 2021-31 and 4.2 million per year during 2031-41.
* 93.1 per cent of the households have access to toilets.
* 96.5 pc of those with access to toilets are using them in rural India.
* 100 pc Individual Households Latrine (IHHL) coverage in 30 states and UTs.
AFFORDABLE, RELIABLE AND SUSTAINABLE ENERGY
* 2.5 times increase in per capita energy consumption needed for India to increase its real per capita GDP by $5000 at 2010 prices, and enter the upper-middle income group.
* Four times increase in per capita energy consumption needed for India to achieve 0.8 Human Development Index score.
* Rs 50,000 crore saved and 108.28 million tonnes of CO2 emissions reduced by energy efficiency programmes in India.
REDESIGNING A MINIMUM WAGE SYSTEM:
* Survey proposes a well-designed minimum wage system as a potent tool for protecting workers and alleviating poverty.
* Present minimum wage system in India has 1,915 minimum wages for various scheduled job categories across states.
* Minimum wages to all employments/workers proposed by the Survey.
* Minimum wages by states should be fixed at levels not lower than the 'floor wage'.
* Minimum wages can be notified based either on the skills or on geographical region or on both grounds.
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