Economic survey 2017-18 (volume 2) - chapter 10 key points

Economic Survey 2017-18 (volume II) – chapter 10 key points

The Government of India is committed to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG- 4) for education – “Ensure inclusive and quality education for all and promote lifelong learning” by 2030.

With a view to achieve the goal of universalization of elementary education, the Right to Free & Compulsory Education (RTE) Act, 2009 had been enacted in 2010 that provides a justiciable legal framework entitling all children between the ages of 6-14 years free and compulsory admission, attendance and completion of elementary education. It provides for children’s right to an education of equitable quality, based on principles of equity and non-discrimination.

Student Classroom Ratio (SCR) is defined as average number of pupils (students) per classroom in a school in a given school-year. The ideal size should be at 30 students per classroom.

At primary level and upper primary level, the PTR should be 30:1 and 35:1 respectively. As per Unified District Information System for Education (UDISE), the PTR at national level for primary schools is 23:1 in 2015-16.

Gender Parity Index (GPI) in education is a valuable indicator which reflects the discrimination against girls in access to educational opportunities. In higher education, gender disparities still prevail in enrolment for which continuous efforts are being made by the Government to improve net intake rate for women in higher education.

Beti Bachao Beti Padhao (BBBP) scheme has been introduced for promoting survival, protection and education of girl child. It aims to address the issue of declining Child Sex Ratio (CSR) through a mass campaign targeted at changing social mind set and creating awareness about the criticality of the issue. The scheme launched in 2015 is a tri-ministerial, convergent effort of Ministries of Women and Child Development, Health & Family Welfare and Human Resource Development with focus on awareness and advocacy campaign, multi-sectoral action in select 161 districts (100 districts in Phase-1 & 61 districts in Phase-II), enabling girls’ education and effective enforcement of Pre-Conception & Pre Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PC&PNDT) Act.

The Government is in the process of rationalizing 38 Central Labour Acts by framing relevant provisions of existing laws into 4 labour codes viz

o   Code on Wages,

o   Code on Safety and Working Conditions,

o   Code on Industrial Relations, and

o   Code on Social Security and Welfare.

Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) is one of the important schemes which ensures participation by women in the economic activity by stipulating minimum 33 per cent participation by women. There has been highest ever budget allocation of Rs 48000 crore under MGNREGA during 2017-18.

As per the report ‘Women in Politics 2017 (IPU & UN)’ Lok Sabha had 64 (11.8 percent of 542 MPs) and Rajya Sabha had 27 (11 per cent of 245 MPs) women MPs. As on October 2016, out of the total 4118 MLAs across the country, only 9 per cent were women.

Among the State assemblies, the highest percentage of women MLAs were from Bihar, Haryana and Rajasthan with 14 per cent followed by Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal with 13 per cent and Punjab with 12 per cent.

For leadership development and to address women’s issues at village levels, Mahila Shakti Kendra scheme has been launched at the village level.

Nai Roshni, a leadership development programme, is also operational for benefiting the women belonging to minority communities.

The report ‘India: Health of the Nation’s States’, 2017 provides the first comprehensive set of findings for the distribution of diseases and risk factors across all States from 1990 to 2016.

The concept of Disability Adjusted Life Years (DALYs) provides a framework for analysing the disease burden and risk factors. DALYs is the sum of years of potential life lost due to premature mortality and the years of productive life lost due to disability.

One DALY represents the loss of the equivalent of one year of full health. Using DALYs, the burden of diseases that cause premature death but little disability can be compared to that of diseases that do not cause death but do cause disability. The information and data base about changing disease patterns and the use of DALYs to quickly compare the impact caused by very different conditions, such as cancer and depression, in a single, comparable metric are crucial inputs for decision-making, effective resource allocation and policy planning.

The National Health Policy, 2017 has recommended increasing State sector health spending to more than 8 per cent of the State government budget by 2020.

So far, 296 districts and 307,349 villages all over the India have been declared as Open Defecation Free (ODF). Eight States and two Union Territories i.e. Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Gujarat, Daman & Diu and Chandigarh have been declared as ODF completely.

The surveys conducted by National Sample Survey Office (NSSO,2016) and Quality Council of India (QCI, 2017) on usage of toilets by the individuals who have access to toilets reported more than 90 per cent of individuals using toilets in 2016 and 2017.

According to UNICEF, the lack of sanitation is responsible for the deaths of over 100,000 children in India annually and for stunting of 48 per cent children. In order to assess the impact of sanitation programme on health status, a pilot study was undertaken by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF) in selected ODF and non-ODF districts.


Economic survey 2017 -18 volume 2 - chapter 5 key points - click here