Economic Survey 2018

By Shivam Saklani

The Economic Survey 2018 has estimated that the Indian Economy will grow by 7-7.5 per cent in 2018-19, thus re-establishing India as the world’s fastest growing economy. FM Arun Jaitely, presented the Economic Survey in the parliament on Monday, and said that the second half of FY18 can clock 6.75 per cent growth. A 50% increase in the number of indirect taxpayers, was reported in this survey but the survey also cites that collections of direct taxes by the states and other local governments, where they have powers to collect them, is significantly lower than their counterparts in other federal countries. It directly implies that there is still the need of tax awareness for the citizens.

The survey had impeccably captured the footprints of climate change on the Indian Territory and its adverse impacts on agricultural yields. Improper Irrigation was again cited as the biggest reason for the irregular agrarian yield. It is time India should take help from Israel in solving the problem. The Economic Survey has observed that the quality of hygiene and sanitation had a significant impact on improving the health outcomes. The Swachh Bharat Mission has increased the sanitation coverage in rural India from 39% in 2014 to 76% in Jan 2018. 8 States and 2 UT have been declared as Open Defecation Free (ODF). The Survey also told that an average household in an ODF village saves up to Rs. 50,000 every year.

The survey has suggested that the country has to become one of the largest producers of knowledge. Currently it is said that 1 out of every 6 student in the US+UK is Indian. The survey stated the need to invest more in the research sector, so as to attract youth towards research fields. The survey said that India’s formal sector i.e. non-farm payroll is substantially greater than currently believed. It further states that the digitization of government data and introduction of GST have provided an opportunity to make some preliminary estimates of formal employment. Defining formal employment in 2 ways, either in terms if employees receiving some kind of social security benefits or from a tax net perspective, the survey states that there are 22 crore employees in the country currently (out of 1.3 billion population) for this , EPFO & ESIC data has been used.

While some economists have said that new EPFO Registration doesn’t necessarily mean a new job; it could simply have been fallout of demonetization, where hitherto informal workers were newly registered as formal employees. The good news is that the survey lists employment generation, specifically finding good jobs for the young and burgeoning work force as a key area of policy over the medium term. The action and policies of the government on the same are yet to be seen.