By Raju Vernekar
Mumbai, Jan 24:
Despite the third Covid-19 Wave and emergence of Omicron, India’s economy on 73 rd Republic Day, remains strong and, monetary and credit conditions are gradually improving, although inflation continues to mount.
The R day is being celebrated amid Covid protocols with a limited number of guests at Rajpath in New Delhi. There will be no foreign guest for the R Day function, but Prime Minister Narendra Modi will be interacting with Central Asian leaders (who were invited for R day celebrations) on January 27 through a virtual mode.
The entry to the R Day parade will strictly be through the invitation card. No standing spectators would be allowed. Children below the age of 15 years will not be allowed. Ten huge LED screens, screening the live event for the audience, will be put up. Several seats during the parade will be allotted for workers such as auto-rickshaw drivers, construction and sanitation workers, frontline health workers etc.
Floats
There will be 12 floats states and Union territories, 9 from union ministries and the defence establishments including the Indian Navy, CRPF, Indian Air force and Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO).The floats from the states: Arunachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Meghalaya, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The Haryana float will feature the life-size replica of Tokyo Olympics gold medal winner, Neeraj Chopra.
The floats from the Union ministries: the Ministry of Education and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, Ministry of Civil Aviation, Department of Post in the ministry of Communication, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Ministry of Textiles, Department of Justice from the Ministry of Law and Justice and the Ministry of Jal Shakti and Ministry of Culture.
On January 29, the Annual Beating Retreat ceremony will have a show of nearly 1,000 drones by a IIT-Delhi-based startup to commemorate 75 years of country’s independence.
Future Prospects
It is imperative that a stock of the various issues confronting the country is taken on Republic Day. As per the RBI, overall economic activity in India remains strong, with upbeat consumer and business confidence and upticks in several incoming high-frequency indicators.
Economy
However, the economy continues to be plagued by bad loans in the public sector. RBI in its recent financial stability report expressed concern about bad loans in MSME and the stress it is causing. The public sector banks have written off bad debts worth Rs 2.08 lakh crore in the recent past.
RBI’s structural model estimates for 2022-2023, indicate real GDP growth at 7.8 percent. While announcing the monetary policy, the RBI had forecast the growth for Financial Year 2022 at 9.5 percent, while the Consumer Price Index inflation projection was revised downward, from 5.7 percent to 5.3 percent.
FDI
The Foreign Direct Investment is likely to increase by 20-30 percent this year and may approach the pre-pandemic level of 2019. FDI equity inflow grew by 112 percent in the first four months of FY 2021-22 ($20.42 billion) compared to the same period a year ago ($9.61 billion). Karnataka was the top recipient state during FY 2022 with a 45 percent share of the total FDI equity inflows followed by Maharashtra with 23 percent and Delhi with 12 percent. However, the foreign exchange reserves declined by $878 million to stand at $632.736 billion. Simultaneously the gold reserves inched up by $14 million to $39.405 billion and the country’s reserve position with the IMF remained constant at $5.207 billion.
Loss of jobs
As per the report of the Centre for Monitoring India Economy (CMIE), the unemployment rate in the country touched a four-month high and it was 7.91 percent in December 2021. The urban and rural unemployment rate was 9.3 percent and 7.3 percent respectively. The unemployment rate is expected to be around 6.20 percent this year and 6.50 percent in 2023.
Foodgrains
The Union Agriculture Ministry has predicted a bumper production and has set a target of 307.33 million tonnes of food grains. The targets for rice, wheat, coarse cereals, pulses, and oilseeds, are 121.10 million tonnes, 110 million tonnes, 51.21 million tonnes, 25 million tonnes, and 38.4 million tonnes respectively, in the current crop year.
Population
The current population of India is in the region of 140 crores which is equivalent to 17.7% of the world population and the country ranks number 2 in the list of countries by population. India is expected to surpass China as the world’s most populous country by 2024.
35.0 % of the population is urban and 65 percent rural. The female population is 48.04 percent while the male population is 51.96 percent. As per the fifth National Family Health Survey (NFHS) for 2019-2021, India’s sex ratio is 1000 (men)-1020 (women). However, the sex ratio at birth continues to differ. The ratio of Union Territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu is 775 women per 1,000 men, while in Delhi (rural) it is 859 women per 1000 men.
Literacy
On average 73.5% of people in rural areas and 87.7% of people in urban areas are literate. The male and female literacy is 84.7% and 70.3% respectively. Kerala has the highest literacy rate of 96.2%, followed by Mizoram with 91.33 %, according to the National Statistical Office survey. The states with the lowest literacy rate include Bihar-61.80 %, Arunachal Pradesh-65.38 %, Rajasthan-66.11 %, and Jharkhand-66.41 % and Andhra Pradesh-67.02 %.
India is expected to become one of the most powerful countries and emerge as a “World Guru”, in the time to come. Let us hope that we become a superpower soon.
