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Emerging from the shock of the Covid-19 pandemic, economies of 19 states and Union Territories exceeded their pre-Covid levels, with seven recording double-digit growth rates during 2021-22, shows an analysis of official data for 21 states and UTs. The growth rates of 11 states including Gujarat and Maharashtra were not available for 2021-22.
The analysis shows that the size of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of the 19 states and UTs had contracted or recorded a negligible growth during 2020-21 — the year when the government had imposed a nationwide lockdown in view of the Covid-19 outbreak. Their economies bounced back in 2021-22 and exceeded their pre-Covid (2019-20) levels.
These 19 states and UTs are: Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Bihar, Telangana, Delhi, Odisha, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana, Karnataka, Tripura, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Puducherry.
As on August 1, 2022, the GSDP (at 2011-12 Constant Prices) figures are available for 21 states and UTs at the official website of the Union Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Of these Kerala and Uttar Pradesh are the only exceptions; in 2021-22, their GSDP continued to be below the pre-Covid levels.
Of these 21 states and UTs, Andhra recorded the highest growth of 11.43 per cent, while Puducherry the lowest (3.31 per cent).
Besides Andhra Pradesh, five other states and one UT – Rajasthan (11.04 per cent), Bihar (10.98 per cent), Telangana (10.88), Delhi (10.23 per cent), Odisha (10.19 per cent) and Madhya Pradesh (10.12 per cent) – reported double-digit growth rates in 2021-22. The growth rates of Haryana (9.80 per cent) and Karnataka (9.47 per cent) were close to double digits in the last financial year.
The economies of the remaining 11 states and UTs – Tripura, Sikkim, Himachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Jharkhand, Tamil Nadu, Jammu & Kashmir, Kerala, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh – grew in range of 4.24 per cent to 8.69 per cent during 2021-22. Among the big states, Uttar Pradesh registered the lowest growth rate of 4.24 per cent in 2021-22.
While the sharp jump in the GSDP of some states is due to the base effect, the general trend mirrors the post-pandemic economic recovery. In 2021-22, India’s GDP expanded at 8.7 per cent against a 6.6 per cent contraction in 2020-21.
Number of women scientists up; CSIR head aims at further push (Page no. 3)
(GS Paper 1, Role of Women)
The appointment earlier this month of Dr N Kalaiselvi as the first woman director general of India’s largest research and development organisation, the 80-year-old Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), underlined a significant trend — official data show the participation of women in science research has been generally increasing over the past two decades in the country.
More than a quarter — 28% — of participants in extramural R&D projects in 2018-19 were women, up from 13% in 2000-01 due to various initiatives taken by successive governments, data compiled by the Department of Science and Technology show.
The number of women principal investigators in R&D had risen more than four times from 232 in 2000-01 to 941 in 2016-17.
The percentage of women among researchers went from 13.9% in 2015 to 18.7% in 2018, the data show. There were fewer women researchers in engineering and technology (14.5%) compared with the natural sciences and agriculture (22.5% each), and health sciences (24.5%). The percentage of women researchers in the social sciences and humanities is, however, much higher at 36.4%.
The increase in women’s participation, especially in research, is due to a combination of government programmes and natural progression..
However, this was more in previous decades, as the infrastructure to do both (pursue research and family obligations simultaneously) simply did not exist. This is no longer the case. In numerous CSIR labs, women’s participation has increased because there are creche facilities now in the residential colonies where the women scientists live. Parental attitudes towards girls pursuing science has also seen a shift, and girls are now encouraged more.”
While the overall data show an upward trend, women researchers in engineering and technology are fewer than in natural sciences, health and agriculture. At the post-doctoral level, there are fewer women researchers than the global average..
Results of the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) 2019 showed a 53% and 55% participation of women in science education at the Bachelor’s and Master’s levels respectively, numbers that are comparable with many developed countries. But at doctoral level, women graduates (44%) lagged behind men (56%).
Govt. and Politics
India faces challenges to ensure economic interest protected :Jaishankar in Brazil (Page no. 7)
(GS Paper 2, International Relations)
Indiafacesachallengetoensurethat its economic interests arewellprotectedandconsumersareshieldedasmuchaspossiblefromthe enormous jump in oil pricesinthewakeoftheRussia-Ukraineconflict,ExternalAffairsMinisterS Jaishankarhassaid.
Addressing the Indian communityinBrazil’sSaoPauloashebegan the first leg of his threenation tour to Latin America,
JaishankarsaidthatwhattheUkrainecrisishasdoneintermsofimpactingIndia’senergy security is something of concern.
We have a challenge, which is we have to ensure through diplomacy, throughdealings with various governments that our economic interests are wellprotected and the Indian consumer is shielded to the extent possible fromthis enormous jump in oil prices," he said, defending India's move to buydiscounted Russian oil.
The minister noted that the world is globalised that something happens inone corner of the world and everybody else is impacted by it. There has been avery strong level of commitment to ensure that India's national interests inregard to energy are somehow met.
The US and European nations have imposed heavy sanctions on Russia sinceMoscow sent troops into Ukraine on February 24.
India has raised oil imports from Russia after the Ukraine war despitecriticism from the west and continues to engage with Moscow for business.
Jaishankar has repeatedly defended India's decision to buy discountedRussian oil amid Moscow's ongoing war with Ukraine, saying many suppliersof India have diverted their supplies to Europe, which is buying less oil fromRussia.
Oil prices are "unreasonably high" and so are the gas prices. A lot of traditionalsuppliers to Asia are diverting to Europe because Europe is buying less oilfrom Russia, he said last week in Bangkok.
Addressing the Indian diaspora here, Jaishankar called for strengtheningIndia-Brazil bilateral cooperation."Our sense of partnership is how we can support each other, so that in ourrespective rise in the global order we can be of help to each other. That is themindset through which we are looking at the relationship," he said.
Jaishankar said India-Brazil ties are defined by good sentiment, great goodwilland increasing cooperation.
Express Network
Dilution of rule of law: Former SC judge on release of convicts (Page no. 9)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Former Supreme Court Judge Sujata Manohar, who was a member of the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) when the body intervened in 2003 on behalf of BilkisBano, termed the government’s decision to release 11 convicts in the gangrape and murder case from the 2002 Gujarat riots a “dilution of rule of law”.
On August 15, 11 convicts walked out of prison after the Gujarat government panel remitted life sentences awarded to them. BilkisBano, pregnant at the time, was gangraped and her three-year-old daughter Saleha was among 14 killed by a mob on March 3, 2002, in Dahod during violence that broke out across Gujarat after the Sabarmati Express was attacked in Godhra and 59 passengers, mainly karsevaks, were killed.
Significantly, in 2003, it was the NHRC’s crucial intervention that ensured legal assistance for Bano to approach the Supreme Court after the Gujarat police had closed the case.
The human rights body, under former Chief Justice of India JS Verma, had met her when he visited a relief camp in Godhra in March 2002.
Justice Manohar was a member of the Commission then, that had appointed senior advocate and former Solicitor General Harish Salve to represent her before the Supreme Court.
Salve argued for a fresh probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and, subsequently, for a transfer of the trial from Gujarat to Mumbai. Bano’s case was the only Gujarat riots-related case that was investigated afresh by the CBI.
It is very sad to see the case take this turn. We want women to be empowered but we do not ensure adequate safety for them. The remission does not send a proper message on the protection of women.
Explained Page
What are cloudburst incidents and are they rising across India? (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Disaster Management)
Over 20 people have been killed in destruction caused by cloudbursts and flash floods in different parts of Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand over the last three days.
Isolated areas in these two states have reported heavy rainfall during this time, triggering landslides and flash floods that have disrupted rail and road traffic, and resulted in house and wall collapses.
A cloudburst is a localised but intense rainfall activity. Short spells of very heavy rainfall over a small geographical area can cause widespread destruction, especially in hilly regions where this phenomenon is the most common.
Not all instances of very heavy rainfall, however, are cloudbursts. A cloudburst has a very specific definition: Rainfall of 10 cm or more in an hour over a roughly 10 km x 10-km area is classified as a cloudburst event. By this definition, 5 cm of rainfall in a half- hour period over the same area would also be categorized as a cloudburst.
To put this in perspective, in a normal year, India, as a whole, receives about 116 cm of rainfall over the entire year. This means if the entire rainfall everywhere in India during a year was spread evenly over its area, the total accumulated water would be 116 cm high.
There are, of course, huge geographical variations in rainfall within the country, and some areas receive over 10 times more than that amount in a year. But on average, any place in India can be expected to receive about 116 cm of rain in a year.
During a cloudburst event, a place receives about 10% of this annual rainfall within an hour. It is a worse situation than what Mumbai had experienced on July 26, 2005, which is one of the most extreme instances of rainfall in India in recent years.
At that time, Mumbai had received 94 cm of rain over a 24-hour period, resulting in deaths of over 400 people and more than USD 1 billion in economic losses.
Cloudbursts are not uncommon events, particularly during the monsoon months. Most of these happen in the Himalayan states where the local topology, wind systems, and temperature gradients between the lower and upper atmosphere facilitate the occurrence of such events.
However, not every event that is described as a cloudburst is actually, by definition, a cloudburst. That is because these events are highly localized. They take place in very small areas which are often devoid of rainfall measuring instruments.
US jobs-recession paradox (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
The US GDP fell 1.6% on an annualised basis in the first quarter of 2022 (calendar year), followed by a 0.9% fall in the second quarter. Two consecutive quarters of economic contraction or declining real GDP — that’s the general rule to identify a recession.
For most people though, a recession is when they start worrying about their job. Every US recession since World War II has been characterised by a slide in the GDP — or measure of economic output — simultaneously with a spike in unemployment. But this time, it is completely different.
Over the past six months, jobs have been created in the US at the rate of nearly half a million a month. There is no historical precedent for a recessionary economy to produce 528,000 jobs in a month — as the US economy did in July — and at 3.5%, the unemployment rate is the lowest since 1970.
A recession is generally understood to follow an increase of interest rates by the US Federal Reserve. Rising rates typically signal a danger of uncovering imbalances or systematic risks in the financial system, apart from dampening consumption and demand.
There is also the continuing oil price shock (even though prices have eased over the last few weeks), a possible downturn in Europe if Russian natural gas supplies wind down, the economic crisis in China, and the threat from new strains of the coronavirus.
Economic contraction and unemployment typically move in tandem because they feed on each other: when there is a downturn, businesses lay off workers.
As a result, people spend less money, which, in turn, dampens demand and lowers profits for businesses. So they lay off more workers, which further dents demand, and this ends up becoming cyclical.
Economic output in the US is contracting in line with the Fed’s rate-tightening. But companies are still hiring in droves, and many jobs, especially in the pandemic-hit service sector, remain unfilled.
US Bureau of Labor Statistics data released on August 5 show non-farm payroll employment rose by 528,000 in July, and unemployment was down to 3.5%.
The Labor Statistics news release presents data from two monthly surveys: the household survey that measures labour force status, including unemployment, by demographic characteristics, and the establishment survey that measures non-farm employment, hours, and earnings by industry.
Besides lower unemployment rates, the labour market is also showing record high ratios of new job openings to potential applicants—which points to the fact that companies are still reporting open job postings.
There are two main takeaways from the July data. One, the number of working Americans has topped the pre-pandemic number, as the economy added jobs at a three-month moving average of 437,000.
Two, the unemployment rate dropping to 3.5% means it is back to its pre-pandemic low, which marks the lowest unemployment rate in half a century. Also, the total number of unemployed workers (5.67 million) was lower in July than it was in February 2020 (5.72 million).
Forever Chemicals,the risk they pose and new way to destroy them (Page no. 10)
(GS Paper 3, Science and Technology)
A recent study published in Environment Science and Technology has found that rainwater from many places across the globe is contaminated with “per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances,” (PFAs), which are called “forever chemicals” because of their tendency to stick around in the atmosphere, rainwater and soil for long periods of time.
According to the US Centre for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), PFAs are man-made chemicals used to make nonstick cookware, water-repellent clothing, stain-resistant fabrics, cosmetics, firefighting forms and many other products that resist grease, water and oil.
PFAs can migrate to the soil, water and air during their production and use. Since most PFAs do not break down, they remain in the environment for long periods of time. Some of these PFAs can build up in people and animals if they are repeatedly exposed to the chemicals.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) lists a variety of health risks that are attributed to PFA exposure, including decreased fertility, developmental effects in children, interference with body hormones, increased cholesterol levels and increased risk of some cancers.
Recent research has also revealed that long-term low-level exposure to certain PFAs can make it difficult for humans to build antibodies after being vaccinated against various diseases.
While the recently published research article did not include studies of samples collected in India, the nature of PFAs and the wide geographical breadth of samples and the nature of PFAs means that the results can be extrapolated to India, according to lead author Ian Cousins, who spoke to indianexpress.com over an email interaction regarding the same.
While there is no known method that can extract and remove PFAs from the atmosphere itself, there are many effective, albeit expensive, methods to remove them from rainwater that has been collected through various rainwater harvesting methods.
One way to do this would be to use a filtration system with activated carbon. The activated carbon will need to be removed and replaced regularly. Also, the old contaminated material must be destroyed.
Editorial Page
The day justice died (Page no. 12)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
In a shocking development, the 11 convicts sentenced to life imprisonment in the BilkisBano gangrape and murder case were set free on our 75th Independence Day. They walked out of the Godhra jail following approval of their release by the Gujarat government under its remission policy.
A senior official announced that the state government allowed for their release as they had already served 14 years in jail and keeping factors such as “age, nature of the crime, behaviour in prison” in mind. Was this a reward, or a demonstration of the state’s compassion — or of its complete absence?
Justice died a thousand deaths as rapists and murderers of 14 innocent persons including a three-year-old girl were set free.
Ironically, this happened as the Prime Minister gave a call for upholding Nari Shakti and the dignity of women from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the same day.
He went on to urge his fellow Indians to respect and empower women and their critical role in nation-building. Alas, it seems his words were not heard in his own state.
Gujarat was engulfed in communal violence following the burning of the Sabarmati Express on February 27, 2002. Bilkis, five months pregnant, and her family fled when an armed mob attacked their neighbourhood.
They were hiding in a field when 30-40 men carrying swords, sticks and sickles attacked them. Seven of her family members were killed on the spot.
The key accused smashed her infant daughter with a rock. Bilkis was gang-raped and given up for dead. She survived and reached the police station with the help of some villagers. For over a year, the police tried to cover up the matter. Following public uproar, the culprits were arrested in 2004.
In 2008, the special CBI court gave life imprisonment to some of the accused for gang rape, murder and also conspiracy to rape a pregnant woman while acquitting some for lack of evidence. In 2018, the Bombay High Court upheld the conviction and set aside the acquittal of others.
BilkisBano became the symbol of hope for all survivors of Gujarat violence. The verdict in her legal case gave hope for justice to all survivors of brutal sexual assaults countrywide.
Bilkis is a real-life heroine who fought courageously for justice in the face of tremendous hardships including hostilities and threats from perpetrators and their political supporters. In 2019, the Supreme Court directed the government of Gujarat to pay Bilkis a compensation of Rs 50 lakh for her struggle.
Remission might fall well within the legal entitlements of a prisoner but can it be viewed sans any sign of the realisation of the wrong-doing, leave alone guilt or remorse? What is the message that goes out to the survivors of sexual assaults and communal violence by this remission of the guilty?
Remission may not qualify as a legal precedent but it may end up influencing the mindset of those involved in judicial machinery. It may give a message that those guilty of gang rape and murder can be free after serving a 14-year jail term.
It may give a message that dastardly crimes can be washed off by merely serving a jail sentence. Meanwhile, the victim suffers the irreparable loss of the lives of loved ones. She remains traumatised for life and is unable to move on.
Idea Page
For AmritKaal in agriculture (Page no. 13)
(GS Paper 3, Economy)
As we celebrate 75 years of Independence and enter the AmritKaal toward 2047, it is time to salute our freedom fighters, soldiers, farmers, scientists, and all those who have contributed to the development of this country.
The famous slogan of late Lal Bahadur Shastri, “Jai Jawan, Jai Kisan,” was extended by Atal Bihari Vajpayee to include “Jai Vigyan”. Now, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has extended it to, “Jai Anusandhan”.
Let us focus on Indian agriculture and see what our farmers and agri-scientists have achieved in the last 75 years, and what more innovations (anusandhan) need to be made in the agri-food space by 2047 to have a well-fed India, with zero hunger, almost no malnutrition, climate resilience, and high incomes for our farmers.
When India became independent in 1947, its population was roughly 340 million, which has gone up by a little more than four times now, and is likely to surpass China by 2023.
By 2050, the country’s population is likely to be 1.66 billion, as per the latest UN Population reports. So, the biggest challenge will be feeding a country whose per capita income still hovers around $2,300.
The per capita income is likely to grow between 5 to 6 per cent per annum, under normal conditions. As they rise from low-income levels, people are likely to demand not just more food but safe and nutritious food.
So, the first challenge would be to align our agri-policies and strategies to the emerging demand pattern. A clue of this can be had by looking at the last 10 years or so at how the different components of agriculture have grown.
The infographic clearly shows that poultry and fisheries have the fastest growth, while it has been the slowest in cereal production. Government intervention is the most in cereals through the massive procurement of rice and wheat. While those sub-sectors that rely on market forces, no matter how imperfect, still perform better.
The policy implication is very clear: Promote and get the markets right, which will help unleash revolutionary growth in agriculture.
But in the next 25 years, we need to go beyond just increasing production. We need to focus on the food system as a composite entity.
It has five dimensions — production, marketing, and consumption are the traditional part of the food system, but two more must be added now.
The environmental sustainability of our food systems and their nutritional outcomes are of utmost importance. And at the centre of this five-dimensional food system is the issue of farmers’ income.
Economy
MPC’ goyal : Freebies are never free; political parties must tell trade off to voters (Page no. 16)
(GS Paper 2, Governance)
Freebies are never 'free' and when political parties offer such schemes, they must be required to make the financing and trade-offs clear to voters, RBI Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) Member AshimaGoyal said, adding this would reduce the temptation towards "competitive populism".
Goyal further said a cost is imposed somewhere when governments provide freebies, but this is worth incurring for public goods and services that build capacity.Freebies are never free. Specially harmful are subsidies that distort prices.
Noting that this hurts production and resource allocation and imposes large indirect costs, such as the water table falling in Punjab due to free electricity, Goyal said such freebies come at the cost of low quality health, education, air and water that hurt poor the most.
When parties offer schemes they must be required to make the financing and such trade-offs clear to voters. This would reduce the temptation towards competitive populism," the eminent economist argued.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has in recent days hit out at the competitive populism of extending 'rewaris' (freebies) which are not just a wastage of taxpayers' money but also an economic disaster that could hamper India's drive to become atmanirbhar (self-reliant).
His comments were seen directed at parties like the AamAadmi Party (AAP) which have in the run-up to assembly elections in states like Punjab and more recently Gujarat promised free electricity and water, among others.
Earlier this month, the Supreme Court had suggested setting up a specialised body to examine "irrational freebies" offered to voters during elections.