Economic Survey sources data from Wikipedia, other private entities

The Economic Survey 2019-20 has sourced certain data from Wikipedia, which is not considered as reliable source of information.

Besides Wikipedia, the Survey has also relied on data from other private sources such as Bloomberg, ICRA, CMIE, Indian Institute of Management (Bengaluru), Forbes and the BSE.

Wikipedia is a free online encyclopedia, created and edited by volunteers around the world and hosted by the Wikimedia Foundation.

Other sources from which data have been used include heritage.org, fraserinstitute.org and Ambit Capital.

Data have also been sourced from International Monetary Fund, World Bank, Reserve Bank of India, Ministry of Corporate Affairs, Insolvency and Bankruptcy Board of India, CIBIL, National Sample Survey Office, Department of Consumer Affairs, United Nations, SIDBI.

The Survey is also marked by quotes from Shrimad Bhagavad Gita, Rig Veda, Adam Smith's 'An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations', Kautilya's Arthashastra, and Tamil saint and philosopher Thiruvalluvar's treatise The Thirukural.

The Economic Survey advocates 10 new ideas that benefit markets as well as the economy.

Pace of road construction less than half that of 2018-19: Economic Survey

Stressing the importance of good roads and transport for growth, the Economic Survey 2019-20 pointed out that the per day construction, that had improved in the last few years, less than halved in the first six months of the current fiscal.

The pace at which roads have been constructed grew significantly from 17 km per day in 2015-16 to 29.7 km in 2018-19. However, the pace seems to have moderated in 2019-20 to 12.7 km per day till September 2019.

Road transport is the dominant mode of transportation in terms of its contribution to Gross Value Added (GVA) and traffic share.

The share of the transport sector in the GVA for 2017-18 was about 4.77 per cent, of which the share of road transport is the largest at 3.06 per cent, followed by that of Railways (0.75 per cent), air transport (0.15 per cent) and water transport (0.06 per cent).

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Similarly, as per the National Transport Development Policy Committee Report, as of 2011-12, road transport is estimated to handle 69 per cent and 90 per cent of the countrywide freight and passenger traffic, respectively.

A good road network is an essential requirement for the rapid growth of the economy, Chief Economic Advisor Krishnamurthy Subramanian said in the survey.

Roads shouldn't be looked at in isolation, but as part of an integrated multi-modal transport system that provides crucial links with airports, railway stations, ports and other logistical hubs.

As on March 31,2018, India had a road network of about 5.96 million km. The total length of National Highways was 132,000 km as on March 1, 2019.

Economic Survey links infrastructure with social reforms to boost growth

Calling for integration of social-economic services, the Economic Survey 2019-20 has proposed a nexus of physical infrastructure and social reforms to ensure sustainable development.

Suggesting a new approach, ‘Nexus of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)’, it said this will reinforce several policies and their implementation.

“Since a few SDGs have overlapping objectives with one another, the policies developed and aligned to achieve the goals must consider and identify these linkages. And, in-turn, identify the potential trade-offs that might limit the physical achievement of the target under a goal,” said the Survey.

SDGs were set up in 2015 by the United Nations General Assembly and are to be achieved by the year 2030.

This includes clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, industry innovation and infrastructure, life on land, peace, justice and social institutions, zero hunger and gender equality.

The Survey suggested interlinking electricity supply with health and education. “It is observed that with electricity, the schools’ access to modern methods and techniques of teaching helps holistic development of students and increases their attraction towards learning,” said the Survey.

The Survey observed that states with lower literacy rates have low electricity supply at schools and vice-versa. Many of the health improvement schemes – providing paediatric care, newborn emergency services, and successful vaccination – rely heavily on the availability of electricity at the health centres.

“There is a positive relationship between electricity consumption and fall in the infant mortality rate (IMR) in the country,” said the Survey.

The Survey made note of several states to denote link between electrification of schools and net enrolment. While states with high ‘human development index (HDI)’ have shown positive relation between electrification and school enrolment, for low HDI states, it is dismal.

“It then becomes obvious that schools having quality and reliable power would generally tend to have the facilities that the government is providing under its Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan programme,” said the Survey.