Economic Survey calls for pumping investment to better India’s human capital

The Economic survey points to the need to focus on the quality of education in both ‘public and private sectors’ and to leverage private investment in social sectors 

 Admitting that India’s education quality is worsening, the Economic Survey on Friday called for “more investment in human capital” in order to arrest the trend and improve healthcare delivery.

It also drew a link between human capital investment and improving productivity.
“On the education front, the declining educational outcomes reflected in lower reading levels in both public and private sector schools are areas of concern,” the Economic survey said.
The survey points to the need to focus on the quality of education in both “public and private sectors” and to leverage private investment in social sectors.
Presented in Parliament by finance minister Arun Jaitley, the survey said that the “social infrastructure scenario in the country reflects gaps in access to education, health and housing amenities”.
It said “inclusive growth in India requires bridging gaps in educational outcomes and improved health attainments across the population”.
India spends around 4% of its gross domestic product on education—against a long standing target of 6%. India’s education sector with over 45,000 colleges and universities is one of the biggest sectors in the world but faces many challenges on quality. It caters to over 300 million students who are key to helping the country reap its human capital advantage.
In order to reap the so-called “demographic dividend”, the survey called for “increasing investment in human capital” as it is a “key requirement to improve productivity of the population”.
The Economic Survey also said that the total expenditure on social services, including education, health, social security, nutrition, and the welfare of underprivileged during 2014-15 (revised estimate), was 7% of the gross domestic product (GDP), while it was 6.5% the year ago.
The survey said the immunization coverage of children, health of pregnant women, declining role of public health delivery systems and the lack of adequate skilled personnel are the biggest challenges in the health sector.
Health and access to sanitation are closely related issues which can improve productivity and the living environment of the population to a great extent, the survey said, indicating a huge disparity in social indicators across states.