Urbanise and be rich

It is an empirical truth that, by and large, the most economically prosperous countries are also highly urbanised. While urbanisation may not be the only factor that makes a country rich, it is undeniably one of the key catalysts that help propel an economy to a higher growth trajectory. Take the example of China. China’s emergence as an economic superpower has occurred hand in hand with rapid urbanisation—about 53% of China’s population is urbanised now compared to only 18% in the late 1970s.

What has been India’s experience so far? As per the latest census report, India’s urbanisation rate has increased to just 31% in 2011, from about 28% in 2001. Not only the pace of urbanisation is agonisingly slow in India’s case, the disparity between different states as regards to the urbanisation trend is also striking.

States such as Bihar (11.3%), Odisha (16.7%), Uttar Pradesh (22.3%), Chhattisgarh (23.2%), Jharkhand (24.1%), Rajasthan (24.9%), Madhya Pradesh (27.6%)—despite showing a rise in urbanisation rate in the last decade—remain way below the national average rate of 31.2%. On the other end of the spectrum, Tamil Nadu (48.5%), Kerala (47.7%), Maharashtra (45.2%) and Gujarat (42.6%) have a relatively higher urbanisation rate, among 16 major states we have considered in our analysis. The census findings show that Kerala has recorded the highest increase in urbanisation rate in the last decade (from 26% in 2001 to 47.7% in 2011), while the least improvement has been in the case of Bihar (+0.8%), a trend which is indeed worrisome given that Bihar has the lowest level of urbanisation rate (11.3%) among 16 key states.

But a clear trend emerges when the urbanisation rate of each of 16 key states is compared to other parameters such as overall literacy rate, population growth rate, infant mortality rate, poverty rate and per capita GDP. States which are less (more) urbanised have a lower (higher) literacy rate. States such as Bihar (63.8% literacy rate), Rajasthan (67.1%), Jharkhand (67.6%), and Uttar Pradesh (69.7%), which are the least urbanised also have the lowest literacy rate. On the other hand, states which have a relatively higher urbanisation rate—Kerala (93.9%), Maharashtra (82.9%), Tamil Nadu (80.3%), Gujarat (79.3%)—also enjoy a high literacy rate.

States with a lower (higher) urbanisation and literacy rate have recorded the highest (lowest) increase in the decadal population growth rate between 2001 and 2011. States such as Bihar, Chhattisgarh, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh, which rank poorly in urbanisation and literacy metrics, have seen 20%-plus population growth rate between 2001 and 2011. Kerala stands out at the other end of the spectrum of having recorded the lowest population growth rate (4.9%) in the last decade.

Infant mortality rate is higher (lower) in less (more) urbanised states. It is highest in states such as Madhya Pradesh, Odisha, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh and Bihar, while being the lowest in the case of Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra.

Incidence of poverty is higher (lower) in less (more) urbanised states. Orissa (32.6%), Bihar (33.7%), Chhattisgarh (39.9%), Jharkhand (37.0%), Madhya Pradesh (31.7%) and Uttar Pradesh (29.4%) have the largest share of below poverty line population residing in these states as compared to states such as Kerala (7.1%), Tamil Nadu (11.3%), Gujarat (16.6%) and Maharashta (17.3%), where percentage of BPL population is below the national average of 21.9%.

States with lower level of urbanisation rate are poorer than the more urbanised ones. It is hardly surprising that states such as Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh have significantly lower per capita income compared to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Kerala and Punjab, which are relatively more urbanised. The per capita monthly expenditure profile of the prosperous states is naturally higher than the relatively poor ones.

This indicates that, by and large, higher urbanisation leads to lesser poverty, increased prosperity and improvement in development indicators as well. Of course, there could be some outlier cases where a one-to-one correlation may become hard to establish, but the overall message is simple—“higher urbanisation improves economic well-being.”

CSIR Scientists in Villages

Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR) has been providing the S&T knowledgebase needed for the socio-economic development in the country. CSIR’s scheme namely, “CSIR-800” is focused at bringing in desired S&T interventions for improving the quality of life, removing drudgery and augmenting income of the people at the base of the economic pyramid. CSIR’s Technology-enabled Villages (TECHVIL) initiative is for relevant technological interventions and skill development and up-gradation for targeted people at the base of economic pyramid. CSIR has been adopting villages to promote employment generation and income augmentation. It has catalyzed commercial cultivation of Geranium in Uttarakhand and Lavender in Jammu & Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh through community participation. In these end to end missions, farmers have been trained not only for cultivation of Geranium and Lavender but also for extraction of oil, augmenting thus their income. Likewise CSIR efforts through development of niche Mentha varieties and their propagation for mass cultivation are noteworthy. The efforts have led to economic growth and have enabled India to acquire a world leadership position in Menthol mint oil production and export. CSIR has transformed the landscape of Lahaul through introduction of lilium cultivation for the first time. High quality planting materials, agrotechnology and technical services were provided to farmers of the region, as a result they are now selling cut flowers of lilium at a premium price in the Delhi market. Also, they are raising nursery to generate good quality bulbs for further distribution to farmers. Preservation of peas is one of the major needs of the Lahaul region and to cater to this requirement CSIR has developed a low cost simple technique for preservation of vegetables (cauliflower, beans, peas) through blanching, brining and appropriate packaging. This process enhances the shelf-life upto 12 months. Buckwheat is highly nutritious widely available resource of the Lahaul region which goes waste. CSIR has developed a cost effective technology for delicious nutribar from buckwheat. The product has been launched and it has generated a lot of interest among locals. The young people have been trained for development of the product. The ginseng root is known to lower blood sugar and cholesterol levels, protect against stress, enhance strength and promote relaxation. CSIR has introduced Ginseng in Lahaul valley. CSIR has set up post-harvest centres in Mizoram (Aizawl) and Arunachal Pradesh (Pashighat). These centres are focused at helping the local farmers in the region for value addition to their agricultural produce. The centres house technology for high efficiency drying and processing of ginger, cardamom, turmeric, chillies etc. The farmers are able to sell their produce at 20-25% higher price to these processing centres. The CSIR Post Harvest Technology Centres are thus augmenting income and generating direct employment. CSIR efforts for socio-economic development have led to: empowering people at Kashmir Valley through creation of aromatic industry; development of bio-inoculants for enhancing plant productivity and its dissemination in UP to the farmers in partnership with the State Government on a very large scale and it has enhanced agriculture productivity; development of mushroom technology, its transfer and training which has benefitted economically the rural women in North East States; development of the ethnic products and their promotion for economic development of the women entrepreneurs of Manipur. CSIR has developed indigenous substitute of Ukraine clay in granite ceramic tiles which has reduced the Ukraine clay requirement from 20% to about 1%, reducing thus the foreign material import and associated costs. This has made major economic difference and benefitted small and medium scale enterprises in Gujarat. Over the years CSIR has developed technologies for: food and food processing; building and construction; enchancing potability of water; environment and sanitation; cultivation and processing of economic plants; rural roads; farm machinery; solar rickshaw (soleckshaw), leather; pottery etc. The technologies developed have been gainfully utilized in several states and contributed in improving quality of life and economic growth of focused villages and small towns.  CSIR-Centre for Cellular & Molecular Biology (CSIR-CCMB) had developed DNA barcoding technology. In March 2001, Verma and Singh invented the “Universal primer technology” to address the question pertaining to establishment of the identity of any unknown biological sample and assign it to its known species source (Verma and Singh, US and PCT Patent application No: PCT/IN01/00055, First Filling Date: 28/03/2001; Priority date: 28/03/2001). This technology worked across large range of animal species in a universal manner and was able to detect any of the endangered species of India (and that of entire world indeed), from birds to fishes to mammals to provide “beyond a reasonable doubt” evidence on species identity in the court of law. Patent related to this invention was filed in several countries and the research papers were published in various journals. This technique of CSIR-CCMB revalorized the arena of Wildlife Forensics. It is currently being used routinely in LaCONES of CSIR-CCMB to provide the wildlife forensics services to the Nation in the cases pertaining to wildlife crime. CCMB is self reliant in this aspect with advanced technology

Skill Development Institutes

The Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) has three National Level Entrepreneurship Development Institutes (EDIs) for conducting skill development activities covering the entire country, namely –National Institute for Entrepreneurship & Small Business Development (NIESBUD), NOIDA; National Institute for MSME (Ni-MSME), Hyderabad; and Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE), Guwahati. Besides, there are 30 MSME-Development Institutes and 18 MSME Tool Rooms & Technology Development Centres which also inter-alia conduct skill development programmes in the country. Out of these two Institutes namely, MSME Development Institute, and Institute for Design of Electrical Measuring Instruments (IDEMI) are located in Mumbai. Development of MSME The responsibility of development and promotion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises is primarily of States/Union Territories. The Central Government however supports and supplements the efforts of State Governments and Union Territories in this regard. Ministry of MSME is implementing Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) for encouraging setting of Micro Enterprises under which General category beneficiaries can avail of margin money subsidy of 25 % of the project cost in rural areas and 15% in urban areas and Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe /Women beneficiaries can avail the margin money subsidy of 35% of the project cost in rural areas and 25% in urban areas. In addition, the Union Government is giving concessions/incentives to the investors under the Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme and Credit Linked Capital Subsidy Scheme (CLCSS). The Credit Guarantee Fund Scheme provides collateral free credit facility (term loan and/ or working capital) extended by eligible lending institutions to new and existing micro and small enterprises up to Rs. 100 lakh per borrowing unit. CLCSS provides 15% capital subsidy on eligible institutional loan up to Rs.100 lakh.

National Initiative for Innovation Centres in the Country

A new scheme on “National Initiative to establish 20 Design Innovation Centres, one Open Design School and National Design Innovation Network” has been launched during 2013-14.  There is proposal under consideration of the Government to formulate National Innovation Policy in education sector at present. Research and innovation have also been the focal points during XII Plan. Further, Rashtriya Uchchatar Shiksha Abhiyan (RUSA), which seeks to support and reform the state higher education system, is providing funding for Research, Innovation and Quality Improvement.  The states have to prepare a Research and Innovation Plan which would include facilities that (i)      support research hubs/parks etc., (ii)    adopt of meta-university concept that offer cross university education and credit transfer facility to students, (iii)   procure high quality e-resources, (iv)  upgrade library and laboratory facilities, (v)    facilities like incubation centers, innovation hubs, (vi)  initiatives to attract top-rated international faculty, (vii) institutions that offer merit-based scholarships, fully-funded doctoral fellowships, post-doctoral fellowships, (viii)           promotion of  research and entrepreneurial activities, (ix)  support different types of research programs – Base Research, Key Technology (R&D), High end (R&D) etc., and (x)    Special grants to faculty for conducting outstanding research.

Accuracy of Weather Forecasts

The weather forecasting systems in the country are comparable to most of the countries in the world with respect to rainfall forecasting. During the past few years, the Earth System Science organisation –India Meteorological Department (ESSO-IMD) has been continuously improving weather prediction services in terms of accuracy, lead time and associated impact. Manifestation of such quantitative improvement may be seen with accurate prediction of Very Severe Cyclonic Storm ‘Phailin’ and the heavy rainfall events during monsoon season 2013 and concurrently during monsoon-2014. Improvement of weather forecasting services is a continuous process. As part of its XI five year plan, Government has initiated a comprehensive modernization programme for ESSO-IMD covering upgradation of (i) observation systems (ii) advanced data assimilation tools (iii) advanced communication and IT infrastructure (iv) high performance computing systems and (v) intensive/sophisticated training of ESSO- IMD personnel to facilitate the implementation of advanced global/regional/ meso-scale prediction models for improving the accuracy of weather forecasts in all temporal and spatial scales and for quick dissemination of weather forecast assessments/warnings to the users.Further, several manual operations have been fully automated. In order to capture the characteristics of the severe weather in real time, 24X7 monitoring system comprising 675 Nos. of AWSs; 1209 Nos. of ARGs; 18 S and C-Band DWRs have been commissioned at Chennai, Sriharikota, Machilipatnam, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Mumbai, Bhuj, Hyderabad, Nagpur, Patiala, Delhi Palam, Lucknow, Patna, Mohanbari, Agartala, Delhi Lodi Road, Bhopal and Jaipur. High Performance Computing (HPC) systems have been used to enhance the weather forecasting capacities by assimilating all available global satellite data for forecast generation. The global model that was earlier run at 50Km grid scale are now run at 22Km grid. The regional scale model run earlier at 27Km grid is replaced by 9Km and 3Km grid scale models. The accuracy of short range (up to 3-days in advance) monsoon forecasts has improved from 50-60% to 70-95%. The skill of district level medium range rainfall forecast (up to 5-7days in advance) has improved from 60-70% to 75-85% in monsoon season and from 70-75% to 85% in non-monsoon seasons. As far as the track and landfall forecasts of the tropical cyclones are concerned, the performance evaluation of the updated forecast systems for the past 5-years, have demonstrated enhanced forecast skill by about 18%. ESSO-IMD currently operates 5- Doppler Weather Radars (DWR) at Chennai, Machilipatnam, Visakhapatnam, Kolkata, Sriharikota on the east coast along with a network of Automatic Weather Stations (AWS) and Automatic Rain Gauges (ARG) for continuous weather surveillance over the Bay of Bengal. ESSO-IMD has operationalized its location specific nowcasting (near real-time) weather service for severe weather (Thunderstorms; heavy rainfall from lows/depressions over the land) across the country. This service activity currently covers 117 urban centres on experimental basis under which nowcast of 3-6hour range is issued. Origin, development/movement of severe weather phenomena are regularly monitored through DWRs and with all other available observing systems. Integrated Agro-meteorological Advisory Service (AAS) is rendered now on twice-weekly basis in collaboration with State Agricultural Universities (SAUs), institutions of Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), etc. District level weather forecast for next 5-days in respect of: • Rainfall • maximum temperature, minimum temperature, • wind speed, wind direction, • relative humidity and clouds • weekly cumulative rainfall forecast are provided. Further, crop specific advisories to help the farmers are issued and widely disseminated. The AAS of ESSO-IMD has been successful in providing the crop specific advisories to the farmers through different print/visual/Radio/ IT based media including short message service (SMS) and Interactive Voice Response Service (IVRS) facilitating for appropriate field level actions. Based on scientific assessment of the need for further augmentation of observing system network expansion has been formulated. The upgradation of the observing system, high performance computing, communication, forecast/warning systems, product dissemination systems etc. are part of a continuous process by which state-of-the-art science and technology tools can be made accessible to the scientists engaged in weather research and forecasting towards enhancing the service quality.

Declaration of Kolkata as a Heritage City

The Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Culture & Tourism Shri Shripad Yesso Naik has said that two cities have been identified for the nomination 1. Delhi’s Imperial Capital cities and 2. Mumbai’s Victorian & Art Deco Ensemble and their nomination dossiers have been submitted for inscription to World Heritage List of UNESCO. In a written reply in the Rajya Sabha today he said, as per the Operational Guidelines (no.63, Decision 24COM para.VI.2.3.2) of World Heritage Committee to consider the proposal for inscription in World Heritage List, a property first needs to be listed under the Tentative List. No, proposal for inclusion of Kolkata city in the tentative list of world heritage list has been received by the Archaeological Survey of India so far.

Setting up of NIMZs

The Government has granted “in-principle” approval to a total of 16 National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs).  Of these, 8 NIMZs are located outside the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) region. These are: (i)        Nagpur in Maharashtra; (ii)             Tumkur in Karnataka; (iii)           Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh; (iv)            Prakasam in Andhra Pradesh; (v)                     Medak in Telangana; (vi)            Kolar in Karnataka; (vii)         Bidar in Karnataka; and (viii)       Gulbarga in Karnataka.  . Under phase-I of the DMIC project, 8 Investment Regions have also been accorded ‘in-principle’ approval of Government for setting up as NIMZs as per guidelines approved by the Cabinet. These are: i.      Ahmedabad-Dholera Investment Region, Gujarat; ii.   Shendra-Bidkin Industrial Park city near Aurangabad, Maharashtra; iii. Manesar-Bawal Investment Region, Haryana ; iv.  Khushkhera-Bhiwadi-Neemrana Investment Region, Rajasthan; v.    Pithampur-Dhar-Mhow Investment Region, Madhya Pradesh; vi.  Dadri-Noida-Ghaziabad Investment Region, Uttar Pradesh; vii.        Dighi Port Industrial Area, Maharashtra ; and viii. Jodhpur-Pali-Marwar Region in Rajasthan.                    The Government of India has approved a corpus of Rs. 17,500 crore as a Revolving Fund for development of trunk infrastructure in the DMIC region. The Government of Japan has announced their financial support for DMIC project to an extent of US$ 4.5 billion in the first phase for projects with Japanese participation through a mix of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC) lending. The National Manufacturing Policy contains dispensations to facilitate manufacturing industry both in the National Investment and Manufacturing Zones (NIMZs) and for manufacturing industry in the country as a whole including wherever manufacturing units are able to organize themselves in clusters as stipulated in the policy. These dispensations include inter-alia rationalization and simplification of business regulations; incentives for technology acquisition and production/adoption of pollution controlling equipment/machines/devices; incentives for skill development initiatives by the private sector; facilitating access to finance for small and medium enterprises; and creation of physical and institutional infrastructure including master planning of NIMZ.   Apart from sixteen NIMZs which have been accorded “in-principle” approval, the Government has received four more proposals for setting up of NIMZ outside the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor region from Governments of Uttar Pradesh (Two), Gujarat (One) and Orissa (One). The concerned State Governments have been requested for further clarifications/ details about these proposals. Long Term Vision for Making India A Major Player in World Trade It is the endeavour of the Government to make India a major player in the world trade by 2020 with focus on enhancing exports and playing an important role in the international trade bodies. The Foreign Trade Policy (FTP), announced every five years, provides an over arching framework for catalysing India’s exports. The broad principles of FTP are: (i) The Foreign Trade Policy provides policy support for increasing India’s export growth by adopting market diversification and product diversification plans and maintaining a stable policy environment. (ii) The policy also provides framework for duty free import of raw materials and duty free import of capital goods for enhancing manufacturing capacity for exports, after fixing export obligation on the exporters. (iii) One of the guiding principles of FTP is that the taxes should not be exported. Therefore, exporters are granted access to duty free raw material or are provided refund of duties paid in manufacture of exported products. (iv) Providing trade facilitation measures to improve trade environment.