India At A Glance

India At A Glance - 1

India completed 65 years as a nation on August 15, 2012. During these 65 years, sizeable progress had been made, but there were also many failures. India has made numerous achievements, notably in agriculture, defence and industrial development. Other problems, such as population growth, law and order and corruption continue to be ignored.

India is a huge country, now with more than 1 billion people, and also a nuclear power. Yet, it does not account for much in the world. The 2009 Human Development Report ranked it at 134th out of 182 countries, wedged in between Lao and Solomon Islands. India is a globalization success but it cannot look after its children. Over 2.5 million children die in India every year, accounting for one in five child deaths in the world. Girls under five are 50 per cent more likely to die than boys, with the female death risk remaining higher till the age of 30. Poor mother and child health is one of the major factors that have kept India’s Human Development Index (HDI) rank low. The disparity between States remains phenomenal, with four States—Bihar, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh—accounting for over half of the child deaths in the country.

According to Economic Survey, 2009, economic growth decelerated in 2008-09 to 6.7 per cent. This represented a decline of 2.1 per cent from the average growth rate of 8.8 per cent in the previous five years (2003-04 to 2007-08). The five years of high growth had raised the expectations of the people. Few, however,  remember that during the preceding five-year period from 1998-99 to 2002-03 average growth was only 5.4 per cent, while the highest growth rate achieved during the period was 6.7 per cent (in 1998-99). Per capita GDP growth, a proxy for per capita income, which broadly reflects the improvement in the income of the average person, grew by an estimated 4.6 per cent in 2008-09. Though this represents a substantial slowdown from the average growth of 7.3 per cent per annum during the previous five years, it is still significantly higher than the average 3.3 per cent per annum income growth during 1998-99 to 2002-03.

The per capita income in 2008-09, measured in terms of gross domestic product at constant 1999-2000 market prices, was Rs. 31,278. In 2007-08 this stood at Rs. 29,901. Per capita consumption in 2008-09 was Rs. 17,344 as against a level of Rs. 17,097 in 2007-08. While there has been an increase in levels of per capita income and consumption, there has been a perceptible slowdown in their growth rate. The growth in per capita GDP decelerated from 8.1 per cent in 2006- 07 to 4.6 per cent in 2008-09, while the per capita consumption growth declined from 6.9 per cent in 2007-08 to 1.4 per cent in 2008-09.

Posted via Blogaway