The GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth in the first quarter (April to June) of this fiscal year 2016-17 came in at 7.1 percent annually, much lower than 7.9 percent clocked in the previous quarter (January to March) and also lower than 7.5 percent during the same period last year. There was not much gloom-and- doom in the market as growth still continued to chug comfortably at above 7 and India maintained its claim as the fastest growing major economy in the world ahead of China. While most economists focused on the decelerating real growth number, the Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, Arvind Subramanian, highlighted the accelerating nominal growth number.

According to him, the economy is definitely on the upswing as nominal GVA (Gross Value Added) was at seven-quarter high and almost at double-digits (9.9 percent). This calls for a closer look at the latest growth number.

The surprise element in the growth numbers was the real GDP growth at 7.1 coming in below GVA growth of 7.3 percent – a fall of 0.2 percentage points (ppt) after growing 0.5 ppt above in last quarter.

We know that GDP is equal to GVA plus Net Indirect Taxes (where NIT = Indirect Taxes minus Subsidies). So, the numbers are clearly indicating that the problem lies with the Net Indirect Taxes. In other words, Indirect taxes must have slowed and Subsidies increased. This is corroborated by the monthly budget numbers of Controller General of Accounts which show that the excise, customs and service tax collection in the first quarter FY 2016-17 (April-June’16) slowed to 60.5, 17.8 and 28.5 percent annually from 104, 22 and 14.2 percent during the same quarter last year. Additionally, the CSO press release stated that the growth in subsidy payout increased to 53 percent as against a contraction of 26 percent same time last year.

Source – https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/indian-economy-present-imperfect-future-cautiously-optimistic/

Swachh Bharat Mission – the flagship sanitation programme of the Indian government – aims to make India open-defecation free by 2019. However, this has only been achieved in 17 of 686 districts so far. In this article, Bhaskar Pant outlines the key reasons due to which the government’s efforts are not being reflected in the results, and makes suggestions to increase the effectiveness of the programme.

India is home to over 626 million people who defecate in the open. The country accounts for 90% and 59% of people in South Asia and the world, respectively, that practice open defecation (OD). Around 60% of Indians do not have access to safe and private toilets (WaterAid, 2015). The overwhelming majority of those without access to sanitation facilities in India live in the rural areas.

Swachh Bharat Mission, the government’s flagship sanitation programme, will complete two years in October 2016. However, a recent rapid survey1 conducted by the National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO) on the programme has put a big question mark on its ability to achieve the goal of an open defecation-free (ODF) India by 2019. It finds that over half (55.4%) of the population in rural areas still defecates in the open. The situation is better in the urban areas where only 8.9% people defecate in the open2. New data submitted by the Ministry of Urban Development to the Lok Sabha also shows that against a target of constructing 2.5 million individual household toilets by March 2016, only 1.32 million were actually built.

Source – https://www.ideasforindia.in/topics/human-development/making-india-open-defecation-free-by-2019.html

As the NDA completes two years in power, Narendra Modi’s pet project, the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, continues to transform the lives of women in India’s remotest villages.

Just a few years back if someone had asked Nandini Rana about the existence of functioning toilets in Chandan Chowki, she would have reacted with amazement. Not because there had never been toilets before in Lakhimpur Kheri, the largest district of Uttar Pradesh, but because even after being constructed several times in the past, they had hardly been used.

Nandini Rana was merely pointing out what the development sector had already known. The biggest problem in India has never been the building of toilets – it has always been promoting their use. Toilet use has never been an embedded cultural practice in India’s rural areas and the people who need them the most – the women – have never had the power to demand them. Several communities in the interior parts of the country live a fairly insulated life. People like the Tharus have never gone out of their district for employment and live in a world of their own. And that world has never included toilets.

Source – https://www.arre.co.in/gender/sach-behind-swachh/

A recent rapid survey conducted by the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO) on the Swachh Bharat Mission has raised a big question mark on the latter’s ability to realise the goal of an Open Defecation Free (ODF) India by 2019. As the survey points out, over half of the population in rural areas still defecate in the open. The situation is better in urban areas of the country. Compared to rural areas where 55.4 per cent people defecate in open, only 8.9 per cent people were found to be going for open defecation. The ‘Swachhta Status Report’ by the NSSO covered 3,788 villages and 2,907 urban blocks during the month of May and June, 2015.

India is home to over 626 million people who defecate in the open. The overwhelming majority of those without access to sanitation facilities live in rural areas. In India, With 626 million people who practice open defecation, has more than twice the number of the next 18 countries combined. It accounts for 90 per cent of the 692 million people in South Asia who practice open defecation. It also accounts for 59 per cent of the 1.1 billion people in the world who practice open defecation.

The efforts of the government are not being reflected in the results due to several reasons. Firstly, too much of centralised planning needs to be replaced by a community-led Total Sanitation approach. It will encourage communities to take the lead and identify their own measures to end open defecation. The national level approach is meaningless if its not getting the desired results. The community should become the entry point and single window for implementing the Swachh Bharat Mission. There is also a concerted need for a dedicated pool of cadre to upscale the sanitation programme.

Source – https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/how-to-create-open-defecation-free-india-by-2019/

The government is basking in glory with the construction of 80 lakh toilets across the countryside but the real picture is not as rosy as it may seem. Despite innumerable toilets being built, people in rural areas still prefer defecating in open fields.

Swachh Bharat Mission is not a pioneering initiative itself. A series of sanitation programmes preceded it such as Central Rural Sanitation Programme (1981), Total Sanitation Campaign (1999), the Nirmal Bharat Puraskar (2005) and the Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (2012). Despite the combined efforts of all these initiatives people still do not prefer using toilets. According to the decadal Census, percentage of rural households that did not have toilet facilities within the premises decreased from 78.1 per cent in 2001 to 69.3 per cent in 2011, a decrease of 8.8 percentage points was noted.

The issue of drinking water, sanitation and hygiene (the acronym is WASH) continues to plague India, hence it’s important to note the observations made by the Report on Economic Impacts of Inadequate Sanitation in India by WSP (Water and Sanitation Program, The World Bank), 2011. According to the report, the total annual economic impact of inadequate sanitation in India amounted to a loss of Rs. 2.4 trillion in 2006 that amounts to an annual loss of 2,180 rupees per head. This is a huge burden on our economy. Proper hand washing and clean water too are critical to combat health hazards like diarrhea and pneumonia associated with poor sanitation.

Rajasthan, a state that is leading the sanitation revolution in the country, could be an established example for others to emulate. Last year, after the hullabaloo the Rajasthan assembly passed two amendments to the Panchayati Raj Bill, which promulgated that, any candidate for Panchayat elections in Rajasthan should possess minimum educational qualifications.

The second amendment that didn’t catch media’s attention, was that any person willing to contest Panchayat elections, must have a functional sanitary toilet in their house, and that any of their family members do not defecate in the open. This was a progressive step for Rajasthan, as many candidates contest Panchayat elections. The contestants are usually role models at the local level and have the power to influence their community. The use of toilets by them and their family members can lead to a positive impact on the village community to ensure access to sanitation facilities.

Source – https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/blogs/voices/swachh-bharat-mission-lessons-from-rajasthan/