1 September 2023 : Indian Express
Indian Express
1-September-2023
The Indian Express, CSE candidates can stay informed about current events and developments in India and around the world.
1) OPTIMISM & CAUTION
Context:
- The Indian Economy grew at a healthy 7.8 per cent in the first quarter of the ongoing financial year as per data released by the National Statistical Office.
- Growth in the quarter was only marginally lower than the Reserve Bank of India’s most recent estimate.
- In the August monetary policy committee meeting, the central bank had pegged the economy to grow at 8 per cent.
Sectors which showed contraction:
- The disaggregated data shows that within industry, the manufacturing sector remains a source of concern.
- Last year, the sector had contracted in both the second and third quarter.
- In the fourth quarter, it had registered a turnaround, growing by 4.5 per cent.
- Growth in the first quarter of this year has inched only marginally upwards to 7 per cent. This is surprising especially considering the fall in commodity prices.
- The collapse in trade merchandise exports contracted by 15 per cent in the quarter could have dragged down the sector.
- The construction sector, which had seen a steady buildup of momentum in the second half of last year, also witnessed a slowdown, growing by 7.9 per cent in the first quarter.
- In comparison, the industrial sector (including construction) grew by just 5.5 percent.
Sectors which performed better:
- The services sector was the key driver of economic momentum, growing at a robust pace of 10.3 per cent.
- In comparison, production of cement and steel rose by 12.2 per cent and 10.2 percent respectively.
- On the services side, trade, hotels, transport and communication grew at a healthy pace of 9.2 percent, as did the financial, real estate and professional services sector, growing at 12.2 per cent.
- The pick-up in private consumption and the sustained growth in investment activity are encouraging signs. After a subdued growth of just 2.5 per cent in the sector half of last year, private consumption picked up pace in the just ended quarter, growing by 6 per cent.
- Investment activity continued its healthy momentum, growing by 8 percent in the quarter. It had grown by 8.5 per cent in the second half of last year.
Why slowdown is expected?
- From here on, the economic momentum is expected to gradually slow down for several reasons.
- If high inflation persists, it could curb discretionary household spending.
- A below normal monsoon could impact agriculture and thus rural demand.
- Moreover, the full effects of tighter global and domestic monetary policy are still working their way through the system.
What lies ahead?
- The RBI expects the pace of expansion to slow down to 6.5 per cent in the second quarter (July-September), and thereafter to 6 per cent in the third quarter and 7 per cent in the fourth quarter.
- The economic momentum, however, is expected to moderate over the coming quarters.
2. THE TOLL OF AIR
Context:
- Alarm bells on the country’s air quality have been ringing for at least two decades now.
- It’s well known that exposure to unhealthy amounts of particulate matter takes a toll on the lungs and hearts of a large section of people in the country.
Results of different studies which were conducted:
- In recent years, epidemiological studies have linked poor air to increased vulnerability to various forms of cancer, cognitive disorders and stunted development in children.
- Last year, a Lancet study estimated that India lost 1.67 million people in 2019 to diseases caused by inhaling hazardous amounts of PM 2.5.
- Now an Air Quality Life Index (AQLI) prepared by the University of Chicago’s Energy Policy Institute (UCEPI), reckons that pollution by these fine particles reduces the average Indian’s life expectancy by more than five years.
- The study’s conclusions for Delhi are even more dire which indicated that air pollution shaves off the lifespan of the capital’s residents by nearly 12 years.
- According to last year’s Lancet study, the economic losses due to pollution-related deaths and morbidity in 2019 amounted to nearly $37 billion.
- A Dalberg paper in 2021 reckoned that this figure could go upto $95 billion.
Major concerns for India:
- The AQLI, which co-related the life spans of people in more than 200 countries with air quality, reveals that 77 of the worst performing districts are in India.
- Most Indian cities today have clean air plans. The trouble, however, is that these plans continue with the failed approaches of the past, including an over-reliance on punitive measures, and do not adequately co-relate the environmental problem with the public health crisis.
- For nearly a decade, Delhi tried to deal with pollution only when it assumed emergency proportions.
- Even now, the capital has very little to address the structural problems that make 100 days of satisfactory air in a year a rarity.
- The city’s and large parts of North India’s geography does impose constraints, especially in winters when pollutants have no escape routes.
What measures should be taken?
- Reducing the PM 2.5 footprint also requires bringing diverse sections of people —businesses, the middle and working classes, and a variety of professionals on the same page, especially on re-engineering transportation plans and framing sustainable development strategies.
- Care needs to be taken so that livelihoods are not hit.
- Addressing these difficult challenges, however, requires unflinching political resolve.
- But the political class has never really taken ownership of the task of loosening pollution’s choke-hold, even when the judiciary has prodded or pulled up government agencies.
- It’s high time that the political establishment take serious note of this lingering issue and take appropriate action.
Way Forward:
- There is need for collaborative efforts at national and international level to check on air pollution which will be helpful to minimize the impact of air pollution on health and will also check on global warming.
- A country aspiring to be a $5 trillion economy can ill-afford to neglect people’s well-being. The concerns flagged by the University of Chicago study should not be papered over.
For Enquiry
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