ARTICLE
At a time when many states in India, including Karnataka, are doling out freebies and other populist schemes, Suman Bery, Vice-Chairperson, NITI Aayog, said on Monday that fiscal populism is not the best way to create a resilient economy. Speaking during the Azim Premji University public lecture series on ‘Envisioning Viksit Bharat’ , Bery said “Both Centre and state ought to be building up fiscal buffers. The Centre has been attempting to do so and some of these are being institutionalised by the Finance Commission in terms of disaster grounds… fiscal populism is probably not the best way of creating resilience (in the economy). Similarly, one needs to carefully look at the measures being rolled out targeting social security and women. I am not going to dismiss them all. But the resilience and the ability to react does depend on the fiscal space.” Bery said India is poised to reach Amrit Kaal, with strong foundations like GDP growth, resilience, productivity and inclusion. Citing IMF, the NITI Aayog official pointed out that India has been the fastest-growing major economy post-pandemic which reflects a good policy decision and a dynamic private sector. He also highlighted that according to the National Multidimensional Poverty Index, 2023, 135 million people have escaped multidimensional poverty between 2015-16 and 2019-21 and the focus for Prime Minister Narendra Modi ’s third term would be on youth, poor, women and farmers, tribals and districts which have been left behind. Bery also pointed out that envisioning a Viksit Bharat would require India’s per capita income to increase approximately six times in the next 25 years, to reach the upper-income level of $13,845 from the current $2380, as per the World Bank 2022 country thresholds. “India could aim to be a $30 trillion economy with a per capita income of $18,000 by 2047. However, this needs to be accompanied by tangible improvements in social indicators such as having a life expectancy at birth rise to 84 years from the current 70 years; achieving a 100-cent literacy rate and increasing the female labour force participation to more than 75 per cent,” said Bery. He also highlighted that India could transition from lower-middle to upper-middle-income by 2035 and from upper-middle-income to advanced economy by 2040-47 and net zero economy by 2070. However, to achieve this Bery said India must implement reforms focusing on increasing the female labour force participation rate, managing rapid urbanisation, reforms in the labour market, climate financing and adaptation at the sub-national level, and applying artificial intelligence to social sectors as the next phase of digital journey and raising expenditure on public health. Commenting on how India should solve the ‘middle-income trap’, Bery said, “State-led development can only take you so far. You need to move to innovation-led development. We are not upper middle income yet. Secondly, India seems to have hopped onto the innovation bandwagon rather well. Whether that will trap us or be premature or that will help us to become a resilient economy, remains to be seen.” Click here to join The Indian Express on WhatsApp and get latest news and updates Sanath Prasad is a senior sub-editor and reporter with the Bengaluru bureau of Indian Express. He covers education, transport, infrastructure and trends and issues integral to Bengaluru. He holds more than two years of reporting experience in Karnataka. His major works include the impact of Hijab ban on Muslim girls in Karnataka, tracing the lives of the victims of Kerala cannibalism, exploring the trends in dairy market of Karnataka in the aftermath of Amul-Nandini controversy, and Karnataka State Elections among others. If he is not writing, he keeps himself engaged with badminton, swimming, and loves exploring. ... Read More None
What’s New
Spotlight
Advertisement
Featured News
Latest From This Week
Popular News
