Analysis of Indian Official Statistics

Review of eBook titled - Certified Actuarial Analyst (CAA) Module 2 Practice Papers (With Solutions) By Vijay Malhotra

2017-09-15T20:34:00.003-07:00

It is Kindle Edition or eBook, which can be read on any device whether it is kindle or computer/laptop or even a smart phone. It comprise of three Practice Exams (mock tests) of two hours duration each. Current Syllabus for Module 2 has been considered while preparing these mock tests.

Obviously, this is not an online examination practice in strict sense, but is quite similar to the same. As one can read the questions on his/her kindle/computer and solve as usual with paper and pencil and then note down the answers on a sheet instead of clicking on the computer screen. The recommended calculator and book on Formulae and Tables for Actuarial Examinations can also be used while taking these test(s). The answers have been given latter in the eBook with detailed solution to each and every practice question. One can take as an exam or mock test and then evaluate its knowledge and knowhow. The solutions are further training in the material one is supposed to know for Module 2 of CAA. Here practice exams/tests are designed to give you a realistic sort of mock test for your exam preparation. Each practice exam contains 60 exam-style questions and has full solutions. Questions have been arranged topic wise and the syllabus of each topic of the Module 2, as mentioned above. The same can be referred in the Global CAA Resource guide available on their website. The Study solutions do give you a guide to solve each topic of the Module including the required shortcuts in order to help you study efficiently and have valuable experience in taking the exam too. The solutions do give the formulae used to solve the problems selected for the purpose. These various Tests for each topic helps you to decide how much time you need to spend in attempting the exam questions. As you go through these three mock tests, progress of exam preparation can be ascertained and build the confidence in taking the final online exams. Each Practice Exam contains 60 questions, as they are to be in the final exam, it will give you a realistic assessment of your chances of success as well. Top of it the candidates would have very good practice in taking similar exams and may help them in successfully passing the same.

Review of eBook titled - Certified Actuarial Analyst (CAA) Module 0 Practice Papers (With Solutions) By Vijay Malhotra

2017-02-09T22:46:00.001-08:00

It is Kindle Edition or eBook, which can be read on any device whether it is kindle or computer/laptop or even a smart phone. It comprise of three Practice Exams (mock tests) of two hours duration each. Current Syllabus for Module 0 has been considered while preparing these mock tests.

Obviously, this is not an online examination practice in strict sense, but is quite similar to the same. As one can read the questions on his/her kindle/computer and solve as usual with paper and pencil and then note down the answers on a sheet instead of clicking on the computer screen. The recommended calculator and book on Formulae and Tables for Actuarial Examinations can also be used while taking these test(s). The answers have been given latter in the eBook with detailed solution to each and every practice question. One can take as an exam or mock test and then evaluate its knowledge and knowhow. The solutions are further training in the material one is supposed to know for Module 0 of CAA. Here practice exams/tests are designed to give you a realistic sort of mock test for your exam preparation. Each practice exam contains 60 (earlier it used to have 65 questions) original exam-style questions and has full solutions. Questions have been classified topic wise and the syllabus of each topic of the Module 0, as mentioned above. The same can be referred in the CAA Module 0 Resource guide available on the website of the bodies supposed to have the final exams. The Study solutions do give you a guide to solve each topic of the Module including the required shortcuts in order to help you study efficiently and have valuable experience in taking the exam too. The solutions do give the formulae used to solve the problems selected for the purpose. These various Tests for each topic helps you to decide how much time you need to spend in attempting the exam questions. As you go through these three mock tests, progress of exam preparation can be ascertained and build the confidence in taking the final online exams. Each Practice Exam contains 60 questions, as they are to be in the final exam, it will give you a realistic assessment of your chances of success as well. Top of it the candidates would have very good practice in taking similar exams and may help them in successfully passing the same.

By having Public Provident Fund (PPF) Account a Young Person can have more than Thirty Two Million of Rupees after Thirty Five Years i.e., after his Retirement

2016-02-02T22:34:00.003-08:00

As far as possible we should save money with strict discipline than what we normally do. PPF is a way to save and make more tax free and secured savings. We should save money not for sake of it. We should save so that we can afford better and planned future. After retirement, we can then afford to maintain one self and become financially independent. Some after retirement even go for reverse mortgage of their house in which they are living. Not because you want to hoard all your cash, but because you want to use it for good in future. Think about your own retirement.

Suppose that there is an individual who has started his career and his income is such that he needs to save the maximum permissible at present (say one hundred and fifty thousand rupees annually) in order to save income tax on the said amount. One of the avenues for this is to deposit in Public Provident Fund (PPF). In case of PPF, the present rate of interest is 8.7% (this interest is tax free in the hands of the individual) and maximum amount one can deposit in this account is one hundred and fifty thousand rupees annually. One benefit is that the depositor will be saving tax not only on the present income, but also on its proceeds of all the subsequent 15 years, which is also extendable for once or more in a block of 5 years each time. The account holder can retain the account after maturity for any period without making any further deposits too. The balance in the account will continue to earn interest at normal rate as admissible on PPF account till the account is closed.

If the person deposits the entire saving amount of 0.15 million rupees in the beginning of the financial year (say by 5th of April) and continues to do the same every year till say for thirty-five years, then he will be getting (tax-free) amount of about 33 million rupees. Supposing that the individual starts this process at the age twenty-five, he becomes a multi milliner at age of sixty years – which is the retirement age for many corporate employees or self-employed persons. This amount is realistic and remains secure with the Indian Government in either Post Offices or many designated bank branches, if the interest rate remains 8.7% throughout. If the rate of interest increases, this amount would be more. Mind it one should not draw any amount from the stated corpus. This may be noted that one is only depositing 5.25 million rupees in equal parts annually and is getting more than 32.8663 million rupees after thirty-five years. Thus, by adopting strict discipline in managing the finance, one can be in the upper strata even after one’s retirement. There are options to have closing or not extending the said account after 15, 20, 25, 30 years as well and then the person would be having Rupees over 4.67, 8.06, 13.21 and 21.01 millions respectively. Besides the above amount, every year the person is saving Income Tax too on 0.15 million saving under Section 80C of IT Act.

How people are dying in the World?

2016-01-28T02:41:00.003-08:00

As per WHO, in 2012 an estimated 56 million people died worldwide.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were responsible for 68% of all deaths globally in 2012, and have been increasing over years. The four main NCDs are cardiovascular diseases, cancers, diabetes and chronic lung diseases.

Communicable, maternal, neonatal and nutrition conditions collectively were responsible for 23% of global deaths, and injuries caused 9% of all deaths.

Cardiovascular diseases are the number 1 cause of death throughout the world. Cardiovascular diseases killed 17.5 million people in 2012 that is 3 in every 10 deaths. Of these, 7.4 million people died of Ischemic heart disease and 6.7 million from stroke.

In terms of number of deaths, 28 million (about three quarters) of the 38 million of global NCD deaths in 2012 occurred in low and middle-income countries.

In terms of proportion of deaths that are due to NCDs, high-income countries have the highest proportion – 87% of all deaths were caused by NCDs – followed by upper-middle income countries (81%). The proportions are lower in low-income countries (37%) and lower-middle income countries (57%).

Tobacco use is a major cause of many of the world’s top killer diseases – including cardiovascular disease, chronic obstructive lung disease and lung cancer. In total, tobacco use is responsible for the death of about 1 in 10 adults worldwide. Smoking is often the hidden cause of the disease recorded as responsible for death.

In high-income countries, 7 in every 10 deaths are among people aged 70 years and older. People predominantly die of chronic diseases: cardiovascular diseases, cancers, dementia, chronic obstructive lung disease or diabetes. Lower respiratory infections remain the only leading infectious cause of death. Only 1 in every 100 deaths is among children under 15 years.

In low-income countries, nearly 4 in every 10 deaths are among children under 15 years, and only 2 in every 10 deaths are among people aged 70 years and older. People predominantly die of infectious diseases: lower respiratory infections, HIV/AIDS, diarrhea diseases, malaria and tuberculosis collectively account for almost one third of all deaths in these countries. Complications of childbirth due to prematurity, and birth asphyxia and birth trauma are among the leading causes of death, claiming the lives of many newborns and infants.

In 2012, 6.6 million children died before reaching their fifth birthday; almost all (99%) of these deaths occurred in low- and middle-income countries. The major killers of children aged less than 5 years were prematurity, pneumonia, birth asphyxia and birth trauma, and diarrheal diseases. Malaria was still a major killer in sub-Saharan Africa, causing about 15% of fewer than 5 deaths in the region.

About 44% of deaths in children younger than 5 years in 2012 occurred within 28 days of birth – the neonatal period. The most important cause of death was prematurity, which was responsible for 35% of all deaths during this period.

How has the situation changed in the past decade?

Ischaemic heart disease, stroke, lower respiratory infections and chronic obstructive lung disease have remained the top major killers during the past decade.
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) were responsible for 68% (38 million) of all deaths globally in 2012, up from 60% (31 million) in 2000. Cardiovascular diseases alone killed 2.6 million more people in 2012 than in the year 2000.

HIV deaths decreased slightly from 1.7 million (3.2%) deaths in 2000 to 1.5 million (2.7%) deaths in 2012. Diarrhea is no longer among the 5 leading causes of death, but is still among the top 10, killing 1.5 million people in 2012.

Tuberculosis, while no longer among the 10 leading causes of death in 2012, was still among the 15 leading causes, killing over 900 000 people in 2012.

Maternal deaths have dropped from 427 000 in the year 2000 to 289 000 in 2013, but are still unacceptably high: nearly 800 women die due to complications of pregnancy and childbirth every day.

Injuries continue to kill 5 million people each year. Road traffic injuries claimed nearly 3500 lives each day in 2012 – more than 600 more than in the year 2000 – making it among the 10 leading causes in 2012.

Probability of Death across the World

2016-01-25T03:38:00.005-08:00

Probability of Death across the globe

The following is as per the data provided by WHO for the year 2012.

Imagine a diverse international group of 1000 individuals representative of the women, men and children from all over the globe who died in 2012.

Of those 1000 people,

133 would have come from low-income countries, 356 from lower-middle-income countries, 302 from upper-middle-income countries and 209 from high-income countries.
143 would have been children under 15 years of age, 407 adults aged 15-69 years old and 450 adults aged 70 years and older.

· More than half (514) of these 1000 deaths would have been caused by the following 10 top conditions given below:

Cause of Death	Percentage to Total No. of Deaths
Ischemic Heart Disease	13.2
Stroke	11.9
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)	5.6
Lower Respiratory Infections	5.5
Trachea Bronchus Lung Cancers	2.9
HIV/AIDs	2.7
Diarrheal Diseases	2.7
Diabetes Mellitus	2.7
Road Injury	2.2
Hypertensive Heart Disease	2

Thus the above implies for a global person that

The probability of dying is the lowest if the person belongs to low-income countries and is highest if the person belongs to lower-middle-income countries and the same are 0.133 and 0.356 respectively. The same is 0.302 and 0.209 if one belongs to upper-middle-income countries and to high-income countries respectively.
The probability of dying is the lowest if one is child under 15 years of age and is 0.143. The probability of dying for adults aged 15-69 years old is 0.407 and 0.45 for adults aged 70 years and older.
The probability of dying is 0.514 for individuals with any of the above listed ten top causes of death in the world.

Top Ten Leading Causes of Death in the World and in India

2016-01-24T02:44:00.001-08:00

Top Ten Leading Causes of Death in the World and in India

As per World Health Organization, the ten leading causes of death in the world in the year 2012 are given in the following table. 48.6% deaths are happening due to other diseases/causes. Prematurity, TB are not now among top 10 causes of death in the world.

Cause of Death	Number of Deaths in Millions	Percentage to Total No. of Deaths
Ischemic Heart Disease	7.4	13.2
Stroke	6.7	11.9
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD)	3.1	5.6
Lower Respiratory Infections	3.1	5.5
Trachea Bronchus Lung Cancers	1.6	2.9
HIV/AIDs	1.5	2.7
Diarrheal Diseases	1.5	2.7
Diabetes Mellitus	1.5	2.7
Road Injury	1.3	2.2
Hypertensive Heart Disease	1.1	2

There is increase in the number of deaths due to Ischemic heart disease, Stroke, Lung Cancers, Diabetes Mellitus, Road Injury and Hypertensive Heart Disease over the period 2000 to 2012. The reversal is seen in other above-mentioned diseases over the period.

Registrar General of India's office has been conducting “verbal autopsies” on a sample group across the country every few years. The latest such ‘causes of death study' was conducted in 2010-13 and the data has been released just recently. The sample consisted of 1.8 lakh deaths across the country, and the cause of death was established by interviewing the household, followed by its analysis by a team of medical professionals.

The data shows that overall, cardiovascular disease is the top killer of Indians, accounting for 23 per cent of all deaths in 2010-13. The ten leading causes of death in India in the year 2010-13 are given in the following table.

Cause of Death	Percentage to Total No. of Sample Deaths
Cardiovascular Disease (CVD)	23.3
Ill defined Diseases	12.4
Respiratory Diseases	7.6
Malignant and Other Neoplasms	6.1
Perinatal Conditions	5.6
Diarrheal Diseases	5.1
Unintentional Injuries	4.7
Respiratory Infections	3.9
Tuberculosis	3.7

Non-communicable diseases account for more deaths in India's richer states than in its poorer states. We may note that CVD is also top cause of death in India too. There are some diseases, which are ill defined by the people at large. As our masses are less literate in medical matters, this class has emerged as second highest killer diseases. The cancers, including lung cancer are giving deaths to many Indians. Cardiovascular disease is the biggest killer of older adults, followed by cancers. We have Diarrheal Diseases as fifth highest killer, where it has rank 7 in killing people of the world. TB is finding tenth place, where it is below the 10^th place in case of world as a whole. The other problem of road or unintentional injuries should be bothered about, as this cause is also quite predominant cause of death here. Injuries have now surpassed diarrheal disease as the leading cause of death among boys aged 1-4 years. “Unintentional injuries” have also become the leading killers of young boys and girls aged 5-14.

Among neonatal and infant deaths, prematurity and low birth weight has become a progressively biggest cause of death as more institutional deliveries have meant fewer birth trauma-related deaths. Also if ANCs coverage improvement and as well better counseling and treatment of needy eligible women may solve the problem of prematurity or low birth weight among new born babies particularly baby girls. This will not only reduce the IMR, but also help in correcting adverse sex ratio in the country. However there is a substantial difference between India's richer and poorer states; deaths of children under the age of 4 account for nearly 40 per cent of all deaths in the poorest states including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and Assam, and just 17 per cent of deaths in the other states. The burden of child death is also higher in rural than in urban areas. Deaths due to perinatal conditions are still quite significant in India as compared to world at large.

Among young adults aged 15-29, road accidents have surpassed suicides as the leading cause of death of young men, while suicides are not responsible for an even larger proportion of young female deaths. Suicides are particularly high in the southern India; it is the sixth largest cause of death across age groups in the four southern states, while it does not figure among the top ten causes of death in any other region.

India can also control the Diarrheal Diseases and TB as other countries have done the same. Public Health Authorities should take care of perinatal problem, besides TB and Influenza & Pneumonia in India, as these problems are little less significant in other countries of the world.

Income and Source of Income of Agricultural Households in India for Various Size Classes of Land Possessed

2015-12-18T05:49:00.001-08:00

Income and Source of Income of Agricultural Households in India for Various Size Classes of Land Possessed

A recent report of National Sample Survey on ‘Some Characteristics of Agricultural Households in India’ is based on the Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of Agricultural Households conducted during January 2013 to December 2013 for the reference period: July 2012 – June 2013 (agriculture year). This survey was conducted in the rural areas of the country in two spells. It was spread over 4529 villages and covered 35200 households. As obtained from the above-mentioned survey, some of the key findings at the all-India level in respect of income and source of income of agricultural households in India for the various size classes of land possessed are as below:

1. As per the estimates, there are only 2.39 million agricultural households in India having land possessed less than 0.01 hectare during July 2012-June 2013. The total average monthly income of such agricultural households is Rs. 4561/- only from all sources. Out of which Rs 2902/- is from wages/salary and Rs. 1181/- is the net receipt from farming of animals. Rest is from the net receipt from cultivation (Rs. 30/-) and net receipt from non-farm business (Rs. 447/-). Their total average monthly consumption is Rs. 5108/- (more than the average monthly income) and their net investment in productive assets is Rs. 55/-. There are only 38.3% households who are having MGNREG job cards.

2. As per the estimates, there are 28.77 million agricultural households in India having land possessed between 0.01 hectare and 0.4 Hectare during July 2012-June 2013. The total average monthly income of such agricultural households is Rs. 4152/- from all sources. Out of which Rs 2386/- is from wages/salary and Rs. 621/- is the net receipt from farming of animals. Rest is from the net receipt from cultivation (Rs. 687/-) and net receipt from non-farm business (Rs. 459/-). Their total average monthly consumption is Rs. 5401/- (more than the average monthly income) and their net investment in productive assets is Rs. 251/-. There are over 45% households who are having MGNREG job cards.

3. As per the estimates, there are 31.48 million agricultural households in India having land possessed between 0.41 hectare and 1 Hectares during July 2012-June 2013. The total average monthly income of such agricultural households is Rs. 5247/- from all sources. Out of which Rs 2145/- is the net receipt from cultivation and Rs. 629/- is the net receipt from farming of animals. Rest is from wages/salary (Rs. 2011/-) and net receipt from non-farm business (Rs. 462/-). Their total average monthly consumption is Rs. 6020/- (more than the average monthly income) and their net investment in productive assets is Rs. 540/-. There are over 46% households who are having MGNREG job cards.

4. As per the estimates, there are 15.46 million agricultural households in India having land possessed between 1 hectare and 2 Hectares during July 2012-June 2013. The total average monthly income of such agricultural households is Rs. 7348/- from all sources. Out of which Rs 4209/- is the net receipt from cultivation and Rs. 818/- is the net receipt from farming of animals. Rest is from wages/salary (Rs. 1728/-) and net receipt from non-farm business (Rs. 593/-). Their total average monthly consumption is Rs. 6457/- and their net investment in productive assets is Rs. 422/-. There are about 44% households who are having MGNREG job cards.

5. As per the estimates, there are 8.43 million agricultural households in India having land possessed between 2 hectares and 4 Hectares during July 2012-June 2013. The total average monthly income of such agricultural households is Rs. 10730/- from all sources. Out of which Rs 7359/- is the net receipt from cultivation and Rs. 1161/- is the net receipt from farming of animals. Rest is from wages/salary (Rs. 1657/-) and net receipt from non-farm business (Rs. 554/-). Their total average monthly consumption is Rs. 7786/- and their net investment in productive assets is Rs. 746/-. There are over 41% households who are having MGNREG job cards.

6. As per the estimates, there are 3.3 million agricultural households in India having land possessed between 4 hectares and 10 Hectares during July 2012-June 2013. The total average monthly income of such agricultural households is Rs. 19637/- from all sources. Out of which Rs 15243/- is the net receipt from cultivation and Rs. 1501/- is the net receipt from farming of animals. Rest is from wages/salary (Rs. 2031/-) and net receipt from non-farm business (Rs. 861/-). Their total average monthly consumption is Rs. 14447/- and their net investment in productive assets is Rs. 6987/-. There are over 36% households who are having MGNREG job cards.

7. As per the estimates, there are only 0.37 million agricultural households in India having land possessed 10.00+ Hectares during July 2012-June 2013. The total average monthly income of such agricultural households is Rs. 41388/- from all sources. Out of which Rs 35685/- is the net receipt from cultivation and Rs. 2622/- is the net receipt from farming of animals. Rest is from wages/salary (Rs. 1311/-) and net receipt from non-farm business (Rs. 1770). Their total average monthly consumption is Rs. 14447/- and their net investment in productive assets is Rs. 6987/-. Inspite of the highest bracket of agricultural household, there are about one-third households who are having MGNREG job cards as well.

8. Total average monthly consumption expenditure exceeds the corresponding total income in case of agricultural households with less than 1 hectare of land possessed.

9. With the increase in size of the land possessed, obviously net receipts from cultivation uniformly increase. Also with the increase in size of the land possessed, the net receipts from farming of animals as well as from non-form business increases. But the dependence on wages/ salary is getting less pronounced with increase in size of the land possessed. It is noticed that even agricultural households with 10+ hectares land, some members of such households do earn through wages/salary.

10. The highest class of ten plus hectares land holding households earn on the average about five lakh in a agriculture year.

Some Social Characteristics of Agricultural Households in India

2015-12-11T22:39:00.000-08:00

Some Social Characteristics of Agricultural Households in India

A recent report of National Sample Survey on ‘Some Characteristics of Agricultural Households in India’ is based on the Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of Agricultural Households conducted during January 2013 to December 2013 for the reference period: July 2012 – June 2013 (agriculture year). This survey was conducted in the rural areas of the country in two spells. It was spread over 4529 villages and covered 35200 households. Some of the key findings at the all-India level as obtained from this Survey are:

The number of agricultural households was 90.2 million and these comprise about 58% of the total estimated rural households of the country.
OBCs had the highest estimated share (45.4 percent) in the total agricultural households in the country during the study period followed by ‘Others’ (24.9 percent) and Scheduled Castes (16.3 percent).
Agricultural households, with an estimated 460.23 million persons belonged to them, had an average household size 5.1 during the study period. The sex ratio (number of females per 1000 of males) of agricultural households in India was 948.
About 69 percent of the agricultural households possessed land less than 1 hectare. Only 0.4 percent of the agricultural households possessed land 10 hectares or more.
About 44 % of the agricultural households had MGNREGS job card.
78.5 % of the agricultural households did not possess any land outside the village.
12.3 % of the agricultural households did not possess any ration card at the time of the survey. 4.9 % of agricultural households possessed Antyodaya card and 36.4 % of agricultural households possessed BPL cards. Thus, quite a few people are below the poverty line.
Literacy rate among all members aged 7 years and above of agricultural households was 68.1 percent. Male literacy rate was 77.5 percent and female literacy rate was 58.2 percent.
Literacy rate among farmer members aged 7 years and above of agricultural households was 59.2 percent. Among farmer members, male literacy rate was 70.2 percent and female literacy rate was 41.4 percent.
Very few (1.1 % only) of the members aged 7 years and above of agricultural households had attended some formal training in agriculture at the time of the survey. The share was 1.7 percent among male members and 0.4 percent among female members.
As per the usual activity status, 38.2 percent of the members of agricultural households were self-employed (own account worker, employer or unpaid family worker) in agriculture during July 2012- December 2012. The share was 46.9 percent among the male members and 29.0 percent among female members.
As per the usual activity status, 34.5 percent of the members of agricultural households in the country were self-employed in agriculture during January 2013- June 2013. The share was 42.8 percent among the male members and 25.9 percent among female members.
Among the members of agricultural households, 87.2 percent of the persons aged 7 years or more reported same usual principal activity status during both the halves of the agricultural year. Of the persons who were self-employed in agriculture as per usual principal activity status during July 2012- December 2012, 84.9 percent remained in the same principal activity status during January 2013- June 2013. Of the remaining, 8.1 percent shifted to casual labour and 5.3 percent went out of labour force.
About 2 percent of the members aged 7 years and above from the agricultural households stayed away from their usual place of residence for more than 15 days in each of the two halves of the agricultural year.
The average monthly income per agricultural household during the agricultural year July 2012- June 2013 was ₹ 6426/-. The same was ₹ 6642/- and ₹ 6249/-, respectively, during July 2012- December 2012 and January 2013- June 2013.

Some Economic Characteristics of Agricultural Households in India

2015-12-11T22:29:00.002-08:00

Some Economic Characteristics of Agricultural Households in India

A recent report of National Sample Survey on ‘Some Characteristics of Agricultural Households in India’ is based on the Situation Assessment Survey (SAS) of Agricultural Households conducted during January 2013 to December 2013 for the reference period: July 2012 – June 2013 (agriculture year). This survey was conducted in the rural areas of the country in two spells. It was spread over 4529 villages and covered 35200 households. Some of the key findings at the all-India level as obtained from this Survey are:

The number of agricultural households was 90.2 million and these comprise about 58% of the total estimated rural households of the country.
About 69 percent of the agricultural households possessed land less than 1 hectare. Only 0.4 percent of the agricultural households possessed land 10 hectares or more.
92.6 percent of the agricultural households possessed some other type of land along with homestead land. 6.7 percent agricultural households possessed only homestead land and another 0.5 percent had only ‘other type of land’. Only 0.1 % of the agricultural households were landless.
Agricultural activity was reported to be the principal source of income for 68.3 percent of agricultural households (Cultivation (63.5 percent), Livestock activity (3.7 percent) and other agricultural activities (1.1 percent)). Wage/ salary employment was reported as the principal source of income by 22 percent of the agricultural households. ‘Non-agricultural enterprises’ was principal source of income for 4.7 percent of the agricultural households.
About 97 percent of the agricultural households in the country operated some land for agricultural activities during the 365 days prior to the date of survey.
About 44 % of the agricultural households had MGNREGS job card.
12.3 % of the agricultural households did not possess any ration card at the time of the survey. 4.9 % of agricultural households possessed Antyodaya card and 36.4 % of agricultural households possessed BPL cards. Thus, quite a few people are below the poverty line.
As per the usual activity status, 38.2 percent of the members of agricultural households were self-employed (own account worker, employer or unpaid family worker) in agriculture during July 2012- December 2012. The share was 46.9 percent among the male members and 29.0 percent among female members.
As per the usual activity status, 34.5 percent of the members of agricultural households in the country were self-employed in agriculture during January 2013- June 2013. The share was 42.8 percent among the male members and 25.9 percent among female members.
Among the members of agricultural households, 87.2 percent of the persons aged 7 years or more reported same usual principal activity status during both the halves of the agricultural year. Of the persons who were self-employed in agriculture as per usual principal activity status during July 2012- December 2012, 84.9 percent remained in the same principal activity status during January 2013- June 2013. Of the remaining, 8.1 percent shifted to casual labour and 5.3 percent went out of labour force.
About 2 percent of the members aged 7 years and above from the agricultural households stayed away from their usual place of residence for more than 15 days in each of the two halves of the agricultural year.
The average monthly income per agricultural household during the agricultural year July 2012- June 2013 was ₹ 6426/-. The same was ₹ 6642/- and ₹ 6249/-, respectively, during July 2012- December 2012 and January 2013- June 2013.
Net receipt from farm business (cultivation and farming of animals) accounted for about 60 percent of the average monthly income per agricultural household during the agricultural year July 2012- June 2013. Nearly 32 percent of the average monthly income was contributed by income from wage/ salary.
The average monthly consumption expenditure per agricultural household during the agricultural year July 2012- June 2013 was ₹ 6223/-. The same was ₹ 6116/- and ₹ 6371/-, respectively, during July 2012- December 2012 and January 2013- June 2013.
It could be noticed that the average saving per agricultural household per month is very little i.e., it is ₹ 203/- during the study period.
Average net investment in productive assets per agricultural household during the agricultural year July 2012- June 2013 was estimated as ₹ 513/-. The same was ₹ 556/- during July 2012- December 2012 and ₹ 469/- during January 2013- June 2013.

Will the Delhi Government Odd-Even Rule solve pollution problem in Delhi? Little Analysis Leading to Some More Suggestions

2015-12-09T06:58:00.002-08:00

Some Suggestions for Controlling the Delhi’s Air Pollution

Now a day, news is hot on pollution control in Delhi City, as it is at a very alarming level. Situation is not very new, but if there is a thinking of improving the position for the public at large one should welcome it.

There are only following five points/places in Delhi where measurement of PM 2.5 (mainly) is being taken in order to monitor the pollution:

New Delhi US Embassy (Central Delhi)
Mandir Marg (Central Delhi)
R.K. Puram (South Delhi)
Panjabi Bagh (West Delhi)
Anand Vihar (East Delhi)

The most common measure adopted by these five stated points is to have PM 2.5, which measures only one of the pollutant (Particulate Matter). This particulate matter is produced by any fuel combustion, power station, construction activities, industrial processes, diesel vehicle exhaust, re-suspended road dust, domestic refuse burning, domestic wood. Delhi is not a small place. We need to have many such centers where the pollution level should be measured. There is a recent upcoming rule of Delhi Government in respect of allowing only half the private cars (and may be bikes as well) on road in order to control pollution in Delhi. As the vehicles produce other pollutants like sulphur dioxide, nitrogen & carbon oxides in abundance, we need to measure the same also as these are other more serious pollutants for living beings. Otherwise, it would be difficult or rather unconvincing to decide on the measure suggested by the Government.

The measure suggested by the upcoming rule of Delhi Government in order to control pollution may not yield the desired levels of pollution on the facts stated below:

No doubt, it is very hard to implement the forthcoming odd-even Delhi Government Rule.

One may note that the measure (PH2.5) adopted will not capture the pollutants produced by all petrol vehicles. Cars are Bharat IV petrol compliant too. Rather the existing policy of checking pollution control certificates need to be done in the strictest possible way. Diesel running vehicles and that too the old ones are the real ones to be tackled first. Particularly, the commercial vehicles like trucks and diesel cars have been kept outside the purview of the stated odd-even rule. These vehicles do not adhere to the norms fixed by transport authorities. Even required diesel, which emits less pollution, is not available or provided by the Government. These old diesel vehicles should be removed altogether from Delhi Roads. The others should be reduced quite in number for controlling the desired pollution on roads.

Lot of fuel gets burnt by the vehicles, which can be saved as well it will definitely help in pollution control if there is no Delhi Road Jams. Measures are to be thought in more meaningful ways to solve the problem. Unnecessary constructions need to be stopped/ not permitted which cause these Jams. Every vehicle should be serviced at regular intervals – could be seen at the time of issue of pollution check certificates. Quick ways need to be adopted to remove the stopped vehicles on the road lanes. Mixing of slow moving vehicles with fast moving vehicles should not be allowed as the same is one of the cause of accidents and hence the Jams. The traffic police are not at all enforcing any discipline on the vehicles, which are slow in moving and are not being run on the extreme left lane. This is another important cause of accidents and hence jams. In Delhi, there are many points on the dozen of important roads where the width of the road gets narrowed at those points and thus in the peak hours, jams occur due to this reason. Remedial actions are definitely needed.

Closing of power stations is no doubt is a welcome suggestion by Delhi Government. But what about uncontrolled construction activities and industrial processes in respect of pollution producing in the air to a large extent.

Road dust is one of the other criminals, which we need to reduce to large extent. We have witnessed a number of times that the PM 2.5 levels gets reduced in rainy season, thus we need to take care of this mode of producing pollution to a large extent.

We do see that many persons who are involved in burning the waste and refuse, which gets collected. Even tires do burn in posh/VIP colonies of Delhi. Burning of domestic wood, particularly in houses in slums and resettlement colonies is another important factor, which the government authorities need to address.

One should consider the above facts/observations while taking measures for sure success.

There are Only Seven 'Five Million Plus' Cities in India - Kolkata is not in this list

2015-11-28T22:39:00.003-08:00

THERE ARE ONLY SEVEN 'FIVE MILLION PLUS' CITIES IN INDIA

There are thirteen cities with more than 2 million population in India and out of these nine are with population more than 4 million as per 2011 population census. Further, only seven have over five million population. These seven cities, in order of its population, are Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune. These cities do not include the population of its urban agglomerations. The following table gives the details.

City	State	Population (2011)	Population (2001)	Percentage Change
City	State	Population (2011)	Population (2001)	Percentage Change
Mumbai	Maharashtra	12,478,447	11,978,450	4.17
Delhi	Delhi	11,007,835	9,879,172	11.42
Bangalore	Karnataka	8,425,970	5,438,065	54.94
Hyderabad	Telangana	6,809,970	3,637,483	87.22
Chennai	Tamil Nadu	6,560,242	4,681,087	40.14
Ahmedabad	Gujarat	6,352,254	3,520,085	80.46
Pune	Maharashtra	5,049,968	2,538,473	98.94
Surat	Gujarat	4,585,367	2,433,835	88.40
Kolkata	West Bengal	4,486,679	4,572,876	-1.88
Jaipur	Rajasthan	3,073,350	2,322,575	32.33
Lucknow	Uttar Pradesh	2,815,601	2,185,927	28.81
Kanpur	Uttar Pradesh	2,767,031	2,551,337	8.45
Nagpur	Maharashtra	2,405,421	2,052,066	17.22

One may note that the ranks of the various multi million cities in India has been now not the same as seen in the year 2001, as the change in respect of various cities had been quite significantly different over the last inter-census years. The highest change was observed in case of Pune followed by Surat, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai and so on. Kolkata has even witnessed negative change and Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune and Surat have surpassed it. Jaipur and Lucknow have also surpassed the Kanpur city.

As of now, there are only two ten million plus cities in India. These two cities are growing with less growth. Over next ten years i.e., in 2021, if the above percentage change continues, Bangalore may be having rank 1 in the above list. And Bangalore and Hyderabad may even have more population than Delhi and the rank of Delhi would be 4. Ahmedabad would be with rank 5, followed by Pune with rank 6. In such scenario, there would be six ten million plus cities instead of two and eight cities would be with eight million plus population. Kolkata may be having less than five million population and would be clubbed with the second tier cities namely, Jaipur, Lucknow, Kanpur and Nagpur. One may have to wait to see which ones of these would be smart cities.

Importance of Various Sectors in Indian Economy as per New Series at 2011-12 Prices

2015-08-28T05:13:00.000-07:00

Here below we present the share of Gross Value Added (GVA) at factor cost by economic activity at constant (2011-12) prices for the various sectors for the year 2011-12 (Base Year) and for latest available years 2012-13 and 2013-14.

Sectors	Share of GVA at (2011-12) Prices
			(%)
	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
1. agriculture, forestry & fishing	18.9	18.4	17.9
2. mining & quarrying	3.2	3.0	3.0

3. manufacturing	17.9	18.1	17.9
4. electricity, gas, water supply & utility Services	2.5	2.4	2.3
5. construction	9.4	8.6	8.2

6. trade, repair, hotels & restaurant	10.7	11.2	11.8
7. transport, storage, communication & services related to broadcasting	6.6	6.8	6.9
8. financial Services	5.8	5.9	5.9
9. real estate, ownership of dwelling & professional services	12.5	13.2	13.4
10. public administration & defence	6.0	5.9	5.8
11. other services	6.5	6.5	6.8
12. Total GVA at Factor Cost	100.0	100.0	100.0

The primary sector of the economy is the sector of an economy making direct use of natural resources. This includes agriculture, forestry and fishing, mining & quarrying.

The secondary sector of the economy or industrial sector includes those economic sectors that create a finished, tangible product i.e. production of goods and construction.

The tertiary sector of the economy (also known as the service sector or the service industry) is one of the three economic sectors, others being primary and secondary sectors.

In the primary sector, they may consume the natural resources and their reproduction may take many years. The industrial sector generally takes the output of the primary sector and manufactures finished goods. Many of these industries consume large quantities of energy and require factories and machinery to convert the raw materials into goods and products. They also produce waste materials and waste heat that may pose environmental problems or cause pollution. The Services Sector inter-alia includes sub-sectors like Trade; Hotels and Restaurants; Transport; Storage & warehousing; Communication; Banking and Insurance; Real Estate; Business services; Public Administration and Defence; Social and personal services; and Other services including Education, Medical and Health, Religious and Other Community Services, Legal Services, Recreation and Entertainment Services.

Sectors	Share of GVA at (2011-12) Prices
			(%)
	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
Primary Sector	22.1	21.4	20.9
Secondary Sector	29.7	29.1	28.4
Tertiary sector or Service Sector	48.2	49.6	50.7

It can be seen as per the new series that the primary and secondary sector’s GVA shares are decreasing in India, whereas the tertiary or service sector is gaining the lost share of these two sectors. Out of various sub-sectors of primary sector, it is mainly agriculture, which is loosing its traditional shine. Within services, it is all the sub-sectors are gaining the share over these years except for the sub-sector public administration & defence, which is marginally loosing. The prominent sub-sectors of services are trade and real estate, Ownership of dwellings & professional services and are the ones who at present mainly gaining the importance in the economy.

This Service Sector constitutes a large part of the Indian economy both in terms of employment potential and its contribution to national income now. Central Statistical Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MOSPI) is responsible at the Central level to prepare GDP (Value Addition) estimates for the Indian Economy. The estimates are being released through ages now. The official site of MOSPI does admit the significance and importance of the Sector. Over fifty per cent of total GDP (value addition) comes from the Service Sector even as per the new series. Although the service sector has a pivotal role in the country’s economic development, database in this sector is highly disorganized. A major limitation of the existing statistical system in this respect is the absence of a well-organized mechanism for maintaining a regular and proper database for this sector. For services like financial services, Railway Transport, public administration & defence, the data base is in the hands of the central/ state governments and so can be considered to be better organized and more reliable. Thus for large chunk of services, CSO may be using some periodical surveys or other administrative / private sources. One may also infer that calculations of our national income may be in trouble as the major part of it having the basis of its calculations on wrong footing. Unlike the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) that is devoted to collection of data from manufacturing and few other categories of units included in the lists maintained by the Chief Inspectors of Factories, there is no such operational scheme in the services sector for annual collection of data from the units either having a large number of workers or those contributing significantly in terms of annual turnover. The main difficulty in this regard is the non-availability of an up-to-date frame of such units and lack of regular mechanism for collection of data. The development of National Business Register being envisaged based on the Sixth Economic Census is likely to address the issue of frame to a large extent. The exercises for having a new series of national accounts have been completed shortly. There is still a good amount of more efforts needed for the existing and new services, which are all through coming into existence in order to make a better sound database for various services.

Indian Religious Communities in the Year 2011

2015-08-28T04:02:00.001-07:00

The Registrar General and Census Commissioner, India have released the data on Population by Religious Communities for the 2011 Census. The distribution is total population by six major religious communities namely, Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Buddhist, Jain besides “Other Religions and Persuasions” and “Religion not stated”. The data are released by sex and residence up to sub-districts and towns.

Populations

Total Population in 2011 was counted as 1210.9 millions and the distribution among various religious communities is given as: Hindu 966.3 millions (79.8%); Muslim 172.2 millions (14.2%); Christian 27.8 millions (2.3%); Sikh 20.8 millions (1.7%); Buddhist 8.4 millions (0.7%); Jain 4.5 millions (0.4%), Other Religions & Persuasions (ORP) 7.9 millions (0.7%) and Religion Not Stated 2.9 millions (0.2%).

Proportions

The proportion of Hindu population to total population in 2011 has declined by 0.7%; the proportion of Sikh population has declined by 0.2% and the Buddhist population has declined by 0.1% during the decade 2001-2011. The proportion of Muslim population to total population has increased by 0.8%. There has been no significant change in the proportion of Christians & Jains.

Growth Rates

The growth rate of population in the decade 2001-2011 was 17.7 %. The growth rate of population of the different religious communities in the same period was as Hindus: 16.8%; Muslim: 24.6%; Christian: 15.5%; Sikh: 8.4%; Buddhist: 6.1% and Jain: 5.4%.

Sex Ratios

The overall sex ratio of the Indian population is 943 as per census 2011 with rural and urban areas having the same as 949 and 929 respectively (as expected rural is having less facilities to abort female children than urban families). The overall sex ratio of the Hindus communities is 939 as per census 2011 with rural and urban areas having the same as 947 and 921 respectively (as one may expect it from the nearly 80% community in India). The case of next community (Muslims) the respective sex ratios are 951, 958 and 952 for overall, Rural and Urban residential Muslim families. Only the Christians in India have overall, in rural and urban areas, the sex ratio of more than one thousand and are respectively are 1023, 1008 and 1046.

Urbanization

The overall urbanization ratio of the Indian population is 31.14% as per census 2011. The Hindu communities are staying more in Rural areas (70.8%), the Muslims and the Christians are staying more in Urban areas as about 40% (both of them) stay in cities and towns, the Sikhs (more than 28% are in cities and towns) are more preferring to live in the Rural areas as Hindus, the Buddhists (about 43%) and Jains (about 80%) are preferring cities and towns to live in.

The status of achieving MDG Goal 4 in case of India

2015-08-24T05:12:00.002-07:00

Definition:

Under-five mortality rate is the probability per 1,000 that a newborn baby will die before reaching age five, if subject to age-specific mortality rates of the specified year.

MDG Goal in this respect is

Reduce by two thirds, between 1990 and 2015, the under-five mortality rate

In India, we are having the following information as per World Bank.

Year	Mortality Rates, Under - 5
1990	126
1991	122
1992	119
1993	116
1994	112
1995	109
1996	106
1997	102
1998	99
1999	95
2000	91
2001	88
2002	85
2003	81
2004	78
2005	75
2006	72
2007	69
2008	66
2009	63
2010	60
2011	58
2012	55
2013	53

If we fit a linear trend, we estimate the same for 2015 as 44. But as per the target fixed under the MDG Goal, we should have achieved 42. Thus, we may miss the Goal marginally by 2 deaths. It is well attempted by India.

Total Fertility Rate in India has fallen from 3.2 in 2000 to 2.3 in 2013

2015-07-22T08:06:00.004-07:00

The Sample Registration System 2013 data says India's TFR, which had remained stagnant in 2011 and 2012 at 2.4, finally has dropped by 0.1 points in 2013. Education mainly of fair sex has been found to play a major role in influencing TFR. Total Fertility rate in India has fallen from 3.2 in 2000 to 2.3 in 2013. Thus, at the all India level, India have not reached replacement-level fertility rate of 2.1, but the gap is now not that alarming as it was in the year 2000. In the year 2012, TFR varied from 2.6 in rural areas to 1.8 in urban areas. It seems that at present, a rural woman (having a TFR of 2.6) at the National level would have about one child more than an urban woman (having a TFR of 1.8). In order to tackle the problem, one need to focus on rural areas that too in the States/UTs of Bihar, UP, MP, Rajasthan, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Assam and Gujarat, Haryana, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and D&N Haveli.

According to the SRS 2013 data, twenty-three states/uts have achieved replacement level fertility of 2.1 and below. However, 12 states/Uts still have a higher TFR than this. These include Bihar (3.4), UP (3.1), MP (2.9), Rajasthan (2.8), Jharkhand (2.7), Chhattisgarh (2.6), Assam and Gujarat (2.3), Haryana (2.2), Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya and D&N Haveli. For the latter three states/UTs the data is not available for the year 2008 onwards, but seeing the time series data one may expect the same as mentioned here. Among the bigger States, it varies from 1.7 in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal to 3.5 in Bihar. For rural areas, it varies from 1.7 in Himachal Pradesh, Punjab and Tamil Nadu to 3.6 in Bihar. For urban areas, such variation is from 1.2 in Himachal Pradesh and West Bengal to 2.5 in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Chart 15 presents levels of TFR by residence for India and bigger States, 2012.

States, which have not recorded a dip in TFR in 2013 as against 2012, include many states and the states are Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Odisha, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh and Jummu & Kashmir. The dip had been in other major states was only by one point except for Uttar Pradesh it was by two points.

According to the National Population Policy 2000, India should have reached the replacement-level fertility rate of 2.1 by 2010, and ought to attain population stabilization at 1450 million by 2045. Population stabilization is when the size of the population remains unchanged. It is also called the stage of zero population growth. However, India now expects to reach the population stabilization TFR of 2.1 at 1650 million by 2060.

Religious Practices in India through figures

2015-06-29T04:28:00.002-07:00

The number count of people practicing various religions in India is being known through various population censuses and for the 2001; the figures are given as below:

DISTRIBUTION OF POPULATION BY RELIGION

Religion	Number	Percentage
All Religious Communities	1028610328	100.0
Hindus	827578868	80.5
Muslims	138188240	13.4
Chritians	24080016	2.3
Sikhs	19215730	1.9
Buddhists	7955207	0.8
Jains	4225053	0.4
Others	6639626	0.6
Religion Not Stated	727588	0.1

Hinduism is the largest religious group in India; its more than 1 billion adherents (2001) compose 80.5% of the population. Hindus comprise a majority in most of the states in India and are quite in good number also in Manipur (46%), Arunachal Pradesh (35%), Jammu and Kashmir (30%), Punjab (37%) and Meghalaya (13%). They are in minority in the states/UT of Nagaland (8%), Mizoram (4%) and Lakshadweep (4%) in the year 2001, The latter states/UTs from Manipur to Lakshadweep are having majority of other minority religions,

Islam is the largest minority religion in India. According to the 2001 census, India is home to 138 million Muslims, the world's third-largest Muslim population after those in Indonesia (210 million) and Pakistan (166 million). Muslims compose 13.4% of the Indian population. Muslims are a majority in the state/UT Jammu and Kashmir (67%) and Lakshadweep (95%), and live in high concentrations in Assam (31%), Kerala (25%), West Bengal (25%), Uttar Pradesh (18.5%), Bihar (17%), Jharkhand (14%), Delhi (12%), Uttaranchal (12%), Karnataka (12%) and Maharashtra (11%).

Christianity is the third largest religion of India, making up 2.3% of the population. Christians comprise a majority in Nagaland, Mizoram, and Meghalaya and have significant populations in Manipur, Goa, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Kerala and Arunachal Pradesh.

As of 2001, there were 19.2 million Sikhs in India. Punjab is the spiritual home of Sikhs, and is the only state in India where Sikhs form a majority. There are also significant populations of Sikhs in neighboring Chandigarh (16%) Delhi (4%) and Haryana (5.5%).

None of other religions form majority in any state. Only Buddhists are in high concentrations in Sikkim (28%) and Arunachal Pradesh (13%) and other many ethnic faiths etc. are forming some concentration in Arunachal Pradesh (31%).

The proportions of various major religious groups in India over the years 1951-2011 are given as below:

Religious Group	1951	1961	1971	1981	1991	2001	2011
Hinduism	84.10%	83.45%	82.73%	82.30%	81.53%	80.46%	78.35%
Islam	9.80%	10.69%	11.21%	11.75%	12.61%	13.43%	14.88%
Christianity	2.30%	2.44%	2.60%	2.44%	2.32%	2.34%	n/a
Sikhism	1.79%	1.79%	1.89%	1.92%	1.94%	1.87%	n/a
Buddhism	0.74%	0.74%	0.70%	0.70%	0.77%	0.77%	n/a
Jainism	0.46%	0.46%	0.48%	0.47%	0.40%	0.41%	n/a
Ethnic faiths, others	0.43%	0.43%	0.41%	0.42%	0.44%	0.72%	n/a
Zoroastrianism	0.13%	0.09%	0.09%	0.09%	0.08%	0.06%	n/a

It could be seen that in India the growth of Islam is more than most of other religions over the various decades. Christianity, Sikhism and Buddhism are maintaining their proportions or one may say that they have increased very marginally as compared to 1951/1961. Over the years, Hinduism is loosing its shine decade after decade.

Delhi most uncaring city: Survey by HelpAge India

2015-06-16T08:03:00.001-07:00

A recent study by HelpAge India has observed from a survey of ten cities that Delhi is the most uncaring city for elders (probably having age 60 years or over). The survey was carried out in just 200 households selected from 20 middle and upper class localities in 10 cities. The cities are mostly multi million cities and these are Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Nagpur, Kanpur and Madurai. The share in the sample for each of the cities under study is meagre. The share is also same for all the cities irrespective of their number of households having at least one elder. Also they have left out the low income group localities.

The observations made seem to be quite generalized in this news item. On the basis of such a sample design, such generalized comments are having very little ground. I wish a better sample design should have been taken with more sample size in each of the cities considered for making the comments to be valid for the entire and all the cities under study.

New Smart Cities in India may lead to accelerated growth in its Urbanization

2015-05-17T02:40:00.001-07:00

India’s new BJP-led government has correctly shown its desire to create 100 new smart cities in the country as satellite townships around its larger cities. The first Indian smart city may be Chandigarh and satellite towns around Chandigarh. Gandhi Nagar is another example of a smart city and towns like Noida and New Raipur are attracting foreign investments too. Several countries like Japan, Germany, Sweden, Singapore, Israel, UK, US, Hong Kong and the Netherlands besides MNCs have shown interest in building smart cities in India.

Probably the thought is that smart cities would be built in a way so that they have uninterrupted power, water, proper sanitation, efficient management of solid waste, decongestion of roads, last mile connectivity and effective use of ICT.

In view of this, India is expected to see massive urbanization along the same lines of what we have seen in other countries like China, where urbanization has already crossed 50%. Generally more people live in cities globally than in rural areas. India is nearly one-third urbanized in comparison, but this trend will accelerate as the economy grows, becomes more sophisticated in view of the above interest too and for this it may need more skilled labor. Concomitantly, there is a greater need to improve agricultural productivity by lessening manpower on farms and transferring the remaining to areas of higher productivity in industry, resulting in an overall growth in productivity in the economy.

This massive migration to urban areas will be the defining feature of the Indian economy in the coming decade(s) – very much in line with the urbanization happening all over the globe. Smart cities need multidimensional, integrative thinking, and will not happen organically. They can only result from a central planning authority. Without any state level intervention, existing cities will become unlivable and chaotic, given the scale of the migration expected. Consequently, new cities have to be set up – many around existing urban areas as satellite towns. This has additional advantages of clustering and benefits of scale in creation of all kinds of urban infrastructure needed for a smart city. Creation of such new satellite cities needs to be closely tied to the concepts of sustainability. This requires these new cities to be “smart,” i.e. creating new types of transport systems to avoid congestion, construction using low energy housing materials, newer water harvesting techniques, having new viable sources of power in order to have 24X7 power supply and extensive use of IT systems on cloud in running various urban functions and the provision of e-government services to its citizens. Moreover, such cities should be self-sufficient in being able to create gainful employment for residents.

THERE ARE THIRTEEN MULTI MILLION PLUS CITIES IN INDIA

2015-02-22T04:11:00.003-08:00

The following is the list of thirteen multi million plus cities in India. The population census used is for the year 2011. The list does not indicate the population of the urban agglomerations. Often cities are bifurcated into multiple regions (municipalities) which results in creation of cities within cities which may figure in the following list.

City	State	Population (2011)	Population (2001)	Percentage Change
City	State	Population (2011)	Population (2001)	Percentage Change
Mumbai	Maharashtra	12,478,447	11,978,450	4.17
Delhi	Delhi	11,007,835	9,879,172	11.42
Bangalore	Karnataka	8,425,970	5,438,065	54.94
Hyderabad	Telangana	6,809,970	3,637,483	87.22
Chennai	Tamil Nadu	6,560,242	4,681,087	40.14
Ahmedabad	Gujarat	6,352,254	3,520,085	80.46
Pune	Maharashtra	5,049,968	2,538,473	98.94
Surat	Gujarat	4,585,367	2,433,835	88.40
Kolkata	West Bengal	4,486,679	4,572,876	-1.88
Jaipur	Rajasthan	3,073,350	2,322,575	32.33
Lucknow	Uttar Pradesh	2,815,601	2,185,927	28.81
Kanpur	Uttar Pradesh	2,767,031	2,551,337	8.45
Nagpur	Maharashtra	2,405,421	2,052,066	17.22

One may note that the ranks of the various multi million cities in India has been now not the same as seen in the year 2001, as the change in respect of various cities had been quite significantly different over the last inter-census years. The highest change was observed in case of Pune followed by Surat, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Bangalore, Chennai and so on. Kolkata has even witnessed negative change and it has been surpassed by Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune and Surat. Jaipur and Lucknow have also surpassed the Kanpur city.

Over next ten years i.e., in 2021, if the above percentage change continues, Bangalore may be having rank 1 in the above list. And Bangalore and Hyderabad may even have more population than Delhi and the rank of Delhi would be 4. Ahmedabad would be with rank 5, followed by Pune with rank 6.

Importance of Various Sectors in Indian Economy (2013-14)

2014-10-24T22:50:00.003-07:00

The primary sector of the economy is the sector of an economy making direct use of natural resources. This includes agriculture, forestry and fishing, mining & quarrying.

The secondary sector of the economy or industrial sector includes those economic sectors that create a finished, tangible product i.e. production of goods and construction.

The tertiary sector of the economy (also known as the service sector or the service industry) is one of the three economic sectors, others being primary and secondary sectors.

Here below we present the share of GDP at constant (2004-05) prices for the various sectors/ sub-sectors for the year 2004-05 (Base Year) and for latest available years 2012-13 (Quick Estimates i.e. based on little less data) and for the year 2013-14 (Revised Estimate based on further less data being used to have advance estimates for the economic sectors).

Sectors	Share of GDP at (2004-05) Prices
			(%)
	2004-05	2012-13	2013-14
		QE	RE
1. agriculture, forestry & fishing	19.0	13.9	13.8
1.1 agriculture	16.0	11.8
1.2 forestry & logging	2.1	1.3
1.3 fishing	0.9	0.8

2. mining & quarrying	2.9	2.0	1.8
3. manufacturing	15.3	15.8	14.9
3.1 registered	9.8	11.2
3.2 unregistered	5.4	4.5
4. electricity, gas & water supply	2.1	1.9	1.9
5. construction	7.7	7.7	8.2

6. trade, hotels & restaurant	16.1	16.1	15.6
6.1 trade	14.6	14.8
6.2 hotels & restaurants	1.5	1.4
7. transport, storage & communication	8.4	10.7	10.7
7.1 railways	1.0	0.9
7.2 transport by other means	5.7	5.7
7.3 storage	0.1	0.1
7.4 communication	1.7	4.1

8. Financing, insurance., real estate & business services	14.7	19.1	20.1
8.1 banking & insurance	5.8	9.4
8.2 real estate, Ownership of dwellings	9.0	9.8
9. community, social & personnel services	13.8	12.8	13.0
9.1 public administration & defence	5.9	5.5
9.2 other services	8.0	7.3
10. GDP of All Sectors	100.0	100.0	100.0

Sectors	Share of GDP at (2004-05) Prices
			(%)
	2004-05	2012-13	2013-14
		QE	RE
Primary Sector	21.9	15.9	15.6
Secondary Sector	25.1	25.4	25.0
Tertiary sector or Service Sector	53.0	58.7	59.4

It can be seen that the primary sector’s share is decreasing in India and the manufacturing or secondary sector has been maintaining its share, whereas the tertiary or service sector is gaining the lost share of the primary sector. Out of various sub-sectors of primary sector, it is mainly agriculture, which is loosing its traditional shine. Within services, it is mainly banking & insurance and communication followed by real estate & Ownership of dwellings who at present mainly gaining the importance in the economy. The other services are either loosing marginally or are maintaining their share over time. It is only other services (small ones) are loosing shine collectively.

This Service Sector constitutes a large part of the Indian economy both in terms of employment potential and its contribution to national income now. Central Statistical Office (CSO), Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation (MOSPI) is responsible at the Central level to prepare GDP (Value Addition) estimates for the Indian Economy. The estimates are being released through ages now. The official site of MOSPI does admit the significance and importance of the Sector. About sixty per cent of total GDP (value addition) comes from the Service Sector. Although the service sector has a pivotal role in the country’s economic development, database in this sector is highly disorganized. A major limitation of the existing statistical system in this respect is the absence of a well-organized mechanism for maintaining a regular and proper database for this sector. For services like banking & Insurance, Railway Transport, public administration & defence, the data base is in the hands of the central/ state governments and so can be considered to be better organized and more reliable. Thus for large chunk of services, CSO may be using some periodical surveys or other administrative / private sources. One may also infer that calculations of our national income may be in trouble as the major part of it having the basis of its calculations on wrong footing. Unlike the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI) that is devoted to collection of data from manufacturing and few other categories of units included in the lists maintained by the Chief Inspectors of Factories, there is no such scheme in the services sector for annual collection of data from the units either having a large number of workers or those contributing significantly in terms of annual turnover. The main difficulty in this regard is the non-availability of an up-to-date frame of such units and lack of regular mechanism for collection of data. The development of National Business Register being envisaged based on the Sixth Economic Census is likely to address the issue of frame to a large extent. The exercises for having a new series of national accounts have been initiated and this time the new base would be the year 2011-12. There is a good amount of hope that database for the existing and new services would be made on further sound basis this time.

Benefits from Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojana

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The new scheme launched by the present Prime Minister of Sansad (Parliament) Adarsh (Model) Gram (Village) Yojana (Scheme) (SAGY) encourages Members of Parliament from both Houses to identify and develop one village from their constituency as a model village by 2016, and two more by 2019.

The Parliament of India consists of two houses: The Lok Sabha or House of the People and the Rajya Sabha or Council of States. The Lok Sabha is the lower house of the Parliament of India. The Rajya Sabha is the upper house of the Parliament of India. Membership is limited to 250 members. The Lok Sabha is composed of representatives of the people from 543 constituencies, chosen by direct election on the basis of adult suffrage.

Thus, there are about 800 parliamentarians (543 members in Lower House plus 250 members from Upper House) and in three years, about 2,400-odd could be advantageous villages out of the 6 lakh villages countrywide. If States were to initiate their own similar schemes with MLAs, 6,000 to 7,000 villages could get this advantage. Also, one good village can affect an entire area, and a viral effect could begin – as per Mr. Prime Minister.

This is not a new fund allocated scheme, but a people’s participatory scheme and is a demand-driven scheme. In fact, MPLAD funds are to help the few selected villages to become the model villages.

The SAGY requires each MP to identify one village with a population in the range of 3,000-5,000 in the plains and 1,000-3,000 in the hills within a month. MPs can choose any village except their own or their spouse’s. There is no other criterion.

Funds: Then they are to work for convergence of existing schemes for socio-economic development of the area. MPs are expected to facilitate a village development plan, motivate villagers to take up activities and use the Rs.5-crore MPLAD fund to fill gaps for funds besides mobilizing “additional resources especially from Corporate Social Responsibility” in sewage and water supply schemes. The SAGY would maximize the use of MPLAD funds over the largest possible area, as this will instead require focusing the funds in a village. In the process, MPs would be able to identify the shortcomings in implementation of these schemes. It need not be taken as that entire MPLAD funds are for this purpose.

Benefits: The activities and outcomes will cover broad development indicators such as health, nutrition and education through organizing immunization drives, improving mid-day meal schemes, improving Aadhaar enrolment, setting up “smart schools” with IT-enabled classrooms and e-libraries, improving panchayat infrastructure under schemes such as MNREGA and Backward Regions Grants Fund. A series of measures speak of better implementation of existing and new schemes and laws including RTI Act, National Food Security Act, National Rural Livelihood Mission, Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, while at the same time emphasizing “activities to improve hygienic behavior” by encouraging bathing among villagers, use of toilets and exercising for thirty minutes every day. It envisions social development in villages through identifying a village day, a village song, and focusing on alternative methods of dispute resolution.

Monitoring and Evaluations: District Collectors will carry out a baseline surveys and then chair monthly review meetings to monitor progress. There will be real-time web-based monitoring and a first review after five months by an independent agency.

At the State-level, Chief Secretaries will lead an empowered committee on the same and the Minister for Rural Development and Secretary, Rural Development, will chair two national-level committees to track the scheme. SAGY is aiming at socio-economic transformation in the rural society. The aim would be to inculcate a sense of pride, volunteerism, and self-reliance in villages. The success of SAGY will be judged not by the allocation of funds and budgets spent, but by its ability to fundamentally transform the culture of rural governance.

Kolkata and Chennai are not among Top Four Mega Cities of India

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The mega cities are the ones which have population over four millions. There are only eight mega cities in India as per 2011 Census of India. The Top four in descending population order are:

Mumbai (Capital City of Maharashtra State)
Delhi (Capital City Delhi)
Bangalore (Capital city of Karnataka) and
Hyderabad (Capital City of Telangana – new State of India)

The next in this order are:

Ahmedabad (Gujarat)
Chennai (Capital City of Tamil Nadu)
Kolkata (Capital City of West Bengal) and
Surat Gujarat).

The cities which have more than two million population are: Pune (Maharashtra), Jaipur (Rajasthan), Lucknow (Uttar Pradesh), Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) and Nagpur (Maharashtra).

Traditionally, we have been hearing the four big metro cities of India are: Kolkata (old name Calcutta), Mumbai (Old name Bombay), Delhi and Chennai (Old name Madras). If you consider urban agglomeration, we still count Mumbai, Delhi, Kolkata and Chennai as top four major urban agglomerations in India. Next six in line are Bangalore, Hyderabad, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat and Jaipur,. Each one listed has population of over three million.

Highlights of Census 2011

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1 It is significant that the percentage decadal growth during 2001-2011 has registered the sharpest decline since independence. It declined from 23.87 percent for 1981-1991 to 21.54 percent for the period 1991-2001, a decrease of 2.33 percentage point. For 2001-2011, this decadal growth was 17.64 percent i.e., a further decrease of 3.90 percentage points.

2 The combined growth rate of eight Empowered Action Group (EAG) States namely, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Bihar, Jharkhand, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Orissa is compared with the rest of the States and Union Territories. The EAG group, from 1951 till 2011, have hosted between forty three to forty six percent of India’s population. Census 2011 marks a milestone in the demographic history of the country, as it is perhaps for the first time, there is a significant fall in growth rate of population in the EAG group of States.

3 The phenomenon of low growth have started to spread beyond the boundaries of the Southern States during 2001- 11, where in addition to Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in the South, Himachal Pradesh and Punjab in the North, West Bengal and Orissa in the East, and Maharashtra in the West have registered a growth rate between eleven to sixteen percent in 2001-2011 over the previous decade.

Sex ratio is defined in the Census of India as the number of females per 1,000 males in the population. The sex ratio of India is 940. The sex ratio at the National level has risen by seven points since the last Census in 2001. This is the highest since 1971. The sex ratio in India has been historically unfavorable to females. Sex ratio reached its lowest in 1991 but since then has kept rising.

5 In 2001, the State of Kerala and the Union Territory of Puducherry reported above thousand as sex ratio. Both these States have not only retained their status but have also shown considerable increase in 2011. Also females outnumber males in Goa. A point to be noted is that the States having historically low sex ratio such as Punjab, Haryana, Delhi and Chandigarh have shown appreciable increase in the sex ratio in Census 2011. Majority of the States identified as gender critical for special attention and intervention as part of the Census 2011 have shown increasing trend in the sex ratio. Only major States of Bihar and Jammu & Kashmir and Gujarat have shown decline in the sex ratio. The other Union Territories registering decline in overall sex ratio include Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu and Lakshadweep.

6 The population of India has increased by more than 181 million during the decade 2001-2011. 2001-2011 is the first decade (with the exception of 1911-1921), which has actually added lesser population, compared to the previous decade. Population (0-6 years) 2001-2011 registered -3.08 percent growths with - 2.42 for males and -3.80 for females. Literacy rate has gone up from 64.83 per cent in 2001 to 74.04 per cent in 2011 showing an increase of 9.21 percentage points.

7 Total absolute increase in population during the decade is 181.5 millions. Thane district of Maharashtra is the most populated district of India. Dibang Valley of Arunachal Pradesh is the least populated. Kurung Kumey of Arunachal Pradesh registered highest population growth rate of 111.01 percent. Longleng district of Nagaland registered negative population growth rate of (-)58.39.

8 Serchhip district of Mizoram has highest literacy rate of 98.76 percent. Alirajpur of MP is the least literate district of India with figure of 37.22 percent only. North East Delhi has the highest density with figure of 37346 person per square kilometer. Dibang Valley has the least density of 1 person per sq. km.

9 State having highest population is Uttar Pradesh with population 199.6 Million and which increased at the rate of 20% from 2001. Next state in order is Maharashtra with population 112.4 Million and which increased at the rate of 15% since last census. Delhi is most densely populated with a density of 11297 per sq km (an increase of 21% from 2001). Bihar is the most densely populated state with a density of 1102 per sq km (an increase of 25% from 2001).

1 City census 2011: The total population of Urban Agglomeration (UA) and the city’s population in 2011 were calculated. All places which had a municipality, a corporation, notified town area community or a cantonment board was known to fall under the category of city or UA. Urban areas surrounding Cities are called Urban Agglomeration. Under UA census data for all cities having population more than 1 lakh was made available.

1 Beggars, sex workers and eunuchs get place in Census 2011 as other category for the first time.

1 Facts about Literacy in India: Ten states and union territories have attained literacy rate of above 85 per cent. 74% of Indians can now read, write and do basic mathematical calculations (like adding, subtracting) — that means that 3 out of every 4 Indians are literate.

1 Interesting facts about Telecom and Sanitation Facility in India: India has more phones than toilets. 63.2 per cent households in India now have a telephone/mobile facility (82 per cent in urban and 54 per cent in rural area.) The penetration of mobile phone is 59 per cent and landline is 10 per cent, whereas, more than half of Indian households (some 53.1 per cent) do not have access to basic facility of a toilet.

1 Facts about Communication in India: The penetration of computers and laptops in India is only 9.4 per cent or less than one out of 10 households with only 3 per cent having internet facility. The penetration of internet is 8 per cent in urban as compared to less than 1 per cent in rural area. Maharashtra is the biggest Indian Internet market with 18 %. 47.2 % of Indians own a Television. 19.9 % of Indians own a Radio/Transistors. 13.42 Million broadband connections (Home and Offices combined) are in India.

1 Facts about Possession of Assets in India: Only 18 per cent of households do not have any of the specified assets — radio, TV, computer/laptop, phones, means of transportation (bicycle, car/jeep/van, scooter, motorcycle/moped).

1 Facts about Transport in India: Bicycle penetration: Household penetration for bicycle inched up marginally from 43.7% to 44.8%. In urban India the penetration for bicycle actually declined from 46.0% to 41.9%. Among the larger states Uttar Pradesh and Punjab have a penetration level of 60% plus. Two Wheeler (Motor) Penetration: Household penetration of two wheelers on an all India basis increased from 11.7% to 21.0% over the decade 2001-11. Two wheeler household penetration in rural India increased by more than double i.e., to 14.3%, the growth in urban India was from 24.7% to 35.2%. Above average growth recorded for Northeastern states and Bihar. Household penetration for passenger vehicles almost doubled over the decade: Four wheeler penetration jumped from 2.5% to 4.7% over 2001-11. In the urban India it was at 9.7% while in the rural region it was at 2.3%. High growth was recorded in Rajasthan & Gujarat.

Some Interesting Facts Emerged from 2011 Census of India

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1 The population of India has increased by more than 181 million during the decade 2001-2011. This addition is slightly lower than the population of Brazil, the fifth most populous country in the world.

India’s population is now bigger than the combined population of USA, Indonesia, Brazil, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

2 The gap between India, the country with the second largest population in the world and China, the country with the largest population in the world has narrowed from 238 million in 2001 to nearly 131 million in 2011. On the other hand, the gap between India and the United States of America, which has the third largest population, has now widened to about 902 million from 741 million in 2001.

3 A point that is striking is that while India accounts for a meager 2.4 percent of the world surface area, it supports and sustains a whopping 17.5 percent of the world population. Density of population (per sq.km.) is 382.

4 The world population grew at an annual rate of 1.23 percent during 2000-2010. China registered a much lower annual growth rate of population (0.53 percent) during 2000-2010, as compared to India (1.64 percent during 2001-2011). India will overtake china by 2030 and have 18% of the world’s population.

5 Uttar Pradesh continues to be the most populous State in the country with 200 million people, which is more than the population of Brazil, the fifth most populous country in the world. The combined population of Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra (the second most populous State in India), at 312 million, is substantially greater than the population of USA, the third most populous country of the world.

Over 50% of the population of India is aged under 25 and over 65% of the population of India is aged under 35. It is anticipated that the median age of an Indian citizen will be 29 years in 2020, in comparison to 48 for Japan and 37 for China.

Some Administrative and Financial Facts about 2011 Census of India

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1 The 2011 census is also carried out by the office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Delhi, an office in the Ministry of Home Affairs, Government of India, under the 1948 Census of India Act. This one is the 15th Indian National census and was conducted in two phases, namely, house listing and population enumeration. The Census 2011 covered 640 districts, 5767 tehsils, 7742 towns and more than 6 lac villages. 2.7 million officials visited households in 7,935 towns and 6,40,867 villages, classifying the population according to gender, religion, education and occupation.

2 Approximately twenty seven lakh (or 2.7 million) enumerators and 2 lakh supervisors were engaged for this Census 2011 operation and information was collected on 35 items and 15 millions copies of Census Schedules were canvassed and filled in and No. of Languages in which Schedules were canvassed were 16. No. of Schedules Printed were 340 million, No. of Training Manuals Printed were 5.4 million, Paper Utilized: 12,000 MTs and Material Moved: 10,500 MTs.

The cost incurred was about 2,2000 million (US $415.8 million) – this comes to Rs. 18.33 which is less than $ 0.5 per person, which is well below the estimated world average of $4.6 per person.