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Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) for first quarter of 2021-22 reveals varying trends across sectors
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 9, 2021
The government recently released the results of the Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) for April to June 2021. Among other things, the report reveals varying trends across sectors with the IT/BPO sectors leading the growth chart while Trade & hospitality sectors reporting a decline. Here are the details.
Labour and Employment statistics are collected, compiled, and disseminated by several agencies in India, like the Ministry of Labour and Employment, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), State governments through the Department of Labour & the Directorate of Economic & Statistics. Certain private agencies like the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) also collate data related to employment.
The household-based employment surveys (like PLFS by MoSPI) provide employment scenarios for the supply-side of the labour market. One of our previous articles highlights the major employment and unemployment trends revealed in the latest Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) report 2019-20 by geography, gender, and approach.
To provide a consolidated picture of the employment scenario for the demand-side of labour market, establishment-based economic census and sample surveys are required. For instance, India’s Economic Census enumerated all establishments engaged in various agricultural and non-agricultural activities excluding crop production, plantation, public administration, defence, and compulsory social security.
The Labour Bureau has been entrusted with conducting the All-India Quarterly establishment-based Employment Survey (AQEES), which has two components namely Quarterly Employment Survey (QES) in respect of establishments employing 10 or more workers (mostly constituting organised sector) and Area Frame Establishment Survey (AFES) to build up a frame in respect of establishments (mostly in the unorganised sector) employing 9 or fewer workers.
1st Employment Survey (QES): Methodology and Limitations
The present Employment Survey (QES) (April to June 2021) is the first in the series that provides estimates of employment, vacancies, training, and other related parameters for selected 9 sectors of the non-farm economy over successive quarters. The Survey aims to provide insights into relative change in the employment situation over successive quarters in the above segments of the Indian Economy.
The scope of the present QES is limited only to establishments having 10 or more workers (organised sector) as identified by the Sixth Economic Census (2013-14). Further, the survey covers employment in select 9 sectors in the non-farm economy i.e., Manufacturing, Construction, Trade, Transport, Education, Health, Accommodation & Restaurants, Information Technology (IT) & Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), and Financial Services.
Some other notable limitations about the present QES survey are as follows:
High Proprietary ownership, closely followed by Private Ltd. company and Govt./PSU ownership
In the present round of QES, information was collected from 10,593 units in the select 9 sectors throughout the country. The distribution of the collected sample in terms of sector and coverage is illustrated in the chart below.
The highest number of establishments were in the Education sector, closely followed by the manufacturing sector. In terms of sample allocation, the highest number of sample establishments were allotted to Manufacturing, followed by Trade and Education.
In terms of ownership, the estimated establishments in the survey show the following distribution trend.
Around 29% of the estimated units were under Proprietary ownership, followed by Private Limited Company at 24.8% and Government/Public Sector Units (PSUs) at 20.9%.
The survey further highlights that, within Proprietary ownership, the maximum number of establishments (61.4%) were found to be in Accommodation & Restaurants, followed by 47% in the Trade sector. In the case of Private Limited Company, the highest numbers of estimated units (83.7%) were found to be in the IT/BPOs sector, followed by the Construction sector (56.3%).
Within Government/PSU ownership, the highest number of estimated units were reported in the financial service sector (54.2%), followed by Education (42.7%).
Overall employment improves; Growth in all sectors expect Trade, and Accommodation & Restaurant
The total employment in the 9 select sectors from 1 QES (April to June 2021) stands at 3 crores 8 lakhs, against 2 crores 37 lakhs for these sectors as reported by the Sixth Economic Census (2013-14), implying a growth of 29%.
Of the total employment estimated in the select 9 sectors, Manufacturing accounts for nearly 41%, followed by Education with 22%, and Health with 8%, Trade and IT/BPO with 7% of the total estimated number of workers.
The most impressive growth of 152% has been recorded in the IT/BPO sector, while growth rates in Health 77%, Financial Services 48%, Education 39%, Manufacturing 22%, Transport 68%, and Construction 42% were also quite significant. However, employment in Trade came down by 25% and in Accommodation & Restaurant by 13%.
Percentage of female workers declines
The overall percentage of female workers stands at 29%, slightly lower than 31% reported during Sixth Economic Census (2013-14).
Regular workers constitute 88% of the estimated workforce in the 9 select sectors, with only 2% being casual workers. However, the survey further highlights that about 18% of workers in the Construction sector are contractual employees and 13% are casual workers.
With respect to educational qualifications of employees, around 31% of the workers in 7 out of 9 sectors (excluding Education and Health) were matriculates/secondary or less educated, while another 31% were graduates or had higher qualifications. The percentage of graduates and above is as high as 70% in the IT/BPO sector and 59% in Financial Services. In the Health sector, only 22% of the non-clinical workers were matriculated and the figure was 15% in the Education sector. More than two-thirds of the employees in Education and Health were graduates or higher.
With respect to the size of establishments, nearly 90% of the establishments have been estimated to work with less than 100 workers, though 34.8% of the IT/BPO establishments and 18% of Health establishments had 100 or more workers. In the Sixth Economic Census (2013-14), about 95% of the establishments were reported to be working with 100 or fewer workers.
Employment decreases in 27% establishments due to COVID-19
The survey also assessed the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on employment in the organised non-farm segment. Overall, employment decreased due to the pandemic in 27% of the establishments.
On an encouraging note, about 81% of the workers received full wages during the lock-down period (25 March – 30 June 2020). About 16% received reduced wages and 3% were denied any wage. In the Health and Financial Services sector, more than 90% of workers received full wages. In the Construction sector, however, 27% of workers had to accept reduced wages and 7% did not receive any wage.

created: October 9, 2021


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Data: Questions over storage & other costs as Food Grain stocks with FCI are way beyond the requirement
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 27, 2020
The Government announced multiple food security related schemes to help people tide over the COVID-19 induced crisis. However, even accounting for the additional requirement, data indicates  that the buffer stock levels with FCI are way beyond the requirement and this might only increase the storage & other associated costs.
On 16 May 2020, Government of India announced distribution of food grains free of cost at 5 kg per month in a family under the Atma Nirbhar Bharat Package (ANBP), to nearly about 8 crore migrant labour who are not covered under NFSA or State PDS (Public Distribution System) schemes.
This announcement was made to extend support for migrant families whose livelihood has been affected due to nationwide lockdown and its aftermath on account of COVID-19. Under this scheme, the food grains would be provided for the months of May & June of 2020. The government estimates the allocation of food grains under this scheme to be the tune of 8 Lakh Metric Tonnes (LMT).
Prior to this, an additional 5 kg of food grains per month was announced to be provided to those under NFSA and to priority households under Antodaya Anna Yojana under Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Ann Yojana (PMGKAY) as part of COVID-19 relief measures. The initial provision was for 3 months (April-June’20) and the number of beneficiaries was pegged at 80 crores. On 30 June 2020, the Prime Minister  announced extension of this scheme for another 5 months i.e. until November 2020.
The total allocation for PMGKAY was 320 LMT (120 LMT for April-June’2020 and 200 LMT July-November’20).  Hence the additional food grains which the Government has proposed to distribute under these two schemes is around 328 LMT.
Similar to the distribution of food grains under PDS and various other schemes, these additional food grains would also be distributed from the stocks available with Food Corporation of India.
However, does FCI have stocks to cater to this additional requirement?
Current available stock is higher than the buffer requirement specified by government
The Government of India determines the food grain stocking norms i.e. the level of stock to be kept in the Central pool. This stock is used to meet the operational stock requirement and for any exigencies. Operational Stocks refer to the food grains needed for monthly distribution under TPDS (Targeted PDS) & Other Welfare Schemes (OWS). The latest stocking norms are as per an order dated January 2015. The stocking norms are for specified for the beginning of every quarter and consist of operational stocks and strategic reserves.
As per the information provided by FCI,  the available stock of rice as on 28 June 2020, is 266.29 LMT. This is higher than the 135.4 LMT buffer stock to be maintained by 01 July 2020.
Similarly, the available stock of wheat with FCI as on 28 June 2020 is 550.31 LMT, which is nearly double the 275.8 LMT limit of wheat that needs to be maintained by 01 July 2020 as per buffer stock norms.
Increasing trend in the availability of Rice buffer stock in FCI Central Pool
In addition to the maintenance of stocks beyond the required buffer limit, an increasing trend in the stock position is also observed over the years. In an earlier story, we analysed the trend of increase in the procurement of Rice and Wheat year on year, especially the record procurement in the current year.
Analysis of the stock information of FCI shows an yearly increasing trend, when the quarter stock positions are compared. In 2016, the buffer stock of rice available on 01 January was 126.89 LMT, which increased to 134.75 LMT in the following year 2017. An increase is also recorded both in 2018 & 2019. As on 01 January 2020, the buffer stock of rice available was 237.15 LMT.
Similar trend is observed in the stocks available on 01 April every year. In 2016, 221.61 LMT buffer stock of rice was available which increased every subsequent year. A total of 322.39 LMT of rice was available with FCI in central pool as on 01 April 2020.
In 2016, 194.14 LMT of rice was available on 01 July 2016. The availability of stocks during this period has also increased in the subsequent years. On 01 July 2019, a total of 284. 21 LMT of rice was available. Bucking the trend, the stock available in 2020 during this period (as on 28 June) was lower than previous year at 266.29 LMT. However, it has to be noted that additional rice was distributed during April-June period in line with the support package announced due to lockdown. Furthermore, substantial amount of stock is in transit and is yet to be stocked in FCI Godowns, which could increase the available rice stock.
The availability of rice stocks as on 01 October also followed a similar increasing trend over the years like the other quarters. It remains to be seen if the trend continues in 2020, especially after the increased grain distribution as part of various relief packages in the wake of COVID-19.
It is to be noted that apart from this stock of rice, there is also stock  of un-milled paddy available with FCI, which also shows an increasing trend in the available stocks during different quarters every year.
Increasing trend in Wheat buffer stock over the past three years
Barring the first two quarters in 2017, the buffer stocks of wheat have registered a corresponding year on year increase for every quarter. The increase in the stocks for 2020 has been especially more significant.
On 01 January 2016, the stock of wheat with FCI was 237.88 LMT which fell in next year. The stocks have since registered an increase every subsequent year. Similar trend is observed at the beginning of next quarter i.e. 01 April. There is a significant increase in the buffer stock on 01 April 2020, with nearly 77 LMT more than last year.  The stock of wheat as updated on 28 June 2020 was also higher than last year by 98 LMT.
Current Stocks are enough to meet the increased requirement
As per a press release by Ministry Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution, the total Food grain stock available as on 08 July 2020 ( according to FCI report ) is 812.51 LMT.  Of this, Rice Stocks amount to 267.29 LMT and the stocks of Wheat are to the tune of 545.22 LMT.
In the same press note, it is stated that out of the 120 LMT allocated to the states as part of the first instalment of PMGKAY (April – June’2020), 116.02 LMT have already been lifted by the states.  This leaves around 4 LMT which is yet to be lifted out of the allocated stock of food grains for those three months.
The second installment of PMGKAY, for the five months of July-November’2020 has an allocation of 201.1 LMT. This includes 109.94 LMT of rice and 91.14 LMT of wheat to be provided to various states and UTs.
Government estimates that nearly 55 LMT of food grains are required per month to meet the demands under NFSA and other schemes. This is corroborated by the Allotment and Offtake numbers provided by FCI. As per the actual figures of 2018-19, the average monthly off take of rice was approximately 28.5 LMT while that of wheat is around 26.5 LMT.
Therefore, the Government would be requiring a total of around 275 LMT of food grains (142.5 – Rice & 132.5 – Wheat) to meet the requirement for NFSA and other schemes for the five-month period of July- November’20.
Therefore, the total Food grains needed to meet the requirement under PMGKAY – II and NFSA & Other schemes for the five-month period (July-November’20) is 478.1 LMT. This leaves a balance of 336.41 LMT from the current available food grains stock by the end of November’2020. Of this,  the balance of rice from the current stock is 14.85 LMT and wheat it is 321.58 LMT.
This calculation is based on the current available stock. However, the following has to be noted in calculating the balance stock numbers.
In an update on ANBA for migrant workers, the government mentioned that the states have already lifted 6.39 LMT of the allocated 8 LMT for this scheme. With many migrants reaching their native places, it estimated that their food security needs would be met through NFSA and PMGKAY – II.
Therefore, there would be no major impact on the current available buffer stocks through this scheme, even though the government has extended the date until 31August for the sates to distribute the food grains.
Therefore, despite the additional burden of various schemes announced to provide food security during the current turbulent times, enough food stocks are available to meet this additional demand if one goes by the numbers. Furthermore, these stocks would be replenished by end of November’2020 to meet the regular monthly demand of NFSA & other schemes from December’2020  and also maintain the required buffer stocks to earlier levels or even more.
Increasing Buffer stock levels are a cause of concern for FCI
As the data indicates, the current buffer stock levels are substantially higher than the specified norms. Even taking into consideration any exigency or a pandemic situation like COVID-19, the stocks are projected to continue with the increasing trend as observed over the years. There are multiple issues with holding buffer stock beyond the requirement. Some of them are;
There are also concerns around FCI not being able to ensure Price security to the farmers. With increased procurement,  FCI may also be limiting lucrative options for farmers  that an open market may offer.
The National Policy on Biofuels – 2018 allows for conversion of surplus quantities of food grains to ethanol, based on the approval of National Biofuel Coordination Committee. In line with this policy, the committee recently approved that the surplus rice available with Food Corporation of India (FCI) may be converted  to ethanol for utilization in making alcohol-based hand-sanitizers. However, it is still unclear as to how much of the excess food grains will be approved for this purpose. Hence, the effectiveness of this policy is not yet known. Furthermore, various groups have opposed this policy in the light of uncertain times following COVID-19.
As FCI is not able to dispose the excess stock it has procured, there are questions around the prudence of government’s procurement policy. There is a need for FCI to identify effective ways of disposing the stock, to ensure it continues with its goal of providing price security to farmers as well as ensuring food security.
Featured Image: Food security schemes

source: news-factly

license: Creative Commons - Attribution - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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Increase in number of COVID-19 cases during the second wave
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 9, 2021
India has been averaging more than one lakh new COVID-19 cases every day for the last few days. We crossed the earlier peak of 97000 odd daily cases reported in September 2020. It took a mere 25 days to cross the number compared to over 70 days during the first wave. However, it is still early to conclude on the severity or the direction of this wave.
As per the daily update on 08 April 2021 provided by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), there were a total of 1,26,789 new COVID-19 positive cases that were reported across India in a single day. This is the highest number of cases recorded in a single day in India since the pandemic broke out in the country last year. In fact, over the last four days, more than one lakh new cases were reported each day for three days. As per the update on 05 April 2021, 1.03 lakh new cases were reported in a day, the first such instance of more than 1 lakh daily cases ever since the pandemic broke out in India.
The earlier daily highest number of new cases was on 16 September 2020 with 97.8 thousand new cases were reported. Since then, the numbers have gradually fallen to around 10-12 thousand cases per day during January 2021 up until Mid-February 2021. However, starting from the last week of February 2021, there has been a gradual increase in the total number of new daily cases being reported, which further intensified during March 2021, indicating a Second wave of COVID-19 spread in the country.
The rate of increase in COVID-19 cases during the 2nd wave more than twice during the 1st
During the first wave of COVID-19 spread in the country, the number of new daily cases peaked during mid-September. As noted earlier, the highest number of cases in a single day was on 16 September 2020.
The time taken to reach this peak was a long drawn one when compared to many other countries. After the first COVID-19 case was reported in India at the end of January 2020, it was not until June 2020 that the number of new daily cases crossed the 10 thousand mark.
The progression described above is based on when the first instance a milestone i.e., 20 thousand cases, thirty thousand cases, etc. was crossed. Note that there could be instances of minor rise & fall in the numbers of new daily cases in between.
However, comparatively, the growth in the number of cases during the current wave (2 wave) is much quicker.
Case Positivity rate has nearly quadrupled in the last one month
The information analysed so far does indicate a more rapid increase in the new cases of COVID-19 during the current second wave, when compared to the first wave. Apart from the spread of the infection, one of the reasons cited for the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases during the latter part of 2020 was the ramping up of the testing facilities. The increase in the number of COVID-19 tests has enabled the identification of a greater number of COVID-19 positive cases.
In this context, Case Positive Rate (CPR) provides a better perspective. It indicates the number of cases identified as positive per every 100 tests conducted.
We have observed in an earlier story, that there were early indications in the fall of CPR, with the number of tests remaining constant along with the decreasing number of new COVID-19 positive cases. To ensure consistency in the numbers and remove any extremities, we took a 7-day moving average for calculating the CPR instead of a daily CPR.
Recent trends show a slight increase in the number of tests being conducted on a daily basis. It is to be seen if the increase in the number of tests would have an impact on CPR, or it would continue to grow as seen over the last month.
While there is a slight fall in Fatality Rate, the recovery rate fell owing to more new cases
One of the significant aspects of the spread of COVID-19 in India has been its lower fatality rate when compared to other countries. During the peak period of first-wave i.e., around mid-September’2020, the fatality rate was around 1.65% i.e., 1.65 deaths per 100 total confirmed COVID-19 positive cases (7-day moving average).
In fact, while the COVID-19 numbers were increasing towards the peak, it coincided with a fall in the fatality rates. The fall in fatality rate further continued.  Even during the last month, which has seen a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 positive cases and the CPR, the declining trend of fatality rate continued. The fatality rate is currently around 1.3%.
Analysing the Fatality rate as a standalone indicator does not offer a complete picture. The fatality rate could take some time to stabilize as we are in the phase of a quick increase in cases. However, it also has to be noted that there is no documented evidence of the second wave or any different variant being more fatal than the first. Experts argue that with the improvement in healthcare facilities coupled with treatment protocols and vaccination efforts, the fatality rates could further fall. However, it is still early days to come to any definitive conclusion.
On the other hand, the recovery rate is the no. of COVID-19 positive cases that have reported as recovered. Since the beginning of the pandemic in the country, the recovery rate has shown a consistent increase. During the peak period of the first phase, the recovery rate was around 80%, which further increased in the ensuing months. By the end of February 2021, the recovery rate was at its highest at 97%.  However, since then, there has been a fall in the recovery date which is currently at around 93 %. One of the primary reasons for this is the increase in rapid increase in the new cases who are either asymptomatic or undergoing treatment and yet to be reported as recovered. These numbers are yet ambiguous, and the rates will stabilize only when the trend in cases stabilizes in the next few weeks.
Earlier timelines indicate that it is still early days of Second Phase
Among the countries with significantly higher COVID-19 numbers, the USA and Brazil had a protracted first wave similar to that of India. Meanwhile, European countries had a shorter burst of increase in COVID-19 numbers and followed by a fall. Comparatively, the second wave has been longer in these countries. Apart from that, the caseload has been way higher during the 2nd wave with almost a 10-fold increase in the daily number of cases reported in these countries. While the USA seems to have recently exited the second wave after a prolonged period than the first wave, Brazil is still reporting higher numbers.
These trends could be indicative of the trends in India as well.  As for the timeline, going by the experience of the first wave, and the longer duration of the second wave in other countries, we might have just entered a longer phase of the second wave even in India. However, the one crucial difference is that India entered the second wave when the vaccination efforts have taken off with more than 7 crore people already vaccinated. While a steeper peak and rapid increase in the number of cases in India in the coming weeks cannot be ruled out, it is still early days to come to any such conclusion.
The exponential increase in the positive cases in the second wave observed in other countries could indicate that India might be looking at much larger numbers by the time second wave peaks. For comparison, the peak for the USA during the first wave was around 80 thousand cases, while during the second wave it is around 3 lakh cases.
While the higher recovery rates & lower fatality rate, have been a positive for India during the first wave, it is to be seen if the country would be able to maintain the same even during the current second wave. A lot might depend on the severity of cases coupled with the readiness of the system to deal with a rapid increase in caseload.
Featured Image: Second wave of COVID-19


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Data: Rapid Spread, Increased Cases, and Lower deaths seems to be the story of the Omicron Wave around the World
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 28, 2022
Like in the case of India, the Omicron variant is driving the current wave of infection across the world. In most countries, there is a rapid spread of the infection with a record number of cases. However, the deaths have been much lower compared to the earlier waves.
The emergence of the Omicron variant has resulted in an exponential increase in the number of new COVID-19 cases across the world. The latest data shows an average of 37 lakh new cases a day. While there is a rapid spread of Omicron resulting in lakhs of new cases every day, the fatality rate across countries is lower than in earlier waves.
In an earlier story, we analysed the trends of the COVID-19 third wave in India, driven primarily by the Omicron variant. The trends indicate that despite a rapid increase in the number of new cases during the ongoing third wave, the number of deaths is much lower than the second wave.
In this story, we look at the trends across some of the important countries. In each of these countries, the Omicron variant is believed to be driving the current wave.  Unlike in the case of India, which is going through a distinct third wave, many of the countries have had multiple waves earlier before the current wave.
The data for this story is collated from Ourworldindata.org, which has compiled the information provided by authoritative sources of the respective countries. We have considered a 7-day moving average for the number of daily cases and deaths to even out any outliers in the reporting.
United States of America (USA)
Since taking over as the country with the highest number of COVID-19 cases during the initial months of COVID-19 spread, the USA has continued to be the most impacted country in each of the subsequent waves. This trend continued even during the current wave. The current wave in the USA is attributed to Omicron variant with more than 90% of the cases in the last few weeks because of this variant.
Even the high global numbers of daily cases are largely contributed by the numbers in the USA. The country is currently reporting an average of 5 lakh COVID-19 positive cases a day. However, the wave seems to have crossed the peak as close to 9 lakh daily cases were reported at the peak of this wave. This is multiple times higher than the earlier peak, when the number of daily cases was only around 3 lakh cases during February 2021. The subsequent wave during September 2021 recorded around 2 lakh cases a day at the peak.
The Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is less during the current wave compared to the earlier waves. The number of deaths is on par with the numbers reported in the earlier wave during September 2021. It must be noted that the number of cases during the current wave is almost 4 times the number of cases during the previous wave while the number of deaths has remained more or less the same.
The number of deaths might increase slightly in the days to come as deaths lag the cases by about two weeks. Despite the possibility of an increase in deaths, it would be much lower than during the earlier waves.
United Kingdom (UK)
The current wave in the UK is past its peak with daily cases on the decline over the past few days. At the peak of the current wave, around 1.8 lakh cases were reported in a day. For the past one week, the number of daily cases has reduced and currently around 90 thousand cases are being reported.
The number of daily deaths has also stabilized with the fall in the number of cases. The peak in the number of deaths was around 250 a day. While this is slightly higher than the numbers during the preceding wave, the fatality rate (number of deaths per 100 cases) is much lower as the number of cases is many times more than during the earlier wave.
Around this time in 2021, the UK experienced a high fatality rate of around 1200 plus deaths a day. However, the peak number of cases was only around 60,000 a day compared to the peak of 1,80,000 during the current wave. In other words, while the current wave has spread rapidly and infected a greater number of people, it is definitely less fatal.
In view of the reducing number of cases, the UK government is taking steps to ease travel and other COVID-19 related restrictions which were imposed earlier.
Brazil
Brazil has the highest number of COVID-19 cases among the Latin American countries and is third in the world. The latest data indicates that with around 2 lakh daily cases, the new wave of COVID-19 infection is in the ascendency and could further increase in the coming days. The earlier peak was around 1.1 lakh cases (singe day reported peak, not average) i.e., the number of cases at the current peak is already twice the earlier peak.
However, the number of deaths reported is much lower than the earlier peak. Currently, around 300 daily deaths are being reported and this number is increasing whereas, around 4 thousand deaths were reported during the peak in 2021. During March/April 2021, the average daily deaths were around 3,000 which is much higher than the current numbers
The trend is like India where despite a higher number of cases compared to the earlier waves, the number of deaths is much lower. However, the current wave has not yet peaked in Brazil, and we could see an increased number of cases in the days to come.
Australia
Australia is among the countries which have followed strict COVID-19 restrictions and was successful in controlling the COVID-19 spread in the country till recently. However, the country is going through its severest COVID-19 wave so far, though numbers are lower than in other countries.
The wave is currently subsiding from a peak of more than 1 lakh cases a day. The earlier highest peak in Australia was only around 2 thousand cases around November 2021. Like in other countries, the Omicron variant is detected in the current wave of infection. As per the health chief of New South Wales, one of the largely populated states in Australia, nearly 90% of the cases being reported are of Omicron variant.
Unlike in the other countries, where the number of deaths is lower than during the earlier waves, the number of deaths in Australia is higher during the current wave.  More than 100 deaths a day were reported at the peak of the current wave while the previous highest was only around
50 deaths during September 2020. In the earlier wave during November 2021, the peak of daily deaths was around 25.
While the trend in Australia looks different compared to other countries, it is actually not. The higher number of deaths is due to the exponential increase in cases and not an increase in the fatality rate. The CFR is still lower than in earlier waves. Australia is among the highly vaccinated countries with around 78% of the population fully vaccinated.
Philippines
The Philippines is in the middle of its distinct fourth wave of COVID-19 infection. In terms of the number of cases being recorded, the current wave is the worst.  In the earlier wave, around September 2021, the highest number of daily cases was around 21 thousand, while the current peak is around 35 thousand.
At the same time, there is a marked reduction in the number of daily deaths. At the peak during September 2021, the number of daily deaths (7-day average) was more than 260 with a single-day peak of more than 400 deaths. The 7-day average daily deaths of the current wave are around 130.
The reporting of COVID-19 deaths has followed a very different trajectory in the Philippines compared to most other countries. A higher number of deaths due to COVID-19 related complications continued to be reported late into November 2021, even though the number of daily cases was very low during that period.
As is the case with India, the actual number of COVID-19 related deaths may be higher than what is currently being reported in the Philippines. Only about 50% of the population is fully vaccinated in the Philippines.
Deaths are low during the current Omicron related wave in most countries
While UK seems to have tided over the current COVID-19 wave, other Western European countries like Italy, France & Spain are still reporting higher number of COVID-19 cases.
The trend in these countries is like UK and is marked by exponentially higher number of COVID-19 cases than during the earlier waves but significantly lower number of daily deaths.
The trend in the USA and other countries in terms of deaths is also the same. Even in the case of Australia which is reporting a higher number of deaths than earlier, the fatality rate is still lower than in the earlier waves. Hence, it can be concluded that as is the case with India, the Omicron-related wave is resulting in a rapid spread of infection but is less fatal.
Featured Image: Story of the Omicron Wave

created: January 28, 2022


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Data: Record 55 Recipients for Padma Awards Under ‘Art’ Category in 2024, Highest Since Inception.
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 30, 2024
The 2024 Padma Awards were recently announced, and the President has granted consent for the award of 132 Padma Awards, including 5 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan, and 110 Padma Shri. Data indicates that the number of Padma Awards conferred in the years in which polls to Lok Sabha took place was higher than the average awards conferred in the preceding years.
In a country as vast and multifaceted as India, civilian awards serve as unifying forces, transcending regional, linguistic, and cultural boundaries. They highlight the richness and diversity of talent that exists within the nation, showcasing stories of perseverance, ingenuity, and service that resonate with people from all walks of life. By honouring individuals who have excelled in fields ranging from art and literature to science, social work, and public service, these awards reinforce the idea that success knows no barriers and that every contribution, no matter how small, is valued and appreciated. Furthermore, these civilian awards can act as catalysts for social change, providing a platform for issues that are often overlooked or marginalized.
These Civilian awards are the highest form of national recognition. Each award, be it the prestigious Padma Bhushan, Padma Vibhushan, or the highest civilian honour, the Bharat Ratna, carries with it the weight of history and the essence of excellence. They not only acknowledge individual achievements but also inspire others to strive for greatness, fostering a culture of meritocracy and innovation.
With this brief context in mind, we look at statistics on civilian awards in India. The data for this has been sourced from Dataful. Factly’s detailed explainer on the awards can be read here.
One Bharat Ratna and 132 Padma Awards conferred in 2024.
The Bharat Ratna is the highest civilian award in the country. It is different from the Padma Award in its treatment and significance. Recommendations for the Bharat Ratna are usually made by the Prime Minister directly to the President of India, without necessitating any formal process. The number of Bharat Ratna Awards is restricted to a maximum of three in a particular year. Following the conferral of three Bharat Ratna Awards in 2019, the year 2024 saw the bestowal of the Bharat Ratna upon the former Chief Minister of Bihar, Karpoori Thakur, popularly referred to as ‘Jan Nayak’. A total of 49 Bharat Ratna awards have been conferred to date since the inception of awards in 1954.
For the year 2024, the President has granted consent for the award of 132 Padma Awards, encompassing 2 instances of collaborative recognition (wherein each duo case is counted as one award). The comprehensive list encompasses 5 Padma Vibhushan, 17 Padma Bhushan, and 110 Padma Shri Awards. Notably, among the recipients, 30 are women, while the roster extends its embrace to 8 individuals hailing from the category of Foreigners / NRI / PIO / OCI, alongside paying tribute to 9 figures posthumously.
Excluding foreigners and posthumous awards, the total Padma Awards conferred in 2024 stands at 115. It should be noted that the maximum number of awards to be given in a year (excluding posthumous awards and to foreigners) should not be more than 120. To date, a total of 5191 Padma Awards are conferred.
A record 55 recipients for Padma Awards under ‘Art’ category in 2024, highest since inception.
The Padma Awards aim to acknowledge outstanding contributions in various fields, encompassing a wide range of activities and disciplines. This recognition is bestowed for distinguished and exceptional achievements or service. The diverse list of eligible fields includes but is not limited to, art, social work, public affairs, science and engineering, trade and industry, medicine, literature and education, sports, civil service, and more.
A total of 5191 Padma Awards have been conferred to date, with awards under the ‘Art’ category accounting for 23% of the total, followed by ‘Literature’ at 20%, and ‘Medicine’ at 12%. These three fields account for more than 50% of the total Padma Awards conferred to date.
Further, in 2024, 55 Padma Awards were conferred under the ‘Art’ category, making it the highest in that category since the inception of the awards.
How Political are the Padma Awards?  Exploring perspectives- States and Central
The declaration of the Padma Awards frequently sparks controversy, with allegations that selections may be influenced by political agendas. Historically, it is alleged that the Padma Awards served as a form of political messaging. While the electoral impact of such signalling may be minimal, the politicization of these awards can still offer a perceived moral advantage during elections.
But, given the public narrative space these awards command, it is assumed that the conferment of these awards is politics-free. However, the reality may differ.
When the data on the number of Padma Awards given to states that had elections that year is compiled, it is observed that the average share of Padma award recipients from poll-bound states out of the total awards conferred always hovered around 22%. Between 1999-2004, 2005-09, and 2010-2014, the share of poll-bound states remained at 21% out of the total Padma Awards. However, between 2015-2019, it marginally rose to 23%, and from 2020-2023, it further rose to 25%.
(Note: The number of poll-bound states in each year varies, and accordingly the incentive to confer Padma awards to that state varies. This must be kept in mind while analysing the below graph).
Lok Sabha:
Since the Union government is primarily involved in the selection process of the recipients, the murmurs that these awards are used for further political advantage in Lok Sabha elections always exist.
The data on the Padma Awards conferred in the years in which polls to Lok Sabha took place show that the number of awards conferred in the Lok Sabha poll year was higher than the average awards conferred in the preceding years.
In 2004, the number of Padma Awardees was 96, whereas the average in the preceding years from 2000 was 92. Similarly, for 2009, where poll year saw 133 awards, while the average in preceding years was 109. For 2014, 2019, and 2024, the Padma awardees stood at 126, 111, and 132 whereas the averages in the preceding years stood at 117, 96 and 123 respectively.
Future of these awards: Need for a policy to revoke honours.
Criticism of political motivations driving these awards, perceived lack of transparency in the selection process, and some recipients declining the honour exist. On the other hand, proponents argue that these awards serve as vital national recognition for those who have made meaningful contributions to society. However, there is a pressing need for reforms to address the flaws in the selection process. These concerns are undeniably valid, particularly regarding the establishment of a mechanism to revoke awards if compelling evidence emerges that an awardee has tarnished the integrity of these awards.

created: January 30, 2024


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Data: Recovery of Amounts Transferred to Ineligible Beneficiaries Under PM KISAN Still Low
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 10, 2023
Since the launch of the PM KISAN scheme, amounts have been transferred to beneficiaries in 12 instalments so far. The greatest number of beneficiaries of the scheme was during the 11th instalment (April to July 2022) with 10.45 crores which is still less than the projected the beneficiary number of 14.5 crores. Even the recovery of amounts transferred to ineligible beneficiaries is very low.
Farming is a risky profession owing to its extreme dependence on climatic conditions. Given the importance of food security for all, these uncertainties justify the crucial role of governments in providing a safety net for farmers. One key factor in determining the safety net is the costs of production. With rising input costs, they end up using a higher portion of their working capital on input costs while making less money. Input costs of production should not be allowed to exert an additional burden on the farmers.
To mitigate the hardships due to rising input costs and to address the liquidity constraints of the farmers, the Government of India launched an income support scheme, Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM KISAN), which provides an income support of Rs. 6,000 per year to every landholding farmer, to be paid in three equal installments before every crop season. It has the characteristics of Universal Basic Income (UBI) but is restricted to only farmers. It is on the lines of similar schemes launched in states like Telangana, Odisha, etc.
In this story, we look at some of the statistics relating to PM-KISAN since the inception of the scheme.
Consistent increase in the number of beneficiaries
The Government had paid twelve instalments since the inception of the scheme in 2018. Over these twelve instalments, the number of beneficiaries who had received the income support varies largely. While some extent of additions and removals can be attributed to the constant revision of list of eligible beneficiaries, large variations in beneficiaries raises pertinent doubts.
Each installment is categorized as a period, and accordingly, the beneficiaries have been mapped. The first installment had 3.16 crore beneficiaries, while the second installment had 6 crore beneficiaries, owing to the extension in eligibility criteria from the initial 2-hectare limit to all farmers. The number of beneficiaries saw a consistent increase for each period, except the 12 period which registered a decline by almost 20%. The amount released corresponds to the number of eligible beneficiaries.
Substantial proportion of farmers yet to receive the benefits
The PM-KISAN scheme was initially restricted to farmers owning land up to two hectares. Subsequently, the scheme was extended to cover all land-holding farmers irrespective of the size of land holding subject to an exclusion criterion. The exclusion criteria include all serving and retired officers and employees of the government, public sector enterprises, and autonomous institutions under the government, including local bodies (except class IV and group D employees), as well as farmer families with at least one member holding a constitutional office, serving in the legislature, or serving as a mayor or chairperson of a municipal corporation, professionals such as engineers, lawyers, doctors, Chartered Accountants, and any person who had paid income tax in the previous assessment year are excluded from the programme.
As per a parliamentary answer from July 2019 when the scheme was restricted to small and marginal farmers with land holdings below 2 hectares, the number of beneficiaries added up to 12.5 crores. With the expansion in the coverage, an additional estimated two crores’ farmers are expected to be covered. This takes the total eligible farmers to 14.5 Crore.
After the extension, the eligible farmers stood at 14.5 Crores. However, considering the maximum number of beneficiaries receiving the benefits under the scheme till the 12 installment, only 10.45 Crore had received benefits, amounting to a shortfall of 28% below the estimated number. If we consider the latest number of the 12 installment, the number of beneficiaries comes up to 8.42 crore, the shortfall in the disbursal comes up to 42%.
Lower registrations than the projected number of eligible farmers could be due to a variety of factors, including problems with initial estimates.
Region-wise PM-KISAN beneficiaries
To get a fair understanding of the share of beneficiaries in different states, a region-wise analysis is done. States have been categorized as per their geographical location. Northern Region includes states like Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, and Himachal Pradesh. The western Region includes states like Rajasthan, Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Goa. Eastern Region includes the States of Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Odisha. Central India comprises of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, and Southern Region includes the states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, and Karnataka.
The northern region accounted for almost 25% of the total beneficiaries, followed by the western region with 23%, the southern region with 19.5%, and the Eastern region with 18.6%. Two states in Central India accounted for 12% of the total beneficiaries.
Accordingly, if we map the share of landholdings in these regions, the Southern region accounts for 26% of the total landholdings with an average landholding size of 0.86 hectares (ha.), followed by the Eastern region with 21.4% having an average landholding size of 0.63 ha., Northern region with 19.4% with an average landholding size of 0.86 ha., and Western region with 19.35% having average landholding size of 1.82 ha., and Central India with 6.8% with average landholding size of 1.47 ha.
A higher share of landholdings with a comparatively lower average size of landholding should ideally account for more beneficiaries and vice versa. But the trend in the number of PM KISAN beneficiaries does not mirror this. While the shortcomings in the implementational aspects could be a reason behind such a contrary trend, the possibility of ghost beneficiaries could also be a reason.
87% rise in fund transfer to Ineligible or ghost beneficiaries
Under the PM-KISAN’s framework, respective State/UT administrations are responsible for identifying the beneficiaries of the Scheme and submitting their accurate and verified data on the PM-KISAN portal. Benefits of the Scheme are deposited directly into the bank accounts of eligible beneficiaries upon receipt of accurate and confirmed beneficiary data, which is then validated through the Aadhar/PFMS/Income Tax database. As per the scheme’s guidelines, States/UTs must conduct physical verification on 5–10% of the beneficiaries to ascertain their eligibility. As per 10% Physical Verification Report, 2021-22, 4.4% of beneficiaries were found to be ineligible out of the total 64 lakh verifications carried out.
As per a parliamentary question, as of January 2021, an amount of Rs. 2326 Crores had been transferred to more than 30 Lakh ineligible beneficiaries under PM-KISAN. Three states Tamil Nadu, Assam, and Punjab accounted for more than 50% of these ineligible beneficiaries, and if Gujarat, Maharashtra, and Madhya Pradesh are also included, this would account for more than 75% of the total ineligible beneficiaries.
The amount transferred for ineligible beneficiaries increased to more than Rs. 4352 Crore by March 2022. In a span of one year, the fund transferred to ineligible beneficiaries rose by 87% from Rs. 2326 crores to Rs. 4352 crores. The recovery during the same period increased from Rs. 232 crores to 297 Crores, improving by merely 28%.
Need for an accurate and timely database of farmers and farm holdings in India
India conducts its agriculture census every five years. The most recent was completed in 2015–16. Also, the agriculture census counts the number of land parcels, and not the number of farmers using it. In practice, situations like a farmer owning two farms or two families operating on one piece of property, sharing ownership of the land, are not accounted for when designing the PM KISAN scheme based on the Agriculture Census 2015-16.
There is a lot of ambiguity surrounding the number of farmers and landholdings in India. For instance, 11.8 crore people in the country are cultivators, as per the 2011 Population Census. The number of farmers according to the issued soil health cards varies as well. In cycle 1, from 2015 to 2017, 10.74 Crore soil health cards were given, while in cycle 2 from 2017 to 2019, 11.69 Crore soil health cards were distributed. These are provided to each farm holding in the country.
Given that huge amount of funds is being pumped into the direct benefit transfer schemes to support agriculture and aid farmers in efficient farming, it is high time that government creates a comprehensive database of both farmers and farm holdings, which is both accurate and timely.

created: January 10, 2023


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Registered crimes increased by 28% in lockdown year 2020 but there is a catch
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 24, 2021
The NCRB recently released the ‘Crime in India (CII) – 2020’ report. The data indicates that the total number of crimes registered in 2020 increased by 28% compared to 2019, that too in a year with COVID-19 containment measures such as lockdowns. However, this increase is not reflective of the overall increase in crime. Here is why.
The National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) recently released the 68 edition of the ‘Crime in India (CII)’ report for the year 2020. The CII 2020 report assumes significance due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the country. Measures taken in the year 2020 to contain the spread of COVID-19 like lockdowns, curfews, etc. were unprecedented and therefore could have had an impact on the number of crimes and the nature of crimes registered.
Among the various indicators provided in NCRB’s CII report, ‘Crime rate’ is a key indicator that provides a realistic picture of the prevalence of crime. Crime rate indicates the number of crimes registered per lakh population, hence is a better indicator to compare rates different entities like states, cities, districts, etc., irrespective of the size of the population. It is to be noted that the numbers in the CII report only indicate the number of crimes registered by the police and do not necessarily reflect the number of crimes actually committed. Nevertheless, these numbers are good enough to understand broad trends.
In this story, we look at the trends in the overall crime rate and across various crimes in the year 2020 and compare them with the previous years.
An overall increase in the Crime rate in 2020 compared to previous years
As per the information provided in CII 2020 report, a total of 66.01 lakh crimes were registered in the year 2020. This is significantly higher than the number of crimes registered in the earlier years, which was 51.56 lakhs (2019) & 50.74 lakhs (2018). In other words, the total number of registered crimes increased by around 28% in 2020.
The increase in the number of crimes registered during 2020 is largely due to the increase in the number of Crimes registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The number of crimes registered under IPC increased from 32.25 lakhs in 2019 to 42.54 lakhs in 2020, an increase of about 32%.
The overall Crime Rate in 2020 is 487.8 (per lakh population), compared to 385.5 in 2019. The increase in the crime rate for 2020 is much higher than what was observed in 2019. The higher growth rate is contributed by an increase in crime rates across both IPC and Special & Local Laws (SLL) crimes.
The crime rate of IPC crimes increased from 241.1 to 314.3 in 2020, while the SLL crime rate increased from 144.3 in 2019 to 173.4 in 2020.
Offences related to COVID-19 related enforcement contributed towards an increase in the IPC crime rate
While the overall crime rate for crimes registered under IPC has increased, the trends vary for each of the crimes.
While the crime rates have fallen for most of these crimes under IPC, the overall increase can be majorly attributed to one specific crime – ‘Disobedience to order by a Public Servant’. The crime rate under this category of crime increased from 2.2 in 2019 to 45.2 in 2020, an increase of more than 20 times. Even the number of crimes registered under this category increased from around 29 thousand in 2019 to 6.12 lakh in 2020. The sudden spike in this category of crime is due to the violation of COVID-19 containment measures such as lockdowns. The CII report also states that this is due to the COVID-19 related enforcement of the lockdown & social-distancing measures.
Apart from these, there is ambiguity about the nature of IPC crimes which have contributed to an increase in the Crime rate of IPC crimes. A total of 10.62 lakh cases of crime are listed under ‘Other IPC crimes’ in 2020 which accounts for a quarter of the total crimes registered under IPC for 2020, translating to a crime rate of 78.5 in 2020, more than four times the crime rate in 2019 which was only 18.9. In the year 2018, it was 16.8.
Ambiguity on the increase in Crime rate for SLL crimes
In the cases registered under various provisions of SLL, a major variation between 2020 & 2019 is for the crimes related to the ‘Motor Vehicle Act’. The crime rate fell from 15.2 to 4.1 for this category. This can be attributed to the lockdown & social distancing measures relating to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has restricted vehicular movement.
The crime rate for cases registered under various ‘Crime Against Women’ related acts fell from 2.4 in 2019 to 1.8 in 2020. This is largely contributed by the fall in crime rate for cases registered under the ‘The Dowry Prohibition Act’, which fell from 2 in 2019 to 1.6 in 2020.
The crime rate for crimes under IT Act fell from 2.3 to 2.2. Meanwhile, the report states that the overall cybercrime increased by 11.8% in 2020, which contributed towards an increase in the crime rate for Cybercrime from 3.3 in 2019 to 3.7 in 2020.
The crime rate for cases registered under ‘The Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Act’ (COTPA) more than doubled from 1.7 in 2019 to 3.7 in 2020. The number of cases registered under this act in 2020 was close to 50,000.
Although the numbers are less, the crime rate for cases registered under the ‘Essential Commodities Act’ increased from 0.3 in 2019 to 0.5 in 2020, which is a result of the COVID-19 related lockdown. The crime rate for cases registered under the ‘Excise Act’ increased from 21.7 in 2019 to 22.8 in 2020.
As is the case with IPC, crimes listed under ‘Other State Local Acts’ had an increased crime rate of 30.6 in 2020 compared to just 6.7 in 2019. Further, the crime rate for cases registered under ‘Other SLL Crimes’ increased from 6 to 25 in 2020, making it difficult to ascertain the exact nature of crimes or the act under which these increased number of cases were registered.
Tamil Nadu reported the highest increase in the Crime Rate, followed by Gujarat
Like the variation in crime rates across the different crimes, the crime rates in 2020 also varied across states. Tamil Nadu reported the Highest Crime Rate (IPC + SLL) for the year 2020 with 1808.5 crimes per lakh population. It took Delhi’s position from 2019 as the State/UT with the highest crime rate. Tamil Nadu’s crime rate almost tripled in 2020 compared to 2019 when it was only 600.3 per lakh population. A major portion of the increase in Crime Rate in Tamil Nadu for 2020, is under ‘Other IPC Crimes’, making it difficult to ascertain the exact nature of crimes in Tamil Nadu that contributed to this significant increase.
Delhi’s crime rate fell from 1586 in 2019 to 1309 in 2020. Rajasthan is the only other major state with a fall in crime rate. As highlighted earlier, there is an overall increase in the crime rate at the national level. Apart from Tamil Nadu, Gujarat & Kerala are the other states which have contributed towards this increase. Andhra Pradesh also reported a slight increase in the crime rate for 2020.
Gujarat & Maharashtra were among the states which reported a higher crime rate under ‘Disobedience to order duly promulgated by Public Servant’ most of which are lockdown-related crimes.
The crime rate for ‘Assault on women’ increased in many States
A snapshot of important trends across the States related to various crimes reveals the following.
National Picture is not reflective of the trends across States
As the data indicates, the trend at the national level of an increase or decrease of various crimes is not reflected uniformly across states. The trends in a few of the states have contributed significantly to the national rate. A detailed analysis of the data at the State, district & City level for some of the important crimes could present a more accurate picture.
Featured Image: Registered crimes in India during Lockdown 2020

created: September 24, 2021


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Reported atrocities against Scheduled Castes increased by 19% in 5 years
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
October 16, 2020
The recent incident in Hathras highlighted the issue of atrocities against the marginalized communities, especially the SCs. Data from the NCRB indicates that the reported atrocities against SCs increased by around 19% between 2015 & 2019. Rajasthan reported the highest crime rate in atrocities against SCs.
The recent incident of alleged rape and murder in Hathras, Uttar Pradesh, has not only brought discussion around women safety to the centre stage but also the issue of caste-based discrimination & violence. There are allegations that the actions of police and the public authorities are influenced by the caste of the victim. In the Hathras incident, the victim belongs to the scheduled caste while the alleged perpetrators belong to an influential caste. Other similar incidents were reported from Uttar Pradesh and other states like Rajasthan.
While the opposition parties have raised the issue of increasing crimes against women and against individuals belonging to the marginalized communities under the current government in UP, there are similar allegations & incidents in few of the other states where the opposition is in power.
In this story, we take a look at the trends in reporting of Crimes/Atrocities against the Scheduled Castes (SCs) over the years and across the states. The data is collated from the NCRB’s (National Crime Records Bureau) annual Crime in India (CII) reports.
Number of reported crimes against SCs increased by 19% since 2015
In addition to IPC crimes w.r.t SC/ST PoA, all the non-IPC crimes under this act along with crimes booked under Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955 (PCR) are also included in the NCRB report.
As per NCRB data, a total of 45,935 cases were registered for crimes/atrocities against SCs in the year 2019.  These cases included all the IPC crimes that fall under SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act) commonly known as the SC/ST PoA i.e. crimes committed against the SCs by non-SCs. Any of the crimes against SCs that fall only under IPC are not recorded under this category by NCRB because these crimes are committed by SCs against SCs.
In 2015, a total of 38.6 thousand crimes were recorded under these provisions which increased to 45.9 thousand in 2019, an increase of 19%.
Although UP reported highest number of these crimes, crime rate is the highest in Rajasthan
As per the 2011 census, there are around 20 crore persons belonging to the Scheduled Castes (SCs). In 2019, a total of 11.8 thousand crimes against SCs were recorded in Uttar Pradesh, which is more than a quarter of the total crimes against SCs in the country. Even in the earlier years, the number of such cases reported from UP is the highest among the states. In view of the recent Hathras incident, this statistic has been widely reported.
However, it has to be noted that UP also has the highest SC population in the country. The total SC population in UP as per 2011 census is 4.13 crores i.e. 20% of the total SC population in the country. In terms of the number of crimes reported with respect to the SC population, UP reported 28.6 crimes per lakh of SC population in 2019.
It ranks sixth in terms of crime rate in this category. Rajasthan has the highest Crime Rate of atrocities committed against the SCs with 55.6 crimes per one lakh SC population. In 2019, around 6.7 thousand crimes against SCs were reported from Rajasthan which also happens to be the second highest in the country. In terms of SC population, Rajasthan has 1.22 crore SCs i.e. the 5 highest in the country.
Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Gujarat and Telangana are among the states with a high Crime Rate against SCs. Meanwhile, West Bengal which has the second highest SC population in India with 2.14 crores has recorded only 119 instances of crimes against SCs in 2018 (As per NCRB, data was not provided for 2019. However, the trend is same even in the earlier years).
The specific crime for over 30% of the reported cases is ambiguous
A major portion of the Crimes against SCs were reported are under different sections of category named ‘Simple Hurt’.  In 2019, there were 13.2 thousand cases reported under this category, similar to what was reported even in 2017 & 2018. Bihar reported a  major share of cases under this category.
The numbers reported in 2019 for various categories confine to the trends observed in the previous years.
Around 15 thousand of the reported cases are categorized under ‘others’ both for Crimes under SC/ST PoA w.r.t IPC (13 thousand) and those booked only under SC/ST PoA ( 2 thousand). It means there is  great ambiguity around the reasons in a large number of cases. In both Uttar Pradesh & Rajasthan, which reported highest number of cases, a major portion of the crimes are reported under this category.
Scope for Under reporting the crimes committed against Scheduled Castes
In a report titled ‘Access to Justice for Dalits in India’, published by National Campaign for Dalit Human Rights (NCDHR), the challenges faced by victims of the marginalized communities to get a case registered with the police for a crime committed against them, are highlighted.
These include among others – discouraging the victims to not register cases through threatening, arranging for compromise, avoid registering cases against perpetrators etc.
In a BPRD report, which we have referred to in earlier stories, it is indicated that there is a prevalence of under reporting in these cases. Under reporting is more in those crimes which are less evident. A cursory look at the major crime heads for the crimes committed against SCs reveal them to be – Rape, Assault on Women, Rioting, Grievous Hurt, Kidnaping and Murder etc., the crimes which are more evident. As indicated earlier, the number of cases reported under ‘Assault on Women’ and ‘Rape’ is much higher than the ones reported under more non-evident crimes against women including stalking, harassment etc.
The study ‘Access to Justice for Dalits in India’ points to avoiding registration of cases against the perpetrators, which could explain the disproportionately higher number of cases under ‘Simple Hurt’.
The actual number of crimes is difficult to estimate in the wake of widespread under reporting. This also raises serious questions around the numbers being reported officially.  Even among the reported cases, many of them are being categorized as ‘other IPC Crimes’. This also raises serious questions over the quality of reporting.
In the next story, we would look at the disposal of cases related to crimes against Scheduled castes by the Police and the Courts, which could through more light on the state of justice to the marginalized communities.
Featured Image: Atrocities against Scheduled Castes

created: October 16, 2020


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Data: Reporting of Solid Waste Generation Data Improves but Still Inadequate
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
January 12, 2024
Between 2016-17 and 2020-21, an average of 19% of the states did not report data on the generation of one or more types of solid waste. While the reporting has greatly improved in 2020-21, it remains incomplete and inadequate. Even this limited data shows consistent increase in the generation of different types of solid waste with low recycling rates.
In the contemporary world of increasing population, urbanization, lifestyle changes, and other anthropogenic activities, the management of generation and disposal of Solid Waste (SW) has become one of the major global challenges and pressing issues with multiple negative impacts on the environment and people. As per the recent estimates of World Bank (WB), about 2.24 billion tonnes of SW was generated in the year 2020 alone with a per capita footprint of 0.79 kilograms per day. The same is projected to increase by 73% to 3.88 billion tonnes by 2050. Further, as of 2022, less than 20% of globally generated solid waste is recycled, leaving the rest of the waste either as open dumps or in landfills.
As per another 2016 report of WB, about 1.6 billion tonnes (about 5% of total emissions) of the global Green House Gases (GHG) emissions were caused primarily by open dumping and landfilling solid waste without capturing landfill gaseous emissions. The same report also estimates that by 2050, the GHG emissions of SW will increase to 2.4 billion tonnes if no improvements are made in the management of SW.
In this story, we look at the SW generation, recycling, and disposal in India
Methodology
The Data has been sourced from the Solid Waste Datasets collection by Dataful, which has compiled different types of SW data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) Annual Reports and data provided in the responses given by the government in Parliament. The analysis presented in the story is limited to data given in both these sources.
Limitations in Data recorded by the CPCB
For both the above reasons, the different types of SW data may not be complete and are expected to be significantly more than the data presented in CPCB reports.
CPCB Records 6 types of Solid Waste Data
The ‘Solid Waste’ as per Solid Waste Management Rules (SWMR) in India is defined as Solid or Semi-Solid Waste generated from domestic, commercial, sanitary, agricultural, dairy, horticulture, bio-medical (including treated bio-medical), electronic, radioactive, battery and other sources. In other words, multiple types of sources generate Solid Waste in India every day.
The CPCB maintains data about the following 6 types of SW in India, details of which along with the sources from which each of SW is generated are provided below.
Complete Data of SW Generation is not recorded in India
In the previous story on Plastic Waste, it was highlighted that Plastic Waste generation data is not being completely recorded and is not being provided by some of the states and local bodies. The analysis of other types of SW generation data also reveals that the same issue prevails for other types of SW as well.
For example, the analysis of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste data furnished by CPCB in the parliament shows that 28 out of the 36 States and Union Territories (UTs) have not submitted data about C&D waste in the year 2021-22. Apart from 2021-22, there is no information in the public domain about C&D waste for the previous years. Therefore, it shows that C&D waste generated over the years in India has not been indented and recorded. The partial data submitted by 8 States and UTs shows that about 7,505 tonnes of C&D waste is generated per day in the year 2021-22.
Similarly, the analysis of other types of SW data also shows that several states have not submitted the data of different types of SW generated over the years.
Data shows that from the year 2016-17 to 2021-22, an average of 19% of states have not provided information about one or more types of solid waste. Only Bio-medical waste has been consistently recorded and submitted by most of the states over the years. The other types of SW such as Hazardous, Electronic and Plastic Waste have not been consistently reported across the years by the states. It is only from the year 2018-19 onwards that most of the states have begun to consistently report about different types of SW. Progressively, the situation has improved and as of 2020-21, most of the states have reported about different kinds of waste.
However, as reported earlier, the data that is recorded and submitted by states even from the year 2020-21 do not reflect the actual volumes of different types of SW generated in India. For example, the 2020-21 CPCB annual report on Hazardous Report notes that “Out of 76,235 units (Hazardous Waste units), only 48,764 units (i.e. 64%) have submitted annual returns to concerned SPCB/PCCs” Thus, the data recorded on Hazardous Waste is limited. Similarly, Plastic, Electronic, and other types of SW recorded by State Pollution Control Boards (SPCBs) are based on the firms, institutions, local bodies, and other such agencies that from time to time provide these details. The SW data which is not recorded by these bodies does not get indented by SPCBs and hence does not become part of the information submitted by SPCBs to the CPCB. In essence, the yearly figures for different types of Solid Waste provided by the CPCB do not reflect the actual SW generated in India.
Recorded Data shows steep increase in the SW waste generated with Lower Rates of Recycling
The analysis of data recorded from 2018-19 to 2020-21(except electronic waste for which data is recorded from 2017-18 to 2019-20) shows that 5 types of SW generated in India have shown an increase, except C&D waste data where only 2021-22 data of few states has been provided.
The data shows that within three years, the generation of Municipal, Electronic, Hazardous, Bio-Medical, and Plastic Waste generation has increased by 2,94,900 (5%), 3,06,516 (30%), 5,98,876 (6%), 15,289 (6%) and 7,66,765 (18%) tonnes, respectively.
However, the rates of recycling of SW in India are very low. As mentioned above, the C&D waste generated is not indented so far in India, except for 2021-22. According to a study conducted by the Center for Science and Environment (CSE), India recovers and recycles only 1% of this C&D waste. Further, as per the 2019-20 data, the total Electronic SW that is sent to dismantlers and for recycling is only 22% of the total e-waste generated. Similarly,  the 2018 TERI report notes that only about 28.4% of plastic waste generated in India is recycled.  Furthermore, the CPCB’s annual report notes that only about 27.4% (25,34,726 tonnes) of total 92,38,103 tonnes of Hazardous SW generated in 2020-21 is recyclable. Even the total Municipal SW which is recycled is only about 50% of the total generated in 2020-21. Overall, the data shows that the rate of recycling of different types of SW generated in India is very low as of date.
When each of these 6 types of SW remains unutilized in open dumps or landfills, they are well known to have consequential negative impacts on the environment, people, and also on flora and fauna. These negative impacts include pollution of air, water, and soil, GHG emissions, climate change, health problems such as respiratory, cancer, neurological, and brain disorders, and shortage of life expectancy, among many others.
SW Carrying Capacity of India is a serious issue which needs to be addressed
Factly’s previous story on Plastic Waste highlighted the fact that the global Plastic Waste generation alone has overshot the carrying capacity of the Earth by 157 days in the year 2023. In India, the limited data compiled by CPCB shows a total of 21,24,85,564 tonnes of SW is generated within a span of 6 years from the year 2017-18 to 2021-22. Of this, the recycling of different types of SW suggests that an average of only 30% of total SW is recycled. The rest of the unutilized SW of about 14,87,39,894.8 tonnes at 70% remains either in landfills or in the open dumps.
The Supreme Court of India decades ago held in C. Kenchappa case that “The pollution created as a consequence of development must not exceed the carrying capacity of ecosystem” In the present scenario, the SW data certainly suggests rising levels of waste generation. This poses serious questions on the carrying capacity of India and calls for robust measures.

created: January 12, 2024


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Data: Review of India’s Agricultural Exports & Imports
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 1, 2021
India’s agricultural exports & imports have grown steadily over the years. The exports have increased nearly 7 times in 15 years and imports by nearly 8 times during the same period. Here is a detailed review.
India is an agrarian economy and is a major contributor to the global food basket, thanks to the favourable agro-climatic conditions and the rich base of natural resources. As per WTO’s Trade Statistics, the share of India’s agricultural exports and imports in the world agriculture trade in 2017 was 2.27% and 1.90%, respectively. India is among the world’s leading producers of many commodities such as dairy, cereals, spices, fruits & vegetables, rice, wheat, cotton, and others. Apart from fulfilling domestic demand, Indian agricultural produce that includes horticultural produce, and processed foods are exported to more than 100 countries in the world including the US, countries in the Middle East, and the EU. Amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, the smooth functioning of the agriculture sector was ensured by issuing relevant guidelines. There was a considerable improvement in the food grain production and the COVID-19 induced movement restrictions worldwide did not affect India’s agri-exports as they did with other commodities. With respect to agri-imports, India majorly imports vegetable oils, fresh fruits, pulses, and spices.
Data pertaining to agriculture exports and imports for this story has been collated from the monitoring dashboard of the department of commerce.
India’s agriculture exports increased by 7 times and imports by 8 times, in 15 years
India has consistently maintained a trade surplus in agricultural commodities over the years. India’s agri-exports increased from Rs. 38,078 crores in 2004-05 to Rs. 2.7 lakh crores in 2018-19, registering an increase of nearly 7 times in the span of 15 years. However, in 2019-20, there was a drop in export by around 8%. Between April 2020 and February 2021 of 2020-21, India’s agri-exports have already crossed the 2019-20 levels, indicating growth in agri-exports for 2020-21 in line with the earlier trends.
Likewise, the import of agricultural products has also increased over the years. In 2004-05, agri-imports were worth Rs.18,924 crores which went up to Rs. 1.68 lakh crores in 2016-17, recording a growth of almost 8 times. However, since 2016-17, the value of imports dropped to reach Rs. 1.42 lakh crores in 2018-19. In 2019-20, India’s agri-imports were worth Rs.1.51 lakh crores and in 2020-21, up to 28 February 2021, the imports were worth Rs.1.44 lakh crores.
India’s Agri-exports has grown in spite of the pandemic
Comparison of exports of agriculture and allied commodities by value during the first 11 months of 2019-20 and 2020-21 shows that the exports during April 2020 and February 2021 were Rs. 2.69 lakh crore as compared to Rs. 2.27 lakh crore during the same period in 2019-20, indicating an increase of 18.4%. Meanwhile, the imports had also increased by 2.38%, from that Rs. 1.4 lakh crores to almost Rs. 1.44 lakh crores during the same period in 2019-20 and 2020-21 respectively. It can be seen that the agriculture exports in the first 11 months of 2019-20 accounted for 91.2% of the overall agriculture exports in 2019-20. Similarly, in the case of imports, these 11 months accounted for 93% of all the imports in 2019-20. If the same trend continues in 2020-21, India’s exports and imports may grow further when data for all the 12-months of 2020-21 is available. Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the exports in the agriculture sector were not as severely affected as the other sectors.
Export of wheat increased by over 7 times in 2020-21
The main drivers of the increase in exports in 2020-21 are wheat (672% increase), vegetable oil (258%), other cereals (245%), molasses (141%) and non-Basmati rice (132%).  Marine products, Basmati Rice, Non- Basmati Rice, Spices, and Buffalo meat were among the top five commodities to be exported, in terms of value, both in 2019-20 and 2020-21. Together, these five products accounted for almost 57% of agriculture exports in the first 11 months of 2019-20 and 54% of the exports during the same period in 2020-21. In rupee terms, Marine products are the most exported with over Rs. 40,140 crores worth exports in 2020-21. However, their exports have dropped by 10.18% in 2020-21, compared to Rs. 44691.44 worth marine exports in 2019-20. The exports of Basmati rice have also slightly dropped by 2% in the first 11 months of 2020-21.
Vegetable oils constitute more than half the import of agriculture products in India
About 54% or more than half the agri-imports by India is of vegetable oils. India’s vegetable oil imports in 2020-21, up to February 2021, are worth Rs. 74,286 crores. Other major agri-imports are fresh fruits, pulses, spices, and cashew. Together, the five products account for 80% of India’s agri-imports.
In the case of other commodities, there is a growth in India’s sugar imports in 2020-21 by 88%. Import of other oil seeds grew by 72%, marine products by 25%, pulses by 19%, and fresh fruits by 11%. However, this increase was neutralized by the drop in imports of raw cotton (72%), Non-Basmati rice (71%), other cereals (69%), spices (24%), oil meals (26%), alcoholic beverages (19%), miscellaneous processed items (18%), and cashew (17%).
Demand for various products has increased
India also exports fresh and processed food to more than 100 countries across the world. The increase in exports has been attributed to the increased demand from other countries. Following specific demand, NAFED exported 50,000 MT wheat to Afghanistan and 40,000 MT wheat to Lebanon under the G2G arrangement. Similarly, the increased export of rice is due to exports to countries such as Timor-Leste, Papua New Guinea, Brazil, Chile, Puerto Rico, Togo, Senegal, Malaysia, Madagascar, Iraq, Bangladesh, Mozambique, Vietnam, Tanzania Republic, and Madagascar. There was also an increase in demand for Pulses, Processed fruits and vegetables, cereals preparations, and other items from the Middle East, Far East, USA, and UK markets.
APEDA supervises agriculture exports in India
Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) is responsible for the export promotion and development of listed products including meat products,  dairy products, floriculture products, horticulture, medicinal plants, etc. It plays an important role in strengthening India’s export potential along with encouraging better price realization.
Some of the actions taken by APEDA to boost agriculture exports during the pandemic include promotion in virtual buyer-seller meets, formation of products specific export promotion forums, hosting product promotion meetings and webinars regularly for understanding problems, and resolving them, and promotion of GI products, among others. Under the Agriculture and Processed Foods Export Promotion Scheme of APEDA, financial assistance was provided for infrastructure development, Quality Development, and Market Promotion.
India must address certain underlying issues
Agricultural exports are pivotal for helping farmers increase their incomes. Apart from being a source of foreign exchange for the country, the exports help farmers, producers, and exporters to utilize a wider international market and increase their income. Exports have also resulted in increased production in the agriculture sector by increasing area coverage and productivity. Though India aims to double farm exports by 2022, there are some underlying issues, addressing which would help boost India’s exports. Some such issues are reduction of post-harvest loss, availability of necessary infrastructure like cold storage, proper monitoring of fertilizer and pesticides usage, and adoption of the latest farm technology.
Whether India will attain its goal of doubling farm exports remains to be seen as India is witnessing a deadly second wave of COVID-19. The first wave had not affected India’s farm exports as much as other sectors. In fact, the pandemic gave new opportunities to the farm sector. Whether this will continue in 2021-22 remains to be seen.
Featured Image: India’s Agricultural Exports & Imports


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Data: Review of the Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC)
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
May 26, 2020
The Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code (IBC) was supposed to improve the debt recovery process, of especially the long pending NPAs. What has been the experience of the last few years? What do various reports say about the IBC?
In Factly’s earlier story, we looked at the basics of Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code (IBC) 2016. In this article, we take a detailed look at the impact of IBC so far and attempt to throw some light on the question of how do certain NPAs qualify for reference under IBC.
Since the inception of IBC, a total of 3774 cases (termed as Corporate Insolvency Resolution Process – CIRPs) have been commenced by the end of March 2020, as highlighted by the from IBC Quarterly Newsletters.
Out of these, 312 have been closed; 157 have been withdrawn; 914 have ended in orders for liquidation and 221 have ended in approval of resolution plans as of March 2020.
What has been the impact of the IBC?
Here is what the data from Reserve Bank of India (RBI), World Bank, and Economic Survey of Government of India say about the impact of IBC in terms of other parameters.
RBI Reports
The resolution under IBC in terms of proportion has been substantially higher as compared to other processes. As per the data provided in the report on Trend and Progress of Banking in India 2018-19, the amount recovered as a percentage of amount involved in 2017-18 and 2018-19 has been much higher for IBC at 49.6% in 2017-18 and 42.5% in 2018-19 as compared to Lok Adalats, DRTs etc.
Economic Survey, 2019-20
The Economic Survey of the Government of India for 2019-20 noted the progress made under the IBC since its enactment, in terms of its use by stakeholders and the development of an ecosystem of service providers. The realizations under the IBC for Financial Creditors and time taken for the same were noted as being better than those under other available avenues for resolving distressed assets in the country, drawing from aforementioned RBI reports.
Ease of Doing Business Report, 2020
The Ease of Doing Business Report assesses 190 economies in terms of 10 parameters that span the lifecycle of a business as to how conducive the environment is for doing business in an economy. According to the Ease of Doing Business Report 2020, India’s overall ranking improved by 14 places to 63 position among 190 countries as against last year’s 77  position. With this India earned a place among the world’s top ten improvers in ease of doing business, for the third consecutive year.
In the ‘resolving insolvency’ parameter, India’s ranking improved 56 places to 52 this year from 108 last year. As per this report, owing to the establishment of a modern insolvency regime with the enactment of the IBC, India made resolving insolvency easier by promoting reorganisation proceedings in practice. The Code has put in place effective tools for creditors to successfully negotiate and effectuated greater chances for creditors to realise their dues. As a result, the overall recovery rate for creditors jumped from 26.5 to 71.6 cents on the dollar and the time taken for resolving insolvency also came down significantly from 4.3 years to 1.6 years.
Here’s a snapshot of India’s journey in the ‘resolving insolvency’ parameters, according to Ease of Doing Business Reports over the past few years.
India is now, by far, the best performer in South Asia on the resolving insolvency component and does better than the average for OECD high-income economies in terms of recovery rate, time taken and cost of a corporate insolvency resolution process, the Ease of Doing Business 2020 Report noted.
What are the criteria for NPAs to qualify for referral under IBC?
Soon after the constitution of IBC in 2016, the Banking Regulation (Amendment) Ordinance, 2017 was promulgated in May 2017. The Ordinance had inserted two new Sections viz. Section 35AA and Section 35AB in the Banking Regulation Act, 1949, in line with the objective to clear the nation with bad loans. Section 35AA grants powers to Central Government to order RBI to issue directions to banks to make use of insolvency resolution process as iterated in the IBC 2016 and Section 35AB bestows some powers on the Reserve Bank.
By virtue of the above powers, RBI constituted an Internal Advisory Committee (‘IAC’), which accordingly held its first meeting in June 2017. The IAC reached a consensus to specifically focus on large stressed assets while taking into consideration the accounts which are classified partly or wholly as non-performing from amongst the top 500 exposures in the banking system.
The IAC has decided a criterion for referring stresses assets’ account for resolution under IBC. Accordingly, all accounts with 60% or more classified as NPAs as on 31 March 2016 having  fund-based and non-fund based outstanding amount greater than Rs. 5000 crores shall be referred to IBC. For the remaining NPAs, which do not qualify under above criterion, the committee has proposed a timeline of 6 months, within which the banks should finalise, a resolution plan, failing which it shall be compulsory for them to file for insolvency under IBC.
Featured Image: Insolvency & Bankruptcy Code


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Data Review: Which state received the most funding from the Centre for Fisheries-related schemes?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
February 17, 2021
This story is a part of the series on centre’s transfer of funds to states based on the RTI response we received from the Ministry of Finance. We take a look at the broad transfers made to states under various schemes related to fisheries. Tamil Nadu received the most funds between 2014-21 followed by the other coastal states.
As per the information provided by National Fisheries Development Board, India is one of the largest Fish producing countries in the world and has a 7.6% share in global production. Furthermore, Fish production contributed around 1.24% to India’s GVA (Gross Value Added) and around 7.28% to Agricultural GVA for the year 2018-19, underlining the importance of the Fisheries sector to the Indian economy.
The long coastline and the abundance of inland water bodies including rivers, lakes, etc provide the requisite resources for India’s higher fish production. Initiatives by the Centre and respective states have also helped the country usher in increased productivity over the years. In this story, we take a look at one such scheme – ‘Blue Revolution: Integrated Development & Management of Fisheries’, which is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
This story is part of the series where we analyse the Centre’s transfer of funds to the states.
Data used is obtained by Factly through RTI
Integrated scheme restructured by merging of all the ongoing Schemes
On 22 December 2015, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) approved the implementation of an Umbrella Scheme for integrated development & management of fisheries. This Central Sector Scheme was part of the ‘Blue Revolution’ call given by the Prime Minister.
As per the information provided by the Department of Fisheries, ‘Blue Revolution: Integrated Development and Management of Fisheries’ is a Centrally Sponsored Scheme and is restructured by merging all the ongoing schemes under the umbrella of Blue revolution.
This scheme has an outlay of Rs. 3000 crores for a period of five years and covers the below components :
As per the data Factly received through RTI, Centre has allocated funds to the States under this integrated scheme from 2017-18.  Prior to this, transfers made to the States under the below schemes:
It also ought to be noted that this integrated Scheme is currently under the aegis of the ‘Ministry of Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying’ and been since 2019-20 when this new Ministry was formed. This new ministry was formed from the erstwhile department of the same name which was under the Ministry of Agriculture.
The Department of Fisheries is one of the departments under this new Ministry, while it was earlier a division of the erstwhile Department of Animal Husbandry, Dairying and Fisheries.
In summary, the allocation of funds to States under various schemes related to Fisheries as per the data we received through RTI and being used for the analysis is;
Lesser Funds transferred to States in 2019-20 compared to previous years.
From the trend in the transfer of funds under various schemes related to fisheries since 2014-15, it is evident that there has been a significant increase in the amount transferred over the six-year period (2014-20).
During 2014-15, a total of Rs. 153 crores were transferred by the Centre to the States through the aforementioned four schemes. The transfer of the funds has been through both – treasury route (directly to the State government) and through SPV (Special Purpose Vehicle) route. The next year in 2015-16, it increased to Rs. 206.8 crores.
In 2016-17, the last year prior to the introduction of the Integrated Scheme, a total of Rs. 383.75 crores were transferred to the States. As per the data that we received through RTI, this amount in 2016-17 was transferred to the states under ‘Inland Fisheries’. A further Rs.5.49 crores were transferred to the ‘National Fisheries Development Board’ in 2016-17. We have not included this transfer in this analysis as the transfer was not made to the States, but to a central institution.
During the first year of the implementation of the integrated scheme in 2017-18, only Rs. 316.96 crores were transferred to the States, a significant reduction from 2016-17. This has increased to Rs. 491.27 crores in 2018-19, the highest allocation in a year during this period.
In the subsequent year in 2019-20, the overall transfer to the states reduced to Rs. 441.01 crores. In 2020-21, until August’2020, a sum of Rs. 198.01 crores were transferred to the states.
Greatest amount transferred to Tamil Nadu during 2014-21, followed by Kerala & Karnataka
During the period being analysed i.e., 2014-15 to 2020-21 (until August 2020), the greatest amount of Centre’s transfer to the States for various Fisheries related schemes was to Tamil Nadu with Rs. 332.43 crores. As highlighted earlier this includes the transfers made to the various schemes until 2016-17 & transfers made under the integrated schemes since then. Tamil Nadu is followed by the three other South Indian states of Kerala, Karnataka & Andhra Pradesh. These states form a significant portion of the peninsular coast of India apart from the inland water resources. Telangana, the only southern state without a Sea- coast, received a much lesser amount, in fact, less than 1/3 of transfer to Andhra Pradesh, which in turn received the least among the four coastal southern states.
Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Maharashtra & Bihar rank next to the aforementioned 4 southern states. The Reliance of these states on fisheries can be correlated based on the geographical aspects, with Maharashtra & Odisha not only home to a long coastline but also have inland river/lake systems. U.P & Bihar, although do not have any coastline, are part of the significant Gangetic river system.
Understandably, Rajasthan received only Rs. 7.48 crores during this period since this state is not heavily dependent on Fisheries because of the lack of coastline & inland water systems.
The cumulative transfers data over the years correlates with the presence of a coastline & inland fisheries system in certain states with them receiving a greater amount than others. However, the trend is not every year. There are few states which have received significant transfers during a particular year, while there are others that have consistently received higher funds from the Centre nearly every year.  Furthermore, there is also a difference in the allocation of funds under the various schemes (prior to integration into one scheme), which may be because of the nature of the schemes. In the next story, we take a deeper look into these aspects.
Featured Image: Fisheries-related schemes

created: February 17, 2021