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Data Indicates Greater Percentage of Vacancies Among Low-Ranking Positions Across Ministries/Departments of GoI
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
April 6, 2023
Latest available data on the number of vacancies across the various Ministries & Departments of the Government of India (GoI) indicates greater number of vacancies in low-ranking Group B(NG) and Group C positions while the situation is better for Group A posts.
In India, government jobs continue to be a preferred option for those seeking employment.
Job security, financial security, societal status, perks, facilities, etc. are among the various reasons that make government jobs a sought-after option. The promise of employment by filling up the vacant posts in the government continues to be among the major assurances given by political parties during elections.
The government of India and of respective states have their presence across different sectors, and their involvement is a key enabler for the functioning and progress of the country. Thus, there is a need for hiring qualified human resources at various levels to facilitate the functioning of the government.
Based on the requirements of various government departments, the number of posts is determined by the government. The filling of these vacancies is a continuous process. So, how many government jobs are sanctioned in various ministries/departments of the Government of India (GoI)? How many of these posts are vacant? Here is an analysis.
Data Methodology
Annual Report of the Department of Expenditure (DoE) provides departments wise information on the sanctioned posts & vacancies. The latest such information is available as of 01 March 2021. This same information was referred to by GoI in its response to a question in Lok Sabha on 29 March 2023.
Since the government has also referred to the status as on 01 March 2021, in its latest response, the information as of that date can be inferred as the latest available information. The information relates only to Central government departments and undertakings.
72% of the Vacant Posts are in Railways, Defence (civilian) & Home
As per the response provided in Lok Sabha, the total number of vacancies available across the 78 Ministries or departments are around 9.79 lakhs.  Out of these, the greatest number of vacancies are in the Railways, which has 2.93 lakh posts to be filled. This is 30% of the total vacancies. The next highest number of vacant posts is related to the civilian posts under the Ministry of Defence. It accounts for 27% of the total vacant posts. Around 1.43 lakh posts are vacant in the Ministry of Home Affairs. Most of these are related to the Central Armed Police Forces.
These three ministries/departments make up about 72% of the total vacant posts.
Among the other ministries/departments, Posts and Revenue have 9% & 8% of the total vacant positions. These five make up 89% of the total vacant positions. The rest of the 11% of vacant positions are spread across 73 Ministries/departments.
Science & Technology, Commerce, Mines have more than 50% of their sanctioned posts vacant
While the Ministry of Railways has the highest number of vacant posts, it ought to be noted that it also has the highest number of Sanctioned posts. In fact, the above-mentioned vacant posts in Railways are about 19.4% of the total sanctioned posts for that Ministry. Out of the 15.14 lakh Sanctioned positions in Railways, 12.2 lakhs are already filled up. In the case of Home Affairs, about 13% of the sanctioned posts are vacant.
In terms of the share of Vacancies out to the total positions sanctioned for that particular Ministry/department, Science & Technology tops the list. 69% of the 12,442 sanctioned posts are vacant.  There are three other Ministries where more than half of the sanctioned positions are vacant. These are – Commerce, Mines and Fisheries, Animal Husbandry & Dairying. A total of 19 Ministries have vacancies between 40-50% of the sanctioned posts. Only two Ministries – Health & Family Welfare and Telecommunication have vacancies at less than 10% of the sanctioned posts.
Among the departments with a large number of sanctioned posts, the Department of Defence has a higher vacancy rate. Out of the 6.46 lakh civilian posts sanctioned for Defence, about 3.81 lakhs are filled. Around 2.64 lakhs i.e., nearly 41% of the posts are vacant. Around 44% of the 1.79 lakh sanctioned posts in the Ministry of Revenue are yet to be filled.   As indicated earlier, the Ministry of Telecommunication has the least vacancy percentage. Only 167 positions i.e., 4.7% of the total 3.38 thousand positions needed to be filled as of 01 March 2021.
32% of the positions sanctioned under Group B (NG) are vacant
The sanctioned posts are categorised into 4 groups based on the status of the position. These are – A, B(G), B(NG) and C. Group A positions are high-ranking positions. As per the data available as on 01 March 2021, there were 1.33 lakh sanctioned Group A jobs across various ministries & Departments. Out of them, 1.09 lakh positions were filled up. This group of jobs has the least vacancy percentage with about 18% of the posts vacant.
Group B is further classified into two categories – Gazetted (G) and Non-Gazetted (NG). Around 1.16 lakhs Group B(G) status positions are sanctioned, out of which 22.5% i.e., 2.63 lakhs are yet to be filled. The highest percentage of vacancy is in Group B(NG) posts where 32% of the 2.87 lakh posts are yet to be filled.
The highest share of sanctioned positions comes under Group C.  There are around 34.98 lakh sanctioned positions under this Group across the 78 Ministries/Departments. Out of them, around 26.6 lakh posts are filled up as on 01 March 2021. A total of 23.9% i.e., 8.36 lakh posts are yet to be filled.
80% of Group C posts under Science & Technology are vacant
The proportion of posts vacant in a particular department varies by Job Group. There is generally lower vacancy among the higher groups across critical ministries/departments. In fact, in a few of the ministries, the number of positions filled up is higher than the sanctioned number. Like in the case of Group A jobs in the Prime Minister’s office. There are 86 persons in Position as against the sanctioned strength of 61. A similar case is that of another key department – the Cabinet Secretariat. There are 55 persons in position as against the 51 Group B(G) sanctioned positions. It ought to be noted that both these departments are critical for the functioning of the government and are the fulcrum for the various ministries & departments of the GoI. On the other hand, about 38% of the Group C of sanctioned positions in PMO are filled up.
Across Ministries & Departments, lower vacancies are observed across Group A and Group B (G), which are high-ranking positions. In fact, in the Ministry of Telecommunications, 1122 persons are in position as against 987 sanctioned positions under Group A. In contrast to the general trend observed, Telecommunication also has a higher proportion of positions filled up even in Group C. A total of 1004 persons are in position against the 996 sanctioned posts. As highlighted earlier, Telecommunication has the least vacancy rate.
Many departments have significant vacancies under Group C. In the case of Science & Technology, only 20% of the 7948 positions of Group C are filled. In the case of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs, only about 36% of the positions under Group C are filled up. In the case of the Ministry of Mines, only 40% of the positions under Group C are filled.
Higher Vacancies among lower-ranking positions
The trends of filling up the positions vary across the Ministries & departments. The general trend is that the vacancy is lower among the high-ranking posts and in ministries that are important. However, this trend is not applicable across all ministries. Gazetted positions across a few of the ministries do have a higher vacancy. The importance of the particular department seems to be an influential factor. Another general trend is that higher vacancies are found among Group C positions. The situation gets compounded when the importance of a Ministry is considered, like in the case of Science & Technology, where-in only about 20% of the Group C positions are filled up. Even across Ministries with a higher number of sanctioned positions like Railways, Defence, etc., higher vacancies are among Group C or Non-gazetted positions under Group B. As indicated earlier, the information is as on 01 March 2021. Over the past two years, the government has filled up a few of these vacancies. The latest factual position will only be known when such data is released by the government.
Featured Image: Vacant Posts in Central Government


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Data Indicates Increase in New Accretion to NPAs in Agriculture, and Retail Sectors in the case of Private Banks
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 6, 2022
Data obtained via RTI indicates that while the new accretion to NPAs decreased in the case of Agriculture for public sector banks, the same has significantly increased in Agriculture & Retail sectors in the case of private banks. The value of write-offs in the Services sector have also increased.
In the previous story, we analysed the trends in NPAs across various types of Bank groups. Data indicates that Public Sector & Private Sector banks not only have a major share of the Gross NPAs but also account for a major part of the NPAs written off. In this story, we continue with the analysis of NPAs by looking at the different sectors to which banks provide credit.
Methodology: The data being analysed is obtained in response to a Right to Information (RTI) application filed with RBI. The NPA information includes the Bank wise NPAs across various sectors. The sector-wise categorization provided in the RTI response includes – Agriculture & Allied, Industry, Food Credit, Other Non-food credit, Retail Loans, and Services. The NPA information available includes – Actual recoveries out of NPAs, New Accretion and Write-offs. The sector was Gross-NPAs is not considered in the analysis.
Increase in New-Accretion and Write-offs among Private Sector Banks in Agriculture Sector
Agriculture & Allied activities constitute a key sector to which credit is extended by the banks. Around 43% of the Indian workforce works in the Agricultural sector, making it an important livelihood provider. The vagaries & challenges involved with agriculture also make it prone to the credit turning into bad debts for the banks.
Here is a snapshot of the trend in NPAs in the Agriculture Sector:
Rs. 1.03 lakh crores NPAs written off for Industry sector in 2020-21,
As per the Information from RBI, NPAs worth Rs. 1.03 crores were written off across banks for the industry sector in 2020-21. However, this is less than the write-offs in 2019-20 which was Rs.1.44 lakh crores. This fall is largely attributed to the fall in the amounts written off by Public Sector banks. In 2020-21, the value of write-offs by public sector banks was Rs. 82.9 thousand crores. In 2019-20, this was Rs. 1.25 lakh crores. However, it was even higher in 2018-19, with Rs. 1.34 lakh crores.
In the case of Private banks, there is a year-on-year increase. In 2014-15, the value of write-offs by Private Banks for the Industry sector was Rs. 3.06 thousand crores. By 2020-21, the annual write-off increased to Rs. 18.5 thousand crores. Among foreign banks, the trend has been largely fluctuating with the highest write-off during 2016-17 with around Rs. 4.1 thousand crores. While the value of write-offs is less among Small Finance banks, it is already Rs. 140 crores during the first nine months of 2021-22, while in the previous year it was Rs. 52 crores for the entire year.
In the case of new accretion to NPAs, there is a major fall among the public sector banks. New Accretions to NPAs for Public Sector Banks in 2015-16 was Rs. 2.52 lakh crores and in the following year, it was Rs. 2.22 lakh crores. However, it fell to around Rs. 40 thousand crores in 2020-21. The fall is also seen among Private sector banks in 2020-21. Meanwhile, significant new accretion to NPAs is seen for Small Finance banks in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
Increasing Trend of Write-offs across Public & Private Sector banks for Services Sector
In the Agriculture and Industry Sector, a declining trend is observed in the case of write-offs by Public Sector banks while there is a generally increasing trend among the Private sector banks. However, in the case of the NPAs relating to the services sector, an increase in the value of write-offs can be observed in the case of both the public sector and private sector banks.
For the Public sector banks, the value of write-offs consistently increased from 2016-17, except for 2020-21. In that year, Rs. 27.2 thousand crores of NPAs were written off, while in the previous year of 2019-20, it was Rs. 34.2 thousand crores. However, during the 9 months for which the data is available in 2021-22, the value is already Rs. 31.2 thousand crores.
In the case of Private banks, there has been an increase in recent years. In 2018-19, Rs. 4.1 thousand crores were written off for the Services sector, which more than doubled to Rs.10.4 thousand crores in 2019-20. In 2020-21, it further increased to Rs.16.8 thousand crores.
In the case of new accretion to NPAs, there is a decline across banks in recent years. While the recovery of NPAs increased in 2021-22 in the case of public sector banks after a lower recovery in 2020-21, there is an increasing trend of NPA recoveries by Private sector banks.
Exponential increase in the New Accretions to NPAs and Write-offs in Retail Sector among Private Banks
There is a declining trend in the new accretion to NPAs among the Public sector banks. After a high Rs. 19.2 thousand crores in 2016-17, there has been a decline. However, the situation is different in the case of Private sector banks. In 2015-16, the new accretion to NPAs was Rs. 5.4 thousand crores which increased to Rs. 39.8 thousand crores in just the first nine months of 2021-22. There has been a continuous increase from 2014-15 to 2021-22.
In the case of Write-offs, there is a higher increase among Private sector banks. After a consistently increasing trend, the annual write-offs by Private banks to the retail sector increased to Rs. 8.6 thousand crores in 2019-20. This increased to Rs. 14.1 thousand crores in 2021-22. In the first nine months of 2021-22, this value has already increased to 1.76 thousand crores.
The NPAs among the Food Sectors are comparatively lower. In the rest of the sectors, data from RBI indicates that there is an increase in the new accretion to NPAs as well as the write-offs in recent years. The information on what constitutes this other non-food credit is not provided by RBI in its response. Nevertheless, the total values are much lower than the other major sectors discussed above.
The data indicates that while the trends vary across the sectors, a broader visible trend is the increase in the new accretion to NPAs as well as write-offs among the Private sector banks in recent years.
Featured Image: Sectorwise NPA Story

source: news-factly

created: December 6, 2022

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

author: Sai Krishna Muthyanolla


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Data indicates relation between High Pendency in courts & Overcrowding in Prisons
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 10, 2020
Overcrowding in prisons is a problem for many reasons. Far from acting as a rehabilitation period, overcrowding leads to denial of basic human rights. Data from the various reports of NCRB indicates that most states with high occupancy ratio in prisons also reported huge pendency of cases waiting for disposal in courts, highlighting the link between the two.
The responsibility of collating data on prison and crime related statistics, and its analysis is bestowed up on the National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) under the Union Home Ministry. Recently, the prison statistics were released for 2019 which revealed that in 2019, the prisons in India recorded the highest overcrowding in the last ten years. In an earlier story by Factly, it was also observed that prisons in 19 states recorded overcrowding in 2019 and close to 70% of the prison inmates were undertrials.
The states of Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Meghalaya, and Delhi have consistently reported overcrowding since 2010. Meanwhile, states such as Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, and Kerala have also recorded overcrowding throughout the last five years. Only a few states including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, and Telangana had occupancy below 100% throughout the last ten years. In this story, we look at the case pendency numbers and conviction data of bigger states with low occupancy in prisons and explore the reasons for low occupancy.
Six states together account for half the national capacity of prisons
In terms of capacity of prisons, six states- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Punjab, and Tamil Nadu, together accounted for 50% of the national capacity of prisons and close to 55% of the prison inmates in the country were lodged in the prisons of these 6 states by the end of 2019. As per 2011 Census, these 6 states accounted for 48.6% of the total Indian population.
In spite of having the highest prison capacity – 15% of the country’s capacity, Uttar Pradesh, reported prison overcrowding with an occupancy ratio of 167%, the highest occupancy among states. It accommodated more than 21% of the prison inmates in the country. Interestingly, its neighbouring state Bihar with the second highest prison capacity in India (10.4% of the country’s prison capacity) had only about 94% of the space occupied with around 8% of the Indian prisoners.  Moreover, the number of prison inmates in Bihar was the third highest in the country, after UP and Madhya Pradesh, by the end of 2019. Except in 2017, Bihar has always had an occupancy ratio below 100% in the last ten years.
Less than 100% Occupancy only in three states among those with more than 10,000 inmates capacity
Among the 15 states which had a capacity of more than 10,000 inmates as of 2019, 12 states had reported overcrowding and only 3 including Bihar, Tamil Nadu, and Odisha had occupancy ratio below 100%. Five of the major states with more than 150% occupancy ratio (Maharashtra, MP, Delhi, UP, and Chhattisgarh) had a capacity of more than 10,000 inmates. Andhra Pradesh and Telangana together had a capacity of around 16,574 which is 4% of the national total.
7 out of 10 prison inmates in India are undertrials
Prisons overcrowding can also be attributed to the justice system which sends more people to prison, and for longer times. Overuse of detention of undertrials is also a major contributor to the overcrowding which can be controlled only by the faster disposal of cases. As already observed in an earlier story, close to 70% of the population in prisons is that of undertrials. In terms of numbers, UP has 73,418 undertrials which alone is 21% more than the actual capacity of prisons in the state. Bihar is next in line with 31,275 undertrials, and together with UP, the two states account for almost one-third of the undertrials in India by the end of 2019.
Detention of undertrials is a major reason for overcrowding in prisons
Among the states with higher occupancy (above 150%), it is observed that in Delhi, which has the highest occupancy rate, 82% of the prison inmates were undertrials. In Maharashtra, 75% of the inmates were undertrials and this number was 72% in UP. Chhattisgarh and MP which also fall in this category, had only 54% undertrials in prisons. On the other hand, in Bihar and Odisha which have low occupancy ratio, 79% of the inmates in each of the states were undertrials. While Telangana had 65% undertrials in prisons, Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu had 63% each. This indicates that more undertrials in Bihar and Odisha are detained as compared to the other three southern states, though all of them have low occupancy ratio.
Small percentage of undertrials in Tamil Nadu, AP, and Telangana have been detained for more than a year
Further, in the states with lower occupancy ratio, the percentage of undertrials who had been imprisoned for more than a year was comparatively lower. Hardly 3% to 7% of the undertrials had been detained in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, and Telangana for more than a year. This may mean that the disposal of cases was faster in these states. Bihar had 19% and Odisha recorded 27% such undertrials in prisons by the end of 2019. However, Maharashtra, Delhi and UP which had higher occupancy had more than 30% of their undertrials detained for more than a year, which may be one of the reasons for overcrowding in these states.
More than 53% of the convicts in prisons in the country were serving life imprisonment. Four states alone (UP, MP, Chhattisgarh, and Bihar) accounted for more than half of them. Only about 9% of the prison inmates in Tamil Nadu and Punjab were serving life imprisonment by the end of 2019 in contrast to 32% in Chhattisgarh.
More than 98% cases in Bihar were pending for trial in courts
The latest NCRB data on crimes in India is that of 2018. By the end of 2018, the prisons in UP had an occupancy of 176% and were more crowded than the Delhi prisons (154%). The states of Punjab, Bihar, Assam, Rajasthan, Odisha, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu were the major states where jails weren’t fully occupied. The rate of crime in these states, pendency in SLL and IPC crimes, and occupancy ratio as in 2018 is tabulated below.
The crime rate calculated as number of crimes per lakh population was highest in Tamil Nadu among the states with lower prison occupancy ratio in 2018. It is observed that Tamil Nadu had the lowest occupancy of 60% in 2018 and parallelly, only 37.1% SLL cases and 71.5% IPC cases were pending in courts towards the end of 2018. In Telangana which had the second lowest occupancy ratio in 2018, around 71.4% of IPC and 71.5% of SLL cases were pending for disposal by courts. 70% of the SLL and  73.5% of the IPC cases were pending disposal by courts in Punjab. In Andhra Pradesh, only half the cases were pending by the end of 2018.
Meanwhile in Bihar, more than 98% of the cases (both IPC & SLL)  totalling to over 13 lakh cases were pending for disposal by courts by the end of 2018, the highest among larger states. Similarly, in Odisha, more than 90% of each of the IPC & SLL cases were pending for disposal by courts.  In Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, where the prisons were already congested, close to 90% of the IPC & SLL cases were pending for disposal by courts by the end of 2018. The data indicates that in some states, higher occupancy is because of the huge pendency in the courts.
Prison overcrowding is an issue of human rights violation
What has been discussed here are some of the many reasons behind the overcrowding of prisons. Some states did not have overcrowded prisons not because of the efficiency in case disposal but because of lower reporting of cognizable crime. Overcrowding of prisons can be avoided by faster disposal of cases. Further, measures which do not involve imprisonment for minor crimes may also be resorted to.
Overcrowding is considered a violation of human rights since a person in prison would be deprived of basic living conditions. Imprisonment as a punishment is supposed to act as a deterrent to crimes and help in rehabilitation. But overcrowding defeats that purpose.
Featured Image: High Pendency in courts

created: September 10, 2020


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Data: Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in Rural areas 1.5 times the rate in Urban areas
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 14, 2020
The recently released SRS 2018 data indicates that the Infant Mortality Rate (IMR) in Rural areas is 1.5 times the rate in Urban areas. Madhya Pradesh recorded the worst IMR while Kerala is the only state to have recorded IMR in single digits.
Child mortality is an indicator of the overall physical health, social, economic, and environmental conditions in a community where a child is born. It is also indicative of the health facilities available, water and sanitation, nutrition, education, immunization, and even the health of the mother and is therefore, used widely as an important indicator in health planning. Such data is used by policy makers, demographers, epidemiologists, social scientists, etc. to better understand the issues and arrive at measures to address the same. The ‘Infant Mortality Rate (IMR)’ is used to measure the death rate among infants or children less than one year old. IMR is defined as the number of deaths per 1,000 live births of children under one year of age.
Deaths of Children in the 0-4 age group account for more than 11% of all the deaths
As per SRS 2018, death of children aged in the 0-4 age group accounts for 11.5% of the deaths that took place in India in 2018. State wise data shows that 1 in every 5 deaths in Madhya Pradesh  in 2018 is that of a child in the 0-4 age group. In the Rural areas, the deaths in this age group accounted for 12.8% of all the deaths in 2018- ranging from 2.1% in Kerala to 21.9% in Madhya Pradesh. Meanwhile national average in urban areas was recorded as 8.2%, ranging from 1.9% in Kerala to 13.7% in Bihar.
IMR in India has reduced from 129 in 1971 to 32 in 2018, as per SRS report
The IMR has decreased considerably from 129 in 1971 to 110 in 1981 to 80 in 1991 and to 32 in 2018, according to the annual Sample Registration System Survey of 2018 released by the Registrar General of India.
In the period from 2013-2018, the IMR has decreased from 40 to 32. This means that on an average, the rate has dropped by 1.6 points annually. On the other hand,  Neo natal deaths or deaths of infants within 28 days of birth account for 71.7% deaths of infants in India, in 2018. This ranges from 79.4% in Odisha to 51.4% in Assam.
Female IMR is higher than that of Male infants
Gender wise data reveals that the IMR of female infants has always been higher than that of male infants. While in 2013, IMR for female infants was recorded as 42, the same for male infants was 39. The latest 2018 data shows that male IMR dropped to 32, and that for female infants is 33 indicating that the gap between the two has reduced over the years.
IMR in Rural areas is 50% more than the rate in Urban areas
Analysis of the infant mortality rates by residence, that is, in urban and rural areas also shows a decreasing trend in both urban and rural areas. While the rate has dropped from 27 to 23 in urban areas in six years between 2013 & 2018, the same in rural areas has decreased from 44 in 2013 to 36 in 2018.
The IMR in rural areas is 50% more than the rate in urban areas. This stark difference in IMR in the urban & rural areas is indicative of the difference in healthcare facilities, education, and other socio-economic factors. The difference is even more stark in certain states. For instance, in Assam, the rural IMR is 40 which is double the IMR recorded in urban areas.
Madhya Pradesh has the worst IMR of 48
State wise data shows that Madhya Pradesh continues to report the worst IMR among all the states. The IMR in Madhya Pradesh was recorded as 48 in 2018.  Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Chhattisgarh, and Assam recorded an IMR of 40 and above in 2018. Rajasthan, with an IMR of 37 is also above the national average of 32.
Kerala ranks the best with an IMR of only 7, almost 1/5 of the national average. Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, and Maharashtra recorded an IMR of less than 20. Data indicates that states with poor development indices recorded high IMR.
Male IMR higher than female IMR in some large states
Contrary to the national trend, the male IMR is higher than the female IMR in some large states. In Madhya Pradesh, the male IMR is 51 while the female IMR is 46, a gap of five. In Chhattisgarh, male IMR is 42 compared to the female IMR of 39. In Kerala, it is 9 in the case of male infants and 5 for female infants. In Uttarakhand, the male IMR was 33 compared to the female IMR of 28.
Implementation of child health schemes needs to be monitored
The data clearly indicates that  IMR is higher in states with poor development. Further, the IMR is significantly higher in rural areas compared to urban areas. Despite multiple child & maternal health programs, the gap between states & rural/urban areas hasn’t decreased as expected. There needs to be a targeted mission mode approach to close this gap with special emphasis on the laggard states & regions.
UNICEF data reveals that India’s IMR is much higher than the global average
Even though India has made significant progress in reducing IMR over the last few decades, the number is still high. According to UNICEF data updated in September 2019, India’s IMR is higher than the global average. India ranks 141 out of 198 countries. There are 140 countries which have a lower IMR than India. Countries like Brazil, Nepal, Indonesia, and Iraq have a lower IMR.
India still has a long way to go to improve on the global rankings. The sustainable development goals  call for reducing the preventable deaths of new-borns and children under 5 years of age, by bringing down neonatal mortality to at least as low as 12 per 1000 live births and under-5 mortality to at least as low as 25 per 1000 live births. Targeted approach coupled with better healthcare facilities, immunization, education & awareness, water and sanitation, and other socio-economic development programs are a must if India is to reach these goals.
Featured Image: Infant Mortality Rate[Photo Credit: AFP]


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Inward Remittances to Low & Middle-Income countries set to increase by 7% in 2021
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 23, 2021
The World Bank Group recently released the ‘Migration and Development Brief’, which provides details of the trends in ‘Migration and Remittances’ around the world. Remittances to LMICs are set to increase by 7.3% to USD 589 billion in 2021. In India’s case, remittances are estimated to grow by 4.6% in 2021 as India maintains its position as the top destination for remittances.
Remittances are transfers of money by a person working in a foreign location to a person or family back home as household income.  As per IMF, ‘Remittances are typically transfers from a well-meaning individual or family member to another individual or household. They are targeted to meet specific needs of the recipients, and this tends to reduce poverty.’
IMF’s Balance of Payments International Investment Position Manual (BPM6) provides a more comprehensive economic definition of what constitutes a remittance.
Remittances offer a constant source of income in the domestic country. Many developing & underdeveloped countries rely on foreign remittances as they generally result in domestic spending, thereby contributing to the growth of the economy. In a few instances, the remittances also offer a reliable source of income for countries that are experiencing economic challenges domestically.
The COVID-19 pandemic had a major impact on many countries across the world – including both developed and under-developed economies. While remittances continue to provide relief to families back home, there were challenges in the foreign countries that might have affected the flow & the volume of remittances.
Recently, the World Bank Group released the 35 edition of  Migration and Development Brief, which provides details of the trends in ‘Migration and Remittances’ around the world. In this story, we look at the trends in remittances during 2020, which was majorly impacted by COVID-19 and the projections for 2021, the year in which many countries are on a recovery path.
Remittances to Low & Middle-Income regions estimated to increase by 7% in 2021
Out of the total global remittances, the major share is to the Low & Middle-income Regions. As per the estimates for pandemic hit 2020, the total remittances around the world were USD 706 billion. Out of this, the remittances to Low & Middle-Income regions were USD 549 billion.
This was lower than the previous year i.e., 2019, when it was USD 722 billion & USD 559 billion respectively. As per the forecast for 2021, the remittances across the world are expected to increase to USD 751 billion, out of which the remittances to Low & Middle-Income regions would increase by around 7.3% i.e., to USD 589 billion.
During 2020, while the remittances estimate for Low & Middle-Income regions fell, the trend is not the same across regions. The trend in 2021 also varies across these regions.
The Remittance flows to LMICs on track to be higher than the sum of FDI & ODAs
The receipts to countries are in different forms. Apart from remittances, the other sources of receipts from outside include – Foreign Direct Investments (FDI), Official Development Assistance (ODA) and Portfolio investments.
The remittances to the Low & Middle-Income countries (LMICs) have witnessed a gradual increase over the years, especially since the turn of the earlier decade (2010). On the other hand, the flow of FDI to these countries has seen a fluctuating trend, especially with a decline since the early 2010s.
The ODAs have seen a steady growth but not to the extent of the growth observed in Remittances. During 2020, the value of remittances overtook the total FDI inflows to LMICs. Despite an expected recovery in 2021, the remittances are projected to be higher than the FDIs.
If China is excluded, the volume of FDI falls further over the years.
As per the projections provided in the report, the remittances to LMICs (excluding China) are expected to surpass the sum of FDI & ODA in 2021. In these countries (excluding China), the remittances are more than 50% higher than FDI and three times more than the ODA levels.
India is estimated to receive the highest remittances among LMICs in 2021.
As per the forecast for 2021 provided in the report, India is estimated to receive USD 87 billion in remittances in 2021. This is the highest among the LMICs.  This is a 4.6% increase compared to 2020. As per the report, the increase is due to the increase in remittances from expatriate workers in GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) countries. The GCC countries have benefitted from higher oil prices which translated to the Indian expatriates being able to send higher remittances.
China & Mexico are estimated to receive about USD 53 billion each through remittances in 2021, which is the second-highest. The report states that Mexico benefitted from the strong economic recovery in the USA.
Egypt is expected to record a 12% increase in remittances in 2021 compared to 2020. As is the case with India, it also benefitted from the stronger economic growth in the Gulf countries. It also benefitted from the increased economic activity in USA & Europe.
The economies of a few of the LMICs are hugely dependent on the remittances that they receive.
In 2021, Tonga has remittances accounting for 44% of its GDP, followed by Lebanon at 35% & Kyrgyz Republic at 30%.
An increase in Economic Activity has contributed towards an increase in remittances
During the pandemic-hit 2020, remittances to LMICs were resilient. The overall fall in remittances was by only 2% despite the pandemic. The report says that there was a sharp fall in Q2 of 2020, because of the widespread lockdowns across the countries. However, there was a recovery in the latter half of 2020, which has limited the fall in remittances to just 2%.
The recovery continued in 2021, and it is estimated that the remittances would increase by more than 7.5% compared to 2020. The Migration & Development brief opines that the migrants have stepped up the support to the families in low & middle-income regions through their remittances. This was aided by the economic activity picking up in the countries where the migrants are working. The fiscal stimulus and monetary policies of these countries in the aftermath of COVID-19 have enabled migrants to send remittances back to their countries.
The easing of the COVID-19 caseload in many of these countries in 2021 has also aided in the economic recovery.
As highlighted in the earlier part of the story, the value of remittances to the LMICs has surpassed the FDIs and ODAs received by these countries, making them a major source of revenue. For a few of the countries, remittances form a major part of their GDP. All these highlight the increased reliance on remittances in many of the LMICs. Even during the pandemic, while the inflow from other sources reduced, remittances continued in most countries providing an important lifeline to the respective domestic economies. The sentiment of sending back to their families for support during the crisis has helped in the resilience of remittances even during the pandemic. To couple with this, the timely recovery of economies in host countries also played a part, further strengthening the role of remittances in extending support to the LMICs.
However, challenges for remittances remain with the resurgence of COVID-19 in many of the host countries. Remittances could be affected if the host countries impose restrictive measures. Global fuel prices would also play an important role as remittances from GCC countries form a major share of remittances for many LMICs.
In the next story, we take a deeper look into the historical trends of remittances across the countries.
Featured Image: Inward Remittances to Low & Middle-Income countries

created: November 23, 2021


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Is flexibility in choice of subjects at the Secondary level a workable idea?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 7, 2020
The NEP 2020 offers many novel ideas. One of them is to empower students through flexibility in the choice of subjects at the secondary level. But is this a practical & workable idea? What does the available data tell us?
On 29 July 2020, the Union Cabinet approved National Education Policy 2020. This policy would replace the existing Nation Policy on Education, 1986. The aim of the new policy is to bring in transformational reforms in school and higher education systems in the country.
Various opinions have been expressed regarding the NEP-2020. There has been appreciation and support from certain sections in respect to some of the innovative ideas put forth in the policy, which could provide the much-needed fillip to the Indian education system in tune with the times. At the same time, there are apprehensions also, especially regarding the implementation of NEP-2020.
The policy has put forth many propositions which provide a different dimension to the prevailing education system. One such is providing flexibility to students in choosing subjects of their choice at the secondary level. This is proposed to be a hallmark feature of Secondary School Education, where in the students will be able to design their own courses for study, without having to confine to the rigidity of silos like – arts, humanities, sciences etc.
While this is a step in the right direction, the implementation poses a challenge. There are various factors that influence the flexibility of choice – systemic challenges, preferences, trends, perception of career opportunities etc. Furthermore, while NEP- 2020 proposes flexibility in choosing subjects, it ought to be noted that a varied choice of subjects already exists even for the current set of students studying Classes XI & XII in various boards.
We take a look at data related by CBSE , which reflects the prevailing situation and offers the much-needed insights around choice of subjects among students at the Class XII level. The analysis of this data might also help us approach the implementation this plan in the right way.
Around 1/3rd of the Subject options in CBSE XII Standard was chosen by less than 100 students each
As per data released by the CBSE, the XII standard CBSE students attempted examinations from around 160 subject options in 2018. Out of all the subjects, only 3% i.e. 5 subjects were attempted by more than 5 lakh students. Among these, was the compulsory language option of ‘English Core’ for most of the English medium students and the Co-scholastics option of ‘Physical Education’.
Another 9 subjects i.e. around 5% of the subjects had students between 1 lakh-5 lakhs.  Nearly 84% of these subjects had less than 5 thousand students each and around 68% of the subjects had less than 1000 students across the country. In fact, 1/3 of the subjects have enrolment of less than 100 students each.  This trend is prevalent even in the preceding years.
Even for the years 2014-2017, the percentages more or less remain the same, in line with that of 2018. During 2015 and 2016, the share of subjects that have an enrolment of less than 100 was 42% and 40% respectively. This drop-in percentage in 2017 & 2018 is not due to increase in number of students taking other subjects but due to the fall in number of subjects which had at least one student enrolment.
For example, subject ‘Store Accounting’ had no student in 2016 & 2017. Same is the case with other subjects like ‘Business Data Processing’, ‘Introduction to Financial Marketing’, ‘BPO Skills’ etc. The total number of subjects which had at least one student in 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017 & 2018 were – 175, 180, 184, 159 and 164 respectively.
Mathematics, Physics & Chemistry are the most sought-after subjects
CBSE students have the option to select subject electives (apart from the two language subjects) for Classes XI & XII, unlike IX & X where there are no elective options for the subjects.
Review of the CBSE examination data for Class XII in 2018 shows that, among the subject electives, the highest number of students were for Chemistry with over 6.2 lakh students, closely followed by Physics and Mathematics with 6.1 lakhs and 5.9 lakh students respectively.
Even during the earlier years, the number of students enrolled for these three subjects is the highest. In 2014, students for Mathematics were highest followed by Physics & Chemistry  while during 2015-2017, Physics had the highest number of students.
Among the non-science subjects – Economics, Business Studies and Accountancy have  higher enrolment but the numbers are only around 50-60% compared to the enrolment for the 3 science subjects.
Political Science, History & Geography, categorized under Social Sciences/Arts had comparatively fewer of students. In 2018, Political Science & History had 1.7 and 1.5 lakh students while Geography had slightly less than one lakh students.
Numbers for other electives drop rapidly with Sociology having chosen by around 38 thousand students and Psychology by around 17 thousand students. This numbers are a far cry from the number of students enrolled under the top 3 science subjects.
With slight variance, the trends are similar even in the earlier years. While, there has been a comparative increase in the number of students opting for Chemistry and Biology, the number of students for Political Science, History, Computer Science & Geography remained nearly the same, in spite of the increase in the total number of students appearing for CBSE XII exams year on year.
Among the languages, English and Hindi were the most preferred options. Punjabi is the highest among the vernacular languages with around 16 thousand students.
For classes IX & X, Mathematics, Science and Social are among the compulsory subjects and hence students do not have flexibility to choose among these. However, there are other subjects from which the student can choose from.
Analysis of students data for CBSE X class exams in 2018, indicates that  an overwhelming number ( 5.36 lakhs) of students have opted for ‘Foundation of IT’ compared to other optional subjects available. It is followed up with other Computer related subjects such as – ‘Information Technology’ that had around 82 thousand students.
Few of the other available options like – Introduction to Tourism, Dynamics of Retailing, Home Science, Automobile Technology, Security, Food Production etc. had less than 10 thousand students each.
Even from the perspective of language choices, English, Hindi & Sanskrit are the most opted languages by a large margin. French, the highest opted foreign language has chosen by around 16 thousand students, followed by German at a distant 2.5 thousand.
Numbers indicate lower real-time flexibility in the choice of subjects
The data for CBSE Class XII indicated that the enrolment of students into various subjects’ skews into a limited set of subjects, with majority of the subjects chosen by a very small number of students. The same would be true even in various state boards.
The reasons for this skew could be many. As highlighted earlier, among the optional subjects available for classes IX & X, ‘Foundation of IT’ is the most chosen option. This could indicate the preference towards Information Technology compared to other subjects, in context of its present and future importance. However, questions also arise if students have any realistic option of choosing any of the other optional subjects. It is very much possible that this is one of the limited options made available to the students by the respective schools.
A similar case can be made for the languages. The higher number of students enrolled for Sanskrit (highest after English & Hindi) compared to other options like French, German etc. points to a lack of real-time choice or influence on the choice.
The curriculum provides a greater choice of subjects for XI & XII class students. However,  the choice of subjects is largely skewed towards the Science subjects even here. This signifies a known trend of preference for Engineering & Medicine as the preferred choice during under-graduate study. Comparative increase in enrolment for Biology indicates an increasing preference towards these fields.
Economics, Accounting & Business Studies are the other preferred options beyond the sciences albeit with far fewer numbers. These choices indicate preference to other professional career options in accountancy and management.
Few of the other subjects which could provide other professional career options like Psychology, Mass Media, Hospitality etc. do not have higher enrolments. Humanities and Arts, although comparatively higher, seem to be the preferred option only after Sciences & Business management related subjects.
Even in the case of XI & XII, the choices are either influenced by career option or the lack of options made available to the students. For instance, many schools offer a limited choice of subject combinations to choose from. Even with these options, schools make sure that such options are entertained only to the extent of availability of requisite staff and feasibility of numbers.
Innovative and executable solutions needed to implement flexibility suggested in NEP- 2020
As mentioned earlier, the data from many state boards indicates a similar trend as in the case of CBSE. There could be slight variation among the states, but the choice is mostly limited to subjects related to Science, Commerce and a handful of subjects in Humanities.
Making the vision of flexibility in the choice of subjects in IX-XII standards, as stated in NEP -2020, into a practical and workable model required solutions which address the implementation problems.
Based on the data we analysed, the following two key problems are visible.
Fewer options are made available: Although the options are many on paper, the ones made available to students could be limited. Many a time, students are forced to choose options which are provided by the school, in spite their interest to take up a different option.
Even from the perspective of a school, making all or most of the options available poses practical challenges. Hiring teaching faculty for all the available options is not practically viable. In semi-urban areas, finding quality faculty even for the science subjects is a huge challenge. So, the challenge to find faculty for other subjects is a bigger challenge. This is a major roadblock to be addressed by the government if flexibility of choice needs to be implemented in its true spirit.
The Government can explore options like allowing visiting faculty who can teach in multiple schools, conduct focused workshops for few of the optional subjects at specific times of the year etc. This would ensure that schools are eased from the burden of having dedicated faculty for such a vast array of subjects.
Lack of awareness on alternate career options: The limited options made available by the schools is also influenced by the preference of choice to specific subjects or the feasibility in terms of student numbers. Sciences and to an extent commerce/management related subjects are considered to provide better career prospects. This points to a lack of understanding on part of the parents as well as the schools about the various career options that are available in a rapidly changing world.
In a Pearson’s article, Healthcare, AI, Fintech, Nursing, Data Analytics etc. are highlighted as emerging fields of study. In the ‘Future of Jobs Report – 2018’ published by World Economic Forum, jobs such as Data Analysts, AI specialists, Sales & Marketing Professionals, IT security specialists, Digital marketing specialists, E-Commerce & Social Media specialists etc. are identified to be the emerging ones, along with roles such as HR professionals, Finance & Investment advisors, University & Higher education teachers along with other IT -related jobs are identified as stable options.
The same study identified few of the skills as necessary for the future– analytical thinking, Leadership, complex problem solving, reasoning, creativity etc.
Identifying the emerging careers and inculcating the skills required during the secondary school stage through the diverse subject options are going to be key.  This has to be done along with educating the students and parents on the various career options available beyond the traditional choice of engineering & medicine.  The subject choices at the secondary level have to be mapped to specific career prospects with real-time examples for the students & parents to make an informed choice. Only such focussed efforts towards encouraging inter disciplinary participation from students would be able to fulfil the objective as envisioned in NEP-2020.
A workable & practical framework for implementation of the vision set in NEP-2020 is the key. Else, it would be a continuation of the current situation where in options and flexibility of choice is limited to paper while the majority of students choose a limited set of subjects.
Featured Image: National Education Policy 2020

created: September 7, 2020


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Data: Is India’s GDP growth rate worst among major economies for April-June 2020?
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 4, 2020
As soon as the government released the GDP figures for April-June 2020, various narratives are being floated on social media comparing India’s rate with the economies of G-7 countries & China. Which of these claims is true?
On 31 August 2020, The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI) released India’s GDP (Gross Domestic Product) estimates for Q1 of the financial year 2020-21 i.e. April-June 2020. As per MoSPI estimates, the GDP contracted by 23.9 % i.e. GDP growth rate was -23.9 % compared to that of same quarter last year (Q1 of financial year 2019-20).
The nation-wide lockdown due to COVID-19 is cited as the main reason for the contraction. Apart from India, major economies across the world were also impacted due to COVID-19 and most of them reported a contraction in their GDP during this quarter, though not at India’s level.
Soon after the GDP estimates were released by the government, comparison with other major economies was made on media and other forums. While few highlighted that India’s GDP contracted the greatest in this quarter when compared to the other leading economies of the world, there were counter narratives that mentioned that the contraction in few other countries was higher than that of India.
The main reason for these differing narratives can be attributed to the varied form of reporting followed by the respective countries in presenting their GDP numbers. In this fact-check, we take a look at these different forms and make a comparative analysis with common criteria and also evaluate some of the interpretations in the media to check for their veracity.
The USA uses an ‘Annualized method’ while India used ‘YoY method’ for reporting GDP growth rate
For the comparative analysis of India’s GDP growth rate with other major economies, we have considered the G-7 countries which are the most developed economies. These include – Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, United Kingdom & USA. We have also considered China, which is not only ground zero for COVID-19 pandemic, but also the second largest economy in the world in terms of nominal GDP.
As per this calculation, India’s GDP contracted by 23.9% in Q1 of 2020-21 compared to Q1 of 2019-20.
In its reporting of GDP growth rate, The United States of America (USA) uses an annualized method of calculation. In this method the growth/contraction for the quarter is taken as a base. It is then assumed that economy would continue to grow/contract at the same rate for the next three quarters. This total growth of contraction is considered as the Annualized GDP growth rate.
Hence, as per annualized reporting of GDP, the economy of USA contracted by 31.7% annually as per the figures for Q2 of 2020.
Similar to USA, even Canada and Japan also used annualized figure for GDP reporting. Accordingly, the GDP of Canada fell by 38.7% for second quarter of 2020. Japan’s economy as contracted an annualized 27.8 % for Q2 2020.
For April-June 2020, India’s GDP contracted the greatest percentage on a YoY basis compared to the G-7 economies
As seen earlier, the GDP of India contracted by 23.9% during April-June’ 2020 compared to April-June’ 2019. As per the data available on OECD.org, United Kingdom has contracted the most within the G-7 countries and slightly better than India with -21.7 % in Apr-June’2020 compared with the same period last year.
As per the information provided by the respective government departments of France & Italy, the YoY contraction in the Q2 of 2020 was -18.9% & -17.7% respectively. They are followed by Canada, whose YoY contraction is calculated at -13 % compared to same time last year. Germany reported a contraction of  -11.3%.  Japan and United States which have reported annualized GDP rates, have their YoY GDP growth rates calculated at -10% and -9.1% respectively during Apr-June’2020 compared to the same quarter in 2019.  Among the leading economies, only China has reported a positive growth with 3.2%.
India reported the highest contraction compared to the previous quarter
Apart from providing YoY change in GDP, France, Italy and Germany has also provided the change in GDP in Q2 of 2020 compared to that of Q1 of 2020 (Jan-March), the preceding quarter, in their official statements.
As per the official information released by the respective countries, GDP growth rate (contraction in this case) of France was -13.8%, whereas for Italy and Germany it was -12.8% and -9.7 % respectively.
United Kingdom has reported that the GDP contraction was -20.4% during April-June’2020 compared to Q1 i.e. Jan-March’2020.  As per the information, available on OECD, the contraction in GDP of Canada was -11.5% compared to previous quarter. While that of USA and Japan, it is -9.1% and -7.8%.
While India does not provide a Quarter on Quarter (QoQ) comparison, the information tweeted by Chief Economist of IMF, Gita Gopinath, pegs the QoQ GDP growth rate (contraction) of – 25.6%. India a reported a positive YoY GDP growth rate (4.2%) during Jan-Mar’2020. The nation-wide lock down was only imposed towards the end of March 2020. China is the only major economy which has reported a positive QoQ GDP growth for the April-June 2020 period.
Misleading interpretation of the GDP data on social media
Business Today has initially published an infographic, which it later corrected and updated. In the initial infographic  shared by them, the information was mixed up with YoY data for a few countries and QoQ data for a few others. Hence it was not the proper comparison. This information is now corrected and the correct YoY data is reflected in the infographic for all the countries.
The earlier infographic was shared by a Twitter user and a counter narrative was provided in the tweet, which included the annualized GDP of USA and Canada, to project them to be faring worse than India. However, as highlighted earlier in this story, USA and Canada use Annualized GDP method in their official reporting, which cannot be compared to that of India’s YoY reporting.
Another infographic is being shared on social media which compares India’s GDP growth rate with Canada, USA & Japan.
As highlighted earlier, these three countries report Annualized GDP growth. Hence the information thus being shared is Misleading since it compares India YoY with annualized rates of the other three countries.
Here is a summary of what the April-June 2020 GDP data of various countries.
Claim: India is not the worst performing economy as far as GDP growth for April-June 2020 is concerned.
Fact: India’s GDP growth of -23.9% was the worst for April-June 2020 compared to the same period in 2019 among the G-7 economies & China. The figures presented on social media are a mix of annualized & YoY rates which have to be compared separately. Hence the figures used in the comparison are Misleading.

created: September 4, 2020


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Data: ISRO’s Missions, Launches & Journey in Numbers
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
August 31, 2023
From using USSR’s rocket to launch India’s first satellite in 1975, ISRO has come a long way. Data indicates that a total of 124 spacecraft missions were launched by ISRO as of date. A total of 93 launches took place from SDSC SHAR in Sriharikota of Andhra Pradesh. More than 400 foreign satellites were also launched to date.
Recently on 23 August 2023, India’s Moon mission, Chandrayaan-3 successfully landed on the moon. The ‘Vikram’ lander made a soft landing on the Moon’s South Pole, making India the only country to have landed in that region of the moon. With this achievement of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), India joins a select group of countries that includes the USA, Russia, and China, who have landed unmanned probes on the moon.
Chandrayaan-3 Mission:
'India🇮🇳,
I reached my destination
and you too!'
: Chandrayaan-3
Chandrayaan-3 has successfully
soft-landed on the moon 🌖!.
Congratulations, India🇮🇳!#Chandrayaan_3#Ch3
In the previous Lunar mission i.e., Chandrayaan-2, the spacecraft sent by India was able to successfully reach the orbit of the moon but had a crash landing.  As part of Chandrayaan-3, the rover ‘Pragyan’ was also successfully deployed. Chandrayaan-3 is India’s latest accomplishment in its over 6 decades of tryst with space exploration.
India among a handful of countries that have achieved different milestones in space exploration
Modern space research in India can be traced back to the early decades of the 20th Century. However, the establishment of the Department of Atomic Energy in 1950 provided the initial funding through space research in India.
The Indian National Committee for Space Research (INCOSPAR) was set up in 1962 by Prime Minister Jawahar Lal Nehru, at the suggestion of Vikram Sarabhai. In fact, the lander ‘Vikram’ was named after Vikram Sarabhai in recognition of his efforts towards India’s space research.
Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was formed on 15 August 1969 and superseded INCOSPAR. In 1972, the Department of Space was set up and ISRO was brought under it.
Over the years, ISRO has achieved many milestones placing India among the elite few in Space research & exploration. India’s first satellite, Aryabhata, was built by ISRO and launched into space by the Soviet Union in 1975. Later, India successfully launched Rohini-1 in 1980. Over the years, India has launched more than 120 of its satellites for various purposes including – Communication, Navigation, Earth Observation, Scientific Research, etc.
Apart from the mission to the Moon, India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (also called Mangalyaan) made India the first Asian nation and the fourth overall to reach Martian Orbit.  ISRO progressed from launching our first satellite using other countries’ space vehicles to developing Space Launch vehicles that also aid in launching satellites of other countries. India’s future mission to study the Sun and also the first manned mission (Gaganyaan) is a continuation of the progress made by ISRO.
Here is a look at a few numbers relating to ISRO’s journey in Space exploration.  The data is picked up from the datasets available on Dataful, which were compiled from the information available on the ISRO website.
124 Spacecraft Missions launched by ISRO, with an increased frequency in recent years
As already indicated above, India’s first space mission was the launch of the artificial satellite, Aryabhata, in 1975. While it was made by India, it was launched by the Soviet Union as part of its Interkosmos space programme which provided access to space for its friendly states.
India’s next satellite Bhaskara-I, was also launched into space with Soviet’s help. The first satellite launched into space by India was Rohini-1 in 1979. India’s first Communication satellite, APPLE, was launched into space in 1981.
The spacecraft launched in the next couple of decades were used to launch satellites into space for various purposes. These include – Earth Observation, Communication, Experimental, Climate and Weather, Navigation etc.
Chandrayaan-1 launched in 2008, was launched for the purpose of Planetary Observation, followed by other two Space missions under Chandrayaan and One mission under the Mars Orbiter Mission (Mangalyaan).
Overall, a total of 124 spacecraft missions were launched by ISRO as of 25 August 2023. While few of these missions were launched using the help of other Space agencies, an increasing number of these missions were launched by ISRO.
Earth Observation and Communication were the major applications for which the space missions were launched. Navigation, Experimental and Climate & Environment applications are comparatively fewer.
More than 90 Space Missions launched from SHAR
Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Srihari Kota, Andhra Pradesh is the primary spaceport of ISRO. It was originally referred to as Sriharikota Range (SHAR). It became operational in 1979 and currently has two launch pads. The second one was built in 2005 and is a universal launchpad i.e., it accommodates various launch vehicles used by ISRO.
These launch vehicles include – Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV), Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV), Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) and Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle (GSLV) of which LVM3 are a part. LVM3 is the vehicle used for the launch of Chandrayaan- 3.
Data from ISRO indicates that the highest number of Space mission launches by SHAR are PSLVs. Overall, more than 90 Space missions have been launched from SHAR. The first mission was in 1979 using SLV 3E1, which was unsuccessful. In 1983, a successful launch from SHAR using SLV-3 carried the Rohini-1 Satellite into space.  ISRO’s space launch efforts have had high success, with only 9 missions being unsuccessful out of the more than 90 Launch missions from SHAR.
431 International Customer Satellites launched by ISRO
One of the indicators that reflects the progress made by ISRO in space exploration is its customer satellite launch services. From using the USSR’s help to launch its first satellite, ISRO quickly moved on to develop its capabilities to develop Satellite Launch Vehicle (SLV) and launched Rohini-1. The majority of space missions by India in later years were launched by itself.
In 1999, ISRO embarked on a new journey by opening up to launch International Customer Satellites. On 26 May 1999, India launched Satellites of Germany & South Korea using PSLV-C2 along with its Oceansat-1. Since then, India has launched a total of 431 International Customer Satellites.
On 15 February 2017, ISRO launched 101 satellites on a single launch by a PSLV-XL. 96 of them were from the United States, and one each from Israel, the UAE, Kazakhstan, the Netherlands, and Switzerland. This is the highest number of satellites launched in a single day.
Most of the International Customer Satellites were launched using PSLVs which are used for launching satellites into Lower Orbits.  The highest number of International Customer satellites launched by ISRO were in the USA with 231, followed by the UK (81) and Singapore (20). Overall, Satellites in 36 countries were launched by ISRO.
In order to commercially explore the products and services of the Indian Space Programme, “New Space India Limited” was incorporated in 2019, as a wholly-owned government company under the administrative control of the Department of Space. Apart from PSLV, ISRO has now operationalised its GSLVs and LVM3 launch vehicles. It is also building a Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) as a launch-on-demand vehicle. These have provided increased scope to expand launch services.
Furthermore, ISRO has launched 15 satellites under its Student Satellite initiative. AzaadiSAT-2 was the most recent of these launches.


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Jaipur, Lucknow, & Patna continue to report a high Crime Rate of ‘Economic Offences’
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
November 1, 2021
As is the case with economic offences across the country, the number of economic offences registered across the 19 metropolitan cities reduced in 2020. However, smaller cities like Jaipur, Lucknow & Patna continue to report a high crime rate of ‘Economic Offences’, almost three times the large cities.
In the earlier story, we analysed the trends related to ‘Economic Offences’ in India – crimes reported, police & court disposal of such cases. While fewer economic offences were reported in 2020, there was a significant fall in the number of cases disposed by the police and the courts.
In this story, we look at the trends of ‘Economic offences’ across the States and Metropolitan cities (as per NCRB) in the country.
Rajasthan reports the highest number of Economic offences, while Telangana has the highest crime rate
In 2020, Rajasthan reported 18.5 thousand economic offences, which is the highest in the country. The offences registered in 2020 were fewer than in the previous years, especially compared to 2019 where 26.92 thousand cases were registered.  Despite the comparatively lower numbers in 2020, it is still the highest in the country. Uttar Pradesh records the second-highest number of economic offences followed by Maharashtra & Telangana.
The trends over the four years indicate these four states along with West Bengal account for the greatest number of economic offences registered by the police. Rajasthan is also among the states with a high crime rate of 23.6 per lakh population. The states of Telangana, Assam & Kerala have a higher crime rate than Rajasthan in 2020.  Telangana has the highest Crime rate for economic offences in the country in 2020 with 34.6.
While the number of economic offences registered by the police fell in 2020 compared to that of 2019 in most of the states, Kerala, Telangana & Haryana are exceptions.  The increase was more prominent in Kerala.  Since NCRB only reports about the crimes registered by the police, it is unsure whether the fall in the number of economic offences is due to the lower incidence of the crime or due to underreporting.
Around a quarter of offences relating to Criminal Breach of trust are from UP and WB accounts for 1/6th of the counterfeiting cases
A criminal breach of trust is a crime head under ‘Economic Offences’ and the second most number of cases are registered under this head.  In 2020, about 17.35 thousand cases were registered across India under this head. Of these, around 4.45 thousand cases are registered in Uttar Pradesh. Assam, which has a relatively much lower population than UP registered 2.28 thousand cases in 2020 under this head.  UP also registered the highest number of cases resulting in loss of property due to Criminal breach of trust (2.6 thousand cases of the total 9.9 thousand cases).
This is higher than the cases registered under this head for states with a comparatively higher population like Maharashtra & West Bengal, which have registered around 1.6 and 1.5 thousand cases respectively under this head in 2020. Haryana is another state with a comparatively lower population but registered a higher number of cases under Criminal breach of trust with 1.47 thousand cases in 2020.
A similar trend is reflected even in 2019, where a higher number of cases under this crime head are reported in these states. However, the number of cases in 2020 has reduced especially in Uttar Pradesh.
A total of 672 cases were registered under another crime head of ‘Counterfeiting’ in 2020. Of these, the most are registered in West Bengal with 109 cases, followed by Assam at 63.
5 states account for nearly 55% of the cases under Forgery, Cheating & Fraud
More than 80% of the cases categorized as economic offences are registered under the Crime head of ‘Forgery, Cheating & Fraud’ (FCF). The trend across states as far as economic offences are concerned is largely a reflection of the trends under FCF.
Rajasthan has the highest number of registered cases of FCF in 2020 with around 18 thousand cases, although the number fell sharply from 26.34 thousand cases in 2019.  Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra continue to be among the states with a high number of cases registered under FCF despite fewer cases in 2020 compared to 2019.
Telangana reported an increase in the number of cases in 2020, in contrast to the general trend. Kerala and Assam are the other two states which have also reported an increase in the number of cases in 2020 compared to 2019.  While Telangana witnessed a 15% increase in the number of cases registered under this head, Kerala witnessed a 41% increase in the number of FCF cases in 2020.
As per NCRB’s data, Maharashtra has registered the highest number of cases which has resulted in misappropriation due to FCF with 7.9 thousand cases, followed by Telangana at 7.6 thousand cases.
In the earlier story, we highlighted that during 2019, there were 316 cases of misappropriation due to FCF with an amount involved in each case between Rs. 50-100 crores each. This is an exception compared to the numbers in the other years. Andhra Pradesh contributed to this spike with 302 cases. While this instance of a higher number of cases in 2019 is reported by various media, the specific reasons are not clear yet.
Jaipur and Lucknow with the highest crime rate for economic offences
Among the 19 cities considered as Metropolitan cities in NCRB’s Crime in India report, Delhi and Mumbai have registered the highest number of Economic offences in 2020. Around 4.44 thousand such offences were registered in Delhi, while Mumbai registered 3.92 thousand cases. It ought to be noted that these two cities also account for the most population of all metro cities.
Kolkata, Chennai, Bengaluru & Hyderabad are next on the list in terms of population. The trend in economic offences, however, varies between these cities.  Bengaluru registered 2.08 thousand cases with a crime rate of 24.5 per lakh population. The crime rate of Kolkata and Chennai are much lower with only 12.9 and 8 per lakh population in 2020.
In contrast, Hyderabad has a higher crime rate of 44.2 in 2020. This is specific to 2020, as the crime rate in 2019 is much lower at 24.5. In fact, Hyderabad is the only major city that has registered an increase in the number of economic offences in 2020 compared to the earlier year. This could have contributed to the increase in cases observed in the case of Telangana.
Except for 2020, where the number of economic offences came down, Jaipur & Lucknow have registered the highest number of offences after Delhi & Mumbai. In fact, in 2019, Jaipur registered the most. The number of crimes registered in these two cities is higher than most of the other cities with a higher population. This is reflected in their higher crime rates.
In 2019, Jaipur’s crime rate for economic offences was 198.7 per lakh population which fell to 104.7 in 2020. For Lucknow, it was 103.8 and 76.7 per lakh population in 2019 & 2020 respectively. Despite the lower numbers in 2020, these two cities continue to register the highest crime rate in the country as far as economic offences are concerned. Patna follows these two cities regarding the crime rate.
Trends indicate that ‘Economic Offences’ are more common in certain States & Cities
Although the number of Economic offences has decreased in 2020 and there are certain changes in the trends, the trend in most of the previous years has been consistent. Certain cities and states tend to register a very high number of Economic offences. The trends are consistent even within the various crime heads under economic offences.
Such clear trends provide an opportunity to focus on these cities & states to identify the circumstances & reasons for economic offences to take place.  An emerging trend in recent years is that economic offences are not limited to large cities but have also spread to comparatively smaller cities and the crime rate in fact is higher in such cities.
The higher number of economic offences is understandable in the cities of Mumbai, which is considered the financial capital while Delhi is the national capital. The cities of Bengaluru & Hyderabad are major IT hubs with a lot of economic activity. The emergence of cities like Jaipur, Lucknow, Pune etc. in terms of the higher crime rate of economic offences is a cause for concern. While the specific nature of such offences is not available, the crime rate in these cities is almost 3 times more than the average crime rate across 19 large cities and almost 7 times more than the national average.
Chennai which is among the cities with one of the lowest crime rates for economic offences, also has a higher Chargesheeting rate with 90.3%, while in the case of Jaipur it is only 12.9%.
Based on the nature of the economic offence, specific domain knowledge, coordination with other financial agencies are necessary for faster disposal. All this makes it challenging for law enforcement agencies. Though dedicated ‘Economic Offences Wings’ are set up in most states, the increasing crime rate & decreasing disposal rates call for urgent action.
Featured Image: Crime Rate of ‘Economic Offences’

created: November 1, 2021


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Data: Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, and Punjab Account For 75% of The Persons Fined Under Sections 4 & 6 of COTPA 2003 - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
December 26, 2022
COTPA 2003 is a comprehensive law on tobacco use enacted to prohibit the consumption of cigarettes and tobacco products and regulate its trade and advertising to improve the public health. As per data between 2019-20 & 2021-22, the four states of Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, and Punjab accounted for 75% of the persons fined under sections 4 & 6 of COTPA 2003.
The Government, in an answer to a question on tobacco sale and consumption, provided statistics about the number of people fined under Section 6 of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA, 2003). This data along with the data from the Crime in India report of the NCRB is vital in understanding the implementation of the COTPA 2003. In this story, we look at India’s response to the tobacco epidemic and some data points relating to its consumption and sale. You can read Factly reports on COTPA 2003 here, here and here.
Tobacco is one of the leading causes of non-communicable diseases
Tobacco usage, in any form, is one of the leading causes of non-communicable diseases in India, and the world. Tobacco deaths rarely make it to headlines. In fact, tobacco kills about half its own users. Tobacco contains an addictive drug called Nicotine and it is easily absorbed by the blood through lungs. Whether you smoke it, sniff it, or eat it, the result is the same. As per the World Health Organization, the tobacco epidemic is one of the leading public health hazards, killing more than 8 million people a year.
Tobacco is not only a health issue- but it is also both an environmental and economic issue. Most cigarette butts end up in landfills and contain materials that are hard to biodegrade. Tobacco use is expanding at a greater rate in low-income countries, where millions of individuals succumb to lethal addiction every year. Contrary to the industry’s assertions on job creation and income generation, the primary contributions of the tobacco industry to any nation seem to be disease, death, and economic losses. For the poor and impoverished, purchasing tobacco means abandoning funds for essentials like food, shelter, education, and healthcare. The net economic effect of tobacco usage is to exaggerate poverty.
Eighty percent increase in cases under COTPA in last five years
The Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 (COTPA, 2003) is a comprehensive law on tobacco use enacted to prohibit the consumption of cigarettes and tobacco products and regulate its trade and advertising to improve the public health. Some of its key provisions relate to the restrictions on the sale and consumption of tobacco products, restrictions on advertising and marketing, regulations on the packaging of tobacco products and powers of the Government in upholding these provisions.
The National Crime Records Bureau’s (NCRB) ‘Crime in India’ report provides a state-wise number of cases registered under the COTPA 2003. Prior to 2017, this data was included in ‘other SLL crimes’, while from 2017, it is listed under ‘Environmental Offences’ in the ‘Crime in India’ report.
The data from 2017 to 2021 indicates a huge increase in the number of cases filed under the COTPA 2003. In 2017, the number of cases registered was 29579, which rose to 49639 in 2020, and to 53946 in 2021, amounting to an 80% increase over the last five years. To be precise, there was a steep 120% jump in cases from 2019 to 2020 itself. This could be majorly due to the prohibition on spitting in public places to restrict the spread of COVID-19.
Penalty provisions of the COTPA 2003
The COTPA 2003 provides for punishments for different violations of the act as mentioned below.
From the above, it is clear that all these key sections have a provision for levying penalties for violations. We shall look at the trends in the penalties levied under these sections.
Under Section 4 of the COTPA 2003
Section 4 prohibits smoking in public places. A public place is defined under Section 3(l) of the same statute as below.
The data for the last three years on the number of persons fined (challaned) under Section 4 of COTPA 2003, as received from States/UTs indicate that there is a 16% decline in the number of people fined in 2021-22 as compared to 2019-20. The number was 5,26,029 in 2019-20, which declined by 29% to 3,71,313 in 2020-21. Thereafter, the year 2021-22 saw an increase of 18% from 2020-21, to reach 4,39,124. This includes data from thirty-two states and UTs and excludes Bihar, Rajasthan, Delhi, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu as these provided the data cumulatively for both Section 4 and Section 6 of the act.
Under Section 6 of the COTPA 2003
Section 6 of the COTPA 2003 prohibits the sale of cigarettes or other tobacco products to a person below the age of eighteen years and in an area within a radius of one hundred yards of any educational institution.
The data for the number of people fined for violations under section 6 of the COTPA 2003 indicate that there is a decline in the number of people fined during 2020-21 and 2021-22. During 2017-18, a total of 1,11,250 people were fined, which rose to 1,18,460 in 2018-19, and further to 1,45,981 during 2019-20. This decreased by almost half to 72,537 during 2020-21, and it further declined to 64,443 during 2021-22.
Huge inter-state variation in booking violations for the COTPA, 2003
In addition to the Central act, several states such as Karnataka, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Goa, Rajasthan have enacted state-specific laws, while other states have adopted the COTPA 2003 with minor state-specific amendments. Several states like Kerala, Madhya Pradesh, Telangana have enforced bans on all forms of chewing tobacco products, and manufacture, storage, distribution and sale of gutkha and pan masala.
While there is a good legislative intent behind the passage of such statutes, the implementation of these acts plays a crucial role in determining the success of such bans. The data on the number of people fined for violating COTPA 2003 is highly skewed towards four-five states such as Karnataka, Kerala, Gujarat, and Punjab. These states account for more than 75% percent of all the cases booked under the section 4 and section 6 of the act. Two scenarios arise from this- either these states are seeing high tobacco consumption, or these states are implementing the provisions of COTPA 2003 very strictly. Either way, a lot of work still needs to be done on mitigating the tobacco epidemic.

created: December 26, 2022


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Data: Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra & Telangana Account for More Than 80% of India’s Software Exports - FACTLY
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
July 4, 2023
Software Exports are the mainstay of India’s service exports. The IT-ITeS sector provides direct & indirect employment to a significant number of people in India. Data indicates that the four states of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra & Telangana account for more than 80% of India’s software exports.
India’s IT-ITeS sector is a critical pillar in India’s economic growth story. With more than 15 million direct and indirect jobs created, the industry is also one of the greatest organised sector employers, contributing to a large extent to the country’s services exports.
The Indian IT industry is poised to bring significant changes in business models and technological offerings. Flagship policies for the IT industry and new-age startups can play a catalytic role in making India a global leader in software products while also realizing the Government’s vision of a $1 trillion digital economy.
In today’s story, we look at the performance of software exports from India and associated trends.
Measures taken to improve exports of Information Technology and enabled services (IT-ITeS)
Government acts as a critical bridge in enabling a well-functional information technology ecosystem. To realise this, successive governments undertook several measures to create and transform the ecosystem. Among them, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) and Special Economic Zones (SEZ) are significant in employment generation as well as exports. One key difference between them is that SEZs are not sector specific, whereas STPIs are sector specific. A small brief about them is as follows.
Software Technology Parks of India (STPI):
With an objective to promote the development and export of software and software services including IT and ITeS, Software Technology Parks of India (STPI) were established in 1991 under Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MEITY). Since its inception, STPIs had been working towards equitable and inclusive IT-led growth thereby promoting IT-ITeS exports, Technology & Innovation and Software product development.
Special Economic Zones (SEZ):
The Export-Import (EXIM) Policy of India changed in 2000 to a new Special Economic Zones (SEZ) system, in which the Export Processing Zones (EPZ) were transformed into SEZs. The Special Economic Zones (SEZ) scheme was launched by the government to address the issues with the EPZ model. The SEZ Act was passed in 2005 and subsequent rules were made in 2006. Over time, SEZs have generated employment, investments, and exports. The SEZs have been around for a while, but in recent years, due to the globalisation of trade and financial markets, there has been a surge in interest in them on a global scale.
IT Software and services sector employs more than 5 million.
The Information Technology Software and Services industry is one of the largest employers in organized sector. The total direct employment provided by this industry rose from 2.96 million in 2012-13 to 5.1 million in 2021-22. Between 2020-21 and 2021-22, more than 4.4 lakh direct jobs were added. In addition to the direct employment, the industry also provides indirect employment to a tune of nearly 10 million people.
Exports from STPI almost tripled during the last decade.
There are 63 STPI units set up across the country, while an additional 22 STPI centres are approved by the Government of India. The overall exports by STPI registered IT/ITeS units increased from Rs. 20,051 crores in 2000-01 to Rs. 2,05,505 crores in 2009-10, marking a growth of almost nine times. However, post 2010-11, the growth rate has been relatively slow. The exports from STPI-registered units increased from Rs. 2,15,264 crores in 2010-11 to Rs. 6,28,330 crores in 2021-22, growing by nearly three times.
The bifurcation of the overall exports in 2021-22 shows that exports from units availing services under STP (under Foreign Trade (Development & Regulation) Act 1992) are Rs. 4,96,409.23 crores whereas exports from units availing only Softex attestation services is ₹1,31,920.42 crores.
Four states- Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana & Tamil Nadu account for more than 80% of India’s software exports from STPIs.
Looking at the contribution of states to software exports by STPI registered units, it is evident that four states of- Karnataka, Maharashtra, Telangana & Tamil Nadu tops the list in the software exports. Their cumulative contribution account for more than 80% of the total software exports from STPIs in India.
Karnataka has reinforced its reputation as an undisputed performer in the information technology ecosystem by accounting for more than one-third of the total exports from STPIs in 2021-22. This is followed by Maharashtra, accounting for twenty percent, Telangana at fifteen percent, and Tamil Nadu at ten percent. Between 2014-15 and 2021-22, exports from STPIs in Karnataka and Telangana grew almost at a same rate, while Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu registered a slower growth than these two states.
Software exports from SEZs cross seven lakh crores in 2022-23
A total of 270 SEZs are exporting currently. Out of this, 163 (60%) are IT/ITeS, 25 Multi product and 82 other sector specific SEZs. Approximately, 5,620 units have been setup in the SEZs till date. As mentioned previously, SEZs belong to multiple sectors. The total exports from all types of SEZs doubled from Rs. 4,63,770 crores in 2014-15 to Rs. 9,90,747 crores in 2021-22. Data provided by the Government of India in response to a RTI application filed by Factly indicates that the software exports from these SEZs grew 3.5 times from Rs. 2,12,019 crores in 2014-15 to Rs. 7,22,206 crores in 2022-23. The share of exports from IT SEZs out of the total exports from all SEZs rose from 45% in 2014-15 to 63% in 2020-21, before registering a marginal decline to 58% in 2021-22.
Karnataka and Tamil Nadu emerge as top performers in Software exports from SEZs between 2014-15 and 2022-23.
In exports from STPIs, Karnataka, Maharashtra and Telangana emerged as the top three performers. The state wise data of exports from SEZs between 2014-15 and 2022-23 reveal that Karnataka and Tamil Nadu stood as best performing states in the cumulative exports during this time period. From 2019-20, Maharashtra outperformed Tamil Nadu to emerge as second-best performing state after Karnataka. Between 2020-21 and 2022-23, the exports of software products from SEZs in Karnataka and Telangana grew at a faster rate (nearly 60% growth) than the ones in Tamil Nadu (47%) and Maharashtra (37%).


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Large Cities way ahead on Vaccination compared to the rest of the State
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
June 8, 2021
As observed in our earlier story, the vaccination coverage in urban areas of the country was more than in rural areas. Further analysis of the data related to 53 large cities substantiates this trend. Large cities & Metros are way ahead on the vaccination coverage compared to the rest of the state.
As part of our vaccine data analysis in an earlier story, it was observed that the urban-majority districts have higher rates of vaccination compared to the rural-majority districts. Even among the rural-majority districts, those districts with a city or a major town in their jurisdiction, tend to have a higher vaccination coverage compared to the other rural-majority districts.
In this story, we delve further into the vaccination coverage across the major urban centres in the country compared to their population share.
Methodology:
Vaccination coverage in these 53 cities is higher than that of the overall vaccination coverage in their states
The 53 cities considered are spread across 19 states in the country. As per the latest Co-WIN information available as of the morning of 07 June 2021, the vaccination coverage is 16.49 crores across these 19 states. This constitutes around 13% of the total population of these states.
A total of 5.49 crore persons are vaccinated across the 53 cities that are being analysed. This constitutes around 19% of the population within these districts that the 53 cities are a part of.  This confirms the significantly higher vaccination coverage (a difference of about 6%) in these urban centres compared to the rest of the districts in these states. If the districts comprising the cities are excluded, the vaccination coverage in these 19 states falls to 11.6% of the population, which is less than the national average.
These cities are home to 33% of vaccinated population while they have 23% of the total population
The total projected population of the districts with these 53 cities is 28.97 crores whereas the total population of the 19 states that these districts are part of is around 123.7 crores. In other words, the districts with these cities constitute about 23% of the total population of these 19 states.
As highlighted earlier, the total vaccination coverage in these states is 16.49 crores, of these nearly 33.3% of those vaccinated i.e., around 5.49 crores belong to the districts with these 53 cities. In other words, the districts with these 53 cities are home to 1/3rd of the total vaccinated population while their share in the total population is only around 23%. The rest of the districts in these states account for 77% of the total population but are home to only 67% of the total vaccinated population in these states.
Tamil Nadu, M.P & Telangana among the states with larger variation between cities & rest of the State
With the exception of Kerala and Jammu & Kashmir, the rest of the 17 states with these cities conform to the trend, where the proportion of vaccination in these cities is higher than their share of the population.
Here is a State-wise snapshot:
Large Metros report a higher variation between proportion of population & vaccination
While it is evident that the share of the vaccinated population in the districts with these cities is higher than the share of their population, the difference is starker in the case of the large metros.
Districts with Mumbai constitute 13.4% of Maharashtra’s population while they are home to 17.4% of the vaccinated population in the state. Another large city in the state i.e., Pune, constitutes 8.3% of the population and 13% of the vaccinated population in the state. In other words, the districts with these two cities comprise around 22% of the state’s population but account for 40% of Maharashtra’s vaccinated population.
The case of Hyderabad as highlighted earlier is also similar. The districts with Hyderabad account for 26% of Telangana’s population but are home to 40% of Telangana’s vaccinated population. The same is the case with Bengaluru as highlighted above.
Districts with Kolkata have nearly 25% of West Bengal’s vaccinated population, but their share in the state’s population is around 16%. Chennai district constitutes only around 7% of the State’s population but home to 21% of the state’s vaccinated population.
Urban Centres & Metros way ahead in Vaccination Coverage
The analysis of these 53 cities further substantiates the trends observed in the earlier story, that there is a considerable skew towards urban areas in terms of vaccination coverage. Even among urban areas, the large cities & metros are way ahead of the rest of the state. While the skew is understandable because of the dense population & larger incidence of COVID-19 in these cities, the difference in vaccination coverage between these cities & the rest of the districts in the states is concerning. It is time for the governments to ensure a more even distribution since the second wave has also hit the rural parts of many of these states.
Featured Image: Vaccination Coverage in Indian States