Farmers Movement Archive

GSDP shrinks by 5.7% in Covid year in Haryana

Tribune News ServiceChandigarh, March 12With the industry and services sector recording a negative growth rate largely due to the Covid pandemic, the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) is estimated to shrink by 5.7 per cent in 2020-21.In the last fiscal, however, the GSDP had risen by 8.2 per cent.According to advance estimates mentioned in the Economic Survey, which was tabled in the Assembly today, the GSDP at constant prices is estimated to come down to Rs 5.28 lakh crore in 2020-21. It was Rs 5.59 lakh crore in 2019-20.The per capita income is set to come down to Rs 1.64 lakh at constant prices in 2020-21, while it was Rs 1.76 lakh in 2019-20 — a dip of 6.9 per cent.The industry’s Gross State Value Added (GSVA), which is the value of goods and services produced in the economy, is estimated to shrink by 9.6 per cent due to the pandemic-induced requirements of social distancing and minimum personal interaction. The manufacturing sector is witnessing a negative growth rate of 9.4 per cent, while construction is showing a contraction 12.6 per cent. However, there is a growth of 16.2 per cent in mining and quarrying.The importance of the services sector can be gauged by looking at its contribution to the GSVA, which is estimated at 50.9 per cent in 2020-21. The sector is estimated to shrink by 5.7 per cent in 2020-21 as there is negative growth by 23 per cent in transport, storage, communication and broadcasting while the trade, repair, hotels and restaurants sector has shrunk by 7.6 per cent.Agriculture was largely insulated from the lockdown as timely and proactive exemptions from Covid-induced lockdowns to the sector facilitated uninterrupted harvesting of rabi crops and sowing of kharif crops, according to the Economic Survey. The sector is estimated to witness a growth rate of 4.3 per cent.For 2021-22, the survey projects a rapid V-shaped recovery in state’s economic activities as the GSDP is estimated to grow at 11.5 per cent. Education gets Rs18,410 crThe Budget for 2021-22 proposes an outlay of Rs 18,410 crore for education against revised estimates of Rs 15,629 crore, with an increase of 17.8 per cent. The proposed outlay includes Rs 9,014 crore for elementary education, Rs 5,899 crore for secondary education, Rs 2,793 crore for higher education and Rs 705 crore for technical education.KU gets Rs220 croreThe state government has allocated Rs 220 crore to Kurukshetra University. While Rs 180 crore will be a recurring grant, Rs 40 crore will be a non-recurring grant. To pay salaries, pension and old liabilities, the university had sought over Rs 350 crore from the government for 2021-22.Budget disappoints Kisan SabhaThe Haryana chapter of the All-India Kisan Sabha has described the Budget as disappointing, saying it had ignored the agrarian crisis and the unemployment scenario. In a statement, Inderjit Singh, vice-president of the state unit, said the projected increase of 13 per cent over the previous Budget was an illusion as it would be neutralised by the rise in prices.

The Tribune

2021-03-13