NA

Govt paints a ROSY picture of State's ECONOMY

The Pramod Sawant-led BJP government tabled the Economic Survey 2019-20 for the State of Goa and has painted a rosy picture of the State’s economy. The Survey has not given any stress on areas, which needed attention, like that of health, education, infrastructure, employment and industries. The Survey does not reflect on key issues such as job losses in the mining sector or the loss in revenue due to the mining ban. While the Survey says that the State’s debts are rising continuously, the debt/GSDP ratio is on the decline. The Survey also makes no mention of attempts to generate revenue. In the IT industry sector as well, the Survey does not reflect details about how many new start-ups have benefited from the Start-Up Policy. Team Herald reports…

Herald Team

Revenue expenditure

There has been an increasing trend of expenditure over the years. In 2019-20 (B.E) the revenue expenditure is estimated at Rs 11739.68 crore with a growth rate of 13.03%. 

Public debt

The public debt of the State is continuously rising but the debt/ GSDP ratio shows a decline. The ratio, which was 19.53% in 2017 and which has come down to 18.54% in 2019, is expected to decrease to 15.15% in 2020. The public debt, which was Rs 14,358.66 crore as per revised estimates 2019, is likely to increase to Rs 15,008.66 crore in 2020 (Est).

Deficit indicators

The State is revenue surplus from 2014-15 and has increased over the years. 2020 (BE) is estimated at Rs 455.10 crore.

In 2018-19 (RE) and 2019-20 (BE) the primary surplus is estimated to be Rs 2,135.81 crore and Rs 2,930.98 crore respectively.

Per capita income

Per capita income depicts upward trend from Rs 3,19,827 in 2014-15 to Rs 5,03,994 in 2018-19 (quick estimates).

Urban Development

The State has been certified as open defecation free by the Quality Control of India (QCI) team. 100% door-to-door collection of waste and segregation is at 86% in all ULBs- Eco Survey

Mhadei River

To protect the interest of the State, the Mhadei Tribunal award has been challenged in the Supreme Court and a contempt petition has also been filed against Karnataka for diversion of water.

The State is putting its best effort to protect the interest of Goans on Mhadei issue.

Agriculture

The States vision is now focused on the organic farming concept, for which 10,000 ha of area will be converted into organic farming by formation of 500 clusters (20 ha each) in 3 years covering 12,000 farmers.

The quantity of Milk Collection has increased up to 82,339 litres / day till December, 2019, from 81,655 litres per day of the last year. 875 animals have been purchased under the Kamdhenu scheme.

The monsoon fishing ban period for the year 2019-20 was enforced for a period of 61 days from June 1 2019 to July 31 2019 which has helped in regeneration of stocks and increase in the production of fish.

Goa-Investment Promotion Board

The Goa-Investment Promotion Board (IPB) has granted in principal, approval to 179 projects, which comprises of 72 manufacturing units, 50 new hospitality projects, 11 new service sector projects, 41 expansions of manufacturing units and 5 projects from existing hospitality units.

The total investment expected from these units is Rs 13,043.48 crore and the employment potential is 30,842 people.

IT Policy

Since the launch of the Information Technology (IT) policy, two new companies Visteon Corporation and Wowjobs Inc have already set up their offices in the State. The department is reaching out to various multinational companies to set up their operations in the State, who have reacted positively towards the proposal of the State.

Mining

The total royalty collected on extraction of major mines in 2019-20 till December 2019 is Rs 9.25 lakh. The royalty collected on minor minerals for was Rs 2.48 lakh.

A total of 13.54 million tonnes of mineral ore was sold through an e-auction and 3.27 million tonnes is balance stock.

Industries

Under ease of doing business initiative, the government has focused on delivering Government to Business (G2B) services online. The single-window system has developed with capability to scale up and add more services online.

Tourism

The State received 42 lakh tourists in 2019-20 up to August, which comprises 37.07 lakh domestic and 4.93 lakh foreign tourists registering a 3% increase.

Direct Benefit Transfer

Goa is the foremost State in implementing DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) since the year 2012. All cash benefits under the beneficiary oriented schemes implemented are disbursed through the ECS (Electronic Clearing System) mode directly into the bank account of the beneficiaries. There are 72 State schemes onboard on the DBT portal.

Vehicle population

As of December 31, 2019, the number of motor vehicles registered in the State stands at 14.55 lakhs. On an average over 80,500 vehicles are being registered every year. The number of vehicles registered during 2019-20 (up to December 31, 2019) is 46,352.

School Education

Special grants of Rs 400 per school has been provided to aided primary schools imparting education in Konkani/ Marathi in order to encourage the primary schools to impart education in mother tongue of the child.

Under the school complex and the super school complex scheme, an amount of Rs 26.8 lakh has been released to school complex and super school complexes.

Higher Education

Goa University was ranked 93 at National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF). Goa is among the few States to achieve 100% data uploading, at the all India Survey on Higher Education. 60 smart classrooms and 4 virtual classrooms have been installed in government colleges.

Goa Police

A total of 1,557 cases were registered under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) from April 1 2019 to Nov 30, 2019, out of which 1,314 have been detected, which implies that the detection rate was 84.39%.

Health

The institutional deliveries in Goa are to the tune of 99.9%. Around 12,647 (April to November 2019). The maternal deaths reported for this period are only 5. The total fertility rate is 1.7%.

Sustainable Development Goals

The SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals) are a collection of 17 global goals set by the United Nations General Assembly 2015 for the year 2020.

Goa has emerged as a front runner in the SDG India index 2019-20 from being a performer by securing 65 points. The State has secured the 7thposition in the SDG India index as compared to 5thin 2018.

Goa has secured the first position in the Goa of Zero Hunger and Sustainable Cities & Communities and is a front runner in respect to quality of education, clean water and sanitation, affordable and clean energy, decent work and economic growth, life on land and peace, justice and strong institutions.

SCROLL FOR NEXT