Largest proportion of Indian population depends directly or indirectly on agriculture for employment opportunities as compared to any other sector.
The share of regular wage/salaried employees has increased by 5 percentage points from 18% in 2011-12 to 23% in 2017-18.
Gender disparity in India’s labour market widened due to decline in female labour force participation, especially in rural areas.
Government Expenditure on Social Services
The expenditure on social services (health, education and others) by the Centre and States as a proportion of GDP increased from 6.2% in 2014-15 to 7.7% in 2019-20.
Access to health services inter-alia through Ayushman Bharat and Mission Indradhanush across the country has improved and a 10 Year Rural Sanitation Strategy (2019-2029) launched to focus on sustaining the sanitation behavior change and increasing access to solid and liquid waste management.
Burning of agricultural residues, leading to rise in pollutant levels and deterioration of air quality, is still a major concern, though the total number of burning events recorded reduced due to various efforts taken.
All urban areas of 35 States/UTs have become Open Defecation Free (ODF) and percentage of waste processing rose from around 18% to 60%.
The Survey emphasizes on sustainability of food security operations by:
Addressing the burgeoning food subsidy bill.
Revisiting the rates and coverage under National Food Security Act (NFSA).
Privatization of Education
The Survey proposes privatization of education at all levels as a policy initiative to fast-track entrepreneurship and consequently wealth creation.
It links literacy levels to start-up activity and cites the example of the eastern parts of the country, which have the lowest literacy rate of about 59.6% and also the lowest rate of new firms being set up.
