Background:
- NITI Aayog released its Three Year Action Agenda document, a comprehensive framework for proposed policy changes to be implemented in the short term in India.
- NITI Aayog’s Three Year Action Agenda forms part of a larger vision document which spans a seven-year strategy and a 15-year vision document.
- NITI Aayog’s three year action agenda has set stiff economic targets and meeting those would benefit the economy.
- According to the ‘Three-Year Action Agenda’ India has good prospects of achieving over 8% growth within 2-3 years. Therefore, the chances of massive cut in the poverty rate in the upcoming decade are excellent
Key Points:
- Use of high-yield seeds
- Use of improved irrigation technique
- Removal of the tariff inversion problem (where the high level of trade barriers on intermediate inputs relative to final goods disincentives domestic production)
- Coastal Economic Zones: For manufacturing, the document proposes the development of a few Coastal Economic Zones (CEZs) operating under a liberal economic environment (for instance, without the restrictive labour laws that bedevil the rest of the economy) and with an abundance of land—much as in China, where large firms, operating in its special economic zones, sometimes each employ hundreds of thousands of workers
- Connectivity: The document’s chapters on transport and physical connectivity, as also on digital connectivity, offer a detailed picture of the existing infrastructure framework, with many specific proposals on improving efficiency and closing gaps in coverage
- Leverage Technology
- Link central government expenditure to future priorities, shifting additional allocations to high-priority sectors which are more likely to promote development.
- Expand expenditures by 2019-20 on education, health, agriculture, rural development, defence, railways, roads and other categories of capital expenditure.
- Facilitate urbanisation in the country and deal with key challenges like affordable housing, infrastructure development, public transport and promotion of Swachh Bharat.
- Eliminate corruption and black money, and increase tax base besides reforms in civil services and electoral process.
- Reform the judicial system by streamlining human resource availability and performance, increasing and strengthening avenues for dispute resolution and extensive use of ICT to improve efficiency.
- On the social sector, bring in changes in segments like education, skill development, health and issues facing specific groups, such as scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and women.
- Strengthen and streamline regulatory structure governing sustainability of environment.