Social Infrastructure and Employment | Economic Survey & Government Reports - UPSC PDF Download

 Page 1


CHAPTER
10
During the last two years, as India along with rest of the world faced the onslaught of 
the pandemic, Government’ s key focus in India remained on providing a safety-net to the 
vulnerable segments of society as well as providing a coherent response to the health 
consequences of the pandemic. India having already faced two COVID-19 waves, with 
the first peak in September 2020 and the second peak in May 2021, is currently facing the 
third wave led by the Omicron variant. Indian National COVID Vaccination Program, 
one of the world’s largest vaccination programs, has not only supported production of 
COVID-vaccines domestically, but it has also ensured free vaccines to its population - 
world’s second largest population. Union Budget for 2021-22 allocated ` 35,000 crore 
for procurement of vaccines under COVID-19 Vaccination Program. From 16
th
 January, 
2021, as on 16
th
 January 2022, a total of 156.76 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines, 
have been administered: 90.75 crore first dose and 65.58 crore second dose. With these, 
93 percent of 18 year and above aged persons have been vaccinated with first dose and 
about 70 percent with second dose. Vaccination at this scale and speed has enabled swift 
revival of livelihoods. 
As per quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data, up to March 2021, 
employment in urban sector affected by the pandemic has recovered almost to the pre-
pandemic levels.  Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) data suggests, that 
not only formalisation of jobs continued during second-COVID-19-wave, but its adverse 
impact by far on formalization of jobs was also much lower than during the first-COVID-
wave. To provide the necessary buffer for the unorganized labour in rural areas during 
the pandemic, allocation of funds to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment 
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has been increased.
As per the latest available data, school infrastructure – both in terms of number of 
recognized schools & colleges and basic facilities in schools – and teachers' availability 
reflected in Pupil Teacher Ratio, showed an improvement in 2019-20 over earlier years. 
Year 2019-20, also witnessed improvement in enrolments rates across upper-primary, 
secondary, and higher secondary and improvement in dropout rates at all levels. Gross 
enrolment ratio in higher education recorded at 27.1 percent in 2019-20, was slightly 
higher from 26.3 percent in 2018-19. Government has undertaken multiple initiatives 
aimed at revolutionizing the higher education ecosystem by (i) enabling higher 
vocationalisation, (ii) greater multi-disciplinary research, (iii) providing multiple entry 
Social Infrastructure and 
Employment
Page 2


CHAPTER
10
During the last two years, as India along with rest of the world faced the onslaught of 
the pandemic, Government’ s key focus in India remained on providing a safety-net to the 
vulnerable segments of society as well as providing a coherent response to the health 
consequences of the pandemic. India having already faced two COVID-19 waves, with 
the first peak in September 2020 and the second peak in May 2021, is currently facing the 
third wave led by the Omicron variant. Indian National COVID Vaccination Program, 
one of the world’s largest vaccination programs, has not only supported production of 
COVID-vaccines domestically, but it has also ensured free vaccines to its population - 
world’s second largest population. Union Budget for 2021-22 allocated ` 35,000 crore 
for procurement of vaccines under COVID-19 Vaccination Program. From 16
th
 January, 
2021, as on 16
th
 January 2022, a total of 156.76 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines, 
have been administered: 90.75 crore first dose and 65.58 crore second dose. With these, 
93 percent of 18 year and above aged persons have been vaccinated with first dose and 
about 70 percent with second dose. Vaccination at this scale and speed has enabled swift 
revival of livelihoods. 
As per quarterly Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) data, up to March 2021, 
employment in urban sector affected by the pandemic has recovered almost to the pre-
pandemic levels.  Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) data suggests, that 
not only formalisation of jobs continued during second-COVID-19-wave, but its adverse 
impact by far on formalization of jobs was also much lower than during the first-COVID-
wave. To provide the necessary buffer for the unorganized labour in rural areas during 
the pandemic, allocation of funds to Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment 
Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) has been increased.
As per the latest available data, school infrastructure – both in terms of number of 
recognized schools & colleges and basic facilities in schools – and teachers' availability 
reflected in Pupil Teacher Ratio, showed an improvement in 2019-20 over earlier years. 
Year 2019-20, also witnessed improvement in enrolments rates across upper-primary, 
secondary, and higher secondary and improvement in dropout rates at all levels. Gross 
enrolment ratio in higher education recorded at 27.1 percent in 2019-20, was slightly 
higher from 26.3 percent in 2018-19. Government has undertaken multiple initiatives 
aimed at revolutionizing the higher education ecosystem by (i) enabling higher 
vocationalisation, (ii) greater multi-disciplinary research, (iii) providing multiple entry 
Social Infrastructure and 
Employment
344 Economic Survey 2021-22
INTRODUCTION
10.1	 The	 need	 for	 a	 strong	 and	 resilient	 social	 infrastructure	 became	 even	 more	 important	
during	 the	 ongoing	 COVID-19	 pandemic	 that	 brought	 into	 focus	 the	 vulnerabilities	 in	 social	
infrastructure	 across	 countries.	 Specifically ,	 pandemic	 posed	 the	 challenge	 of	 balancing	
livelihoods	 while	 saving	 lives.	 T o	 save	 lives	 and	 livelih oods	 amidst	 the	 COVID-crises,	 countries	
have	 adopted	 various	 strategies.	 India,	 the	 country	 with	 the	 second	 lar gest	 population	 and	 a	 lar ge	
elderly	 population,	 adopted 	 a	 multi-pronged	 approach.	 Given	 the	 nature	 of	 pandemic,	 the	 health	
response	 incl uding	 vaccina tion	 strategy	 remained	 critical.	 India,	 one	 of	 the	 young	 nations	 in	
the	 world,	 also	 faced	 the	 challenge	 to	 sustain	 the	 lear ning	 outcomes	 in	 schools,	 building	 skills	
and	 reskilling 	 population,	 employment	 and	 livelihood 	 to	 one	 of	 the	 lar gest	 labour	 forces	 in	 the	
world.	 Government’ s	 response	 through	 ‘Aatma	 Nirbhar	 Bharat	 Abhiyan’ 	 packages	 and	 other	
sector	 specific	 initiatives	 have	 provided	 the	 necessary	 support	 to	 mitigate	 the	 adverse	 impact	 of	
pandemic.
10.2	 This	 chapter	 gives	 a	 brief	 account	 of	 India’ s	 health	 response	 to	 the	 pandemic,	 states	 the	
facts	 on	 social	 services	 expenditure,	 reviews	 educatio n	 infrastructure	 and	 outcomes,	 lists	 effort	
of	 skill	 development,	 exam ines	 trends	 in	 employmen t,	 takes	 stock	 of	 efforts	 made	 to	 increase	
health	 service s,	 and	 exami nes	 longer	 term	 health	 trends	 using	 latest	 National	 Family	 Health	
Survey	 (NFHS)-5	 2019-21	 data,	 while	 also	 reviewing	 drinking	 water	 and	 sanitation	 access,	 and	
gives	status	of	rural	housing	access	in	the	country .		
INDIA’S HEALTH RESPONSE TO THE COVID-19
10.3	 Like	 most	 other	 countries,	 India	 also	 faced	 two	 COVID-19	 waves:	 first	 in	 2020	 and	
second	 in	 2021	 (Figure	 1).	 During	 the	 first-wave,	 the	 cumulative	 number	 of	 COVID-19	 cases	
started	 rising	 progressively	 from	 the	 month	 of	 May	 2020,	 and	 peaked	 in	 mid-September	 2020.	
Thereafter ,	 the	 country	 faced	 a	 massive	 sur ge	 in	 COVID-19	 cases	 starting	 March	 2021,	 with	 a	
peak	 of	 more	 than	 four	 lakh	 daily	 cases
1
	 in	 May	 2021	 and	 more	 than	 4400	 daily	 deaths	 in	 end	
and exit points, (iv) promoting globalisation of education, (v) leveraging the potential 
of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in teaching and learning process 
for all learners.
The latest National Family Health Survey-5 showed encouraging outcomes of Government 
programmes in the health and other social sectors. Total fertility rate (TFR) has come 
down from 2.2 in 2015-16 to 2 in 2019-21. Significant improvement is seen in the health 
infrastructure and services reaching the public. Under the Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), 83 
districts in the country have already become ‘Har Ghar Jal’ districts. Government 
addressed the unprecedented challenges posed by the pandemic, by not only intensifying 
the delivery and outreach of existing programmes, but also supplementing these by 
various well targeted and timely new interventions. Consequently, Government spending 
on social services increased significantly during the pandemic, recording an increase of 
9.8 percent over 2020-21.
1
TWC 	 India 	 Edit 	 T eam. 	 (2020, 	 December 	 19). 	 As 	 Data 	 Shows 	 Clear 	 T rends 	 of 	 Recovery , 	 India 	 Records 	 One 	 Crore 	 COVID-19 	 Cases 	 in 	 323 	 Days.