Economic Survey 2023: Policy aspirations to achieve better quality of life

The economic survey 2022-23 under the section titled growth magnets in this decade notes that going forward, there will be Initiatives to sensitise the population towards a healthy lifestyle and introduce strategies to arrest and reverse the rising obesity levels.

India’s obesity concerns:

According to the latest National Family Health Survey (NFHS-5) data, obesity levels in India have increased between the years 2019-2021 and one in every four persons is overweight compared to one in every five earlier. The family health survey notes that there is an overall increase in mean Body Mass Index from 21.9 in 2015-16 to 22.4 in 2019-21.

Increase in diabetes rates:

According to the International diabetes federation, 1 in 11 Indian may be diabetic, making it the second most affected country after China.  The number is projected to grow by 2045 to become 134 million as per the statistics.

Other key growth magnets as per the survey:

·         Deregulation and simplification of compliances should continue to dismantle the licensing, inspection, and compliance regime entirely.

·         Importance must be given to education and skilling to match the requirements of modern industry and technology to deal with challenges such as climate change and energy transition and make the most of India’s demographic dividend.

·         Long-range plans need to be formulated to secure the necessary metals and minerals required for energy transition and diversification.

·         Determined efforts should be taken to make the public sector asset monetisation scheme successful in realising wide-ranging efficiency gains from the programme.

·         Reforms to reduce the compliance burden on Micro Small Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), enhance their access to finance and working capital and equip them with skills, knowledge and attitude to grow their businesses responsibly must continue.

·         State governments to make conclusive progress on the various factor market reforms in different stages of completion.