The Hindu : Employment growth in State has declined, says study

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, Dec 01, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Andhra Pradesh-Hyderabad

Employment growth in State has declined, says study

By Our Staff Reporter

Hyderabad Nov. 30. Employment growth in Andhra Pradesh has declined from 2.30 per cent in the pre-reforms period to 0.31after economic reforms were started in the mid-1990s, according to a study of the State's economy by the Centre for Economic and Social Studies.

Published as a book titled "Andhra Pradesh Development: Economic Reforms and Challenges Ahead", it shows that despite doing well in fiscal management, IT industry, demographic indicators and people's participatory schemes, the State has much catching up to do with regard to employment generation, agricultural and industrial investments, health care and devolution of powers to local bodies, where it stands well below the national average.

During the reform period (1995 to 2001) subsidies have reduced from 27 to 21 per cent and establishment costs went down from 29.6 to 25 per cent of total expenditure. Capital outlay in 2000-2001 was highest among the Southern States at 2.67 per cent of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).

Official estimates of poverty also show a marked decline from 48.9 per cent in 1973-74 to 15.6 per cent in 1999-2000, but these are contested by alternative figures which indicate that poverty is much higher, specially in rural areas.

Gross State Domestic Product growth rates have fallen in the State from 5.5 per cent in the 1980s to 5.31 per cent in the 1990s while it has risen for fast growing States like Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Gujrat and West Bengal. Agriculture itself grew at a slovenly 2.47 per cent in the 1990s, despite high growth in `allied sectors' of dairy, animal husbandry and poultry.

Industry has seen a jobless growth while growth rate of industry Gross State Domestic Product has come down from 7.36 per cent in the 1980s to 6.2 per cent in the 1990s.

On health indicators Andhra Pradesh is below all its southern neighbours with a preponderance of private sector health care functioning without proper regulation, the book notes.

An interesting finding of the research is that Telangana region is doing much better in economic terms in the late 1990s as compared to the 1960s, while Rayalaseema is doing worse.

On Local Government, while Kerala, Karnataka and West Bengal have transferred functions in 29 departments to Panchayats, Andhra Pradesh has done so only in 16.

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