- After a period of slow progress during 2004-05 to 2009-10, employment generation picked up during 2009-10 to 2011- 12, adding 13.9 million persons to the workforce, but not keeping pace with the increase in labour force (14.9 million persons).
- However data from the sixty-eighth National Sample Survey (NSS) round indicates a revival in employment growth in manufacturing from 11% in 2009-10 to 12.6% in 2011-12.
- The Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) launched in October 2014, aims at attaining an Open Defecation Free India by 2 October 2019. Besides, Mission Indradhanush launched in December 2014 will cover all children by 2020 who are either unvaccinated or are partially vaccinated against seven vaccine-preventable diseases. The erstwhile Department of AYUSH (Ayurveda,Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddhi, and Homoeopathy) has now been elevated to a full-fledged Ministry.
- The latest estimates of poverty are available for the year 2011-12. These estimates have been made following the Tendulkar Committee methodology using household consumption expenditure survey data. For 2011- 12, the percentage of persons living below the poverty line is estimated as 25.7 percent in rural areas, 13.7 percent in urban areas, and 9 percent for the country as a whole.
- The 2014 Human Development Report (HDR) presents the Human Development Index (HDI)—values and ranks—for 187 countries. India’s HDI value for 2013 is 0.586, ranking it 135 out of 187 countries and territories, the lowest among the BRICS countries with Russia at 57, Brazil at 79, China at 91, and South Africa at 118, and slightly ahead of Bangladesh and Pakistan.
- India also ranks low with respect to the Gender Development Index (GDI). The GDI value for India is 0.828 and it is ranked 132 among 148 nations. In comparison, Bangladesh and China are ranked higher.
- The PMJDY launched in August 2014 and the RuPay Card, which is a payment solution, are important new measures for financial inclusion.
- To facilitate coordinated functioning of various social infrastructure and human development programmes, the Sansad Adarsh Gram Yojna (SAGY) has been launched which will be implemented through convergence of existing programmes. Another scheme launched is the Vanbandhu Kalyan Yojna that will be implemented in one block of each of the ten states having schedule V areas. Given the multiple schemes implemented to foster inclusive growth, the role of Panchayati Raj institutions is critical and there is need to strengthen the panchayats and urban local governments.
- RBI data on social services shows that there was a consistent rise in absolute social-sector expenditure by the general government (centre + state) even in the time of the 2008-09 global crisis and 2011-12 Euro area crisis. Due to the substantial fertility decline in the south during the last two decades, the south is ahead in the demographic transition compared to the north.
- For instance, the projected average age of population in 2020 of 29 years has already been surpassed in some states like Kerala (33 years), Goa (32.3), Tamil Nadu (31.3), Himachal Pradesh (30.4), Punjab (29.9), Andhra Pradesh (29.3) and West Bengal (29.1).
- The latest scientific findings (IPCC AR5) have estimated that to remain below 2°C, the world can emit only about 2900 giga-tonne (Gt) of CO2 from all sources from the industrial revolution till 2100. Till 2011, the world has already emitted 1900 Gt of CO2 and consumed around two-third of this budget. This means that out of the budget of 2900 Gt, only 1000 Gt remains to be used between now and 2100.
- There are substantial variations in total and per capita emissions of different countries. In terms of absolute CO2 emissions in 2013, China, the USA, and EU hold the first three positions respectively with India a distant fourth. However, in terms of per capita CO2 emissions in 2013, countries like India, Brazil, and South Africa fall in the bottom 100 among 196 countrie
- A National Adaptation Fund with an initial corpus of `100 crore has been set up to support adaptation actions to combat the challenges of climate change in sectors like agriculture, water, and forestry. Other recent key initiatives include scaling up of the Solar Mission fivefold from 20,000 megawatts to 100,000 megawatts requiring an additional investment of US$ 100 billion, development of 100 Smart Cities with integrated policies for sustainable development, and preparations for developing a National Air Quality Index and a National Air Quality Scheme.
