Latest news with #NSSO
The Hindu
10 hours ago
- Health
- The Hindu
No time to rest: on India's ranking and the Sustainable Development Report
India has been ranked among the top 100 countries in the Sustainable Development Report for the first time since this data began to be published by the Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN) since 2016. The SDSN is an independent body under the aegis of the UN, whose publications are tracked by policymakers and governments. In 2016, India was ranked 110th out of 157 countries, making steady progress to reach 99 this year out of an expanded basket of 167 nations with better metrics and more granular comparisons. But it is no time to rest on this laurel. India must look at why this incline, by 11 points, was not achieved any sooner and the gaps to focus on. From a developmental perspective, the SDSN ranks India as having fared better in poverty reduction (SDG 1) even as India's poverty estimation continues to be mired in controversy due to a lack of publicly available consumption expenditure data since 2018 and the poverty line (Rangarajan line ~₹33/day rural, ₹47/day urban) not having been updated. Proxy data suggest a considerable poverty reduction, almost halving between 2012 (22% based on NSSO data) and 2023 (World Bank – 12%). But SDG 2 (zero hunger) has remained a cause for concern. It also reveals the wide disparity between income groups and rural and urban areas on access to a nutritious diet. The National Family Health Survey (NFHS) estimates that over a third of Indians (35.5%) were stunted (NFHS-5, 2019-21), only marginally better than 38.4% (NFHS-4, 2015-16). Similarly, wasting, which is low weight for height, reduced from 21.0% to 19.3%. Obesity in the working age population (15-49 years) has almost doubled between 2006 and 2021, and concentrated in wealthier urban areas. Electricity access (SDG 7) is another indicator where India has done well. While the country has achieved near universal household electrification in the past two decades, the quality of power and duration vary vastly based on regions and urban/rural fault lines. It is, however, laudable that India today ranks as the fourth largest renewables capacity deployer, mainly solar and wind. And while India has bettered its score in infrastructure provision (SDG 9), noteworthy additions being rapid mobile penetration and financial inclusion through UPI-linked digital payments gateways, COVID-19 revealed the stark difference between rural and urban Internet penetration, which must be addressed to achieve even higher educational outcomes (SDG 4). It is telling, however, that throughout the Modi years, India's performance in governance, the rule of law, press freedom and strong and independent institutions (SDG 16) has been lagging.
Irish Times
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Times
Civil Service and ministerial pensions error was known about since 2017
Officials first became aware of an error which could lead to Ministers and civil servants owing thousands of euro to the State in 2017, eight years before it became public. The 'serious and systemic' issues at the National Shared Services Office (NSSO) may also lead to some Ministers being owed thousands of euro. Sums that will need to be recouped by the State range from hundreds of euro to just over €30,000. They were first disclosed to the public by Minister for Public Expenditure and Public Service Reform Jack Chambers earlier this month. Aside from the implications for ministerial pensions, a pool of up to 13,000 civil servants may be affected by the matter and are having their pension deductions checked. However, Mr Chambers told the Oireachtas finance committee on Wednesday that the issue stemmed from a pension appeal decision that was issued in 2017 when an individual questioned their own pension entitlement. READ MORE There is also an issue in relation to the pensions of 30 retired senior civil servants and one of them could owe as much as €280,000 But it was years before the shared payroll office explored the wider implications of the decision, Mr Chambers told Labour Party finance spokesman Ged Nash. 'It took the NSSO until July of 2024 to query if the approach following the appeal in 2017 should apply to a broader group,' Mr Chambers told the committee. Following that, there was interaction between the NSSO and the Department of Public Expenditure last year on the application of the allowances, he said. That concluded earlier this year. 'Indeed, the gap between that period is of concern,' he said. 'That's why we need an external audit.' There is also an issue in relation to the pensions of 30 retired senior civil servants and one of them could owe as much as €280,000 as a result of the NSSO errors. Mr Chambers said he became aware of the issue at the end of April, and it was further scoped in his department in May. He said draft terms of reference for an external audit of the issue were received this week and an appointment of an external auditor would follow in the coming weeks. The Minister said that the expectation of the pool of 13,000 potentially-affected civil servants, who were on work-share arrangements, is expected to be smaller once the audit is completed. Mr Chambers said it was important that there be accountability around the issues which have come to light. He told the committee the audit would take a number of months. 'It is important as part of the broader accountability oversight but also transparency around what other issues could be identified,' he said. 'It's really important for that to happen quickly, and that will be the breadth of the terms of reference which we will establish.' Mr Nash told The Irish Times it was important the NSSO and those involved in the review be given space to properly identify the extent of the issue. 'However, it does need to be done as expeditiously as possible and we need to understand how and why this issue had become a wider, more systemic problem for the system, and to apply the lessons from this experience,' the Louth TD said. 'It is also important that retired civil and public servants who may be caught up in this, through no fault of their own, are informed as soon as possible about the situation that applies to them, and that ways are identified for these matters to be put to bed in a way that is reasonable and fair to everyone.' It is believed most current Government Ministers and Ministers of State will owe money to the State due to errors in their pension deductions. Some may be due some money back.
Irish Independent
2 days ago
- Business
- Irish Independent
Number of ministers who owe State thousands of euro due to errors in pension deductions is revealed
Public Expenditure Minister Jack Chambers confirmed the figure as he revealed the wider issue of pension errors first came to the attention of the office that handles payments eight years ago. Mr Chambers announced earlier this month that around 13,000 current and former civil servants, and ministers, are to have their pension deductions assessed for possible anomalies. He said at the time that 'serious systemic operational issues' were identified at the National Shared Services Office (NSSO), which would result in some civil servants – including current ministers – having to pay back thousands of euro. Yesterday, he told the Oireachtas Finance Committee that one individual raised a query about their pension entitlement as far back as 2017. A determination was made at that time, but it took the NSSO until last July to ask if the approach that was decided following that query in 2017 should apply to a broader group. He said the gap between the NSSO examining this, and the full scale of the errors coming to light 'is a concern and that is why the audit is taking place'. The terms of reference for an external audit will be agreed next week and its work is expected to be completed in a couple of months. Mr Chambers said he was told of the full scope of pension errors in April, and it 'expanded in number throughout the month of May'. He was responding to Labour Party TD Ged Nash, who said there was a 'seven-year gap between the issue first coming to the attention of the NSSO and somebody deciding in the NSSO that this is a bigger issue that warrants further investigation'. The minister said the issue 'crystallised' after the Revenue Commissioners raised concerns with the NSSO last year. This related to Chargeable Excess Tax – which only applies to pension pots worth more than €2m. Sinn Féin's Pearse Doherty said this was a 'whopper of a pension' and asked: 'Of these individuals who were so overpaid – these individuals would be accounting officers for their departments – did any of them notify the department that they got this bonanza or did all of them stay schtum?' The minister replied: 'I am not aware of that.' Mr Chambers said the issues are 'unacceptable' and 'that is why we need a full external audit'.
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Business Standard
4 days ago
- Business
- Business Standard
Dream home is hard to get: 109 yrs of savings needed to buy one in Mumbai
The real estate market is booming but homes in India's largest cities are becoming unaffordable, even for the wealthy, according to two major reports. In Mumbai and Gurugram, the top 5 per cent in income class have to save money for decades to buy a standard home, according to the 'Trend and Progress of Housing in India' report by the National Housing Bank (NHB) and the Household Consumption Expenditure Survey Factsheet' of the National Sample Survey Office (NSSO). NHB's Residential Property Price Index (RPPI) tracks the cost of a 110 square metre (1,184 square foot) house in various cities. NSSO's Household Consumption Expenditure Survey (HCES) 2022-23 provides income data for urban households, including the richest 5 per cent. Assuming a 30.7 per cent savings rate, as reported in 'India Gross Savings Rate', a report by CEIC Data, Business Standard calculated how long it takes to afford a home. Here's what the data shows for key cities: City House Price (in lakh) Annual Savings (in lakh) Years to Buy Mumbai 354 10.7 109 Gurugram 226 11.7 64 Bhubaneswar 120 2.3 53 Patna 81 6 45 Kolkata 97 8.2 39 Ahmedabad 94 8.1 38 Chennai 113 10.2 37 Bengaluru 115 10.4 36 Delhi 135 12.7 35 Lucknow 79 7.9 33 Dehradun 70 9.4 30 Ranchi 68 7.7 29 Guwahati 73 8.3 27 Thiruvananthapuram 87 10.9 26 Bhopal 57 7.2 26 Vizag 67 8.7 26 Raipur 50 6.5 25 Hyderabad 89 12.5 23 Ludhiana 55 7.9 23 Jaipur 45 9.3 16 Chandigarh 78 17.4 15 Mumbai is the least affordable city, requiring 109 years of savings for a Rs 3.54 crore home, even for those earning Rs 10.7 lakh annually. Gurugram follows, with a Rs 2.26 crore home requiring 64 years at Rs 11.7 lakh savings per year. Chandigarh is relatively affordable: a home costing Rs 78 lakh will take 15 years to buy if one has Rs 17.4 lakh in annual savings. Mumbai and Gurugram Housing demand in Mumbai outstrips supply. A 110 square metre home, which will be a modest 2BHK apartment, costs Rs 3.54 crore. Even the top 5 per cent, those with an estimated monthly per capita expenditure of Rs 22,352 (according to NSSO data), will struggle. Gurugram, a corporate hub near Delhi, is growing rapidly and the same-sized home costs Rs 2.26 crore. These cities highlight a broader trend: job-rich urban centers are pricing out even high earners. What does this mean for your finances? For middle class families, owning a home in Mumbai or Gurugram is difficult. Young professionals starting their careers face an even steeper climb. Planning to buy a home reshapes personal finance in several ways: Many may need to settle for smaller homes or live on rent for long. Loan dependence: Taking a home loan means high interest rates and long tenures increase financial strain. The NHB notes that housing loans reached Rs 33.53 trillion by September 2024, up 14 per cent year-on-year. More affordable cities like Chandigarh, Jaipur (16 years to repay a loan), or Hyderabad (23 years) may attract talent, but job opportunities often tie people to expensive hubs. This situation also affects long-term goals. Saving for a home can crowd out other priorities like retirement or education, forcing families to rethink their budgets. Broader implications The affordability gap isn't just a personal finance issue; it's a societal one. High prices in cities like Mumbai and Gurugram could slow urban economic growth, as workers struggle to settle. The NHB report highlights regional disparities in housing finance: southern states (35 per cent) and western states (30 per cent) dominate loan distribution, while north-eastern states get just 0.68 per cent. This uneven access worsens the crisis in high-cost areas. Government schemes like Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY) aim to boost affordable housing, but their impact in premium cities is limited. The NHB's RESIDEX index shows a 6.8 per cent price rise in Q3 2024, suggesting costs will keep climbing without major policy shifts. Looking ahead For individuals, navigating this crisis requires smart planning. Start saving early, even if it's a small amount. Explore suburbs or tier-2 cities where prices are lower. If loans are unavoidable, compare rates and opt for shorter tenures to minimize interest. Government subsidies under PMAY can help, especially for first-time buyers.
The Wire
5 days ago
- Business
- The Wire
Along With the Base-Year Revision of GDP, We Need Transparency
The Union government is in the process of revising the base year of Gross Domestic Product from 2011-12 to 2022-23. Due to the complexity and enormity of the exercise, the revised series of data will only be made available on February 27, 2026. A discussion was organised on 'GDP Base Revision: Time to regain confidence' on June 16 at the India International Centre, in New. Delhi. The thrust of the discussion was to explain the methodologies adopted and the datasets utilised to estimate the Gross Value Added and the GDP. There are several concerns about the reliability of certain aspects of the 2011-12 series. The weakest area in the existing data system is the informal (or unorganised) segment of economy which contributes nearly one-third of non-agriculture GDP. For this segment, the estimates are generally prepared using what is known as the labour-input method for the base year, which are moved for subsequent years as per indicators like past trends, relevant corporate growth, volume index and so on. Categories For the purpose of surveys, enterprises are classified into two broad categories. One is the Own Account Enterprises (OAEs) i.e. those enterprises that do not employ hired workers on a fairly regular basis and the other is Establishments employing at least one hired worker on a fairly regular basis. Within the latter, enterprises employing six or more workers are categorised as Directory Establishments (DEs). In the 2011-12 series, base-year estimates of unorganised segments of Trade, Hotel and Restaurants, Telecom, Education, Health and many other sectors may have been estimated using a visibly higher GVA per worker of Establishments in rural and even DEs in urban areas. A logic used was that 'most of the establishments in urban areas are Directory Establishments, employing 6 or more workers'. The trade DE constituted amongst market units – merely 2.1% in number in the 67th (2010-11) round of the National Sample Survey Office's survey used in the base-year compilation of 2011-12. Almost similar was the structure of Trade Establishments (constituting 5.8%) in rural areas. The GVA per worker of urban Trade DEs was more than 2.4 times that of OAEs even though the latter accounted for more than 77% of enterprises. So it is quite feasible that the overall GVA in several unorganised sectors may have been over-estimated owing to use of only DE data. Unorganised sector Another issue is whether the indicator-based growth of the unorganised sector is being overestimated, resulting in higher growth of GDP. It is observed that the growth rate reflected by the relevant NSSO surveys was much lower during 2015-2022 than that reflected in the national accounts in Trade, Hotel and Restaurant, Health and Education. In all these sectors, a fixed or corporate sector growth is being applied to the unorganised sector also. Another area of concern is the owner-occupied dwellings, constituting almost 6% of the GDP. This is based on the 2011 census. Since no recent data of census is available, the new base year may have to use projections which may again turn out to be inaccurate when the new census results are released in 2027. Another example of possible over-estimation of GDP is the share of the informal segment in the Communication sector. As per official GDP data, it has increased to 7.8% in 2022-23 from 5.9% in 2011-12. It is well known that one of the major generators of revenue in the unorganised telecom sector was through the Public Call Office (PCO). Their number has been consistently and significantly declining – from 2.01 million in 2012 to 1.76 million in 2013 to 30,563 in 2023 and merely 15,374 in 2024. So, the increase in the share of the informal segment of the communication sector needs explanation. We hope that the new series will address this anomaly. Buildings In the Construction sector, pucca construction accounts for nearly 90% of total activity. Its GVA is estimated as a fixed proportion of the value of the construction materials (steel, cement, bricks, timber, bitumen and so on). This may also require a re-examination as there are changes in the mix of types of buildings, techniques of construction, productivity and inventories of building materials. Surprisingly, when the public and private corporate sector are practically on a construction spree – be it highways, airports or other infrastructure projects, the unorganised segment has grown relatively faster since 2011-12 as its share in construction has grown from 76.4% to 78.9% in 2022-23. Whether it is a reality confirmed by data or just the consequences of residuality inherent in the present methodology followed needs to be looked into by expert committees going into the revision of base year. In case of agriculture, a recent article by Jean Dreze and Christian Oldiges highlights the large gap between the cereal production (304 million tonnes in 2022-23) and authors' estimates of all its known uses (at most 235 million tonnes). High cereal inflation in recent years, despite the ban on exports and stock limits needs to be better understood and explained. Data sets The Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, being a user of many datasets originating from states but mostly exercising no qualitative checks, may do well to take outside expertise in addressing the anomalies highlighted above. There is sufficient information on the possible drawbacks of using MCA-21 data for estimating the growth of even the organised sector. The MCA-21 is an e-governance initiative of the Ministry of Corporate Affairs or MCA. For example, the mismatch of actual and recorded activity, instances of non-traceability of units at the address provided, weak correlation between the actual production and the paid-up capital across sectors, are too well known to need reiteration. MCA-21 data set, undoubtedly a mine of details, requires a holistic and critical relook for its statistical utility for GVA estimation. The issue of palpably misconceived deflators is equally important. For instance, for deflating wages and salaries in the public administration, Consumer Price Index (General) was adopted in 2011-12 base year, deviating from the erstwhile practice of using Consumer Price Index (Industrial Workers). It is known that government employees are compensated for dearness, as per CPI(IW), regardless of sector in which they are working. In fact, in GVA from public administration, more than 80% comes from compensation of employees, which has grown more than 75% in real terms during 2011-2022. The real growth in this item may come largely from additional employment. But employment under government is perceived to have declined or remained stagnant at best. In any case, even after accounting for increases due to the Seventh Pay Commission, as well as higher longevity or minor additions in government employment, the increase is too high. This also needs to be better explained. Reliability In order to regain confidence in India's economic growth, it is necessary that its statistical system is transparent and reliable. MoSPI therefore needs to share the lessons learned in adopting alternative methods and datasets used in the 2011-12 base change. It must elucidate on the steps proposed to avoid similar pitfalls this time. Now that several states have also announced ambitious targets of trillion-dollar state economies, there is a fear that bureaucratic machinery may be asked to manufacture data whose reliability is questionable. It is admirable that in the last one year, MoSPI has initiated interactions with user bodies. It is nevertheless germane that no confidence building measure would be as effective as sharing the exact and detailed methodology as well as the attendant micro-data. But in a worrying development, MoSPI's draft dissemination policy of data, circulated in January 2025, envisages that access to microdata will be subject to the ministry's satisfaction while so far, approval of the ministry was not required and the data was made accessible on a simple request. Indian economy has witnessed several significant changes since 2011-12. These include enormous success with digital services, gig work, quick delivery of household goods, online shopping and new consumption patterns. We hope that the new series will suitably incorporate these developments. Sanjay Kumar and N.K. Sharma retired as Additional Director General and Director General respectively from the National Statistics Organisation.
