Power sector along with transport facility is backbone of manufacturing sector in India. Examine the above statement in the light of recent reforms in the power and transport sector.
Power sector along with transport facility is backbone of manufacturing sector in India. Examine the above statement in the light of recent reforms in the power and transport sector.
Approach:
- Introduce with some facts on manufacturing sector.
- Discuss the importance of power and transport sector in Manufacturing
- Mention few initiatives taken for boosting power and transport sectors
- Way forward and Conclude accordingly
Model Answer :
Manufacturing sector in India accounts for 15% of the GDP and 25 % of total employment. If India has to maintain a sustained GDP growth of 9-10 % per annum, it is crucial that the manufacturing sector grows steadily at 14-15 % per annum over the next three decades. The power and transport sectors contribute significantly to growth of manufacturing sector. Industry sector accounted for the largest share of power consumption (43.83%) in India. About 65% of freight and 80% passenger traffic is carried by the roads. But Indian manufacturing has for long been crippled by the power shortages as well as poor quality of transport infrastructure. Reforms in these sectors is crucial to transform manufacturing in India.
Recent reforms and changes in energy sector include:
- Increase in India’s total power generation capacity by nearly one third (31% or an addition of 76,577 MW) between 2014 and 2017
- “One nation, One price and One grid” to increase transmission capacity (26% increase in 3 years)
- Push for 100% rural electrification under Deendayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), as well as “power to all” by 2019
- Energy Efficiency activities like UJALA (Unnat Jyoti by Affordable LEDs for All);
- Ujwal DISCOM Assurance Yojana (UDAY) scheme for turnaround of state distribution;
- Renewable energy push
Recent reforms in the transport sector include:
- Bharatmala, which is envisaged as an umbrella program that will subsume unfinished parts of NHDP and also focus on the new initiatives like development of Border and International connectivity roads, Coastal & port connectivity roads, National Corridors Efficiency improvements, Economic corridors development and others;
- Setu Bharatam program for building bridges for safe and seamless travel on National Highways;
- National Highways Interconnectivity Improvement Project, National Road Safety Policy,
- Freight corridors
- Sagarmala initiative
- Legal support like Motor Vehicle amendment Act
Better transport facilities will provide faster cargo movement, quick forward and backward linkages, reduce perishability, enable better response to market fluctuations, more customer satisfaction and increase in demand. Uninterrupted and affordable power will further reduce manufacturing costs and make the goods globally competitive. Thus all the bottlenecks for both these sectors like policy paralysis, financial assistance, monitoring, and surveillance etc has to be removed. Manufacture sector has huge opportunity to provide employment and this sector is yet to boom. Above initiatives are critical to ensure growth in manufacturing.
Subjects : Economy
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