India’s GDP grew at 5.8% in the January-March 2019 quarter, dragging down the full year growth to a fiveyear low of 6.8%. The unemployment rate in the country rose to a 45-year high of 6.1% in 2017-18, as per official data released on the first day of the second term of the Modi government.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Economic Affairs Secretary Subhash Chandra Garg said the slowdown, caused by temporary factors such as liquidity crunch, is likely to continue in the April-June 2019 quarter, with the demand picking up from the second quarter onwards.
‘Temporary factors’
“Slowdown in the fourth quarter GDP was due to temporary factors, like stress in the NBFC sector affecting consumption finance. The first quarter of the current fiscal will also see relatively slower growth. From the second quarter onwards, we expect the growth and consumption to pick up,” Mr. Garg said.
Asked about India losing the fastest growing nation tag to China with a quarterly growth of 5.8%, Mr. Garg, who is also the Finance Secretary, said, “Quarterly numbers don’t matter…it is basically annual growth… At 6.8% annual growth, India is still the fastest growing nation… China is still lower.”
During the year, the slowdown in the economy was led by sluggish growth in the agriculture, forestry and fishing sector (2.9% growth), the mining sector (1.3% growth) and in manufacturing (6.9%).
The sectors which saw growth rate of over 7% were public administration, defence and other services, construction, financial, real estate and professional services, and electricity, gas, water supply and other utility services.
The unemployment data, which was released a day after Prime Narendra Modi took oath for the second term, confirms an earlier leaked version of this survey that claimed that joblessness was at a 45-year high.
“It is a new design and a new matrix. It would be unfair to compare it with the past. This 45-year high is your interpretation. I don’t want to claim that it is 45-year low or high,” Statistics Secretary Pravin Srivastava told the media.
The S-400 Triumf (NATO reporting name: SA-21 Growler), previously known as the S-300 PMU-3,is an anti-aircraft weapon system developed in the 1990s by Russia's Almaz Central Design Bureau as an upgrade of the S-300 family. It has been in service with the Russian Armed Forces since 2007. The S-400 uses four missiles to fill its performance envelope: the very-long-range 40N6 (400 km), the long-range 48N6 (250 km), the medium-range 9M96E2 (120 km) and the short-range 9M96E (40 km). The S-400 was described by The Economist in 2017 as "one of the best air-defence systems currently made"
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), the apex body in India for the formulation, coordination and promotion of biomedical research, is one of the oldest and largest medical research bodies in the world. The ICMR is funded by the Government of India through the Department of Health Research, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
ICMR’s 26 national institutes address themselves to research on specific health topics like tuberculosis, leprosy, cholera and diarrhoeal diseases, viral diseases including AIDS, malaria, kala-azar, vector control, nutrition, food & drug toxicology, reproduction, immuno-haematology, oncology, medical statistics, etc. Its 6 regional medical research centres address themselves to regional health problems, and also aim to strengthen or generate research capabilities in different geographic areas of the country.
The Indian Journal of Medical Research is published under the auspices of the council.
National Centre for Laboratory Animal Science, (NCLAS) Hyderabad
Food and Drug Toxicology Research Centre, (FDTRC) Hyderabad
National Animal Resource Facility for Biomedical Research, (NARF-BR) Hyderabad
National Institute for Research in Tuberculosis (NIRT), Chennai
National Institute of Epidemiology (NIE), Chennai
National Institute of Cancer Prevention and Research (NICPR), Noida
National Institute of Malaria Research (NIMR), Delhi
Rajendra Memorial Research Institute of Medical Sciences, Patna
National Institute for Research in Reproductive Health (NIRRH), Mumbai
National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune
National Institute of Traditional Medicine (NITM), Belagavi
Microbial Containment Complex (MCC), Pune
National AIDS Research Institute (NARI), Pune
National Institute of Occupational Health, Ahmedabad
National Institute of Pathology (NIP), Delhi
National Institute of Medical Statistics (NIMS), Delhi
Vector Control Research Centre (VCRC), Pondicherry
National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases (NICED), Kolkata
National Institute for Research in Tribal Health (NIRTH), Jabalpur
National Center for Disease Informatics and Research (NCDIR), Bengaluru
Bhopal Memorial Hospital and Research Center, (BMHRC), Bhopal
National Institute for Research in Environmental Health (NIREH), Bhopal
National JALMA institute for Leprosy & Other Mycobacterial Diseases, Agra
Centre for Research in Medical Entomology (CRME), Madurai
National Institute of Immunohaemotology (NIIH), Mumbai
Enterovirus Research Centre (ERC), Mumbai
Genetic Research Centre, Mumbai
Desert Medicine Research Centre (DMRC), Jodhpur
Regional Medical Research Center, Port Blair
Regional Medical Research Center, Bhubaneswar
Regional Medical Research Centre, Dibrugarh
ICMR Virus Unit, Kolkata
The Viral Research & Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDL) scheme was introduced by Department of Health Research - Indian Council of Medical Research as outbreaks of Viral agents is very common in India
Delivery of services should be robust now, cutting red tape
Technology is the best help
Move away from subsidy schemes
India an emerging data economy but lacks technological framework