The Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council said on Friday that it had spelt out a ‘clear road map’ for the government to ramp up job creation and infrastructure financing avenues while investing more resources in health, education and skill development.
While it did not reveal any details of the roadmap, the Council headed by NITI Aayog member Bibek Debroy said in a statement that it had also begun work on designing a new tracking monitor for the economy that would link economic growth indicators with social indicators, as well as improving the country’s National Accounts.
Taking the idea further, the Council also sought to set a similar tone for the Fifteenth Finance Commission which would recommend the formula for sharing taxes between the Centre and the States and the allocations that each State would receive, for the five-year period between 2020 and 2025.
“It formulated far reaching recommendations to guide the evolving framework for the Fifteenth Finance Commission, including the incentivisation of States for achieving Health, Education and Social Inclusion outcomes,” the PMEAC said in the statement.
‘Evolving initiatives’
The Council also did not share any assessment of the present state of the economy, but said it ‘took stock of the economic and social analysis done by the theme groups and evolving initiatives’ led by its different members.
Key issues, strategies and recommended interventions in respect of these themes were discussed, the statement added.
“Innovative steps for unlocking growth, exports and employment potential were also deliberated upon — including through transformation of India’s gold market,” the Council said.
While it was set up in September and met on Friday for only the second time since its inception, the Council said its “unique feature is turning out to be its ability to link economic growth with social aspects, with greater last mile connectivity.”
“Its value addition as an independent institutional mechanism for providing informed advice to the Prime Minister is increasingly being recognised, with focused time-bound recommendations to move from policy to practice, benefiting from consultation with a wide spectrum of experts and stakeholders,” the Council said.
The Council’s chairman stressed on the need for according high priority to infrastructure financing and made a presentation on the issue with a focus on developing new mechanisms for a risk coverage umbrella, the statement said.
Another NITI Aayog Member Vinod K Paul is said to have highlighted strategies for achieving ‘Swastha Bharat’ by 2022 at the meeting attended by other Council members Surjit Bhalla, Rathin Roy, Ashima Goyal and Shamika Ravi and Ratan P. Watal. Mr Watal, who is a former finance secretary, made a presentation to ‘demystify’ issues related to the current account deficit and the gold market.
