15-Dec-2022: EAC-PM to release the Social Progress Index (SPI) for states and districts

Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister (EAC-PM) will release the Social Progress Index (SPI) for states and districts of India on December 20, 2022. The report has been prepared by Institute for Competitiveness, headed by Dr Amit Kapoor and the Social Progress Imperative, headed by Michael Green and was mandated by Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister of India.

SPI is a comprehensive tool intended to be a holistic measure of the Social Progress made by the country at the national and sub-national levels. Understanding that the social progress of citizens is key to sustaining economic growth in the long run, the index complements the conventional measures of economic growth and development. Keeping in mind the pressing need for a measurement model that can better understand the needs of society, while also equipping decision-makers with the necessary knowledge and tools, the team embarked on an extensive research phase to identify appropriate indicators and measures of social progress for the report.

SPI assesses the performance of states and districts on three dimensions of social progress: Basic Human Needs, Foundations of Wellbeing, and Opportunity. Within each dimension, there are four components.

• The dimension of Basic Human Needs assesses the performance of states and districts in terms of Nutrition and Basic Medical Care, Water and Sanitation, Personal Safety and Shelter.
• The dimension of Foundations of Wellbeing evaluates the progress made by the country across the components of Access to Basic Knowledge, Access to Information and Communication, Health and Wellness, and Environmental Quality.
• The dimension of Opportunity focuses on aspects of Personal Rights, Personal Freedom and Choice, Inclusiveness, and Access to Advanced Education. 

The report will be released by Smt. Smriti Irani, Minister of Women and Child Development of India and Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman EAC-PM. The event shall also have insights and remarks by Michael Green, CEO, Social Progress Imperative and Dr Amit Kapoor, Honorary Chairman, Institute for Competitiveness and Lecturer, Stanford University who are the authors of the report.

With state and district-wise rankings and scorecards, the report aims to provide a systematic account of the social progress made at all levels in the country. The report also sheds light on the achievements of the districts that have performed well on the index and the role of the states in achieving social progress. A special section of the report provides an analysis of the Aspirational Districts of India, leading to a broader understanding of the social progress at the grassroots level. The report will act as a critical enabler and tool for policymakers in the coming years for achieving sustained socio-economic growth. 

The release event takes place at National Nehru Memorial Museum, (Seminar Room), Teen Murti House, New Delhi on December 20, 2022 from 11:00 AM to 1:00 PM followed by lunch. The event is open to the press.

22-Nov-2022: EAC-PM working paper analyses problems with Freedom in the World Index, V-DEM indices, and EIU Democracy Index

Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister has issued a working paper by Sanjeev Sanyal Member EAC-PM and Akanksha Arora . The Paper analyses three perception-based indices: Freedom in the World Index, V-DEM indices, and EIU Democracy Index

The  EAC-PM tweeted the following thread which finds serious problems with the methodology used in these perception-based indices. And says ‘questions used by these indices are not an appropriate measure of democracy across all countries’.

In recent years, India’s rankings and scores have declined on a number of global opinion-based indices that deal with subjective issues such as democracy, freedom and so on.

This working paper analyses three perception-based indices: Freedom in the World Index, V-DEM indices, and EIU Democracy Index.

Freedom in the World Index and V-DEM indices have placed India at the same level as during the Emergency of the 1970s. Moreover, India has been placed below countries like Northern Cyprus. Surely, this is not credible.

There are serious problems with the methodology used in these perception-based indices. First, these indices are primarily based on the opinions of a tiny group of unknown “experts”

Second, the questions that are used are subjective and are worded in a way that is impossible to answer objectively even for a country, let alone compare across countries. Third, there are questions that should be asked but are excluded.

Fourth, certain questions used by these indices are not an appropriate measure of democracy across all countries.

Since these indices are inputs into the World Governance Indicators, the World Bank should ensure greater transparency and accountability from these institutions.

Meanwhile, independent Indian think tanks should be encouraged to do similar perception-based indices for the world in order to break the monopoly of a handful of western institutions.”

30-Aug-2022: EAC-PM Releases the Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100>

The Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100 was released by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) today. The roadmap, which is a part of the India Competitiveness Initiative, was released in the presence of Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman, EAC-PM, Sanjeev Sanyal, Member, EAC-PM, and the members of the Stakeholders Group formed as part of the initiative. The roadmap is a collaborative endeavour between the EAC-PM and The Institute for Competitiveness and is developed by Dr Amit Kapoor, Chair, Institute for Competitiveness, Professor Michael E. Porter and Dr Christian Ketels of Harvard Business School. It envisions setting new guiding principles for the country’s growth journey over the following years and guiding different states, ministries and partners in India’s growth to develop sector-specific roadmaps for achieving targeted goals.

The Competitiveness roadmap for India@100 is based on the Competitiveness framework developed by Professor Michael E. Porter. The Competitiveness approach puts forth the idea of productivity as a driver of sustained prosperity. It emphasizes the context that a nation is able to provide firms to be more productive and for individuals to be able to partake in the value generated through their productivity. Based on this approach, the India@100 roadmap guides the way for India to become a high-income country by 2047 through sector-specific and region-specific policies based on the ‘4 S’ principles. The roadmap sets out to give new guiding principles that are based on clearly defined overall goals and the articulation of a new development approach embedded in integrating social and economic agendas. The ‘4 S’ guiding principles redefine our approach to attaining prosperity by stressing the need for prosperity growth to be matched by social progress, to be shared across all regions within India, to be environmentally sustainable, and to be solid in the face of external shocks. By capturing these four important aspects, the ‘4 S’ guiding principles pave the way for resilient and holistic development.

In his message,  Professor Michael Porter mentioned, “The competitiveness framework underlying the roadmap offers a strategic perspective on how to translate the diagnostics on a country’s competitiveness fundamentals into actionable insights. The solution does not lie in narrow interventions. What is needed to accelerate progress is a clear strategy enabling action to focus on key priority areas”. Dr Amit Kapoor shared the essence of the Competitiveness roadmap as he said, “The competitiveness approach must serve as the cornerstone of India’s economic and social policy for us to be able to sustain long-term economic growth. The recommendations outlined in the roadmap factor in India’s unique advantages and are based on a new set of guiding principles, policy goals, and an implementation architecture”. The roadmap is a step in this direction. It offers a thorough diagnostic assessment of India’s current competitiveness level, the primary challenges faced, and opportunities for growth. Furthermore, setting out the pathway to becoming a high-income country, the roadmap suggests essential areas of action, including improving labour productivity and enhancing labour mobilization, boosting the creation of competitive job opportunities, and improving policy implementation through greater coordination across different ministries.

The roadmap was presented by Dr Christian Ketels, who highlighted the importance of building a complete understanding of India’s strengths and its unique advantages, which can help enhance the country’s overall national value proposition. He stated, “Understanding India’s competitiveness challenges and opportunities also help gain insights into the challenges and opportunities that the world is facing. How India manages to address its major challenges will have a bearing on how the world tackles these challenges. India’s performance matters”.

In the Keynote address on ‘India- The Competitive Edge’, Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman, EAC-PM, mentioned, “If India’s development trajectory has to emerge faster, higher, and stronger, both government policies and the enterprises and markets functioning in the environment set by the former, are of great significance”. Adding emphasis to the importance of a renewed approach to development, Amitabh Kant, G20, Sherpa, stated, “In an ever-evolving global context, India is working towards presenting a sustained growth model based on ease of living for its people and ease of doing business for its industries. The emphasis is not just on attaining the ambitions set for India but also on how the country gets there. The roadmap provides directions guiding the process of attaining the set goals, and outlines the kind of principle changes required for the transformation we are working towards”.

The release also included a panel discussion among members of the stakeholder group constituted as part of the initiative. The panelists included Akshi Jindal, CEO, Barmalt Malting (India) Pvt. Ltd., Ashish Jhalani, MD, Square Panda, Gurcharan Das, Author, Hari Menon, Director, India Country Office, BMGF, Himanshu Jain, President, Indian Subcontinent, Diversey, Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet, Sumant Sinha, Chairman & MD, ReNew Power. The discussion brought forth valuable insights pertinent to India’s future growth trajectory.

The Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100 provides the basis for a renewed approach to India’s growth and development strategy. Moving ahead, the focus would be on developing KPIs and roadmaps for different industries, ministries, and states of the country to shape the journey towards reaching the country’s ambitions by its centennial year. The change in approach to development in different sectors and states will not only shape policy actions today but also have an impact on the design and implementation of future policies.

25-Aug-2022: EAC-PM to release the Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100

Economic Advisory Council to Prime Minister will release the Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100 on 30th August 2022. The Competitiveness Roadmap is a collaborative endeavour between EAC-PM, The Institute for Competitiveness headed by Dr Amit Kapoor, and Professor Michael E. Porter and Dr Christian Ketels from Harvard Business School.

The document will be released in the presence of Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman EAC-PM, Amitabh Kant, Sherpa, G-20, Sanjeev Sanyal, Member, EAC-PM. The program shall have insights and remarks by Dr Amit Kapoor, Honorary Chairman, Institute for Competitiveness and Visiting Lecturer, Stanford University; Professor Michael E. Porter and Dr Christian Ketels of Harvard Business School and keynotes by Dr Bibek Debroy, Amitabh Kant and Sanjeev Sanyal. The release will also have a panel discussion of the members of the Stakeholder Group constituted as part of the initiative. The panel includes Hari Menon, Director India Country Office, BMGF; Ravi Venkatesan, Chairman, Global Energy Alliance for People and Planet; Gurcharan Das, Author and Thinker; Sumant Sinha, Chairman & MD, Renew Power et al.

The Competitiveness Roadmap for India@100 is based on the framework developed by Professor Michael E. Porter. India@100 is a roadmap for our country’s journey towards its centennial year, identifying the steps required to realize the vast potential and huge ambitions that you have outlined for our nation. The roadmap stands to inform and guide the way for India to become a higher-income country by 2047. It proposes policy goals, principles and approaches to further drive India’s economy in the direction of sustainability and resilience, embedded in social progress and shared prosperity. The roadmap presents an integrated agenda of prioritised initiatives based on a thorough examination of India’s present economic state and competitive advantages. Building on the many reforms your government has enacted over recent years, it addresses both what actions India needs to prioritize now and how it needs to organize itself to deliver these actions effectively.

The document also asserts that the competitiveness approach should serve as the cornerstone of India’s economic and social policy to drive India’s growth further and sustain it over the long term.

The release event takes place at Indira Gandhi National Center for the Arts (IGNCA), Janpath, New Delhi at 11:00 AM. The event is open to press and will be live streamed on YouTube at www.YouTube.com/arthsastra.

16-Dec-2021: The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister releases the report on State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in India

The Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister (EAC-PM) released the report on the State of Foundational Literacy and Numeracy in India. The report prepared by the Institute for Competitiveness highlights the importance of early education years in the overall development of a child. It further highlights the role of well-planned early interventions like the National Education Policy (2020) and the NIPUN Bharat guidelines, leading to long-term improved learning outcomes.

Access to quality early childhood education is a fundamental right for all children. The earliest years of a child's life needs to be understood in the backdrop of the socio-economic, psychological, and technological hindrances they face, which further affects the potential of a child in numerous ways. During the panel discussion organized on the occasion Dr Bibek Debroy, Chairman, EAC-PM said" Education leads to positive externalities and the quality of Education imparted is important especially during the formative years. The present attainments in literacy and numeracy and the variations among states should be the focus for remedial action"

A child needs to develop solid Foundational Literacy and Numeracy (FLN) skills. FLN refers to basic reading, writing, and mathematics skills. Falling behind in the Foundational Learning years which encompass of preschool and elementary education makes children more vulnerable as it negatively impacts their learning outcomes. In addition to the existing issues pertaining to foundational learning years, the ongoing pandemic has highlighted the importance of technology in overall child’s education. Therefore, focus on the foundational learning is the need of the hour to ensure universal access to quality levels of education for all children in pre-primary and primary classes in India.

The Index on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy is the first step in this direction, establishing an understanding of the overall state of Foundational Learning across children aged below ten years in Indian States and Union territories. The Index includes five pillars comprising of41 indicators. The five pillars are : Educational Infrastructure, Access to Education, Basic Health, Leaning Outcomes and Governance. India is committed to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals 2030. Zero Hunger, Good health and Well-being and Access to Education are the significant goals that have been mapped with the Index on Foundational Literacy and Numeracy.

Given the distinct levels of development of States across India and their varying child population size, States were categorized into different tiers to help bring forth better analysis. Various states across India have been classified based on their child population, i.e., those aged ten years and below.

Key Highlights :

1. Some states may serve as role models for others in certain aspects, but they too need to learn from other states while addressing their challenges. This holds true not only for high performers but also for low performing states. For instance, while Kerala has the best performance in the small state, it can also learn from some lower-scoring regions, such as Andhra Pradesh (38.50), which outperforms Kerala (36.55) with respect to access to education.
2. States have performed particularly worse in the Governance pillar because over half of the states have a score that is below the national average, i.e., 28.05, the lowest across all pillars. These pillar-wise analyses help states assess the state of the budgetary measures and steps needed to improve the state of education and identify existing gaps that obstruct their growth.
3. The issue of Access to Education is one that demands prompt action on the part of the States. The performance of Large States such as Rajasthan (25.67), Gujarat (22.28), and Bihar (18.23)is noticeably below average. Whereas the North-eastern states have the highest scores as a result of their superior performance.