Government Data Roundup: NLEM 2022, 1st advance estimates Kharif crops, IIP for July 2022,among data released recently.
Sai Krishna Muthyanolla
September 26, 2022
In the twelfth edition of the ‘Government Data Roundup’, we cover NLEM 2022, 1st advance estimates of Kharif crops, IIP for July 2022, CPI/CFPI/WPI for August 2022, EPFO payroll data, Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy 2021-22 among others.
The twelfth edition of the fortnightly government data roundup covers the National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) 2022, National Logistics Policy 2022, Draft Indian Telecommunication Bill 2022, First Advance estimates of production of major Kharif crops, Index of Industrial Production for July 2022, Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) for Rural and Urban for August 2022, Wholesale Price Index for August 2022, CPI for Agricultural and Rural Labourers for August 2022, EPFO Payroll data and Handbook of Statistics on Indian Economy 2021-22 by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI).
In addition to these reports, some quick highlights of this fortnight are.
Brief about the report/data:
The National List of Essential Medicines (NLEM) is a key dynamic document impacting the health and medical needs of the population. The central aim of this list is to promote the rational use of medicines and ensure their adequate availability. First formulated in 1996, NLEM has undergone revisions in 2003, 2011 and 2015 before the latest revision in 2022. Three key aspects are looked at for consideration in the list – Cost, Safety and Efficacy. Based on these, a drug can be added or removed from the list. The number of medicines included in the 1996 list was 279, 354 in 2003, 348 in 2011, and 376 in 2015. Below are the criteria for making any changes to the list:
Key Highlights:
Brief about the policy:
Logistics serve as a bloodline to a nation’s economic development. Logistics form the epicentre of the entire trade- both internal and external. However, the high cost of logistics in India is a serious constraint in competing on a global scale. India’s cost of logistics comes to around 12% of GDP, which is way higher than many developed countries. India has been ranked 44 in the World Bank’s Logistics Performance Index 2018. Therefore, to reduce the costs, and make the entire industry efficient, the National Logistics Policy has been launched.
This is an extensive attempt to address cost and inefficiency by establishing a broad, multi-jurisdictional, cross-sectoral framework for the evolving logistics ecosystem. The government hopes that by implementing this policy, it will be able to reduce the reliance on the road systems for moving goods and explore other possibilities like rail, sea, and air transportation.
Key highlights:
Brief about the report:
India has the second-largest telecommunications ecosystem in the world. Over 4 million people are employed in the telecommunications industry, which accounts for around 8% of the nation’s GDP. The Indian Telegraph Act, of 1885 serves as the foundation for the current regulatory structure for the telecommunications industry. The telecommunications industry had undergone significant changes since then. A solid legal framework is therefore required to ensure the orderly rollout of new communications technologies in the future, while also preserving constitutional and procedural safeguards and keeping in mind the importance of cybersecurity, national security, and public safety.
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Brief about the report:
Since 1998, a comprehensive database of financial and macroeconomic information has been made available in the yearly “Handbook of Statistics on the Indian Economy.” The Handbook for the year 2021–2022, the 24th in the series, includes 237 statistical tables that cover time series on a variety of variables and indicators related to national income, output, prices, money, banking, financial markets, public finance, foreign trade, the balance of payments, and select socioeconomic indicators at different frequencies.
Key Highlights:
Brief about the report:
The advanced estimate of agriculture production presents a detailed estimation of the production of agricultural products in a financial year and its share in the GDP. The data pertaining to the production of major crops including pulses, foodgrains, oilseeds, sugarcane, jute, cotton, etc., are provided in the report. Data from 2008-09 to 2020-21 is available alongside the estimates for 2021-22. The assessment of the production of different crops is based on the data received from States and validated with information available from other sources. This data is useful for deciding on budget allocation and gives an idea of the contribution of this sector to the GDP.
Key Highlights of the report:
Brief about the report:
CPI measures the changes in the price level of goods and services that are consumed in a household. It has a fixed basket of goods and services that includes Food and Beverages; Pan, tobacco, and intoxicants; clothing and footwear; housing; fuel and light, and miscellaneous. Each of these categories has weights assigned to them. Along with this, the Consumer Food Price Index (CFPI) is also measured, which is the change in prices of food products consumed by the population. The base year had been changed from 2010 to 2012 from 2015 onwards and the data is collected from 1181 villages & 1114 urban markets across the country. It is a Laspeyre’s index, which is calculated as, CPI – (Total cost of a fixed basket of goods & services in a particular period*100)/ (Total cost of a fixed basket of goods & services in base period)
Key Highlights of the report:
Significance:
Brief about the report:
This index measures the changes in the level of industrial production in a given economy. It indicates the mood of industrial activity in the country. The base year for this index is 2011-12, and it is assigned a value of 100. While the annual survey of industries gives a complete and detailed picture of industrial activity, this index gives a short-term analysis of industrial performance. The data for this index is sourced from 14 different agencies like the Indian Bureau of mines, coffee board, tea board, central electricity authority and others.
For this index, industrial production is categorized into three sectors – Mining (14.3%), Manufacturing (77.6%), and Electricity (7.99%). The values in the brackets denote their relative weights. Alternatively, there is also a ‘use-based’ classification of goods – primary goods (34.05%), capital goods (8.22%), intermediate goods (17.22%), infrastructure goods (12.34%), consumer durables (12.84%), and consumer non-durables (15.33%).
Key Highlights:
Significance:
Brief about the index:
It is the average change in the prices of wholesale commodities. The index basket comprises three categories – Primary Articles (117 items, 22.62% of total weight), fuel and power (16 items, 13.15% of total weight) and manufactured products (564 items, 64.23% of total weight). The weights accorded to each category are based on the value of production adjusted for net imports. The base year for this index is 2011-12. It is important to note that WPI does not include services. It focuses on the prices of goods that are traded between the organizations and not on the goods brought by the consumers. WPI is also known as the ‘headline inflation rate’ in India.
Key Highlights:
Significance of the index:
This index provides an estimation of inflation at a wholesale level, providing insight into the prevailing macroeconomic conditions in the country.
Brief about the data:
The Ministry of Statistics & Programme Implementation started publishing this data in April 2018 covering the period from September 2017 onwards. Information on the number of subscribers under three major schemes- the Employees’ Provident Fund (EPF) Scheme, the Employees’ State Insurance (ESI) Scheme and the National Pension Scheme (NPS) has been used. There could be some overlap in the subscription counts from different sources. As a result, the estimations from different sources do not add up. The data gives different perspectives on the level of employment in the formal sector in the country. However, it does not measure employment at a holistic level.
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Brief about the data:
Since September 1964, the Labour Bureau had been gathering CPI numbers for agricultural labourers. With effect from November 1995, the current series of CPI Numbers for (i) Agricultural and (ii) Rural Laborers (base 1986-87=100) superseded the prior series on base 1960-61=100. The Field Operations Division (FOD) of the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) regularly gathers data on prices from 600 sample villages chosen from 20 States each month to compile these index statistics. The CPI-AL/RL is compiled using the methodology recommended by the Technical Advisory Committee on Statistics of Prices & Cost of Living. Although the rural retail prices used in these two series of index values are the same, different weighting diagrams were employed to create these indices.
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