Professor Nirvikar Singh
What are your top five suggestions for the next government in Punjab to put the state on a high economic growth path?
Planning to reduce dependence on the existing National Food Procurement System should be a top priority. Since Punjab is not the most environmentally suitable place to grow rice, and the wheat-rice cropping pattern dominates the state’s agricultural economy, the current situation is unsustainable, and for the economy as a whole, but Punjab in particular. would cause disaster. Completing the switch will require significant resources, and Punjab needs to make an urgent case for the central government to financially support it.
The second priority is associated with the first: crop diversification. Punjab has been making efforts in this direction for decades, but due to the lock-in in the food procurement system, they have not gone anywhere. Changing this will help, but catalyzing diversification also requires more attention and resources for specific policies, including new areas of agricultural research and extension, crop insurance schemes, marketing cooperatives, and the like. is included.
The third priority should be to create new industrial clusters around some of the major cities of Punjab. To support this growth, Fourth and Fifth suggest investments in broadband infrastructure for these clusters, and upgrade colleges and universities in these areas to provide the skilled workforce that will be needed.
Why has the service sector failed to develop in Punjab while it has shown better progress in neighboring states? Haryana, What is the way forward?
With regard to information technology and related services, the answer is clear: the location of Gurugram Gave Haryana a significant advantage. By heeding my suggestions 3-5, Punjab has started gaining momentum. There are significant opportunities in all types of digitally enabled services including content and media, not just commercial software. Punjab can also build on its unique position for tourism and develop it further, perhaps through collaboration. Himachal Pradesh,
How do you see Punjab’s growing dependence on central government funds, especially when the GST compensation regime ends in July this year?
Immediate attention to the above five suggestions will help change the structure of Punjab’s state finances, and may be the only way out, as it will ultimately reduce the need for some form of costly subsidy. But Punjab should also reform its property tax regime, and give cities more freedom to set their own property taxes and use those revenues for local development.
Do you agree that the Punjabi diaspora is underutilized and most of their remittances go into coming up with farmhouses in Punjab rather than investing capital?
I don’t have any hard data, but that’s my assumption. That situation can certainly be changed with a new focus on developing industry and services.
You were part of a group of experts headed by economist Montek Singh Ahluwalia, which submitted a detailed report to the current official. Congress In Punjab, the government flagged various unsustainable financial practices, but hardly any recommendations were acted upon. your comment.
The group did much more than look after the finances of the state government. It made a number of detailed recommendations for policy reform, many of which have already been worked out for implementation. The state bureaucrats were very busy and accountable in this process. Clearly, the agriculture bills and the change in the leadership of the state government created a huge distraction. With regard to improving the state finances, there is a need to change the structure of the state economy. The Expert Group’s report remains an excellent document for potential economic policy reforms across the board. In some cases, there will be political impediments, and these need to be addressed, perhaps by modifying or supplementing the group’s recommendations. But the report was a comprehensive exercise, involving the participation of many stakeholders, and even the manner in which the process of preparing the report unfolded was one of the challenges for any new government with regard to formulating and implementing immediate reforms. provides lessons.
Most of the political parties made the exodus of Punjabi youth a big issue during the recently concluded Punjab elections. Does it really have a negative impact on the state’s economy?
International migration of Punjabi youth is a symptom and not the cause of the state’s economic problems. The present farming system does not provide attractive opportunities to these youth in terms of their social expectations. Unless Punjab moves away from the existing structure, which is locked in service to a very inefficient national food procurement system, the problem of lack of “good” jobs will continue and worsen. The deterioration of the environment will make the situation worse. Migration is only one symptom of this structurally unhealthy and unstable economy: it is reasonable to speculate that drug abuse and gender inequality are getting worse as a result. The people of Punjab need a leadership who can do the hard work required to remove the impediments to change and implement the changes that are needed.