Delhi Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia on Monday presented the economic survey report in the Delhi Assembly for the year 2020-21 on Monday.
Sisodia, who also holds the portfolio of Finance Minister in the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) Cabinet said the advance estimate of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of Delhi recorded contraction of 3.92 percent over previous year. The GSDP at current prices increased by about 45 percent in the last six years that is from 5,50,804 crore in 2015-16 to 7,98,310 crore during 2020-21.
“The contraction in GSDP in Delhi is 5.68 per cent during 2020-21 compared to contraction of 8.0 percent at national level during 2020-21. “The GSVA at current prices for the year 2020-21 showed contribution of tertiary sector to GSVA at 84.59 percent followed by secondary sector at 13.56 percent and primary sector at 1.85 percent,” Sisodia read.
As per the report the per capita income of Delhi at current prices during 2020-21 estimated at 3,54,004 against per capita income of 1,27,768 at national level, hence Delhi’s per capita income recorded almost three times of the national average.
Reacting on the Outcome Budget report, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said that Delhi government has been presenting the Outcome Budget for the last 4 years. We are the only government that keeps checks and balances of previous budgets.
“Delhi is the only state government that makes suo-moto disclosure across 2500+ indicators of its performance to promote transparency in public spending, Manish Sisodia added.
As COVID-19 necessitated online classes for all students, “Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal launched the series ‘Parenting in the time of Corona’ where Delhi Government was able to send worksheets through SMS and IVR. 98 percent of our students received worksheets while 89-90% of students in 11th and 12th grade attended online classes. Overall, we extended educational activities to 229 days whereas a normal session lasts for 220 days. We also ensured the provision of books to students from 1st to 8th standard and distributed sanitary napkins to girl students.”
To mitigate basic inequalities caused due to the pandemic, Sisodia said “The Revenue Department set up '1914 Hunger Relief Centres', many of them at Government run schools that remained operational for three months. Cooked meals were provided twice a day to over 10 lakh people. Delhi Government also set-up 260 night shelters, booked 252 trains for migrant workers and provided an ex-gratia relief amount of Rs. 1 crore to each of the families of 9 frontline workers who died due to COVID-19”, Sisodia said.
Responding quickly to the COVID-19 crisis, the Delhi government implemented a comprehensive COVID response strategy. Reading the outcome budget report Sisodia said, “Delhi Government ensured testing of 87.8 lakh citizens and provided 27873 COVID beds, twice the number available compared to actual occupancy at all times. Moreover, 60,042 oximeters & 3,000 oxygen concentrators were provided to residents to support patients recovering from home isolation. In an impressive feat to tackle the virus, Delhi also became the first state in the country to experiment with Plasma Therapy, which proved very beneficial in saving the lives of critical patients.
In addition to providing cooked meals during lockdown, Deputy Chief Minister and Finance Minister said, “Delhi Government distributed free ration to 71 lakh ration card holders. 65 percent of Delhi’s population were provided with a free dry ration to help them tide over the economic crises induced by COVID-19 pandemic.”
Construction workers who lost their livelihoods were also provided with special assistance by the Delhi Government. Sisodia said, “Cash assistance of Rs. 10,000 has been provided to 44,683 construction workers registered under the Construction Workers Welfare Board. This is the highest such cash assistance provided by any state in India, followed by Punjab and Kerala at Rs 3,000 each.”
Delhi Government has allocated financial aid of Rs. 5000 each to 1,56,350 Permit and Public Service vehicle badge holders. To curb pollution and make Delhi a clean and green city, Delhi Government also launched the Electric Vehicle Policy.
“The Outcome Budget has become an integral part of the governance system and helps the Government to rank all departments on the basis of their performance. The departments are now more proactive and work in a more target oriented approach, which gives better results,” Sisodia concluded.