Economy – Its Relevance in Punjab (Over View)

Before moving in under standing the in depth analysis of the word economy and its relevance in the various types of the fields, it is very important and very critical here to under stand the meaning of the word economy. At various times, a large no of the scientists have tried to under stand and then further explain the meaning of the word economy and as a crux the word economy can be summarised as the country’s capacity or the ability to produce some types of the goods and accompanied by the various types of the services, which can after a time can always be increased and this phase of the growth is referred to as the economic growth. Different countries or the regions of a particular country can be dependent on one factor or the other that is mainly responsible for the economic growth. These factors can be agriculture, industries, oil export like in some countries or the tourism factor that is also found to be supporting at a large the economy of a large no of the countries.

In Punjab, the economy depends a large amount on the agriculture factor and as the facts and the numbers suggests it has been found to be the main stay of the economy of the Punjab as over more than half of the people are dependent on this source for earning there livelihood. So the economy of the state of the Punjab can be referred to as an agrarian economy and as a result of this factor, it also acts as the granary of the India. This status is achieved as a result of the results that have been achieved by the state of the Punjab which clearly shows that the state of the Punjab is the highest contributor of the wheat and the rice to the central pool as the gross sown area is near about the mark of the 7900000 hectares, out of which the net sown area can be calculated as the 4128000 hectares. The intensity of the cropping which indicates towards the percentage of the gross area sown to the net area sown is about 191 percent and the net area under the irrigation has been to be about the mark of the 4078000 hectares as it contributes to the fact that the 99 percent of the net area sown is irrigated. The economy of the state of the Punjab is related on the agriculture and here agriculture includes the crops like of the wheat, rice, cotton, sugarcane and the other cereals like that of the maize. All this is possible with the sources required for doing the irrigation and in the state of the Punjab the tube wells act as the main source of the irrigation in the state followed by the canals. With the coming up of the green revolution in the past, the increase in the promotion of all of the major food crops that included the wheat and the rice was observed and this increase was at such a big level that the state of the Punjab is the first among all the states to contribute the maximum amount of the wheat and the rice to the central pool and if the statistics are to be considered the state of the Punjab has been found to be contributing about 43.4 percent of the wheat and about 25.5 percent of the rice to the central pool during the year 2013 – 2014 and as a result of all these contributions, the state of the Punjab in that year became the first ranked state for its maximum contribution to the central pool. During this phase of the 2013 – 2014, the activities of the agriculture and its dependent allied activities contributed about 21.39 percent of the GSDP and as per the 2011 census, about 36 percent of the total workers depend on the agriculture. If today’s scenarios is to be taken, about 82 percent of the total geographical area of the state of the Punjab is under the cultivation supported by the intensity of the cropping of about 191 percent with the help of the more than 99 percent of the cultivable area under the assured irrigation plan.

The state of the is the major pillar for supporting the economy of the country India as it contributes at a great level to the central pool of the country with contribution of about 39.98 qtls. Per hectare of the rice and about 47.27 qtls. Per hectare of the wheat. But this agriculture sector has been moving down in the course of the times. The consumption of the chemical fertilizers has been increasing steadily in the state, if facts and the statistics are to be believed, the increase is tremendous approximately from the low level of the consumption in 2013 -2014, it had increased up to the mark of the 217 kgs per hectare in 2013-2014. The field are now being diverted to make way for the colonies for the residential or the commercial usage and even for the purpose for the industrialisation and hence the area under the process of the irrigation is declining day by day and as a result of this the share under the agriculture and the allied sector in the gross state domestic product has been observed to be declining over the past no of the years. There has been a major try for pushing the focus from the agriculture scenario to the other sectors of the economy and this indeed has caused real agriculture wages to rise to a very high level in the recent years. The type of the working in the state of the Punjab was often observed to be as the hitherto vibrant agriculture sector and as a result of the above mentioned areas and the factors, the hitherto vibrant agriculture sector of the Punjab has found to be facing very serious types of the challenges and this is mainly because of the reasons that the deterioration has been observed in the natural resource base due to the mono culture of the wheat and the paddy crop rotation and hence the stagnation in the yields of the principal crops, declining from the farm incomes and the rural indebtedness. All this and all the other related consequences are the major concern at the present moment and major steps must be initiated immediately in order to have a great concern for the research and the development purposes and also the crop diversification accompanied by the rural non farm activities and by doing all this and much more only, the fast waning glory and repute of the sector can be touched and then finally be controlled and occupied. There has been a slow ness in the growth of the agriculture sector and this is mainly because of the reasons that generally focus on the cropping intensity and so the irrigation potential have already been observed to be fully exploited and as a result of all this, the growth in the productivity has also reached a saturation point and this point needs to be melted as soon as possible as the concomitant of the growth, the share of the agriculture has been recording a negative growth of about – 0.75 percent in 2014 – 2015 (A) and this is mainly because of the reason of the low targets of the production of the wheat as compared to the growth of the 3.12 percent in the 2013 – 2014.

Punjab has always been an agrarian state and the government of Indian in support with the government of the state of the Punjab has been making all the necessary joint efforts in order to develop the agro based industry in the state of the Punjab as it is also the most key and vital sector for the industrial growth. The major steps taken in this regards can be seen even after the independence which includes the era of the green revolution in the 60’s and by this the state of the Punjab took a very major and the much needed stride towards the increase in the levels of the productivity of the food grains and the most important of the wheat with the yield that was recorded of about 43.27 qtls per hectare and the rice with a yield of the 39.98 qtls per hectare during the year of the 2013 – 2014. In order to get in to the in depth analysis of the economy of the state of the Punjab it was and still is very necessary to get in to study of the about from where the money is coming and to where the same is going. In a rupee, about one percent goes to the advance of the loans and then about eleven percent to the pension and the retirement benefits and about six percent to the repayment of the public debt and this does not include the ways and the means of the advances. The eight percent goes to the capital expenditure and twenty seven percent goes to the revenue expenditure and about five percent to the power subsidy and then the remaining of the fifteen percent to the payment of the interest amounts. And on the other side of the coin comes the factors that include the study of the parameters which discuss that the various areas from where the money comes from in to the economy of the state of the Punjab. The major contributor towards the source of the money is the states own tax revenue which contributes about 64 percent to the fact that from where the money is coming and about six percent of the funds are coming from the states own non tax revenue and the 24 percent from the public debt but this is not at all including the ways and the means advance. Then comes the grant in aids that are received from the central government and this has a fair contribution of about 8 percent and the remaining 13 percent comes from the share in the central taxes. During the year 2013 – 2014, the gross state domestic product at the current prices grew at the 11.38 percent in the 2013 – 2014 and also the gross state domestic product was found to be growing at the level of the 5.73 percent against the national growth of the 4.74 percent.

According to the advance estimates, the gross state domestic product at the current prices is estimated at the growth of the about 10.16 percent in the fiscal year of the 2014 – 2015. During the year 2013 – 2014, the gross state domestic product at the constant prices at the constant prices from the primary sector which comprises mainly the agriculture and the livestock activities registered at a growth rate of the 3.18 percent. During the year 2013 – 2014, the gross state domestic product at the constant prices from the secondary sector which covers the manufacturing, the construction and the electricity sectors registered at a growth rate of the 2.08 percent. During the year 2013 – 2014, the gross state domestic product at the constant prices from the tertiary sector that includes the trade, the transport, the banking, the insurance and the public administration and also many more. And all these factors clubbed as the tertiary sector were found to be growing at a rate of the 9.01 percent. Hence it can be summarised as to the fact that the state or the country is dependent on its economy and the economy has its roots lying in the ability of an individual or a group or a state or a country to produces goods and the services to make goods and further to maintain it. With the passing time things and the raw materials and the labour and all the infra structure gets old and expenses start occurring, so it is very important to grow in to the increase in the production of the goods and the services and finally achieve the economic growth required for the growth of a state or a country and also for its stability.