The Uttar Pradesh government is in the process of giving final touches to the roadmap that its consultant Deloitte India has submitted for various departments to boost the size of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) to a trillion dollars in the next five years.
The state government’s budgetary estimates indicate that the GSDP will grow to ₹24.39 lakh crore with a projected growth of 19% in 2023-24. It will need to give a further push to ensure that the GSDP grows nearly four times in the next five years to achieve the objective of making the state a trillion-dollar economy.
A high-powered committee headed by chief secretary Durga Shankar Mishra has considered the roadmap following consultations with various departments and its rollout has begun in different departments.
“Yes, the consultant has submitted the roadmap and the same is in the final stages of being given approval. Things have started rolling in departments where the roadmap has been finalised,” said principal secretary, planning, Alok Kumar III, who is the state government’s nodal officer for the trillion-dollar economy.
The state government has not shared the roadmap though those aware of the recommendations asserted that the same has been worked out keeping in view the state’s present performance and the possibility of further improvement in different sectors. For the agriculture sector, the roadmap provides for targeted improvement in crop yield. It has been pointed out that despite U.P. having the largest share in foodgrain production in the country, the state government needs to do a lot in terms of production of pulses and oilseeds.
“Uttar Pradesh currently meets more than half of demand for pulses and oilseeds through imports. Various steps like scaling up of mechanisation need to be taken. There is also a need for replacement of nearly half of the seeds and phasing out of old varieties,” said a senior officer.
A suggestion to develop dedicated crop-wise export clusters in different regions and cultivation of crops with strong potential for exports has been made.
A recommendation about developing a super app and conducting pilot projects on precision agriculture and crop mapping has also been made. It suggests setting up of state level data resource centres to facilitate agriculture data exchange. It has proposed fruits and agriculture processing and development of pre-cooling chambers and cold storage facilities.
On the urban development front, a recommendation for development of a mechanism for annual monitoring of performance of city governments in all the urban local bodies has been made.
“It is imperative for the state government to monitor the performance of city governments from time to time, on aspects relating to ease of living for citizens. It is recommended that the performance of urban local bodies be monitored annually, through a state-level programme, across parameters relating to services, planning, finance, technology and governance. Targeted capacity building for low-performing cities and incentives for better performing cities may be ensured,” reads the recommendation made about the municipal performance assessment.
About the extension of smart cities, it has been felt that there is an opportunity for the state to become the first state in the country to take the smart cities initiative from mission to movement mode.
It suggests that district headquarters with two-lakh plus population should also be developed as SMART cities in next five years. It has recommended the creation of data-driven cities with digitised data records and online services.
“Considering the projected GSDP of ₹24.39 lakh crore for the year 2023-24 and the prevailing rupee-dollar exchange rate, the required rate of growth of GSDP to achieve a trillion-dollar economy in 2027-28 would be quite steep, i.e. about 36 % per annum. A tall order indeed, necessitating a big push to investment in the state,” said professor Yashvir Tyagi, former head of the department of economics, Lucknow University.
