Tag: NITI AAYOG

NITI Aayog’s Insights on India’s Manufacturing Future

NITI Aayog has released the report titled “Key Sectors to Position India as a Global Manufacturing Hub”, which through a structured and data-driven framework identifies major sectors that can fuel India’s ambition to become global manufacturing powerhouse. This report has extensively analyzed four sectors viz. Chemicals, Telecom & Networking Equipments, Textiles and Solar Photo Voltaic manufacturing.

The assessment focuses on understanding India’s manufacturing landscape in relation to global trends, sectoral growth opportunities and global benchmarks. It also examines the factors that influence manufacturing competitiveness, including market potential, infrastructure readiness, policy support, raw material availability, technology readiness, employment potential and India’s current position in the value chain.

The project seeks to identify sectors where India has significant growth potential and where targeted interventions can strengthen domestic capabilities, enhance competitiveness and value addition, and accelerate export-oriented manufacturing growth. The study also draws on the experience of leading manufacturing countries to develop sector-specific recommendations for addressing key challenges and promoting growth in the identified sectors.

The study was structured into four distinct phases:

Phase 1: Shortlisting Sectors Based on Relative Attractiveness: Identification of sectors with high growth potential based on market size and growth prospects in both domestic and global markets.

Phase 2: Comprehensive Assessment of Shortlisted Sectors: A detailed, three-pronged assessment of the shortlisted sectors to evaluate their market potential, competitiveness, and broader strategic relevance.

Phase 3: Benchmarking International Best Practices: Analyses of best practices and successful approaches adopted by top performing countries to identify relevant strategies and lessons for India’s shortlisted sectors.

Phase 4: Developing Actionable Recommendations and the Way Forward: Formulation of sector-specific, actionable recommendations and a clear roadmap to strengthen competitiveness, unlock growth potential, and position India as a global manufacturing hub.

This edition of the report focuses on four high-potential manufacturing sectors: chemicals, textiles, telecom and network equipment and solar photovoltaic manufacturing.  This will be followed by reports on 8 more sectors.

Chemical Sector:

The domestic chemicals industry is broadly led by three key consumption segments: petrochemicals and organic chemicals, specialty chemicals, and inorganic chemicals. Petrochemicals and organic chemicals form the largest segment and include polymers, synthetic fibres, performance plastics, building blocks, intermediates and end-products.

India’s chemicals industry has significant potential to enhance domestic value addition by expanding downstream production and improving feedstock utilisation. Promoting domestic manufacturing, investments in competitiveness, and strategic use of FTAs can help reduce import dependence, strengthen downstream capabilities, and support sustainable industry growth.

Textiles Sector

India’s textile and apparel industry (T&A) is one of the country’s most important manufacturing sectors, contributing approximately 2% to national GDP, 11% to manufacturing GVA, and 9% of merchandise exports. The sector is also the second-largest employer after agriculture, providing livelihoods to more than 45 million people and supporting widespread MSME-led industrial development. In fiscal 2025, India exported textile products worth USD 37.7 billion and accounted for 4.1% of global textile and apparel exports, making it the sixth-largest textile exporter globally.

India’s textile industry has significant potential to strengthen its global competitiveness by improving raw material availability, scaling up manufacturing through infrastructure support, and expanding market access through deeper trade integration. Enhancing skilling, technology adoption and productivity, while promoting technical textiles, MMF-based products, sustainable textiles and premium Indian weaves, can further drive value addition and global growth.

Telecom & Networking Equipments Sector

India is currently the world’s second-largest telecommunications market with more than 1.2 billion subscribers, approximately 85% telecom penetration, and nearly 75% internet usage. Recognizing the sector’s transformative potential, the National Telecom Policy 2025 (NTP-25) targets doubling the sector’s contribution to GDP, doubling exports of telecom products and services, creating one million new jobs, and significantly increasing investment and R&D expenditure by 2030.

India’s telecom and electronics sector has significant potential to enhance its global competitiveness by deepening localisation and strengthening domestic component manufacturing. Key priorities include promoting joint ventures and technology transfer, developing integrated industrial clusters, expanding high-potential export segments, and strengthening testing, certification and skill development to support scale, innovation and productivity.

Solar PV Sector

India had installed 106 GW of solar capacity by March 2025 and needs to add about 174 GW to meet the 2030 target of 280 GW solar capacity. The domestic PV market, estimated at Rs 32,400 crore / $3.7 billion, is expected to grow at a 17-20% CAGR between fiscal 2023 and fiscal 2030, supported by utility-scale solar, rooftop solar, open-access projects and green hydrogen-linked demand.

India’s solar manufacturing ecosystem has strong potential to deepen domestic value addition by strengthening upstream capabilities and reducing import dependence. Key priorities include technology partnerships and joint ventures, greater R&D and performance-linked support, development of integrated clean-tech clusters, and industry-led skilling. Strengthening trade partnerships and G2G frameworks can also expand export opportunities and secure global market access.

The report is envisaged as an instrument that will guide selected sectors in strengthening their manufacturing ecosystem over time. Industry and Government can collaborate to enhance India’s manufacturing prowess through specific interventions customized to overcome the existing challenges. A coordinated effort in this regard will help the country to achieve a higher growth trajectory in the manufacturing space.

Access the report here: https://www.niti.gov.in/sites/default/files/2026-08/Key-Sectors-to-Position-India-as-a-Global-Manufacturing-Hub.pdf

NITI Aayog launches fifth edition of “Trade Watch Quarterly”

The latest edition of Trade Watch Quarterly, released on January 6, 2026, presents an in-depth analysis of India’s trade performance for Quarter I of FY 2025–26 (April–June 2025). This report, spearheaded by Dr. Arvind Virmani, Hon’ble Member of NITI Aayog, provides critical insights into the evolving global trade landscape.

Key Highlights

  • Structural Shifts in Trade Profile: The publication underscores significant changes in India’s trade dynamics, highlighting an increase in technology-intensive exports and a robust growth trajectory in the services sector.
  • Focus on Automotive Exports: This edition particularly emphasizes India’s automotive exports, exploring global demand trends, the competitive landscape in vehicles and auto components, as well as tariff structures and intra-industry trade.

Thematic Analysis: India’s Automotive Sector

India’s automotive sector is rapidly gaining prominence on the global stage, with strong domestic production capabilities and an increasing international market presence. Key findings include:

  • Competitive Gains: India has made substantial advancements in both auto components and vehicles, notably motorcycles and tractors, thanks to its growing manufacturing depth.
  • Global Value Chains: With deeper integration into global value chains, India’s automotive exports are well-positioned to expand further, supported by enhanced logistics and alignment with international demand.

Opportunities for Growth

Despite the gains made, there remains a vast potential to capture a larger share of the $2.2 trillion global automotive export market. The analysis suggests several actionable policy recommendations aimed at bolstering competitive positioning and promoting two-way trade, including:

  • Strengthening quality standards and technology adoption
  • Diversifying markets and enhancing certification systems
  • Fostering forward linkages within global automotive supply chains

Expert Insights

Dr. Virmani emphasized that enhancing India’s export competitiveness, particularly in the automotive sector, is vital for sustaining long-term economic growth and generating employment opportunities.

Conclusion

The Trade Watch Quarterly serves as an indispensable resource for policymakers, industry practitioners, researchers, and academia. The publication offers evidence-based insights and tailored policy recommendations to improve India’s trade performance in a rapidly evolving global marketplace.

For complete details, access the full publication here.

NITI Aayog Launches National Data & Analytics Platform

NITI Aayog launched the National Data & Analytics Platform (NDAP) for open public use today. The platform aims to democratize access to public government data by making data accessible, interoperable, interactive, and available on a user-friendly platform. It hosts foundational datasets from various government agencies, presents them coherently, and provides tools for analytics and visualization. This public launch follows a beta release of the platform in August 2021 that had provided access to a limited number of users for testing and feedback.

NDAP follows a use-case based approach to ensure that the datasets hosted on the platform are tailored to the needs of data users from government, academia, journalism, civil society, and the private sector. All datasets are standardized to a common schema, which makes it easy to merge datasets and do cross-sectoral analysis.

The platform was launched by Mr. Suman Bery, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog, in the presence of Mr. Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog; Dr. Anantha Nageswaran, Chief Economic Advisor to the Government of India; and other senior officials from NITI Aayog, various ministries and state governments, academics and researchers.

Mr. Suman Bery moderated a panel discussion around the topic, “Interoperability: leveraging the power of systems, datasets, and agencies working together.” Mr. Bery said “The main value that NDAP adds is making key foundational datasets interoperable with each other. This will enable easy cross-sectoral analysis and democratize the use of Indian government data.” The panel comprised experts from government, academia, and civil society. Winners of a research competition held by NDAP were given certificates and mementos at the event.

Mr. Amitabh Kant said, “The rise of data and digital technologies are rapidly transforming economies and societies, with enormous implications for governments’ daily operations. NDAP is a critical milestone – which aims to aid India’s progress by promoting data-driven disclosure, decision making and ensuring availability of data connecting till the last mile, is an example to how the power of data can be leveraged.”

Senior Adviser Ms. Anna Roy, who has led this initiative, said, “India has a rich data ecosystem which generates data that is invaluable for decision making and research. NDAP is adding to these efforts to further strengthen the data ecosystem. We will continue to add and update the data on the platform to ensure that it remains useful.”

NDAP can be accessed at http://ndap.niti.gov.in and all datasets on the platform can be downloaded and merged freely.

NITI Moots 100% Income Tax Exemption for Donations to Not-for-Profit Hospitals

Government think tank Niti Aayog has suggested 100 per cent income tax exemption for donations and provision of working capital loans with lower interest rates for not-for-profit hospitals to strengthen healthcare services in India.

In a report titled ‘Not-for-Profit Hospital Model in India’, the Aayog also pitched for involving high performing hospitals in public private partnership (PPP) models for managing primary health care (PHCs), operations of government facilities and PSU hospitals.

“Income-tax exemption could be increased from the current 50 per cent exemption to 100 per cent exemption for philanthropy toward the identified not-for-profit hospitals. This could be a catalyst in channelizing the much-needed funds to deserving hospitals.” it said.

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According to the report, the government can consider the provision of working capital loans with lower interest rates, which would be more financially viable for not-for-profit hospitals and would assist in adequate cash flows during times of need.

It also pointed out that most of the not-for-profit hospitals reported long-pending reimbursements for the treatment of government scheme beneficiaries, which remain uncleared despite persistent follow-ups.

“The timely release of these funds can be a substantial boost to their working capital for operations,” the report said.

It also suggested developing a mechanism to incentivize super-specialists to work in remote areas.

It pitched for formulating objective criteria such as type, size, location, level of care offered and their ownership, infrastructure and equipment expansion initiatives, community engagement initiatives along with their latest photographs/videos, and so on.

The report also stressed on need for developing mechanisms to rank not-for-profit hospitals on a performance index, creation of a rating scale based on the volume of services utilized annually, the extent of charity work done, impact on the community health indicators of the location, operational efficiency, and self-sufficiency.

“Create a national level portal/directory of these hospitals Creation of a national portal/directory in the public domain, wherein all the not-for-profit hospitals can be listed to highlight the hospital and its functions in the public domain,” it suggested.

Despite economic growth and modernization, India continues to face significant challenges of unavailability and unaffordability in healthcare services, the report said adding ,”This is substantiated by the fact that India has a lower bed density than the rest of the world.”

Noting that the not-for-profit hospitals currently account for only a miniscule share of hospitalization cases, the report said public hospitals that offer healthcare at negligible cost, are overstretched.

The burden of healthcare provision shifts to private hospitals, which generally offer healthcare at a higher cost to the patient, as they must sustain themselves, it added.

According to the report, private hospitals are largely divided into ‘for-profit hospitals’, which account for 23.3 per cent of treated ailments and ‘not-for-profit hospitals’ which account for only 1.1 per cent of treated ailments, as of June 2018.

It said disparity is further revealed in terms of hospitalization cases wherein for-profit hospitals account for 55.3 per cent of in-patients, while not-for-profit hospitals account for only 2.7 per cent of in-patients in the country, according to the findings of the NSS 75th round survey on Health in India.

Citing the survey, the report also said the cumulative cost of care at not-for-profit hospitals is lesser than for-profit hospitals by about one-fourth in the in-patient department.

This is reckoned by the package component of cost, which is approximately 20 per cent lower, the doctor’s or surgeon’s charges, which are approximately 36 per cent lower and the major aspect being the bed charges, which are approximately 44 per cent lower than the for-profit hospitals, it said.

Speaking at the release of the report, Niti Aayog Member (Health) V K Paul said investment in the expansion of the health sector in private domain has been relatively low and the recent stimulus announced by the government provides the country an opportunity to change this situation.

Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Monday announced Rs 1.5 lakh crore of additional credit for small and medium businesses, more funds for the healthcare sector, loans to tourism agencies and guides, and waiver of visa fee for foreign tourists as part of a package to support the pandemic-hit economy.

The government will also provide Rs 23,220 crore of additional funding for setting up children and paediatric care/beds at hospitals to prepare them for any emergency arising out of a possible third wave of COVID.

“There has been relatively low investment in the expansion of the health sector in the private domain.The stimulus announced yesterday provides us an opportunity to change this situation,” Paul said.

The report also highlights the need to use the expertise of these hospitals in managing human resources with limited finance in remote areas.

(This article is posted from Business Standard without any modification.)

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Government may privatize Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank: Report

The Times of India has reported that the central government may sell its stake in Central Bank of India and Indian Overseas Bank under the policy of privatization announced during the Union Budget in February 2021. As a report, NITI Aayog has recommended disinvestment of both the banks. Apart from this, there is also a possibility of privatization of Bank of India.

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India has the potential to reduce its logistic cost by 4% of GDP: NITI Aayog, RMI and RMI India’s new report Fast Tracking Freight in India: A Roadmap for Clean and Cost-Effective Goods Transport

NITI Aayog, RMI and RMI India’s new report,Fast Tracking Freight in India: A Roadmap for Clean and Cost-Effective Goods Transport,presents key opportunities for India to reduce its logistics costs.

Due to the rising demand for goods and services, freight transport demand is expected to grow rapidly in the future. While freight transport is essential to economic development, it is plagued by high logistics costs and contributes to rising CO2 emissions and air pollution in cities.

As per the report, India has the potential to:

  1. Reduce its logistics cost by 4% of GDP
  2. Achieve 10 gigatonnes of cumulative CO2 emissions savings between 2020 and 2050
  3. Reduce nitrogen oxide (NOx) and particulate matter (PM) emissions by 35% and 28%, respectively, until 2050

“Freight transportation is a critical backbone of India’s growing economy, and now more than ever, it’s important to make this transport system more cost-effective, efficient, and cleaner. Efficient freight transport will also play an essential role in realising the benefits of existing government initiatives such as Make in India, Aatmanirbhar Bharat, and Digital India,” said Sudhendu J. Sinha, Adviser (Transport and Electric Mobility), NITI Aayog.

As India’s freight activity grows five-fold by 2050 and about 400 million citizens move to cities, a whole system transformation can help uplift the freight sector.

“This transformation will be defined by tapping into opportunities such as efficient rail-based transport, the optimisation of logistics and supply chains, and shift to electric and other clean-fuel vehicles. These solutions can help India save ₹311 lakh crore cumulatively over the next three decades,” said Clay Stranger, Managing Director, RMI.

The report outlines solutions for the freight sector related to policy, technology, market, business models and infrastructure development. The recommendations include increasing the rail network’s capacity, promoting intermodal transport, improving warehousing and trucking practices, policy measures and pilot projects for clean technology adoption, and stricter fuel economy standards.

 

3rd edition of the SDG India Index and Dashboard 2020–21 released by NITI Aayog

The third edition of the SDG India Index and Dashboard 2020–21 was released by NITI Aayog today on 3rd June 2021.Since its inaugural launch in 2018, the index has been comprehensively documenting and ranking the progress made by States and Union Territories towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. Now in its third year, the index has become the primary tool for monitoring progress on the SDGs in the country and has simultaneously fostered competition among the States and Union Territories.

NITI Aayog Vice Chairperson Dr Rajiv Kumar launched the report titled,SDG India Index and Dashboard 2020–21: Partnerships in the Decade of Action, in the presence of Dr Vinod Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog, Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog, and Ms.Sanyukta Samaddar,Adviser (SDGs), NITI Aayog. Designed and developed by NITI Aayog, the preparation of the index followed extensive consultations with the primary stakeholders—the States and Union Territories; the UN agencies led by United Nations in India;Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MoSPI), and the key Union Ministries.

“Our effort of monitoring SDGs through the SDG India Index & Dashboard continues to be widely noticed and applauded around the world. It remains a rare data-driven initiative to rank our States and Union Territories by computing a composite index on the SDGs. We are confident that it will remain a matter of aspiration and emulation and help propel monitoring efforts at the international level,”Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Vice Chairman, NITI Aayog said during the launch.

Shri Amitabh Kant, CEO, NITI Aayog said, “The report reflects on the partnerships we have built and strengthened during our SDG efforts. The narrative throws light on how collaborative initiatives can result in better outcomes and greater impacts.”

NITI Aayog has the twin mandate to oversee the adoption and monitoring of the SDGs in the country, and also promote competitive and cooperative federalism among States and UTs. The index represents the articulation of the comprehensive nature of the Global Goals under the 2030 Agenda while being attuned to the national priorities. The modular nature of the index has become a policy tool and a ready reckoner for gauging progress of States and UTs on the expansive nature of the Goals, including health, education, gender, economic growth, institutions, climate change and environment.

The SDG India Index 2020–21, developed in collaboration with the United Nations in India, tracks progress of all States and UTs on 115 indicators that are aligned to MoSPI’s National Indicator Framework (NIF). The initiative to refine and improve this important tool with each edition has been steered by the need to continuously benchmark performance and measure progress, and to account for the availability of latest SDG-related data on States and UTs. The process of selecting these 115 indicators included multiple consultations with Union Ministries. Feedback was sought from all States and UTs and as the essential stakeholder and audience of this localisation tool, they played a crucial role in shaping the index by enriching the feedback process with localised insights and experience from the ground.

The SDG India Index 2020–21 is more robust than the previous editions on account of wider coverage of targets and indicators with greater alignment with the NIF. The 115 indicators incorporate16 out of 17 SDGs, with a qualitative assessment on Goal 17,andcover 70 SDG targets. This is an improvement over the 2018–19 and 2019–20 editions of the index, which had utilised 62 indicators across 39 targets and 13 Goals, and 100 indicators across 54 targets and 16 Goals, respectively.

The SDG India Index computes goal-wise scores on the 16 SDGs for each State and Union Territory. Overall State and UT scores are generated from goal-wise scores to measure aggregate performance of the sub-national unit based on its performance across the 16 SDGs. These scores range between 0–100, and if a State/UT achieves a score of 100, it signifies it has achieved the 2030 targets. The higher the score of a State/UT, the greater the distance to target achieved.

States and Union Territories are classified as below based on their SDG India Index score:

  • Aspirant: 0–49
  • Performer: 50–64
  • Front-Runner: 65–99
  • Achiever: 100

The country’s overall SDG score improved by 6 points—from 60 in 2019 to 66 in 2020–21. This positive stride towards achieving the targets is largely driven by exemplary country-wide performance in Goal 6 (Clean Water and Sanitation) and Goal 7(Affordable and Clean Energy), where the composite Goal scores are 83 and 92, respectively. Mizoram, Haryana, and Uttarakhand are the top gainers in 2020–21in terms of improvement in score from 2019, with an increase of 12, 10 and 8 points, respectively.

Goal wise top States/UTs are in shown in picture below:

While in 2019, ten States/UTs belonged to the category of Front-Runners (score in the range 65–99, including both) twelve more States/UTs find themselves in this category in 2020–21. Uttarakhand, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Mizoram, Punjab, Haryana, Tripura, Delhi, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh graduated to the category of Front-Runners (scores between 65 and 99, including both).

Section of the SDG India Index report is dedicated to all the 36 States And UTs of the country. These State and UT profiles will be very useful for policymakers, scholars and the general public, to analyse the performance on the 115 indicators across all Goals.

It is followed by a unique section on the progress on SDG localisation in States and Union Territories. It provides an update on the institutional structures, SDG vision documents, State and District Indicator Frameworks and other initiatives taken by the State and UT governments.

The SDG India Index 2020–21 is also live on an online dashboard, which has cross-sectoral relevance across policy, civil society, business, and academia. The index is designed to function as a tool for focused policy dialogue, formulation and implementation through development actions, which are pegged to the globally recognizable metric of the SDG framework. The index and dashboard will also facilitate in identifying crucial gaps related to tracking the SDGs and the need for India to develop its statistical systems at the State/UT levels. As another milestone in the SDG localisation journey of the country, the Index is presently being adapted and developed by NITI Aayog the granular level of districts for the upcoming North Eastern Region District SDG Index. NITI Aayog has the mandate for coordinating the adoption and monitoring of SDGs at the national and sub-national levels. The SDG India Index and Dashboard represents NITI Aayog’s efforts in encouraging evidence-based policymaking by supporting States and UTs to benchmark their progress, identify the priority areas and share good practices.

The full SDG India Index report can be accessed here: https://wgz.short.gy/SDGIndiaIndex

The interactive dashboard can be accessed here: http://sdgindiaindex.niti.gov.in/

NITI Aayog and Chair of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) Dr Vinod Paul addresses Myths & Facts on India’s Vaccination Process

Several myths on India’s Covid-19 vaccination program are doing the rounds. These myths are arising due to distorted statements, half truths and blatant lies. Member (Health) in NiTi Aayog and Chair of the National Expert Group on Vaccine Administration for COVID-19 (NEGVAC) Dr Vinod Paul addresses these myths and gives out facts on all these issues.

Myth 1: Centre is not doing enough to buy vaccines from abroad

Fact: The Central Government has remained engaged continuously with all the major international vaccine manufacturers right from mid-2020. Multiple rounds of discussions have happened with Pfizer, J&J & Moderna. Government offered all assistance to have them supply and /or manufacture their vaccines in India. However, it is not that their vaccines are available in free supply. We need to understand that buying vaccines internationally is not similar to buying ‘off the shelf’ items. Vaccines are in limited supply globally, and companies have their own priorities, game-plans and compulsions in allocating finite stocks. They also give preference to countries of their origin just as our own vaccine makers have done unhesitatingly for us. As soon as Pfizer indicated vaccine availability, Central Government and the company are working together for the earliest possible import of the vaccine. As a result of GoI’s efforts, Sputnik vaccine trials got accelerated and  with timely approval, Russia has already sent two tranches of vaccines & accomplishedtech-transfer to our companies that would start manufacturing very soon. We reiterate our request to all international vaccine makers to come and make in India – for India and for the world.

Myth 2: Centre has not approved vaccines available globally

Fact: The Central Government has proactively eased entry of vaccines approved by US FDA, EMA, UK’s MHRA and Japan’s PMDA, and WHO’s Emergency Use Listing into India in April. These vaccines will not need to undergo prior bridging trials. The provision has now been further amended to waive off the trial requirement altogether for the well-established vaccines manufactured in other countries. No application of any foreign manufacturer for approval is pending with the drugs controller.

Myth 3: Centre is not doing enough to ramp up domestic production of vaccines

Fact: The Central Government is playing the role of an effective facilitator to enable more companies to produce vaccines from the early 2020. There is only 1 Indian company (Bharat Biotech) which has the IP. GoI has ensured that 3 other companies/plants will start production of Covaxin apart from enhancing Bharat Biotech’s own plants, which have increased from 1 to 4. Covaxin production by Bharat Biotech is being increased from under 1 Cr per month to 10 Cr month by October.  Additionally, the three PSUs will together aim to produce upto 4.0 Cr doses by December. With constant encouragement of the Government, Serum Institute is ramping up Covishield production from 6.5 crore doses per month to 11.0 crore doses per month. GoI is also ensuring in partnership with Russia that Sputnik will be manufactured by 6 companies coordinated by Dr Reddy’s. The Union Government is supporting efforts of Zydus Cadila, BioE as well Gennova for their respective indigenous  vaccines through liberal funding under Covid Suraksha scheme as also the technical support at national laboratories. Development of Bharat Biotech’s single dose intranasal vaccine is proceeding well with GoI funding, and it could be a game-changer for the world. The estimate of production of over 200  crore doses by our vaccine industry by the end of 2021 is the result of such efforts and unstinted support and partnership. How many countries can even dream of such an enormous capacity, and that too across conventional as well as cutting-edge DNA and mRNA platforms? GoI and vaccine manufacturers have worked as one Team India in this mission with seamless engagement on daily basis.

Myth 4: Centre should invoke compulsory licensing

Fact: Compulsory Licensing is not a very attractive option since it is not a ‘formula’ that matters, but active partnership, training of human resources, sourcing of raw materials and highest levels of bio-safety labs which is required. Tech transfer is the key and that remains in the hands of the company that has carried out R&D. Infact, we have gone one step ahead of Compulsory Licensing and are ensuring active partnership between Bharat Biotech & 3 other entities to enhance production of Covaxin. Similar mechanism is being followed for Sputnik. Think about this: Moderna had said in October 2020 that it will not sue any company which makes its vaccines, but still not one company has done it, which shows licensing is the least of the issues. If vaccine-making was so easy, why would even the developed world be so short of vaccine doses?

Myth 5: Centre has abdicated its responsibility to the states

Fact: The Central Government is doing all the heavy-lifting, from funding vaccine manufacturers to giving them quick approvals to ramping up production to bringing foreign vaccines to India. The vaccine procured by the Centre is supplied wholly to the states for free administration to people.  All this is very much in the knowledge of the states. GoI has merely enabled states to try procuring vaccines on their own, on their explicit requests. The states very well knew the production capacity in the country and what the difficulties are in procuring vaccines directly from abroad. In fact, GoI ran the entire vaccine program from January to April & it was quite well-administered compared to the situation in May. But states, who had not even achieved good coverage of healthcare workers and frontline workers in 3 months wanted to open up the process of vaccination and wanted more decentralisation. Health is a state subject & the liberalised vaccine policy was a result of the incessant requests being made by the states to give states more power. The fact that global tenders have not given any results only reaffirms what we have been telling the states from day one: that vaccines are in short supply in the world and it is not easy to procure them at short notice.

Myth 6: Centre is not giving enough vaccines to the states

Fact: Centre is allotting enough vaccines to the states in a transparent manner as per agreed guidelines. In fact, states are also being informed in advance of the vaccine availability. Vaccine availability is going to increase in the near future and much more supply would be possible. In the non-GoI channel, states are getting 25% of the doses and private hospitals are getting 25% doses. However the hiccups and issues faced by the people in the administration of these 25% doses by the states leave a lot to be desired. The behaviour of some of our leaders, who in spite of full knowledge of the facts on vaccine supply, appear on TV daily and create panic among the people is very unfortunate. This is not the time to play politics. We need everyone to unite in this fight.  

Myth 7: Centre is not taking any step to vaccinate children

Fact: As of now, no country in the world is giving vaccines to children. Also, WHO has no recommendation on vaccinating children. There have been studies about the safety of vaccines in children, which have been encouraging. Trials in children in India are also going to begin soon. However, vaccinating children should not be decided on the basis of panic in Whatsapp groups and because some politicians want to play politics. It has to be a decision taken by our scientists after adequate data is available based on trials.

 

कोविशील्ड डोज के अंतराल को बढ़ाने से कोई हानि नहीं होगी – डॉ. वी. के. पॉल, नीति आयोग

कोविशील्ड डोज के अंतराल को बढ़ाने से कोई हानि नहीं होगी, इसे बढ़ाने का फैसला WHO द्वारा अनुमति के बाद ही लिया गया है। – डॉ. वी. के पॉल, नीति आयोग

2nd edition of India Innovation Index-2020 released

NITI Aayog released the second edition of the India Innovation Index-2020. The index demonstrates the government’s continued commitment towards transforming the country into an innovation-driven economy. While releasing the India Innovation Index-2020 in New Delhi, Vice Chairman of NITI Aayog Rajiv Kumar said, the index illustrates that India is on the right path and the states are endeavouring to improve their innovative ecosystem.

In the India Innovation Index-2020, the States and Union Territories have been divided into 17 Major States, 10 North-East and Hill States and nine Union Territories and Small States for effectively comparing their performance. In the 2020 ranking, Karnataka retained its first position in the Major States category.

Maharashtra moved one position higher and stood at 2nd spot while Tamil Nadu slide to 3rd position. In the North East and Hill States category, Himachal Pradesh stands at first position followed by Uttarakhand and Manipur. Delhi stands at the first position while Chandigarh retained its second spot in the Union Territories and small States category.

India Innovation Index 2020: Key Highlights 

• The index provides the methodology to assess the innovation capacities and performance of Indian states.

• Under the index, the states and union territories have been divided into 17 Major States, 10 North-East and Hill States and 9 City States and Union Territories for effectively comparing their performance.

• The states and union territories have been ranked in two broad categories: outcome and governance. The index captures the trends and provides detailed analysis of the various factors that drive innovation at different levels-national, state, and district levels.

• The framework of India Innovation Index 2020 consists of 36 indicators including hard data (32 indicators) and four composite indicators.

• The index framework was shaped post discussions with experts in the domain of index creation and innovation.  It measures innovation inputs through ‘Five Enablers pillars’ and ‘Two Performance pillars’:

Five Enablers pillars: They capture elements of the state economy that act as inputs for the innovation environment.

a) Human Capital

b) Investment

c) Knowledge works

d) Business Environment

e) Safety and Legal Environment

Two Performance pillars: They depict the performance.

a) Knowledge output

b) Knowledge diffusion

• Each pillar comprises relevant indicators that were carefully selected to ensure a fair and accurate analysis of their respective pillars. The indicators cover both macroeconomic (government) and microeconomic (private enterprise) aspects.

 

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100 Atal Tinkering Labs across country to be adopted by ISRO

Indian Space Research Organisation, ISRO will adopt one hundred Atal Tinkering Labs across the country to promote education in the field of Space Education and Space Technology related innovations for school students.

NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Dr. Rajiv Kumar said, he is  extremely elated that different Departments and Ministries of the Government are working in synergy to create an Atmanirbhar Bharat. He said, the collaboration between NITI Aayog and Indian Space Research Organization is one of the prime examples of such effort. Dr Kumar said, this is a great opportunity for the young budding space researchers and astronauts to learn from the best minds of the country and become living inspirations for their school, families and local communities.

ISRO Chairman Dr K. Sivan expressed hope that this will help in promoting innovation and the spirit of experiential learning among the school kids compared to traditional learning. He also opined that this project based learning will improve the attitude towards research right from the school days. Dr. Sivan also announced an invitation to the students associated with these Atal Tinkering Labs, to one of the launches as guests, to witness the launch from Sriharikota.

What are Atal tinkering labs?

ATL is an approach of Central government of India to create an environment of scientific temperament, innovation, creativity amongst Indian Students. It is a step towards a new India.


Since the last few decades, our education system has seen a paradigm shift. Today, with this approach of inculcating Hands on Methodology in the current education scenario we have resolved the need of the hour.


ATL lab would teach students essential 21st-century skills which will help them in developing their professional and personal skills. Skilled India is the need of the hour and each step taken this dream should be welcomed and we should work towards it together for a better India.

Who started Atal tinkering lab?

A vision to ‘Cultivate one Million children in India as Neoteric Innovators’, Atal Innovation Mission, an initiative of the National Institution for Transforming India Niti Aayog, Govenment of India establishing Atal Tinkering Laboratories in schools all India.

‘Electricity Access in India and Benchmarking Distribution Utilities’ report launched

NITI Aayog, Ministry of Power, Rockefeller Foundation and Smart Power India today launched the ‘Electricity Access in India and Benchmarking Distribution Utilities’ report. According to the report, 92 per cent of customers reported the overall availability of electricity infrastructure
within 50 metres of their premises. 87 per cent of the surveyed customers have access to gridbased electricity. The remaining 13 per cent either use non-grid sources or do not use any electricity at all. The hours of supply have improved significantly across the customer categories to nearly 17 hours per day. The report is based on a primary survey conducted
across ten states, representing about 65 per cent of the total rural population of India and with a sample size of more than 25 thousand, including households, commercial enterprises and institutions.

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CENTRE TELLS STATES WITH HIGHER COVID-19 CASELOAD TO EFFECTIVELY PLAN AND MANAGE LOGISTICAL ISSUE REGARDING OXYGEN AVAILABILITY

As part of Centre’s coordinated strategy for effective containment and management of the COVID-19 pandemic, a high- level review meeting was chaired by Cabinet Secretary today. Member (Health) in NITI Aayog, Union Health Secretary, Secretary, Department of Promotion of Industry and Internal Trade, senior officials of the Health and Home Affairs Ministry along with Chief Secretaries of the 12 States and UTs participated in the
review meeting. The 12 States and UTs that participated in the video conferencing include Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Odisha, Chandigarh, Telangana, Kerala, Delhi, Punjab and West Bengal.

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About 80 per cent of the COVID caseload in the country is concentrated in these States and UTs. The Cabinet Secretary urged the States to analyse mortalities, district and hospital wise for identification of critical areas of intervention. He also exhorted the States to ensure optimal utilization of RT-PCR capacity. He stressed on ensuring that every symptomatic negative case tested by Rapid Antigen Tests should mandatorily be administered RTPCR test. The Union Health Secretary presented a detailed status note of COVID-19 on all these States.

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