Review of the Indian Economy 2009-10

Indian economy grew by 8.4 per cent in the last quarter(Q4) of 2009-10, pushing up the overall growth to a better-than expected 7.4 per cent. The 7.4 percent growth is also an upward revision from the earlier estimate of 7.2 percent.

The gross domestic product (GDP) was Rs 44,64,081 crore (at 2004-05 prices), bettering the earlier government estimate of 7.2 per cent growth over the previous year's Rs 41,54,973 crore.

Central Statistical Organization(CSO) has revised all the previous three quarters. The first quarter GDP was revised downwards to 6 per cent against 6.1 per cent estimated provisionally. While the second quarter saw growth at 8.6 per cent against provisional estimates of 7.9 per cent, third quarter GDP rose by 6.5 per cent against 6 per cent.

Why there is a revised growth rates in the previous quarters?

Normally there will be no change in the quarterly figures, unless the annual figure firms up. This time it was done because, the base year was changed to 2004-05 from 1999-2000 earlier. The first two quarters Q1, Q2 of GDP were released on the basis of 1999-2000 base price, while the next two quarters Q3, Q4 were released on the basis of 2004-5 base price.

India’s gross domestic product (GDP) had expanded by 6.7 percent during 2008-09.

India’s Economic growth rates for the year 2008-09 and 2009-10:

	Industry	2008-09	2009-10
1.	Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing	1.6%	0.2%
2.	Mining and Quarrying	1.6%	10.6%
3.	Manufacturing	3.2%	10.8%
4.	Electricity, Gas and water supply	3.9%	6.5%
5.	Construction	5.9%	6.5%
6.	Trade, Transport and Telecom	7.6%	9.3%
7.	Finance, Insurance and Real Estate	10.1%	9.7%
8.	Community, social and personal services	13.9%	5.6%
9.	GDP at factor cost	6.7%	7.4%

Per Capita Income:

The per capita income at current prices during 2009-10 is estimated to attain a level of

Rs. 44,345 as compared to the Quick Estimates for the year 2008-09 of Rs. 40,141, showing a rise of 10.5 per cent.

The per capita net national income in real terms (at 2004-05 prices) during 2009-10 is

estimated to attain a level of Rs. 33,588 (as against Rs. 33,540 estimated on 8th February,2010), as compared to the Quick Estimates for the year 2008-09 of Rs. 31,821. The growth rate in per capita income is estimated at 5.6 per cent during 2009-10.

Inputs: CSO.

Example of Precis Writing

Write a précis of the following passage to one-third of its length and also give a suitable title?

Today there are 3000 million people in the world. Fifty years ago only about 2000 million people lived in it. If earth’s population were evenly distributed over its land surface, there would be about 550 persons to the square mile. But Earth has vast areas of forest, mountains and desert which are almost totally inhabited. On the other hand, it has great cities each with millions of people living in a few square miles.

To feed the fast growing population of our earth, scientists and planners have to discover new ways to produce more. One possible way is to bring more land not under cultivation. This can be done only in places where there is lot of land not used for productive purposes. In many places there is no longer possible all the arable land is already cultivated. A second way is to make use of new types of seeds to produce more. Already a number of new strains of paddy and wheat have been developed in different parts f the world. India is one of the countries where a lot of useful work has been done in the field of agriculture research.

Title: World Population and Food Production

During the last fifty years, the world population has increased from 2000 to 3000 million. It is unevenly distributed with millions of people living in a few big cities. Scientists in India and abroad are, therefore, busy with agriculture research to find out new methods of increased food production to feed them all and they have already developed many new strains of paddy and wheat.

Highlights of Economic Survey 2009-10

The Finance Ministry presents the Economic Survey in the parliament every year, just before the Union Budget. It is the ministry's view on the annual economic development of the country.

Here are the some of the highlights of Economic survey 2009-10:

• Economy posted a remarkable recovery expected to grow at 7.2 per cent in 2009-10 against 6.7 per cent in 2008-09.
• Economy likely to grow by up to 8.75 per cent in 2010-11.
• Full recovery; return to 9 per cent growth in 2011-12.
• India world's 2nd largest wireless network with 525.1 million mobile users
• Manufacturing growth more than doubled to 8.9 per cent in 2009-10 from 3.2 per cent in 2008-09.
• India 10th largest gold holding nation at 557.7 tonnes or about 6 per cent of total foreign exchange reserves.
• Exports in April-December 2009 down 20.3 per cent.
• Imports in April-December 2009 down 23.6 per cent.
• Farm & allied sector production falls 0.2% in 2009-10.
• Need serious policy initiatives for 4% agriculture growth.
• Gross fiscal deficit pegged at 6.5 pc of GDP in 2009-10.
• Trade gap narrowed to USD 76.24 billion in April-December 2009.
• Per capita income increased to 5.3 per cent in 2009-10 from 3.7 per cent in 2008-09.
• Bank credit grows by 13.9 per cent on year-on-year basis. Non-food bank credit recorded an increase of 8.7 per cent on financial year basis till January 15, 2010 
• Economic Survey suggested gradual roll back of stimulus steps unveiled in the wake of the global financial meltdown.
• During the year 2009-10, 4.34 crore households have been provided employment under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS).
• FIIs investment in equity market rose to Rs 83,424 crore in 2009 compared to withdrawals of Rs 52,987 crore in 2008.
• The total foreign exchange reserves increased by $31.5 billion in 2009-10 fiscal, from $252 billion at the end of March 2009 to $283.5 billion in December 2009.
• Under the National Rural Health Mission (NRHM), which was launched in 2005, infant mortality rate (IMR) is expected to fall below 30 in every 1,000 live births by 2012.The current IMR stands at 53, substantially lower than the figure of 80 in 1991.
• The Indian pharmaceutical industry has become the third largest in world in terms of volume and ranks 14th in terms of value at over Rs 1 lakh crore.
• The Dubai debt crisis is likely to have "some impact" on India's exports and imports as the gulf region is the country's largest trade partner.
• Given the uncertain global context, the Government did not fix an export target for 2009-10, instead the Foreign Trade Policy (FTP) 2009-14 set the objective of an annual export growth of 15 percent with an export target of US$ 200 billion by March 2011.

For Complete details of Economic Survey 2009-10 download here.

Current Affairs Quiz 2009 - 34

1. Which Country has surpassed the US to become Japan’s largest Trading partner?

a)China   b)India    c)Germany   d)Russia   e)South Korea

2. The GDP growth of India in the second quarter of 2009-10 is _______?

a)6.1%   b)6.6%   c)7.1%   d)7.7%   e)7.9%

3. Who is the Chairman of AEC(Atomic Energy Commission)?

a)Srikumar Banerjee   b)G Madhavan Nair   c)Anil Kakodkar   d)K Radhakrishna   e)J Mitra

4. The Central Government has sanctioned Rs  ________ to National Knowledge Commission for the education sector under the 11^th Five year plan ?

a)3 lakh crore   b)1 lakh crore     c)2 lakh crore     d)0.75 lakh crore   e)5 lakh crore

5. Recently which country lifted the 22-year-old ban on the entry of people with HIV+?

a)Mexico   b)UK   c)France    d)US   e)Canada

6. Around ____ of Dubai’s Population is made up of Indians?

a)26%   b)33%   c)40%   d)46%   e)52%

7. Which State government has sought an assistance of about Rs 1,162 crore from the International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD) for development of agriculture to increase food production and improve food security during the next three years?

a)Karnataka    b)UP    c)Andhra Pradesh   d)Gujarat   e)none of these

8. ‘Arogyasi’ the most successful health insurance scheme launched by which of the following state?

a)Tamilnadu   b)Andhra Pradesh   c)Maharashtra   d)Kerala   e)Karnataka

9. Madhu Koda has been arrested in a disproportionate assets case. He was the former Chief Minister of which state?

a)Haryana   b)Chhattisgarh   c)Jharkhand   d)Bihar   e)none

10. Which Committee has suggested the minimum shareholding of Government equity of nationalized bank should be brought down to 33%?

a)T R Andhyarujina   b)Narasimhan Committee   c)Rangarajan Committee  d)Mukherjee Committee   e)Tarapore Committee

11. Who is newly elected President of Honduras?

a)Rafael Pinada Ponce  b)Porfirio Lobo   c)Roberto Mitcheletti   d)Maria Antonieta   e)none

12. Which Mutual fund is the first to provide facility to investors to trade in NSE after SEBI allowed mutual funds to be traded through stock exchanges?

a)Reliance Mutual fund   b)SBI Mutual fund    c)LIC Mutual fund    d)UTI Mutual fund  e)Prudential Mutual fund

13. Which country is not a member of G-33?

a)India   b)Cuba  c)Pakistan    d)China   e)All are members of G-33

14. L&T signed a joint venture  agreement with NPCIL to set up a company in _________ state for the production of special steel and ultra-heavy forgings with an investment of 1,725 crore?

a)UP   b)Punjab    c)Gujarat    d)Maharashtra   e)none of these

15. Which Country held a Cabinet meet in Everest Region to highlight the impact on Climate Change recently?

a)China   b)France    c)Maldives   d)UK   e)Nepal

16. Who has been selected for the first PCRF-NDTV National RTI Award?

a)Karan Thapar   b)Bharkha Dutt   c)Prannoy Roy   d)Shyamlal Yadav  e)Shireen Bann

17. Currently Praful Patel holds which of the following posts?

a)Indian Overseas Minister   b)Water Resources   c)IT & Broadcasting   d)Civil Aviation Minister   e)none of these

18. Roger Federer won the Wimbeldon Men’s Single Title 2009 by defeating?

a)Rafael Nadal   b)Robin Soderling   c)Andy Roddick   d)Andy Murray   e)Noval Djokovic

19. How many Emirates form a United Arab Emirates?

a)Five   b)Six   c)Seven   d)Eight   e)Four

20. ‘Real’ is the currency of which of the following countries?

a)South Africa   b)Mexico   c)Cuba   d)South Korea   e)Brazil

Quiz on General Awareness 19

1.Which of the following is India’s first approved Genetically Modified (GM) food crop ?

a)Bt Cotton   b)Bt Tomato   c)Bt Sugar   d) Bt Brinjal    e) Bt Potato   

2. Which of the following countries is not a member of G77 ?

a)India   b)South Africa   c)Japan   d)China   e)Pakistan

3. Under Which Article President rule can be imposed in a State?

a)Article 365   b)Article 355   c)Article 352   d)Article 356   e)Article 360

4.Justice PD Dinakaran facing the charges of disproportionate assets against him, He was the Chief justice of which of the following State ?

a)Tamilnadu   b)Karnataka     c)Madhya Pradesh     d)Orissa   e)none

5. Shiv Charan Mathur recently passed away, he belongs to which field ?

a)Politics   b)Carnatic Vocalist    c)Writer    d)Musician   e)both b & c

6.The 155^th OPEC (Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries) meeting held at ?

a)Austria   b)UAE   c)Venezuela   d)Qatar    e)Angola

7. India and has contributed USD ________ to the International Fund for the Elimination of Doping in Sports in eve of Commonwealth Games next year.

a)10,000   b)15,000   c)20,000   d)25,000   e)50,000

8.Which is the only Indian company in the 25 A T Kearney Global Champions for 2009 list ?

a)Infosys   b)SBI   c)Airtel   d)RIL   e)TCS

9.Who has been elected as the president of the All India Football Federation (AIFF) ?

a)Priyan Ranjan Dasmunsi  b)Praful patel   c)Narendra Modi   d) SN Banerjee  e)none

10.With Which Country India will renegotiate the taxation treaty under the OECD  (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ) Model Tax Convention ?

a)Singapore   b)South Korea    c)UAE    d)Egypt   e)Chile

11.Justin Henin belongs to which sport ?

a)Badminton   b)Cricket    c)Lawn Tennis    d)Hockey    e)Gymnastics

12.Mushtaq Ali Trophy is related to which Sport ?

a)Hockey   b)Chess    c)Football    d)Golf   e)Cricket

13.Who is the Chairperson of 18^th Law Commission ?

a)Veerappa Moily   b) A R Lakshmanan   c) M. Jagannadha Rao   d)B. P. Jeevan Reddy   e)Yahir Mahmood

14.Which of the following is not a Special Forces of India ?

a)National Security Guards(NSG)

b)Special Protection Group(SPG)

c)Border Security Force(BSF)

d)Special Frontier Force(SFF)

e)Para Commandos

15. Besides the US, UK, Russia, France & China, How many non-permanent members are there in UN Security Council ?

a)1   b)2   c)3   d)5   e)10

16.The 55^th National School Games will be held in __________ ?

a)Hyderabad    b)Kolkatta    c)Chandigarh    d)Jaipur    e)none

17.International Human Rights Day is observed on ?

a)Oct 23^rd   b)Sep 10^th  c)Dec 10^th   d)Dec 23^rd   e)Dec 7^th

18.Who has been awarded the UNESCO annual peace prize for the year 2009?

a)Barack Obama   b)Marti Ahtisaari   c)Bill Gates    d)Jimmy Carter  e) Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva

19.The Bihar government sanctioned approximately Rs ______ crore for extension, renovation and modernisation of eastern Kosi canal system ?

a)750    b)1000    c)800   d)500    e)none

20.Aung San Suu Kyi whose name was in News recently, She belongs to which country ?

a)India   b)Nepal    c)Bangladesh   d)Myanmar   e)South Korea