Employment generation, education can accelerate growth: Panagariya

Bhubaneswar, Sep 20 (IANS) NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Aravind Panagariya on Monday said India should focus on employment generation and education for the development of the country.

"The successful countries focused on creating employment for their people and imparting education. We should take it on a mission mode to achieve 100% literacy in next 10 years," said Panagariya addressing at the Odisha Development conclave here.

He said low employment generation is a national problem.

Citing the instance of Odisha, he said while the contribution of agriculture sector to GSDP was 18-20 per cent, about 56 per cent people are employed in the sector.

"Whereas, industry sector in Odisha does better that other states. The contribution of the sector was 27-28 per cent to GSDP. But, only 11 per cent of the workforce are employed in Odisha. This is a national problem," he said.

Panagariya said the income level of people must be increased to accelerate higher growth in the country.

The increase in people’s income allows them to access various services, he added.

Noting that the poverty level is still high in Odisha, he said the state has achieved tremendous progress in bringing down poverty in last decade.

Petroleum Minister Dharmendra Pradhan highlighted the initiatives taken by the Narendra Modi government for the development of the country, while Odisha Health Minister Atanu Sabyasachi Nayak urged the central government to allocate adequate funds to ensure addressing several problems of the state.