VIJAYAWADA: Nobel Prize-winning economist Finn Kydland, who is a part of the Andhra Pradesh Priorities Panel of Economists, said that there were cheaper alternatives for the State government which improve the quality of education in the state. He said that since governments don’t have unlimited financial resources, prioritisation based on the principle of cost-benefit analysis can help every rupee of the expenditure reach the beneficiaries.
The panel of eminent economists, after the conclusion of its three-day deliberations with various stakeholders, made a presentation suggesting 77 interventions across different sectors to ensure effective social development and economic growth. Shifting of just one per cent of the state’s spending towards these interventions could generate benefits worth Rs 48,000 crore annually, the panel observed.“The Andhra Pradesh government has successfully improved school enrollment and retention rates. To achieve its full potential, it is crucial to improve the quality of education,” Nobel laureate Finn Kydland observed.
The president of Copenhagen Consensus Centre, Bjorn Lomborg, observed that domestic violence in the state was ‘extremely concerning’. He said that using Self-Help Groups (SHGs) would help in bringing down the number of ‘intimate partner violence’. “Combining micro finance with module on gender transformation by spending Rs 142 crore could reduce intimate partner violence by 55 per cent with health and economic benefits worth `3,000 crore,” he observed.
The panel further said that computer-assisted learning for children “at the right level,” provision of micronutrients for pregnant women, immunisation camps, secondary prevention of vascular diseases, improved cyclone warning systems and other health care interventions were among the smartest solutions the panel suggested for the state.
“Cardiovascular disease rate is very high in the state. Screening of people between 30-69 years for the disease and treating high blood pressure with polypills could avoid more than 2.6 lakh deaths over 13 years,” Lomborg said.The members of the panel, which includes former CEO of Oxfam India Nisha Agarwal, global business leader Vinita Bali and Vice-Chancellor of Indira Gandhi Institute for Development Research S Mahendra Dev, said that they had made the suggestions after over 20 teams of national and international economists held a research study with the help of India Consensus, a partnership of Tata Trusts and Copenhagen Consensus Centre. “We had met Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday and he asked us for a plan of action to take this forward. The action plan would be ready in two months,” they concluded.