Fall in grain, cane output likely

MUMBAI, March 23: The saffron alliance in the State dismal economic situation after a dismal show in the political arena.According to the Ec...

MUMBAI, March 23: The saffron alliance in the State dismal economic situation after a dismal show in the political arena.

According to the Economic Survey for 1997-98 released today the industrial production is expected to post a meagre increase of 3.4 per cent in the current financial year of 1997- 98 as against 7.2 per cent of the previous year.

Even the agricultural growth would register a downslide, with foodgrain production falling by a steep 30.6 per cent as compared to 1996-97. Cotton production is expected to decline by 35.4 per cent and oilseeds by 21.9 per cent.

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Sugarcane, which is the mainstay of States economic activity, will drift lower by 16.4 per cent.

Unseasonal rains and cloudy weather in many parts of the state and the occurence of hailstorms in the Vidarbha region during the later part of the year are cited as prime reasons for the slowdown in agricultural growth.

According to the survey, at the constant prices, the state income for 1997-98 is expected to register an increase of4.8 per cent as compared to 7.6 per cent last year.

According to the factory statistics for the half year ending June 1997, the average daily factory employment in Maharashtra was 12.84 lakh. Employment provided under the Employment Guarantee Scheme during April-December 1997 was 6.05 crore man-days as against 5.60 man-days provided during the corresponding period last year. Though the number of new registrations in employment exchanges during 1996-97 was 6.50 lakh showing a decrease of 13.3 per cent, the number of such registered unemployed persons at the end of January this year was 39.47 lakh.

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The primary agricultural credit societies advanced loans to the tune of Rs 1,661 crore in 1996-97 and recovered Rs 1,339 crore, which was 59.7 per cent of the amount due as against 59.8 per cent in the previous year. The loans overdue at the end of 1996-97 were Rs 903 crore.

The trend in the growth of state income at constant (80-81) prices is not uniform for all the three sectors of the economy.

The growthin primary, secondary and tertiary sectors was 15.7 per cent, 4.1 per cent and 7.1 per cent respectively.

The generation of electricity has been increased and by December 1997, it was higher by 3.1 per cent than 1996. In February, the peak demand of electricity (9,451 mega watts) was met without any load shedding problem in the State.