Economic & Social Development

The Centre has announced the identification of 100 Aspirational Agriculture Districts across 29 states and Union Territories under the Prime Minister Dhan-Dhaanya Krishi Yojana (PMDDKY), with Uttar Pradesh leading the list with 12 districts. This move, approved by the Union Cabinet with an annual outlay of ₹24,000 crore, aims to boost agricultural productivity, promote sustainable practices, and achieve self-reliance in underperforming agricultural regions through the convergence of 36 existing schemes.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while inaugurating the expansion of Sabar Dairy in Gujarat on October 3, 2025, highlighted that India's dairy sector has grown by 70% over the past 11 years, making it the fastest-growing in the world. This announcement underscores the sector's role in boosting rural incomes and national GDP, amid ongoing initiatives like White Revolution 2.0 and recent GST reductions on dairy products to further accelerate growth.

The Indian government is set to launch the National Camel Mission, a multi-ministerial initiative aimed at halting the drastic 75% decline in the country's camel population since 1977. This comes as part of broader efforts to conserve the "desert icon," support traditional herder communities like the Raika, and tap into economic opportunities such as camel milk production, amid concerns over ecological imbalances in arid regions like Rajasthan and Gujarat.

Chief Economic Adviser V Anantha Nageswaran, speaking at the Bengal Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Kolkata on September 19, 2025, pointed out important choices India must make in shifting to cleaner energy. He stressed that while India aims for sustainability, it cannot let this slow down economic growth or harm finances, especially as the country works towards becoming a developed nation by 2047. This comes amid global talks on climate change and India's push for more renewable energy.

The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has unveiled a pioneering decadal study on the finances of all 28 Indian states, spanning from 2013-14 to 2022-23. This report spotlights a dramatic threefold rise in combined public debt, climbing from Rs 17.57 lakh crore to Rs 59.60 lakh crore, amid warnings about states increasingly borrowing for everyday expenses rather than long-term investments, potentially jeopardizing economic stability.

The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) has issued an office memorandum exempting mining projects for atomic, critical, and strategic minerals from mandatory public consultations under the Environment Impact Assessment (EIA) Notification, 2006. This step, reported by The Indian Express on September 11, 2025, responds to requests from the Ministry of Defence and the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE), aiming to expedite clearances for minerals vital to national security, defence equipment, and atomic energy programs amid India's heavy import dependence. The move aligns with recent policy shifts to boost domestic production but has raised questions about environmental transparency and community involvement.

The Union Ministry of Home Affairs has announced that the 2027 Census will be India's first fully digital exercise, where nearly 34 lakh enumerators will use their own smartphones and dedicated mobile apps to collect data, replacing traditional paper-based methods. This move aims to ensure real-time data processing, faster publication, and enhanced accuracy for policy-making. The announcement comes amid preparations for the census, delayed from 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and includes new features like self-enumeration and caste data collection to support welfare schemes and delimitation of constituencies.

The 56th GST Council meeting has introduced significant rate reductions on inputs in key sectors like textiles and fertilizers, easing the inverted duty structure where input taxes exceed output taxes. However, persistent wide gaps between these rates continue to raise concerns among industries, primarily due to delays in input tax credit refunds and resulting working capital blockages, prompting calls for faster processing mechanisms.