The Indian economy, to some extent has resisted the economic slowdown despite continued fall in the Global Economies. This stability was marked by good governance through major domestic as well as foreign policies catering to the development of the economy. The initiations of various reforms have stimulated Indian economy that registered a steady pace of economic growth. Hence growth of real GDP has been high with average growth rate of 6.7 per cent in the last 5 years (2015 onwards).
The Indian economy grew by 4.0 per cent in 2019-20 while experiencing some moderation in growth when compared to the previous year. This moderation in growth is mainly on account of lower growth in various sectors as “Mining Quarrying”, “Manufacturing”, “Electricity, Gas, Water Supply & Other Utility Services”, “Construction” “Trade, Repair, Hotel & Restaurant” and “Financial Services” as compared to their growth in previous year (2018-19).
The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) at constant prices (2011-12) prices or real GDP for the year 2019-20 is estimated at ₹145.69 lakh crore as against ₹140.03 lakh crore in 2018-19 with a growth of 4.0 per cent. The GDP at current prices for 2019-20 is estimated at ₹203.51 lakh crore as against ₹188.87 lakh crore in the year 2018-19, which shows an increase of 7.8 per cent during the year. The Gross Value Added (GVA) at constant basic prices witnessed a growth of 4.1 per cent during 2019-20 against the growth rate of 5.9 per cent in the year 2018-19.
The growth in real GVA during 2019-20 has been lower than that of 2018-19 due to a Negative growth in Mining and Quarrying (-2.5%), Manufacturing (-2.4%) and lower growth in Electricity, Gas, Water Supply & Other Utility services (2.1%), Construction (1.0%) and Financial Services (4.1%) As per the first advance estimates the all India growth rate for the fiscal year 2020-21 is expected to be around ( -7.7) per cent . The Per Capita Net National Income at current prices is estimated at ₹ 1,34,186 in 2019-20 against ₹ 1,25,883 for the previous year 201819 recording an increase of 6.6 per cent. The per capita income in real terms i.e. at constant (2011-12) prices is estimated at ₹ 94,566 for 2019-20 as against ₹92,241 in 2018-19 with an increase of 2.5 per cent.
Inflation management is the key priority of the Government. The inflation rate, as measured by the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) on year–on-year basis, remained below 2 per cent in the most part of the current financial year 2020-21 (AprilDec.). The inflation rate based on Whole Sale Price Index was 1.2 per cent in the month of December, 2020 against 2.7 per cent in the month of December, 2019. Inflation based on All India Consumer Price Index Number for Industrial workers (CPI, IW) for the year 2019-20 is 7.7 per cent as against 5.6 per cent in 201819.

The Government of Himachal Pradesh has initiated several measures for the speedy progress for the better life of the people of the State through efficient policies and cooperation with Central Government. Himachal has a vibrant economy due to steady efforts of the simple and hardworking people of the State and by the implementation of progressive policies and programmes of the Central and State Government. Himachal has become one of the more prosperous and fast growing economy in the country but due to the impact of pandemic covid-19 the economy of the State is expected to have a negative growth of 6.2 per cent in the current financial year 2020-21. As per the Revised Estimates Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) at current prices, is estimated at ₹ 1,62,816 crore in 2019-20 First Revised Estimate (FRE) as against ₹1,49,442 crore in 2018-19 Second Revised Estimate (SRE) showing an increase of 8.9 per cent during the year. GSDP at constant (201112) prices in 2019-20 (FR) is estimated at ₹1,22,284 crore against ₹ 1,16,570 crore in 2018-19 (SR) registering a growth of 4.9 per cent during the year as against the growth rate of 6.5 per cent for the previous year. The increase in total State Domestic Product at constant prices is mainly attributed to 15.8 per cent in Community & Personal Services sectors, 2.5 per cent in Finance & Real Estate, 4.6 per cent increase in Transport and Trade, 0.3 per cent in Manufacturing sector, 3.1 per cent in construction, (-)4.6 per cent in Electricity, Gas & Water Supply. Whereas, the primary sector has shown positive growth of 15.4 per cent. The Food-Grains production, which was 16.92 lakh MT during 2018-19 decreased to 15.94 lakh MT during 2019-20 and is anticipated at 16.75 lakh MT in 2020-21. The Fruit Production increased to 8.45 lakh MT in 2019-20 as against 4.95 lakh MT in 2018-19, showing an increase of 70.7 per cent in 2019-20. The fruit production during 2020-21(up to December, 2020) is 4.82 lakh MT. The per capita income at current prices as per First revised estimates for the year 2019-20 witnessed an increase of 7.9 per cent to ₹1,90,407 as compared to ₹ 1,76,460 in the year 2018-19. As per the advanced estimates and on the basis of economic conditions up to December, 2020 and impact of COVID-19, the contraction in the economy for 2020-21 is expected to be around (-)6.2 per cent. The economic growth in the State is still governed by agriculture activities. The economy has shown a shift from agriculture sector to industries and services as the percentage contribution of agriculture in total State Domestic Product has declined from 57.9 per cent in 1950-51 to 55.5 per cent in 1967-68, 26.5 per cent in 1990-91 and to 10.05 per cent in 2019-20.
The share of industries and services sectors which was 1.1 & 5.9 per cent respectively in 1950-51 increased to 5.6 and 12.4 per cent in 1967-68, 9.4 and 19.8 per cent in 199091 and to 29.2 and 43.5 per cent respectively in 2019-20. However, the contribution of other remaining sectors declined from 35.1 per cent in 1950-51 to 27.3 per cent in 2019-20.
The declining share of agriculture sector does not, affect the importance of this sector in the State economy as the growth in primary sector of the State economy is still determined by the trend in agriculture and horticulture production. It is one of the major contributors to the total domestic product and has overall impact on other sectors via input linkages, employment, trade and transportation etc. Due to lack of irrigation facilities, agricultural production to a large extent still depends on timely rainfall and weather conditions. High priority has been accorded to this sector by the Government.
The State has made significant progress in the development of horticulture. The topographical variations and altitudinal differences coupled with fertile, deep and well drained soils favor the cultivation of temperate to sub-tropical fruits. The region is also suitable for cultivation of ancillary horticultural produce like flowers, mushroom, honey and hops.
During 2020-21, 1,340 hectares of additional area was envisaged to bring under fruit plants against which 2,589 hectares of area has already been brought under plantation. Besides 7.69 lakh fruit plants of different species were also distributed up to December, 2020. Growing of off-season vegetables has also picked up in the State. During 2019-20, 18.61 lakh tonnes of vegetables were produced as against 17.22 lakh tonnes in 2018-19 recorded a growth of 8.07 per cent. It is anticipated that the production of vegetables will be about 16.58 lakh tonnes in 2020-21.
Himachal Pradesh continued to take various steps to achieve its targets, in the area of climate change mitigation. The State action plans on climate change aims to create institutional capacities and implement sectoral activities to address climate change.
In view of the growing needs of the State economy, Government has taken steps to provide uninterrupted power supply in the state. Several steps have been taken for increasing power generation, strengthening of transmission and distribution. As a source of energy, hydro power is economically viable, non-polluting and is environmentally sustainable. In order to restructure the sector, the Power Policy of the State attempts to address all aspects like Capacity addition, energy security, access and availability of power, affordability, environment and assured employment to the people of Himachal. Though the private sector participation in terms of investments in this sector has been encouraging but the smaller projects (up to 2 MW) have been reserved for investors from Himachal Pradesh only and preference is given for projects up to 5 MW.
The Annual Development Budget for 2021-22 has been proposed at ₹9,405 crore which will be 19 per cent higher than the plan size of current year 2020-21.
Containment of prices is on the priority list of Government. Consumer Price Index inflation in Himachal Pradesh during 2020-21 (April to Dec. 2020) was 5.0 per cent.
Tourism is an important source of revenue generation and a generator of diverse employment opportunities. A significant rise was noticed in the domestic as well as foreign tourist inflow during last few years but due to COVID19 there is sharp decrease of 81 per cent in tourist arrival up to December, 2020 which is evident from the Table 1.2 below: - The priority of the Government has always been to implement social welfare programmes. Concerted efforts have been made to improve the efficiency and quality of delivery of public services. Some of the major public welfare schemes implements during the year are:-
1) My Gov Portal: Himachal.mygov.in is a new link introduced for participation of all people in the process of Progress and Development.
2) Himachal Health Care Scheme (HIMCARE): Under this scheme 4.62 lakh families have been registered and 1.25 lakh beneficiaries have availed ₹129.97 crore cashless treatment since the inception of this scheme.
3) Senior Citizen Health Insurance Scheme (SCHIS): Under this scheme the Government provides top-up coverage of up to ₹30,000 per senior citizen in the State. This scheme will cover all senior citizens who are the smart card holders of Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojna (RSBY).
4) Old age pension Scheme: Under this scheme a sum of ₹850 per month is given to all the persons between 60 to70 years, having individual income below ₹ 35000, and the persons above 70 years, a sum of ₹1,500 per month is given without any income criteria. An amount of ₹ 42,745.74 lakh has been spent up to December 2020 against the budget provision of ₹50,562.92 lakh
5) Mukhya Mantri Awas Yojana: Under this scheme, the Government is providing an amount of ₹1.50 lakh to the poor families affected by natural calamities. In addition,the Government has a target to build 1,000 houses this year.
6) “Mukhyamantri 1 Bigha Scheme”: Under this scheme the State Govt will empower 1.50 lakh rural women by helping them become self sufficient and get employment under MGNREGS. Mukhya Mantri 1 Bigha Scheme that will boost the rural economy.
7) “eUdyan Portal”: This acts as single window portal where farmers can avail Horticulture Farming Service benefits while sitting in their home.
8) Saur Sinchai Yojana: (Sol ar Irrigation Scheme) Objective of this scheme is to double farmer’s income by 2022. The State govt. will provide Solar Pump Sets to farmers for agricultural / irrigation purposes. Under this scheme, Government will provide 90% financial assistance to small and marginal farmers for purchase of pump-sets and will also provide 80% subsidy to all individual medium and big farmers.
9) “Mukhya Mantri Shahri Ajeevika Guarantee Yojana”: Under this scheme Government will ensure livelihood security to urban households by providing a guaranteed employment for 120 days. MMSAGY scheme will facilitate skill enhancement of persons engaged in wage labour jobs to provide them better livelihood opportunities.
10) Atal Vardi Yojana: Under this Scheme, all the students of class 1st to 12th get free uniforms. Students are being provided free school uniforms w.e.f. FY 2018-19. Under this scheme, in the year 2018-19, around 8,30,945 students of class 1st to 12th were provided 2 sets of free school uniforms with an outlay of ₹ 73.50 crore.
11) Grihini Suvidha Yojana: in Himachal Pradesh has resulted in women empowerment and will also help in creating a pollution free environment in the State. Over 2.95 lakh families have been given Gas connection under this scheme.
12) Medha Protsahan Yojana 2021: Under this scheme, assistance up to ₹ 1.00 lakh is provided to the meritorious students to provide guidance at coaching centers located inside or outside the State.
13) Mukhyamantri Seva Sanklap Helpline (Dial1100): A toll free facility was introduced to address problems of people and talk to the CM on mobile phone and by e-mail to CM via Mail ID cmofficehp@gov.in
14) Mukhya Mantri Swavlamban Yojan: To encourage the youngsters male entrepreneurs Government has decided to give subsidy up to 25 per cent on machinery cost and 30 per cent for Female investors.
15) Mukhya Mantri Start-Up Yojana: Under this scheme 27 Start-ups have been started in 8 Incubation Centres and 3 promising entrepreneurs have been awarded.
16) Jan Manch Yojna: This scheme was started on 3rd June, 2018 with the objective to establish a direct dialogue with the public and provide on spot redressal to their grievances.
17) Swachh Bharat Mission: The objective of the Municipal Solid Waste Management (MSWM) strategy is to create waste free cities/towns and provide clean and pollution free environment in the urban areas of Himachal Pradesh.
18) Smart City Mission: The objective is to promote cities that provide core infrastructure and give a decent quality of life to its citizens, a clean and sustainable environment and application of ‘Smart’ Solutions. Dharamshala and Shimla city are being covered under the scheme.
19) HP Buy Back Single Use Plastic: The scheme was introduced on the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi in 2019 to eradicate single use and non-recyclable waste and fixed minimum price @ ₹ 75/-per Kg. to buyback such waste
20) HP New Ration Card Online: Under this scheme all people whose name does not appears in the HP Ration Card List can apply online using himachalform.nic.in
21) Vishesh Mahila Utthan Yojna: This scheme has been formulated for rehabilitation of physically and sexually abused Women through Technical and Vocational Training.
22) Saksham Gudiya Board Himachal Pradesh: This Board is constituted to make recommendations for the policy to empower, safety and security, upliftment and protection of crime against the girl child/adolescent girls.
23) Ek Buta Beti Ke Naam: The scheme has been launched to sensitize people about the importance of daughters and forest conservation. Through this scheme a plant /sapling along with a kit will be provided to the parents on the birth of a girl child.
24) Uttam Pashu Puruskar Yojna: Under this scheme the Government encourages the farmers (Pashupalak) to increase milk production and gives an award to the farmer for producing 15 liter and more milk in a day.
25) Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Yojna: Under the scheme ₹ 6,000 per annum is given to the farmer having less than 2.0 hectare of land and up to January, 2021 9,26,830 farmers were benefitted with a outlay of 1,169.37 crore.
26) Jan Dhan Yojna: The purpose of this scheme is to bring every Indian in the rural or urban sector to the mainstream banking system. This will aid the financial status of the account holders as well as foster social Security goals of the Central Government. Aayushman Bharat Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojna: Under the scheme 3.35 lakh families have received Golden Cards and 77,549 beneficiaries have availed `80.96 crore cashless treatment since the inception of the scheme in the State.
27) Pradhan Mantri Fasl Vima Yojna: This scheme, launched on 18th February 2016 by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, for the insurance farmers produce. It was formulated in line with One NationOne Scheme theme by replacing earlier two schemes National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (NAIS) and Modified National Agricultural Insurance Scheme (MNAIS).
28) Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna: Under this scheme, the interest rate for the PMAY scheme starts at 6.50% p.a. and can be availed for a tenure of up to 20 years. The deadline for availing the PMAY 2021 Credit Linked Subsidy Scheme (CLSS) for the MIG-I and MIG-II categories has been extended to 31 March 2021.

The State Government has adopted innovative policies for maintaining high economic growth which is imperative for sustained development. Besides continuing the focus on Agriculture, Industries and Services sectors, the government is committed to give special thrust to all the key sub-sectors and give a big push to the economy. The estimates of economy of a time period reveal the extent and direction of changes taking place in the economy. Sectoral composition of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) gives an idea of the relative position of different sectors in the economy over a period of time, which not only indicates structural changes taking place in the economy but also facilitates the formulation of plans for overall economic development.

The GSDP of Himachal Pradesh at constant (2011-12) Prices for the year 2019-20 First Revised Estimate (FRE) is estimated at ₹1,22,284 crore as against ₹1,16,570 crore for 2018-19 (Second Revised) indicating a growth of 4.9 per cent in comparison with the All India GDP growth rate of 4.0 per cent for 201920.
The economy is classified into three broad sectors:
1) Primary sector: Primary sector comprises of Agriculture, Horticulture, Livestock, Forestry & Logging, Fishing Mining and Quarrying sub-sectors. The Agriculture & Allied Sectors as a key sector, supporting about 60 per cent of the population, registered a positive growth of 18.3 per cent in 2019-20 (FRE) at Constant (2011-12) prices with a Gross Value Added (GVA) of ₹10,583 crore as compared to ₹8,949 crore during 2018-19 (SRE). In Himachal Pradesh, Horticulture is no longer a sub sector of agriculture sector, it has crossed agriculture in terms of value addition. The livestock sector has emerged as an alternative and dependable source of income generation. In 2019-20, the production of Milk Increased by 4.86 per cent, Meat by 3.52 per cent and Eggs by 5.86 per cent resulting in growth of 9.5 per cent in the Livestock sector, Fisheries sector registered a growth of 4.7%. Forestry & Logging 10.6, and Mining & Quarrying 4.3 per cent in 2019-20 (FRE).
2) Secondary Sector: Secondary sector broadly comprises Manufacturing (Organised & Un-Organised), Electricity, Gas & Water Supply and Construction. As per the (First Revised Estimates) for 201920 at Constant (2011-12) prices, the GVA of Secondary sector is estimated at ₹ 53,498 crore against ₹ 53,456 crore, for 2018-19 (Second Revised Estimates) registering a growth rate of 0.1 per cent in 2019-20 over the previous year.
3) Tertiary or Services Sector: Services sector, as before has a surging share in the State GVA. It comprises Trade, Hotels & Restaurants, Transport by other means & Storage Communications, Banking & Insurance, Real Estate & Professional Services and Community, and Social & Personal services, It registered a growth of 7.7 per cent in 2019-20 (FRE) over the previous year. The GVA of service sector as per FRE for the year 2019-20 is estimated at ₹46,568 crore as against ₹43,220 crore in 2018-19 (SRE). Broad Sector wise GVA At Constant Basic Prices is depicted below:

FRE of GSDP for the year 2019-20 at Current Prices is ₹1,62,816 crore as against ₹1,49,442 crore for 2018-19 (SRE). The estimates of GVA at current basic Prices for the year 2019-20 is ₹1,52,754 crore as against ₹ 1,39,947 crore of 2018-19. The sectoral contribution at current basic prices is given in Table 2.1 As per the First Revised estimates of 2019-20, GVA contribution at current prices from the Primary sector is ₹22,280 crore (14.58 per cent). The contribution from the Secondary sector for the same period stood at ₹64,063 crore (41.94 per cent) while from the Service sector it is ₹66,411 crore (43.48 per cent). The Estimates of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of Himachal Pradesh and all India from 2011-12 to 2019-20 (FRE) at Current & Constant (2011-12) Prices are given in Table 2.2

According to First revised estimates for 2019-20 the Per Capita Income of Himachal Pradesh at current prices increased to ₹ 1,90,407 from ₹1,76,460 in 2018-19 (SRE) registering a growth of 7.9 per cent. At constant (2011-12) prices, the per capita income during 2019-20 (FRE), is estimated at ₹1,42,155 against ₹ 1,36,664 in 2018-19 (SRE) registering a growth rate of 4.0 per cent. A comparative picture of Per Capita Income (PCI) at current prices of Himachal Pradesh and All India from 2011-12 to 2019-20 is tabulated below:

As per the early estimates based on the economic performance of State up-to December 2020 and impact of Covid-19, the economic growth rate of State during 2020-21 is likely to be (-)6.2 per cent. The State achieved growth rate of 4.9 per cent in 2019-20 (FRE) and 6.5 per cent in 2018-19 (SRE). The GSDP at current prices in the year 2020-21 (ADV) estimates is likely to be about ₹1,56,522 crore.
According to advance estimates the Per Capita Income at current prices during 2020-21 (AE) is estimated at ₹1,83,286 against ₹1,90,407 in 2019-20 (FRE) showing contraction of 3.7 per cent.
A brief analysis of the economic growth in Himachal Pradesh, however, reveals that the State has kept pace with the all-India growth rate as shown in Table-2.3 below:

The State Government mobilizes financial resources through direct and indirect taxes, non-tax revenue, share of central taxes and grants-in-aid from Central Government to meet the expenditure on administration and developmental activities. According to the budget estimates (BE) for the year 2020-21 the total revenue receipts were estimated at ₹ 38,439 crore as against ₹ 32,330 crore in 2019-20 revised estimates (RE). The Budget Estimates have been significantly affected by Covid-19 pandemic.
The break-up of the State’s own taxes shows that in 2020-21, 76.53 per cent of states own tax revenue is generated by sales tax (including other taxes and duties) amounts to ₹6,957 crore. The corresponding percentages for the year 2019-20 (RE) and 2018-19 (A) were 75.88 and 77.02 per cent respectively. The revenue from State excise duties is estimated at ₹1,788 crore in 2020-21 (BE).
In 2019-20 Excise and Taxation Department collected ₹6,796.00 crore of taxes under different heads against target of ₹6,888.62 crore which is 1.34 per cent short of the target. For the financial year 2020-21, against the revenue target of ₹7,884.78 crore, up to December 2020, ₹ 4,695.61 crore has been collected.

The item wise revenue targets and achievements for the year 202021 up to December 2020 are given below: Revenue Receipts Government receipts can broadly be divided into non-debt and debt receipts. The non-debt receipts comprise of tax revenue, non-tax revenue, grants-in-aid, recovery of loans and disinvestment receipts. Debt receipts mostly consist of market borrowings and other liabilities, which the government is obliged to repay in the future. Tax Revenue: According to Budget Estimates of 2020-21 the tax revenue (including central taxes) was estimated at ₹15,356 crore as against ₹12,682 crore in 2019-20 Revised estimates (RE). Non-Tax Revenue: Non-Tax Revenue consists mainly of interest receipts on loans, dividends and profits from public sector undertakings and receipts from services provided by the Government like General services such as services provided by the Public Service commission, social services such as health and education, economic services such as irrigation etc. The non-tax revenue is likely to increase to ₹ 2,410 crore in 2020-21 as against ₹2,372 crore in 2019-20 showing an increase of 1.63 per cent and is 1.54 per cent of State GSDP.
Non- Debt Capital Receipts: Non-Debt capital receipts consist of recovery of loans and advances and disinvestment receipts. The budget estimate for 2020-21 envisages ₹ 26.00 crore as recovery of loans and no income from disinvestment. As per budget estimates of 2020-21, total expenditure of the state Government was to be ₹49,131 crore out of which ₹39,123 crore (79.63%) was earmarked for revenue expenditure. The Budgetary spending was adversely affected due to Covid19 in the first two quarters though spending has become substantially normal in last two quarters. As per the budget estimates the Revenue receipts of the Government for the year 2020-21 were estimated to be 24.56 per cent of the GSDP which were 19.86 per cent in 2019-20 revised estimates. Similarly, the tax revenue for the year 2020-21 was estimated at 9.81 per cent of GSDP as compared to 7.79 per cent during 2019-20. Non-tax revenue is 1.54 per cent of the GSDP in 2020-21 as compared to 1.46 per cent during 2019-20. Fiscal deficit was estimated at 4.65 per cent of the GSDP in 202021 as compared to 6.53 per cent in 2019-20, but it is likely to increase due to contraction of economy in Revised Estimates.
During the year 2020-21 revenue receipts are estimated 24.56 percent of the GSDP, tax revenue 9.81 percent, non tax revenue 1.54 per cent which is likely to comes down due to COVID-19 pandemic, whereas total expenditure is estimated 31.39 percent, revenue expenditure is estimated at 25.00 percent and capital expenditure is estimated at 4.00 percent of the GSDP, which is likely to be adversely affected by Covid-19.

Table 2.6 above shows that in 2019-20 the growth of total and revenue expenditure of the State was estimated 26.90 and 23.47 percent respectively. The total expenditure of the government is estimated to decrease by (-)1.12 percent and revenue expenditure is likely to grow by 7.67 percent in 2020-21. Which is likely to come down due to COVID-19 pandemic.
Government Expenditure: Rationalization and prioritization of Government expenditure is integral to fiscal reforms. As state’s tax to GSDP ratio is low, Government faces the challenge of providing sufficient funds for investment and infrastructure expansion while maintaining fiscal discipline. Thus improving the quality of expenditure towards capital spending is significant.

The Government spends major chunk of its expenditure on revenue expenditure. In 2020-21 it is estimated that 80 per cent of the total budget spending will be on revenue expenditure. The composition of revenue expenditure is given in Table 2.7 below which reveals that 57 per cent of total expenditure is likely to be spent on salary, pension, interest payment and subsidies in 2020-21 (BE). The expenditure on salary, pension and interest payments is committed expenditure in nature and has limited headroom for creation of addition fiscal space. The subsidies have been significantly moderated at 2.4 per cent of the total expenditure in 2020-21. Table 2.8 depicts that the growth of expenditure on salary and pension is increasing year to year except in the 2015-16 where its growth was negative. The Salary expenditure increased by 20 per cent in 2016-17, 3 per cent in 2018-19 and is estimated to increase by 7 per cent in 2020-21 (BE). Pension expenditure increased by 32 per cent in 2015-16, 6 per cent in 2018-19 and in 2020-21 (BE) is expected to grow by 9 per cent. Growth in interest payments was 13 per cent in 2017-18, 6 per cent in 2018-19 and is likely to increase by 8 per cent in 2020-21). Growth of subsidy expenditure increased by 19 per cent in 2017-18, 41 per cent in 2018-19 and is likely to increase by 9 per cent in 2020-21(BE). The total liabilities of the State increased to ₹ 50,772.89 crore in 2018-19 from ₹ 31,442.56 crore in 2013-14 showing an increase of about 61 per cent whereas debt as percentage to gross state domestic product was 33.97 per cent in 201819 (Table-2.9).
Development Planning and Budgeting:
a) Abolition of Plan & Non-Plan based distinction of Budget: The State Budget or Annual Financial Statement contains a detailed account of Estimated Receipts and Expenditure for the forthcoming Financial Year. In addition to the Revenue & Capital Heads based classification of the budget, expenditure was categorized into Plan and Non-Plan Heads, till the Government decided in 2020 to do away with the Plan & Non-Plan based classification of the budget from financial year 2021-22.
Non-Plan component of Budget Expenditure largely related to committed liabilities such as payment of interest, gratuity, salary, pension, wages and maintenance; whereas, Plan component of Budget Expenditure mainly focused on Infrastructure Development and other Development Schemes.
b) Annual Development Plan/ Budgets: After getting full statehood in 1971, a State Planning Machinery was set up in 1972-73, in Himachal Pradesh. The basic objective of establishing this was to provide secretarial services in the formulation of Five Year Plans & Annual Plans. The budget outlays were reflected in various Demands for Grants as Plan & Non-Plan which were further classified into Capital & Revenue Heads. The classification of expenditure into Plan and Non-Plan heads had become irrelevant due to National level changes. State Government of Himachal Pradesh approved the abolition of this distinction of Plan & Non Plan Component of State Budget in August, 2020 & further approved to go ahead with only Revenue & Capital heads based classification of the State Budget from the next financial year 2021-22.
c) Scheduled Castes Development Programme (SCDP) & Tribal Area Development Programme (TADP):
1) Annual Development Budget will be formulated & monitored by the Planning Department in place of Annual Plan.
2) The Scheduled Caste Sub-Plan & Tribal Area Sub-Plan will be formulated as per the current mechanism & these sub plans will now be renamed as Scheduled Caste Development Programme (SCDP) & Tribal Area Development Programme (TADP). ESOMSA & Tribal Development Departments will continue to perform their current functions as Nodal Department for Scheduled Caste Development Programme (SCDP) & Tribal Area Development Programme (TADP).
3) The allocation of Budget for Schedule Caste Development Programme (SCDP) & Tribal Area Development Programme (TADP) will be 25.19 per cent and 9 per cent of the State’s Development Budget.

Amid the Coronavirus pandemic, several countries across the world resorted to lockdowns to “flatten the curve” of infection. These lockdowns meant confining millions of citizens to their homes, shutting down businesses and ceasing almost all economic activities. According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the global economy is expected to shrink by over 3 per cent in 2020 – the steepest slowdown since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
On 24th of March 2020, the Government of India imposed nationwide lockdown for 21 days, limiting the movement of the entire 1.3 billion population of India as a preventive measure against the COVID19 pandemic. It was ordered after a 14hour voluntary public curfew on 22nd March, followed by enforcement of a series of regulations in the country's COVID-19 affected regions. The lockdown was imposed when the number of confirmed positive coronavirus cases in India was approximately 500. Observers stated that the lockdown had slowed the growth rate of the pandemic by 6th April to a rate of doubling every six days, and by 18th April, to a rate of doubling every eight days.
The first case of the COVID-19 pandemic in India was reported on 30th January 2020, originating from China. Slowly, the pandemic spread to various states and union territories including the state of Himachal Pradesh. The first case was recorded in the region on 20th March 2020.
The pandemic has been a unique economic shock that has triggered both supply and demand-side shocks simultaneously for economies around the world. Increased uncertainty, lower confidence, loss of income, weaker growth prospects, fear of contagion, curtailment of spending options due to closure of all contact-sensitive activities, the triggering of precautionary savings, risk aversion among businesses and resultant fall in consumption and investment-leading to the first order demand shock. The economy suffers multifarious effects of lockdown from its interconnected sectors. Disturbances in one sector lead to disturbances in the other, though the extent of changes varies.
COVID-19 has disrupted supply chains and this has generated spillover effects throughout different levels of supplier networks. Trade-in 2020 has fallen in every region and this has brought restraint to all Sectors of the economy. Himachal Pradesh witnessed multi-effects on its economy which are given under the following heads. COVID-19 has many overarching effects on almost all sector of the economy ranging from acute to minor. Present chapter analyses its impact on the main components of state economy under the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors.
1) Primary Sector: Forestry & Logging and Mining and Quarrying Himachal Pradesh has abundant supply of forest resources that are included in the primary sector. The COVID-19 Lockdown has had a strong impact on its growth which is given in following figure: The highest fall under primary sectors can be seen in the Mining and Quarrying (-18.4 per cent) followed by Forestry (-17.5 per cent). This is due to the nationwide lockdown for Corona-19 outbreak which forced everyone to stay at homes to maintain social distancing. The unavailability of labour to work in forest and logging on the one side, and the decrease in the demand on the other side led to twin shocks to these sectors.
2) Secondary Sector: Manufacturing (Organised and un-organised) and Construction: Manufacturing and construction is the backbone of any economy. These are main components of the secondary sector which accounts for the second highest percentage share in GSDP. The following diagram shows contraction in this sector: The unavailability of manpower due to lockdown is the main reason behing the fall in the growth rate of manufacturing and construction in the State.
3) Tertiary Sector:
a) Transport Storage and Communication and Transport by Other Means: Transportation is part of the tertiary sector and has important role in the economy of the State. Absence of other means of transportation through airways and railways makes road transportation play an important role in the hilly terrain. Following figure gives the contraction in this sector: Transportation by other means has the highest dip of (-) 28 per cent whereas, Transportation, Storage and Communication has -16.2 per cent fall in 2020-21 (A) due to COVID-19.
b) Tourism and Hospitality Sector: Tourism remains the main source of revenue generation and employment in the State. COVID-19 forced lockdown which caused the worst hit to the tourism sector in the State. The following figure presents tourist inflow in the State since 2010. Arrival of tourists sees a variation in terms of year-on-year growth rate in the state. However, a large variation in the growth rate is seen in the time of countrywide lockdown which not only forced domestic tourists to stay locked in their homes, but led to foreign tourists staying back in their countries due to ban on international flights. The table below shows the highest (-81.33 per cent) contraction in the arrival of tourists compared to the previous year.
The following table 3.2 presents the index of tourist inflow in the state. with the 2010 as the base year. In 2020 the arrival of tourists was 24.22 per cent as compared to the tourist arrival in the year 2010. In other words there was (-) 75.88 per cent contraction in the tourist arrival in 2020 compared to the tourist arrival in 2010. The arrival of foreign tourists saw the highest contraction of (-) 90.59 per cent in 2020 as compared to 2010.
c) The Impact of COVID-19 on Health Sector: Due to COVID-19 there were obvious strains on available health infrastructure. There was diversion of resources from other sectors to the health sector for initiatives to tackle COVID-19. Impact on the vaccination drive due to restrictions was also observed on health targets of the State shown in the table 3.4: The 1st dose given to children of age more than 12 months of measles & rubella has been affected and similarly the doses of DT5, TT10 and TT16 given to the children of age more than 23 months have also been affected to a large extent due to this pandemic as compared to the previous year. Every component of the State Government’s family planning programmes has been hampered severely by this pandemic.

Much before the first COVID-19 confirmed case was reported on the 20th of March 2020, Himachal Pradesh adopted a multi-pronged strategy in dealing with the pandemic. It is Himachal Pradesh’s unique strengths of a well-established public healthcare system and decentralized governance that have contributed to the effective handling of the pandemic. The Government of Himachal Pradesh was among the first in the country to take the precautionary step of implementing a strict curfew, not just a lockdown, but to timely control the spread of the coronavirus. Subsequently, the State Government scaled up COVID-19 testing rapidly, so much so that between 28th March 2020 and 29th April 2020, a jump of 3500 per cent in the number of people tested for coronavirus was witnessed. Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, in a video conference with the Chief Ministers of all States, appreciated the Government of Himachal Pradesh for effectively implementing the Active Case Finding (ACF) campaign. Under ACF, approximately 16,000 ASHA (Accredited Social Health Activists) and Anganwadi workers went door-to-door to collect health information of every individual residing in the State (approximately 70,00,000) after the State-wide curfew was implemented. This data wasshared with the Department of Healthand individuals who showed Influenza-likesymptoms were then tested for coronavirus.
Anticipating the adverse scenario that could emerge, the Government of Himachal Pradesh undertook various initiatives to arrest the impact of COVID19 on the State’s economy and lives of the people. These include infusion of money into the economy through direct and indirect support, ensuring food and shelter for the needy, generating employment opportunities, increasing production of agriculture and industrial sector, and support to those who returned home from other States. The Government disseminated information about the spread of the pandemic and the containment strategies adopted by it.
Timely Intervention of the State Government to fight the COVID-19 pandemic is given below:
1) Inter-state and Intra-state movement was suspended. Movement of essential goods was permitted and regulated.
2) Detailed measures to disinfect the buses, IEC material regarding prevention, control and helpline numbers were displayed in buses/taxis. Detailed protocols were issued to be followed in banks, offices and commercial establishments like shops.
3) Masks and hand sanitizer were put in the essential commodities list.
4) State Government installed a COVID-19 helpline number (104).
5) Dedicated COVID-19 Care Centres (DCCCs) were created for the quarantine of all international passengers, interstate travellers, and contacts, who did not have a facility for quarantine at home as per guidelines. COVID-19 hospitals were designated for the management of symptomatic patients.
6) Physical distancing was maintained to avoid spread of virus from infected people. For this purpose, all social, cultural, sports, political, religious, academic, family mass gatherings of any kind for any purpose were banned in the State. A roster of employees was prepared and 50 per cent of Class-III and Class-IV employees attended office on alternative days. Timings of arrivals and departures of employees were also staggered to prevent gathering.
7) The State Surveillance Unit was notified as a competent authority for surveillance, prevention and control measures of epidemicprone diseases in the State. Similarly, the District Surveillance Unit was also notified.
8) Dedicated COVID-19 Care Hospitals were notified all over the State
9) Emergency Operations Centres (EOCs) at the State level in each of the 12 districts were set up.
10) Ear-marking ambulances for each district to be deployed as per the direction of the respective Chief Medical Officer.
11) To ensure uninterrupted supply of essential goods/services, shops or stores selling groceries, milk, bread, fruits, vegetables, meat, fish and other uncooked food items, Chemist shops, optical stores, banks, insurance services and ATMs pharmaceutical units and their ancillaries were kept open with the condition of adherence to standard operating guidelines.
12) Curfew e-passes were issued on WhatsApp for movement of people and essential goods in the State.
13) Public offices remained closed until 02.05.2020, except for offices charged with essentials and emergency services.
14) Curfew timings were relaxed for buying essential items.
15) Families in the State under the National Food Security Act (NFSA) were given quota of food grains for two months in April itself on a priority basis.
16) Social security pension for widows and physically challenged people was increased to `1,000 per month.
17) Because of the upcoming apple season, which continues to be a source of livelihood for a majority of the State’s population, three hundred plant protection centres were kept open to facilitate farmers.
18) HP COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund was set-up to send essential supplies like PPE kits, masks, sanitizer etc. to health workers and food and medicine to communities.
19) The Government took various steps to ensure appropriate returns to growers on fruits in general and apple in particular. Himachal Pradesh Government has co-ordinated with other State Governments (Haryana, Delhi, U.P. Punjab, Rajasthan) to ensure timely availability of labour, raw materials, cartons and other materials at reasonable rates.
20) Special arrangements were made to take imported high-yielding high-density apple plants from controlled atmosphere (CA) Store to post-entry quarantine (PEQ) sites.

From Own Sources:
1) Salary cut of 30% for the Public Representatives, Chairpersons and Vice-chairpersons of Boards and Corporations.
2) Imposition of cess on the sale of liquor, which led to an additional income of `100 crore to the State exchequer.
3) No increase in Dearness Allowance for employees and Dearness Relief to pensioners.
4) PDS system and power tariff has been rationalized.
Interest-Free Loan from GoI:
1 Government of India provided interest free loans amounting to ` 450.00 crore. Out of which First Instalment of ` 225.00 crore has been released. Repayment Period for this loan is 50 years.
2 Amount released to roads and rail: 72.33 crore.
3 Amount released for water supply and management: 41.49 crore.
4 Amount released for others facilities: 11.18 crore.
5 Following additional investment of about 100 crore was made to strengthen Health Sector to fight the impact of COVID-19:
i) 47.71 crore for Super Specialty Block, Chamiyana.
ii) 30.35 crore for New OPD Block, IGMC
iii) 11.81 crore for completion of AIIMS, Bilaspur.
iv) 10.66 crore for Mental Health Centre at RPGMC Tanda.

1) Social Security Pension has been paid to 5.69 lakh persons in advance every month for the quarter ending June 2020.
2) The pension amount admissible for the old and specially abled has been increased from ` 850 to `1000 per month w.e.f. April 2020.
3) All the Ration-card holders of targeted PDS have been given Rice, Wheat Flour and Dal for two months in advance.
4) Enhanced emoluments paid to Aanganwari Workers/Helpers/ Mini Aanganwari Workers, Mid Day Meal Workers, Silai Teachers, Panchayat Chowkidars, Para Fitters, Para Pump Operators, Jal Rakshaks, Namberdars from April 2020.
5) ASHA workers have been paid an additional incentive of ` 1000 in the months of April, May and June 2020 (`3.13 crore) while during July to December 2020 the incentive has been increased to `2000 (` 9.44 crore.). Thus total relief amounting to ` 12.57crore was paid to ASHA workers.
6) Increased emoluments equal to 25% of the grade pay was paid to contractual employees
7) Conveyance Allowance to the blind and orthopedically challenged employees increased from `500 to `750 PM.
8) Daily Wages were increased for various categories from `250`520 to `275-`572 from April 2020.
9) Per Hour Rates of Part-time Workers was increased from `31.25 per hour to `34.50 from 1st April 2020.
10) Advance payment of Wages/ Honorarium etc. to the Daily Wage Workers, Part Time Workers, Water Guards etc.
11) Ex-gratia payment of `50.00 lakh has been proposed for Nonhealth and Non-sanitation workers doing COVID-19 duties in addition to health and sanitation workers who were already covered under the scheme. This is in addition to the normal ex-gratia (`35000 to `100,000) given in case of death of a government employee in service.
12) State Government decided to release the benefits of retirement/death gratuity to NPS employees retired/died in harness between 15.05.2003 to 21.09.2017 despite having a weak financial position and COVID-19 crisis. An amount of `110.00 crore has been released during the current financial year.
Help to PSUs:
a) State Government has released total Grant/ Equity/Subsidy amounting to ` 570.00 crore to the Himachal Road Transport Corporation (HRTC) in addition to the budgeted grant for the current year, `258.00 crores over and above the budgetary provisions.
b) State Government has released an additional sum of `40.49 crore to the Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) during the current financial year, keeping in view the impact of COVID-19 pandemic.

a) Energy Demand Charges deferred for six months to the Industries and hotels in which `35.00 crore has been spent.
b) Industries and hotels have been charged domestic rate of water supply for 6 months at cost of approximately `1.00 crore. c) It was also decided to give approval for extension of Excise Policy, 2019-20 upto 31st May, 2020 and operation of Excise Policy 2020-21 from 1st June, 2020 to 31st May, 2021. The retail excise licensees were not be required to deposit any excise levies for the period liquor vends remained closed due to the COVID-19 lockdown after 22nd March, 2020. d) The Government also gave its approval of extension of Toll Policy 2019-20 upto 31st May, 2020 and operation of Toll Policy 2020-21 from 1st June, 2020 to 31st May, 2021. The Toll Lessees were allowed to deposit monthly toll fee for April and May, 2020 on the basis of their actual collection of toll fee.
Direct Transfer of Money:
a) State Government has transferred `2000 per month from April to June, 2020 in the accounts of 1.26 lakh workers registered under the Building and Construction Workers Welfare Board. Total benefit released was `75.00 crore approximately. In addition, the board has also provided support to the registered workers towards health needs, marriage and education of their children for which a sum of `7.33 crore was released.
b) Financial assistance @ ` 2000 per fisherman (Total `1.07 crore) to 5,350 registered Fishermen of Govind Sagar, Koldam, Ranjeet Sagar, Chamera and Pong Dam Reservoirs has been transferred.
c) Compensation to 592 Flower Growers to the tune of `4.00 crore has been transferred.

A very popular Statement of Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nation is that “Good governance is perhaps the single most important factor in eradicating poverty and promoting development.” In September, 2015, the world community had agreed to design International Framework on new developments and a name was given Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), officially known as “Transforming Our World: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, are the interGovernmental set of 17 aspiration goals with 169 targets and more than 300 indicators. UN member countries are expected to use it as development framework to shape their political policies for next 15 years. The SDGs are expanded on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which were agreed to by the countries in 2001 and expired in 2015. The SDGs have come into existence on 1st January, 2016 and will end by 31st December, 2030. The agenda for Sustainable Development-2030, aims at ‘Leaving No One Behind’ in sharing the benefit of development. The SDGs have been designed to integrate global ambitions on tackling poverty, reducing inequality, combating climate change and protecting ecosystem including forest and biodiversity. The SDGs have been signed and adopted by the Government of India. For realization of 17 Goals and 169 Targets, Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, Govt. of India, has developed 309 Indicators. These indicators are measurable and monitorable. NITI Aayog, the Nodal Agency for the implementation of SDGs in India, has selected 62 priority indicators for SDG India Index and assessing the progress of all States in institutionalization of SDGs in their policy and planning. Himachal Pradesh has been progressing very well in the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals and achieved 1st rank along with Kerala during the SDG index report 2018-19 whereas, in SDG India Index 2.0, 2019-20 report the State held the 2nd rank in the country. The State has taken several steps for integration of the SDGs into budgetary and planning process. State Government has been guiding the Budget speeches since 2017-18 by the SDGs mentioning that some of the SDG targets will be achieved by 2022.
Planning Department is the Nodal Department in the State to facilitate implementation of the SDGs framework in Himachal Pradesh and published a State vision document i.e. “Drishti Himachal Pradesh-2030 Sustainable Development Goals” to implement & monitor the progress of SDGs in the State. The progress on 17 identified SDGs indicators is being monitored and is further being updated every 3 years. This document has identified indicators achievable by 2022. Due to COVID-19 pandemic, 2020 was the year of social distancing; in spite of that, Planning Department organized a capacity building training programme for line departments on SDGs, sponsored by Economic and Statistics Department at State Apex Training Institute (HIPA) on 23rd to 27th, November 2020.
The State has shortlisted 138 key indicators and targets for monitoring progress on SDGs, out of which 12 have been achieved, 38 are to be achieved by 2022 and 87 are planned to be achieved by 2030. The State is also considering development of a dashboard for motoring progress on the indicators. These indicators have been finalized in consultation with the line departments. SDGs goals-wise Nodal departments in Himachal Pradesh are described at Table 4.1

The Government of Himachal Pradesh seeks to achieve following goals under major SDGs targets by 2022, which are as under.

Good governance is “sine qua non” of public administration and it is important to have indicator which help to access to standard of public services. In this case, Himachal Pradesh is the first State to pioneer the Districts Good Governance Index for measuring Governance performance on 7 Themes, 18 Focus Subject and 45 Indicators as a self evaluation mechanism.
The idea of DGGI arose when Himachal Pradesh was ranked first among 12 small States consistently in 2016, 2017, 2018 and 2019 on the Public Affair Index (PAI) by the Public Affair Centre (PAC), Bengaluru. To make DGGI annual exercise in Himachal Pradesh it was decided in cabinet meeting held on 19th January, 2019 that DGGI will be the regular exercise of the Department of Economic and Statistics. In compliance of the above facts department has prepared DGGI-2019. In the Budget Speech 2020-21 Hon’ble Chief Minister ,Himachal Pradesh, announced to take up the exercise of assessment of the governance to sub-state level and proposed to award the top three ranked Districts i.e. 1st - 50 lakh, 2nd - 35 lakh and 3rd - 25 lakh on Good Governance Index in order to promote competition among districts to perform better. On the basis of DGGI-2019, top three districts were awarded 1st, 2nd and 3rd prize on 13th August 2020 are as follows: The comparative performance of all districts on the basis of Good Governance Index is depicted at Table 4.2

In prolongation of Niti Aayog initiative to release a document on Ease of Living, Planning Department of Himachal Pradesh brought out a document “Initiatives of Himachal Pradesh Government for Improving Ease of Living” which highlights the initiatives of the State Government to foster a better quality of life for residents through improving governance, better Health and Education facilities, and availability of quality services to the general public. Schemes/programs taken by State Government that are directly linked to the daily life of residents with customization as per local needs and minimal procedural requirements, and ultimately lead to enhancement in ease of their living as illustrated at Table 4.3

The Lead Bank responsibility in the State has been allocated amongst three banks viz. PNB in 6 districts, namely Hamirpur, Kangra, Kinnaur, Kullu, Mandi and Una; UCO Bank in 4 districts namely Bilaspur, Shimla, Solan and Sirmour and State Bank of India in 2 districts namely Chamba and Lahaul-Spiti. United Commercial Bank (UCO) is the Convenor Bank of State Level Bankers Committee (SLBC). The State has a network of 2,195 bank branches of which, more than 77 per cent branches are in rural areas. From October 2019 to September 2020, 5 new branches were opened. At present 1,693 branches are located in Rural areas, 396 in semi-urban areas and 106 are functioning in Shimla - the only Urban Centre in the State classified by Reserve Bank of India.
As per 2011 census, the average population per branch in the State comes to 3,129 against National average of 11,000. As of September, 2020, Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have 1,169 branches constituting more than 53 per cent of the total branch network of banking sector in the State. Punjab National Bank (PNB) has the largest network of 372 branches followed by State Bank of India (SBI) with 324 branches and UCO with 173 branches. Private Sector Banks have 176 branches with largest presence of HDFC with 69 branches followed by ICICI with 32 branches. 3 Small Finance Banks are functional in the State and have a network of 6 branches. India Post Payment Bank is a Payment Bank functioning in the State with a branch network of 12 branches, one in each district.
There is a Regional Rural Bank (RRB) sponsored by PNB namely Himachal Pradesh Gramin Bank (HPGB) with a branch network of 265 as of September 2020. The Cooperative Sector Banks have 545 branches. The State Apex Cooperative Bank i.e. Himachal Pradesh Co-operative Bank (HPSCB) has 218 branches and Kangra Central Cooperative Bank (KCCB) 217 branches. 5 Urban Co-op. Banks with 26 branches are also operating in the State. In terms of district-wise spread of bank branches, Kangra district has the highest number of 423 bank branches and Lahaul-Spiti the lowest number of 23 branches. The outreach of bank services has further increased by installation of 2,076 ATMs by various banks and 23 new ATMs have been installed in the State between October, 2019 to September, 2020.
Banks have deployed Business Correspondent Agents (known as “Bank Mitras”) in sub service areas to provide Banking services to the farflung areas, where Brick and Mortar Branches are not financially viable. At present a 4,162 Bank Mitras are deployed in the State by various banks for providing Basic banking services in villages. Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has its Regional office headed by a General Manager (InCharge) and National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) has its Regional office headed by a Chief General Manager at Shimla.
The Himachal Pradesh State Cooperative Bank Ltd. is an Apex Bank of the State, in three tier credit structure with KCCB and Jogindra Central Co-operative Bank (JCCB) as Central Banks in six districts. The State Co-operative bank has its branches on Core Banking System (CBS) Mode. A total of 1,654 Societies are affiliated with the Bank and the Bank is giving dividend out of its Profit.
The role and responsibility of banks is well recognized as a partner for accelerating the socio-economic growth of the State. The flow of credit in all priority areas has been enhanced. As of September, 2020 banks in the State had achieved five out of the 7 National Parameters by RBI viz. Lending to Priority Sector, Small and Marginal Farmers, Micro Enterprises, Weaker Sections and lending to women.. At present, banks have extended 56.14 per cent of their total loans to the Priority Sector Activities viz. Agriculture, MSME, Education Loan, Housing Loan, Micro Credit etc.
Agriculture loans constitute 17.06 per cent of total loans extended by Banks as on September, 2020 as against the National parameter of 18 per cent set by the RBI. Advances to Weaker Sections and Women have a proportion of 36.09 and 10.77 per cent in total lending by banks as against the National parameter of 10 and 5 per cent, respectively. Credit Deposit Ratio (CDR) of banks in the State stood at 42.33 per cent up to September, 2020. The position of National Parameters is given below in the Table-5.1

The Financial Inclusion denotes delivery of financial services and products at an affordable cost to the excluded sections of our society and low income groups. Government of India has launched a comprehensive Financial Inclusion Campaign“Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana” (PMJDY) throughout the country to bring the excluded sections of our society in formal banking system. This special campaign has completed more than six years. Banks in the State have covered all the households with at least one Basic Saving Deposit Account of each household. Banks have 16.03 lakh Basic Saving Bank Deposit Accounts (BSBDA) under the scheme up to September, 2020. Out of a total 16.03 lakh PMJDY accounts, banks have opened 13.09 lakh accounts in rural areas and 2.94 lakh accounts in urban areas. Banks have issued RuPay Debit Cards to 13.16 lakh PMJDY account holders and covered more than 82 per cent of PMJDY accounts. Banks have taken initiative to link the bank account with Aadhaar and Mobile Number and seeded 83 per cent of PMJDY accounts up to September, 2020.
Universal Social Security Initiatives under PMJDY Scheme: In the 2nd phase of implementation of the Scheme, Government of India has launched three Social Security Schemes as a comprehensive social security initiative targeted mainly at the poor and underprivileged. The present status of Social security scheme is mentioned as below:-
i) Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana- (PMSBY): This scheme is providing renewable one year accidental death cum special ability cover of `2.00 lakh (`1.00 lakh for partial and permanent special ability) to all the saving bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 70 years for a premium of `12.00 per annum per subscriber and renewable from 1st June every year. Banks have 14.24 lakh subscribers under PMSBY up to September, 2020. The Insurance Companies have settled nearly 779 insurance claims under the scheme up to 18th December, 2020.
ii) Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana- (PMJJBY): This scheme is providing a renewable one year life cover of `2.00 lakh to all the saving bank account holders in the age group of 18 to 50 years, covering death due to any reason for a premium of `330.00 per annum per subscriber and renewable from 1st June every year. Banks have 4.07 lakh subscribers under Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY) upto September,2020. The Insurance Companies have settled nearly 1,445 insurance claims under the scheme upto 18thDecember ,2020.
iii) Atal Pension Yojana (APY): Atal Pension Yojana is focused on the unorganized sector and it provides subscribers a fixed minimum pension of `1,000, `2,000, `3,000, `4,000 or `5,000 per month starting at the age of 60 years, depending on the contribution option exercised on entering at the age between 18 and 40 years. A fixed minimum pension is guaranteed by the Government, if regular contribution is made for 20 years. The State Government has also contributed in the APY. The cocontribution from State Government toward subscribers of APY is made in eligible accounts subject to 50 per cent of the total contribution by the subscriber or `2,000 whichever is lower. The State Government is focusing on MGNREGA workers,Mid Day Meal workers, Agriculture and Horticulture labourers and Anganwari workers to adopt the APY. Banks have focused on aggressive awareness campaign under the scheme through camps, press, media publicity etc. In the APY, banks have enrolled 1,77,167 subscribers under the scheme up to September, 2020. The Department of Post is also participating in the APY Scheme.
iv) Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana (PMMY): Pradhan Mantri MUDRA Yojana (PMMY) was rolled out in the country including Himachal Pradesh. It is responsible for developing and refinancing all Micro-enterprise sectors by supporting the financial Institutions which are in the business of lending to micro / small business entities engaged in manufacturing, trading and service activities. All advances granted on or after 08th April, 2015 falling under this category are classified as MUDRA loan under the scheme. As on September, 2020, banks in Himachal Pradesh have sanctioned fresh loans to the tune of `304.18 crore to 20,317 new micro entrepreneurs under the Scheme in the current financial year 2020-21. For this period, a cumulative total of disbursed loans is `2,598.04 crore covering 1,66,096 entrepreneurs.
v) Stand-Up India Scheme (SUIS): Stand up India scheme has been formally launched throughout the Country that aims to encourage entrepreneurial culture among unserved and underserved segments of the society represented by SC, ST and Women. The Scheme facilitates loans of `10.00 lakh to `1.00 crore from Banks to at least one Scheduled Caste (SC) or Scheduled Tribe (ST) borrower and at least one woman borrower per bank branch for setting up of a new enterprise in the field of construction, business or service sector (also termed as green field enterprise). Banks have sanctioned `94.23 crore to 494 new enterprises set up by SC/ST and Women entrepreneurs under the scheme up to September, 2020.
vi) Financial Awareness and Literacy Campaigns: Financial Literacy and Awareness campaign plays a significant role in reaching the target groups. Banks are conducting financial Literacy campaign through the Financial Literacy Centres (FLCs) and through its Bank Branches in Himachal Pradesh.
vii) Business Volume of Banks: The Aggregate Deposits of all banks operating in the State increased from `1,23,113 crore on September, 2019 to `1,39,352 crore by September,2020. The deposits of banks have grown at year to year growth of 13.19 per cent. The Aggregate advances have also increased from `52,209 crore on September, 2019 to `56,308 crore on September, 2020 which implies a year to year growth of 7.85 per cent. The total banking business have grown to `1,95,660 crore and registered year to year growth of 11.60 per cent. Public Sector Banks (PSBs) have the largest market share of 65 per cent, RRB a share of 5 per cent, Private Banks at 10 per cent and Cooperative Sector Bank at 20 per cent. The comparative data is given in the Table-5.2.

Banks prepared Annual Credit Plan for financial year 2020-21 for disbursement of fresh loan on the basis of potentials worked out for various priority sector activities by NABARD. The financial targets under Annual Credit Plan 2020-21 have been increased by 9.45 per cent over the last plan outlay and fixed at `27,702 crore. Banks have disbursed fresh loans to the tune of `14,256 crore up to September, 2020 and achieved 51.46 per cent of the annual commitment. The Sector-wise target viz-a-viz achievement up to 30.09.2020 is gives Table 5.3.

National Rural Livelihood Mission (NRLM): The Ministry of Rural Development, launched flagship program of Government of India for promoting poverty reduction through building strong institutions of the poor, particularly women and enabling these institutions to access a range of financial services and livelihoods services. This scheme is implemented in the State through HP State Rural Livelihood Mission (HPSRLM), Rural Development Department, Government of Himachal Pradesh. Banks in the Himachal have been allocated the annual target of `91.30 crore covering 10,270 beneficiaries under this Scheme. Banks have sanctioned 2,471 loan to the tune of `39.16 crore up to 10th December, 2020 under NRLM scheme.
National Urban Livelihood Mission (NULM): The Government of India, Ministry of Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation (MoHUPA), restructured the existing Swarna Jayanti Shahari Rozgar Yojana (SJSRY) and launched the National Urban Livelihoods Mission (NULM). The Self Employment Programme (SEP) is one of the components (Component 4) of NULM which will focus on providing financial assistance through a provision of interest subsidy on loans to support establishment of Individual and Group Enterprises and Self-Help Groups (SHGs) of urban poor. NULM has been implemented in Himachal Pradesh by Urban Development Department. Banks have disbursed loans to the tune of ` 3.33 crore under NULM as on 31st October, 2020.
Pradhan Mantri Employment: Generation Programme (PMEGP) Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme (PMEGP) is a credit linked subsidy programme administered by the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India. Khadi and Village Industries Commission (KVIC) is the nodal agency at national level for implementation of the scheme. At State level the scheme is implemented through KVIC, KVIB and District Industries centre. In financial year 2020-21, a target of financing 1,215 new units under the scheme was allocated to Banks. The implementing agencies have been targeted to provide margin money disbursement to the tune of ` 36.43 crore under the Scheme. Banks have sanctioned `28.97 crore as margin money to the entrepreneurs of 479 units till September, 2020.
Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (DEDS): The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer Welfare, Government of India is implementing the Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (DEDS) through NABARD for Dairy sector activities. The capital subsidy under the scheme is administered through NABARD. Banks have sanctioned 356 proposals involving `4.76 crore up to September, 2020 under the DEDS.
Kisan Credit Cards: Banks are implementing Kisan Credit Cards (KCC) through their rural branches to provide adequate and timely credit support from the banking system under a single window to the farmers to meet the short-term credit requirements for cultivation of crops and other needs. Banks have disbursed fresh KCCs to 87,402 farmers amounting to `1,336 crore up to September, 2020. Banks have financed 4,22,168 farmers under KCC scheme with an aggregate amount of `6,670 crore up to September, 2020.
Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs): Rural Self Employment Training Institutes (RSETIs) are an initiative of Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD) to have dedicated infrastructure at district level to impart training and skill up-gradation of rural youth geared towards entrepreneurship development. The Lead Banks i.e. UCO Bank, PNB and SBI have set up RSETIs in 10 districts of the State (except Kinnaur and Lahaul & Spiti). These RSETIs are conducting EDPs under various Government sponsored programmes for poverty alleviation and to develop entrepreneurship under PMEGP Schemes.
Special drive for Aadhaar linkages with Bank account and verification of Aadhaar in all existing Bank Accounts: In Himachal Pradesh, 95 Aadhaar Enrollment and Updation Centres are identified by various Banks to provide facility of Aadhaar enrolment and updation facility.

NABARD has strengthened its association with the developmental process substantially for Integrated Rural Development in the recent years by the initiatives encompassing a wide range of activities viz. Development of Rural Infrastructure, Micro Credit, Farmer Producer Organizations, Rural Farm and Non-Farm Sector, skill development, increased Refinance, besides strengthening the rural credit delivery system in the State. In addition, NABARD is also implementing or is associated with certain Centrally sponsored credit linked subsidy schemes of Government of India.
Rural Infrastructure: The development of infrastructure in rural areas through Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), since its inception in 1995-96 has emerged as NABARD’s major intervention in partnership with the State Governments. Under this scheme, concessional loans are given by NABARD to State Government and State owned Corporations for the completion of ongoing projects and also to start new projects in certain selected sectors. Financing over the years has become broad based covering 37 eligible activities into agriculture and related sectors, social sector and rural connectivity. From an initial allocation of ₹15.00 crore under RIDF-I from the year 1995-96, the allocation to the State has now reached the level of ₹844.20 crore under RIDF-XXV (202021). RIDF has played an important role in development of diversified sectors like irrigation, roads and bridges, flood protection, drinking water supply in addition to primary education, veterinary services, watershed development, IT infrastructure etc. In recent years, innovative project for development of Poly-Houses and Micro Irrigation Systems and Solar irrigation have been supported. Financial assistance of ₹8,886.17 crore has been sanctioned under RIDF for implementation of 12,151 projects as of 31.12.2020 to the state including rural roads/bridges, irrigation, rural drinking water, education, animal husbandry etc. An amount of ₹326.20 crore has been disbursed up to 31.12.2020 to the State Government. After the implementation/completion of the sanctioned projects, 11,790 km road will become motorable, 25,743 metre of bridges will be constructed and 1,58,030 hectares land will benefit through irrigation projects. In addition, 2,921 rooms in Primary Schools, 64 Science Laboratories in Secondary Schools, 25 IT Centres and 397 Veterinary Hospitals have been constructed.
Warehouse Infrastructure Fund (WIF): NABARD has sanctioned ₹418.02 lakh to the State Government for the financial year 2019-20. One Controlled Atmosphere (CA) Store Project at Churah, Chamba with 500 MT capacity is being implemented by HPMC. For Modernization and Upgradation of Cold Stores into CA stores ₹ 855.00 lakh at Rohru, Oddi and Patlikuhal with capacity of 3,480 MT has been sanctioned as of 31.12.2020. 5.16 Food Processing Fund (FPF) NABARD has established a Food Processing Fund (FPF) with a corpus of ₹2,000 crore in 2014-15 for providing financial assistance for establishing the designated food parks and also for setting up of individual food/agro processing units.M/s Cremica Mega Food Park has been extended financial assistance of ₹32.94 crore out of total project cost of ₹103.85 crore in the State.
Refinance Support: NABARD extends Long Term Refinance for diverse activities viz. rural housing, small road transport operators, land development, minor irrigation, dairy development, self help group, farm mechanization, poultry, plantation, horticulture, sheep/goat/ piggery rearing, packing and grading house activity and other sectors to the tune of ₹ 615.41 crore during 2020-21. Himachal Pradesh Gramin Bank and Cooperative Banks also released an amount of ₹269.55 crore under long term refinance and ₹59.00 crore to Commercial Banks as on 31.12.2020. NABARD has also supplemented the efforts of Cooperative Banks and RRBs for crop loan disbursement in the state by sanctioning Short Term (ST) credit limit of ₹1,015.00 crore against which the banks have drawn refinance assistance of ₹1,015.00 crore during 2019-20. Further an amount of ₹1,660.00 crore was sanctioned in the current year out of which ₹1,380.00 crore has been drawn as of 31.12.2020. To mitigate the impact of Covid-19, NABARD has provided Special Liquidity Facility of ₹550.00 crore to Cooperative Banks in H.P.
Special Refinance Schemes To give boost to the agriculture and rural sector in the Post Covid era, NABARD launched 4 new schemes.:
i) Transformation of PACS (Primary Agricultural Cooperative Societies) as MSCs (Multi Service Centres): Under this scheme, an amount of ₹3.17 crore has been sanctioned to 13 PACS in the State as on 31.12.2020.
ii) Special Refinance Scheme in NABARD watershed and WADI Project areas: The scheme aims to promote sustainable economic activities, livelihood and employment opportunities in supported NABARD watershed and WADI areas by providing concessional refinance facility @ 3 per cent to the banks for extending cheaper credit to the ultimate beneficiaries.
iii) Special Refinance Scheme for Promoting Micro Food Processing Enterprises: The scheme aims to provide a fillip to the Pradhan Mantri Formalization of Micro Food Processing Enterprise Scheme. NABARD will extend long term refinance to all eligible banks / FIs at 4 per cent to accelerate capital formation in Micro Food processing enterprises.
iv) Schematic Refinance for Water Sanitation and Hygene Activities: The Scheme aims to meet credit requirement of banks/ FIs to enable them to provide timely and hassle free credit to eligible beneficiaries /entrepreneurs to facilitate WASH activities.
Government Sponsored Schemes :
i) Under National Livestock Mission: `1.48 crore subsidy has been released in the financial year 201920 and `98.79 lakh for the year 2020-21 as on 31.12.2020 in the State.
ii) Under New Agricultural Marketing Infrastructure Scheme: `3.41 lakh has been sanctioned as of 31.12.2020 for the State.
Micro Credit: The Self Help Group (SHG) movement has spread across the Himachal Pradesh and is now on a firm base. The movement has given added support in human resources and financial products. As on 31st March 2020 the cumulative number of credit linked SHGs stood at 58,872 and the number of credit linked SHGs with loans outstanding was 13,063 with an amount of `15,491.49 lakh. The announcement in Union Budget 2014-15, of financing of Joint Farming Groups “Bhoomi Heen Kissan” (landless farmers) has given further credence to effort of NABARD in innovating and reaching out to the landless farmers through Joint Liability Groups (JLGs) mode of financing. As on 31.03.2020, 8,424 Joint Liability Groups have been provided loan disbursement of `11,174.58 lakh. During the year 2020-21, NABARD has sanctioned `40.00 lakh each to Himachal Pradesh Gramin Bank (HPGB), State Bank of India and Uco Bank for promotion and credit linkage of 1,000 JLGs over a period of 3 years.

A Farmer Producer Organisation (FPO) is a legal entity formed by primary producers, viz. farmers/milk producers, fishermen. An FPO can be a producer company, a cooperative society or any other legal form which provides for sharing of profits/benefits among the members. The main aim of FPO is to ensure better income for the producers through an organization of their own. 54 NABARD has created its own fund for promotion and nurturing of FPOs throughout the Country. In Himachal Pradesh, NABARD has sanctioned a grant of `10.00 crore for formation / promotion of 99 FPOs in all the 12 districts. These FPOs will undertake production, primary processing and marketing of vegetables, medicinal and aromatic plants, milk and flowers on aggregation basis. As on 31.12.2020, an amount of `4.55 crore has been released for these FPOs.
Watershed Development: NABARD has sanctioned 31 Watershed Projects including 9 springshed and 3 climate proofing projects till 31.12.2020.During the year 2020-21 an amount of `10.89 crore has been disbursed under the projects against the sanctioned amount of `13.87 crore and up to 31.12.2020 an amount of `80.00 lakh has been released. These projects will enhance the availability of water, environment protection, increase productivity and income of the farmers and conserve diminishing pastures and facilitate animal husbandry.
Tribal Development through the Tribal Development Fund (TDF): NABARD has sanctioned 9 Tribal Development projects till 31.12.2020 with a total grant of `14.68 crore covering 2,782 families. These projects aim at setting up of WADIs (small orchards) as well as dairy units in selected villages covering about 1,842 acres of area for plantation of Mango, Kinnow, Lemon, Apple, Walnut, Pear, Wild Apricot. These projects are providing tribal people with an opportunity to raise their income level through the WADIs and Dairy initiatives.
Support through the Farm Sector Promotion Fund (FSPF): Under FSPF, till now a cumulative grant assistance of `3.03 crore has been sanctioned benefitting around 15,387 farmers. During the year 2020-21 (upto 31.12.2020) four projects have been sanctioned. These projects pertain to conservation of indigenous honeybee and promotion of honey value chain, integrated farming system, value addition of flowers and sustainable vegetable production through climate resilient technology.

NABARD Consultancy Services (NABCONS) is a wholly owned subsidiary promoted by National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) and is engaged in providing consultancy in all spheres of agriculture, rural development and allied areas. NABCONS leverages on the core competence of the NABARD in the areas of agricultural and rural development, especially multi disciplinary projects, banking, institutional development, infrastructure, training, etc. NABCONS is involved in the following major assignments during current financial year:
i) Project Management Consultancy for Integrated Cold Chain Project at Parala and Kharapathar. Feasibility Report of Post Harvest Management Infrastructure under JICA for H.P. State Agricultural Marketing Board.
ii) Comprehensive Study of Kisan Credit Card Scheme and Handloom Sector. 55
iii) NABCONS is now Central Technical Support Agency for DDU-GKY in the State.
iv) Third party survey of Toilets Constructed by SJVN.
v) Third Party inspection of Border Area Development Programme.
NABARD’s Initiatives for climate Change in H.P.: NABARD has been designated National Implementing Entity (NIE) for Adaptation Fund(AF),Green Climate Fund(GCF) set up under United Nation’s Framework convention on Climatre Change (UNFCC) and National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC) set up by Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change. NABARD has sanctioned `20.00 crore for the project on “Sustained livelihoods of Agriculture Dependent Communities in Drought Prone District of Himachal Pradesh through Climate Smart Solutions”. For Sirmaur district an amount of `14.56 crore has been released by NABARD as on 31.12.2020.

The year 2020 was unprecedentedly hit by global pandemic of COVID-19 that induced social distancing and disrupted economic activity globally. At the domestic level, two opposing forces were at play. On the one hand, there was a dampening of demand owing to lower economic activity, on the other, supply chain disruptions have caused spikes in food inflation and continued to persist during the unlocking of the economy, though the effect has softened somewhat in recent months. The consumption is based on demand and prices are mainly based on the principle of demand and supply. To check price behaviour, hoarding, profiteering and other malpractices in the sale and distribution of essential commodities of mass consumption, the State Government is vigorously enforcing various Orders/Acts. A system of regular weekly monitoring of prices of essential commodities continued during the year by the Department of Economic and Statistics, so that effective measures can be taken in time to check undue price rise.

The Consumer Price Index measures the average change in prices over time when consumers pay for a basket of goods and services, commonly known as inflation. Containment of Inflation is a priority of Government. Inflation hurts the common man most as his income is not indexed to prices. Inflationary tendencies are measured by different indices such as Whole Sale Price Index, Consumer Price Index (Rural), Consumer Price Index (Urban), Consumer Price Index (Combined), Consumer Price Index (Industrial worker), Consumer Price Index for (Agriculture Labourers) and Consumer Price Index for (Rural Labourers). The global economy has been witnessing a steep decline in inflation over the past five decades (World Bank Report, 2019) in almost all countries around the world.
Consumer Price IndexCombined (CPI-C) inflation: In Himachal Pradesh, inflation has been moderate since 2014, though Consumer Price Index-combined (CPIC) inflation was 4.4 per cent in 2015-16 and 3.5 per cent in 2019-20. In current financial year during the months of April-December, 2020 CPI-C was 5.3 per cent as compared to 2.5 per cent in 2019-20 (April to December 2019). This inflation was mainly due to spike in food inflation, which continued to persist during the unlocking of the economy, though recently there has been a moderation in retail inflation. (Figure6.1)
Consumer Price Index-Rural (CPI-R) inflation: CPI-R inflation was 4.8 per cent in 2015-16 and decreased to 3.1 per cent in 2019-20. In current Financial Year, 2020-21 during April-December 2020, CPI-R index was 4.8 per cent as compared to 2.0 per cent in the corresponding period in 2019. This was mainly driven by the rural demands and disturbed supply chain. (Figure-6.1) 6.5 Consumer Price Index-Urban (CPI-U) Inflation CPI-U was 2.1 per cent in 201516 and increased to 5.4 per cent in 2019-20. In financial year 2020-21 from April to December 2020, this index was 7.6 per cent as compared to 4.7 per cent for the same period in 2019 (Figure-6.1).
Components wise Consumer Price Index inflation (rural-urban) (April – December 2020): The divergence in rural and urban inflation is not just observed in a single component but multiple components. Figure 6.2 shows the component-wise rural and urban inflations. It was observed that during April to December 2020 the variability of rural inflation is very high as compared to that of urban inflation. Which is due to component of Pan-Tobacco & Intoxicants from April to December 2020-21, as compared to the previous period, the contribution of fuel and light component in rural Himachal is minus 10.1 per cent as compared to 11.4 per cent in urban contribution. The main reason for the urban & rural inflation contribution is the housing component which is not compiled in the rural area and leads to the difference. (Figure-6.2)

During 2020-21, the major driver of rural inflation was pan, tobacco & intoxicants component that was 51.91 per cent as compared to other components of total inflation. Clothing and footwear is the second largest contributor to the total inflation and its contribution is 33.15 per cent. Fuel and light are minus 44.76 per cent (Figure6.3)

During 2020-21, the major driver of urban inflation was also the paan tobacco & intoxicants group, though its contribution has decreased to 29.99 per cent as compared to 33.22 per cent in 2019-20. Fuel and light is the second largest contributor of 19.68 per cent to the overall inflation (Figure-6.4).

CPI-IW is a price index released by the Labour Bureau to measure the impact of price rise on the cost of living for working-class families spread across certain selected industries. The base year 2001 to 2016 of CPI-IW has been revised from September, 2020.The new series of CPI-IW covers the industrial workers from the existing seven sectors viz. Factories, Mines, Plantation, Railways, Public Motor Transport Undertaking, Electricity Generating & Distribution Establishments and Ports & Docks. In Himachal Pradesh, the CPI is higher as compared to the National average as shown in Table 6.2, 6.3 & Figure 6.5.

Wholesale Price Index (WPI) measures and tracks the changes in the price of goods before they reach consumers – the goods that are sold in bulk and traded between businesses rather than between consumers. It is called the B 2 B price variation. The WPI is one indicator of a country's level of inflation and declined from 4.3 per cent in 2018-19 to 1.7 per cent in 2019-20. In financial year 2020-21, from April to December, WPI was at (-) 0.1 per cent. The decline in WPI in the current year is mainly due to fuel & power. Persistent volatility in the global crude oil prices during the year led to falling in inflation of major fuel products and WPI for fuel & power dropped sharply from 11.6 per cent to (-) 1.8 per cent in 2019-20 and further to (-) 12.2 per cent in 2020-21 (April-December). WPI food index declined from 6.9 per cent in 2019-20 to 4.2 per cent in 2020-21 (AprilDecember) though the index increased to 0.8 per cent in 2020-21(AprilDecember) as compared to (-) 0.4 per cent in 2019-20 (Table 6.4)
Monthly Wholesale Price Index (WPI): The Wholesale Price Index, at National level during December 2019 was 123.0 which increased to 124.5 in December, 2020 showing an inflation rate of 1.2 per cent. The month-wise average WPI for the year 2020-21 is given in Table 6.4 and Figure-6.6. It remained negative from April to July 2020 and stood at 1.2 per cent in December, 2020.

There can be many reasons that could have contributed to the steep decline in inflation in the emerging market economies such as the adoption of more resilient monetary and Fiscal Policy framework, structural reforms of labour and product markets that strengthen competition, and adoption of Monetary Policy framework for targeting inflation. Twenty-four emerging markets and developing economies have been witnessing moderation in inflation since 2014 backed by low food inflation. During the current financial year, however fuel & power, non-food manufactured products inflation has been trending differently. Food inflation has been on an upward trend, mainly backed by rising vegetables and pulses prices. One of the dark horses of inflation is under and overproduction. Over-regulation of market forces also leads to inflation. Inflation has been declining in most of the States; however, the variability of inflation has been increasing. Since 2012, there has been a change in inflation dynamics. There is evidence for a strong reversion of headline inflation to core inflation. India introduced inflation targeting on 5th August, 2016 for five years ending on 31st March, 2021 this year.
Monthly Whole Sale Price: Department of Economic and Statistics collects, compiles and analyses the data on 104 commodities through a network of District Statistical Offices. The prices are collected every first Friday of the month from the selected shops in the district. After scrutiny, at headquarters these prices are made available to the stakeholder. Figures 6.7, 6.8 and 6.9, show the volatility between April to December 2017 and April to December , 2020 in these commodities.
(Figure 6.7) The fat grain wholesale prices co-efficient of variation in 2017 (April to December), and 2020 (April to December) are analyzed by the statistical tools of co-efficient of variation and it is found that the commodities of wheat, barley, corn flour and maize are highly volatile during current Financial Year.
(Figure 6.8) The Pulses wholesale prices co-efficient of variation in 2017 (April to December), and 2020 (April to December) are calculated and the commodities like Soyabean, Arhar Dal, Rajmaa, Kabuli Channa and Chickpeas are found to be more volatile.
(Figure 6.9) The vegetable wholesale prices co-efficient of variation of carrot, onion, ginger, spinach, turnip, green coriander, potato, pumpkin, eggplant, garlic, cabbage, cucumber, Methi, French bean, cauliflower, Petha and pea are high and remain volatile from April to December 2020.
Weekly Retail Price: The Department of Economic and Statistics collects, compiles and analyses data on essential commodities through a network of District Statistical Offices. Weekly prices are collected every Friday from specified shops in the district and, after scrutiny, are uploaded to the website www.weeklyprices.hp.gov.in. These weekly prices are compiled, analysed and a report is sent to the Director, Food Supplies and Consumer Affairs Department and to the Government of H.P. (Volatility in essential commodities Figure 6.10)
Volatility in Essential Commodity Prices: An escalation in the retail price was also witnessed after the COVID-19 restrictions possibly because of the labour shortage. Price volatility was analysed for various essential commodities over two time periods - April-December 2017- and 2020. Coefficient of variation, a statistical measure of the dispersion of data points around the mean, has been used as a measure of volatility. The prices of Urd Dal, Gur, Wheat Kalyan, Sugar Packet, Wheat Atta, Sugar and Rice Parmal remained stable since April 2017 due to adequate supply arising out of adequate domestic production and also due to maintenance of adequate buffer stock of rice and wheat for meeting the food security requirements. There was a significant rise in volatility for Chana Dal, Cement, Ground Nut Oil, Vanspati Ghee Uttam, Onion, Kerosene Oil, Mustard Oil, Potato and Tea Broke Bond during April-December of 2017 and 2020.
Measures of Inflation reflects economic activities in 2020-21: During this year between April & July 2020, WPI inflation was in the negative region, while CPI-C inflation was above 5.3 per cent. The major feature in this wide gap was lockdown of Covid-19 which resulted less production, poor demand and disrupted supply chain. The other aspect was high weight of food items in Consumer Price Index (C) and adoption of stringent Monetary Policy by the Govt. of India. There is a moderate degree of correlation of (-) 0.557 between WPI & CPI-C inflation from 2015-16 to 202021. The co-relation between Rural and Urban inflation is also low at (-) 0.043. There is a high degree of correlation of 0.975 between CPI (Agricultural Labourer) and CPI (Rural Labourer). Correlation of 0.832 between the Consumer Price Index (Combined) and Consumer Price Index (Industrial Worker) is also high.

One of the main components of the Government strategy for poverty alleviation is Targeted Public Distribution System (TPDS) which ensures availability of essential commodities like Wheat, Wheat Atta, Rice, Levy Sugar etc. through a network of 5,001 Fair Price Shops. Families for distribution of essential items have been divided into two categories viz.
1) National Food Security Act (NFSA) (Eligible Household)
i) Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY)
ii) Priority Households
2) Other than NFSA (APL): In the State, the Targeted Public Distribution System, having total ration cards numbering 19,08,607 covers a population of 73,35,095 from the digitized record. These cardholders are provided with essential commodities through 5,001 Fair Price Shops which includes 3,245 Cooperative Societies, 12 Panchayats, 69 HPSCSC outlets, 1,656 Individual and 18 Mahila Mandals and 1 Self Help Group. Distribution of essential commodities during the year 2020-21 up to December 2020 is shown in Table 6.6. Presently, the following food items are being distributed under TPDS and H.P. State Subsidised Schemes which is as per Table 6.7

Himachal Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation (HPSCSC) The H.P. State Civil Supplies Corporation is the “CENTRAL PROCUREMENT AGENCY” for all controlled and non-controlled essential commodities in the State. The Corporation is procuring and distributing food-grains and other essential commodities to the satisfaction of the Government TPDS and National Food Security Act (NFSA). During the current financial year, up to December, 2020 the Corporation procured and distributed various commodities under TPDS to the tune of ₹1,221.38 crore as compared to ₹1,035.52 crore during the corresponding period of last year.

Food Security in Tribal and Inaccessible Areas of the State The Corporation is committed, to provide all essential commodities, Petroleum products including kerosene oil and LPG in tribal and inaccessible areas where private traders do not venture to undertake these operations due to the economic non-viability of the trade. During the current financial year up to December, 2020 the supplies of essential commodities and petroleum products to the tribal and snowbound areas were arranged as per the Tribal Action Plan of Government (Table 6.8) Presently, the Corporation is also providing other essential items like cooking gas, Diesel, Petrol, Kerosene Oil and lifesaving drugs and medicines at reasonable rates to the consumers of the State through its 118 Wholesale Godowns, 69 Retail Shops/ APNA STORE, 54 Gas Agencies, 4 Petrol Pumps and 32 Medicine Shops. In addition to this, the procurement and distribution of non-controlled commodities (like Sugar, Pulses, Rice, Atta, Detergents, Tea leaves, Exercise Note Books, Cement, CGI Sheets, Medicines, Furniture and items under Supplementary Nutritional Programme, MNREGA- Cement and Petroleum products etc.) through wholesale godowns and retail shops of the Corporation has played an important role in stabilising prices of these commodities prevailing in the open market. During the current financial year, up to December, 2020 the Corporation procured and distributed various commodities under the scheme to the tune of ₹ 687.81 crore as compared to ₹477.27 crore during the corresponding period of last year. The Corporation arranges the supplies of rice and other supplementary items under the Mid-day-Meal Scheme to Primary and Upper Primary Schools as per the allocation made by the concerned Deputy Commissioner. During the current financial year, up to December 2020, the Corporation arranged the distribution of 10,054.32 MT of Rice as compared to 9,889 MT during the corresponding period of last year under this scheme. The Corporation also arranges the supplies of identified Specially Subsidized items (Pulses of various kinds, fortified (Mustard/ Refined Oil and Iodised Salt) under the State-Sponsored Schemes as per the decisions of the Purchase Committee constituted by the Government. During the current financial year, up to December, 2020 the Corporation has distributed these commodities under the said scheme to the tune of ₹513.31 crore as compared to ₹384.00 crore during the corresponding period of last year to the Ration Cardholders of the Pradesh as per the scale fixed by the State Government. During the year 2020-21 for the implementation of this scheme, a budget provision of ₹220.00 crore has been made as State subsidy and the Corporation is likely to achieve a total turnover of over ₹1,500 crore as compared to ₹1450.00 crore during the year, 2019-20.
Government Supplies: Himachal Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation Ltd. is managing the procurement and supplies of Ayurvedic medicines to Government Hospitals, Cement to Government Departments, Boards, Corporations and other Government institutions and GI/ DI/ CI Pipes to Jal Shakti Vibhag of Government of Himachal Pradesh. During the current financial year, 2020-21 the tentative position of Government supply is given below.
MNREGA Cement Supplies: During the financial year 2020-21 up to December 2020 the Corporation managed the procurement and distribution of 43,36,820 cement bags amounting to ₹108.07 crore to various Panchayats for developmental works in the State.
Petrol and Petroleum Products: In the financial year 2020-21upto December, 2020 there are 24 Wholesale Kerosene Oil Dealers, 477 Petrol Pumps and 189 Gas Agencies working in the State.
Dividend: The corporation is earning profit since its inception i.e 1980. During the year 2019-20 a net profit of ₹1.12 crore was earned and a sum of ₹35.15 lakh was proposed to be paid as a dividend to the Government of Himachal Pradesh.

Under the task and responsibilities assigned by the Government of India to States for implementation of National Food Security Act 2013, the Himachal Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation is playing a major role in implementing the scheme through timely procurement, storage and supply of allocated food grains through its 118 wholesale centres to Fair Price Shops for further distribution among the beneficiaries of the State. 59,936 MT of Rice and 441 MT of Wheat at the rate of ₹3.00 and ₹2.00 per kg per month respectively have been distributed to the identified beneficiaries during the financial year 2020-21 up to December, 2020. In addition to the above, in the absence of the separate Warehouse Corporation of the State Government, the Himachal Pradesh State Civil Supplies Corporation is managing storage capacity itself through 22,095 MT owned and 37,848 MT hired godowns in the State. In view of the successful implementation of the NFSA, 2013 additional Storage Capacity is being created and efforts are being made for constructing godowns. Three godowns with a capacity of 550 MT in Nerwa, District Shimla, 1000 MT at Siddhpur Sarkari, District Kangra and 300 MT in Rajgarh, District Sirmaur have been completed and possession has been taken from the executing agency.
SAIL Yard: During the current financial year, as per the initiatives taken by the Corporation, Steel Authority of India Ltd. has entrusted SAIL Yard at Bhatta Kuffar in Shimla for the supply of quality Steel to various Government Department/ Board/ Corporations and other Government institutions and up to December, 2020, a total quantity of 425.34 MT of Steel has been supplied.

Agriculture is the main occupation of the people of Himachal Pradesh and has an important place in the economy of the State. Himachal Pradesh is the only State in the country where 89.96 per cent of the population (Census 2011) lives in rural areas. Agriculture/ Horticulture provide direct employment to about 70 per cent of total workers of the State.
Agriculture is an important source of State Income (GSDP). About 13.62 per cent of the total GSDP comes from agriculture and its allied sectors. Out of the total geographical area of State (55.67 lakh hectare) the area of operational holdings is about 9.44 lakh hectares and is operated by 9.97 lakh farmers with an average holding size is about 0.95 hectare. Distribution of land holdings according to 2015-16 Agricultural Census shows that 88.86 per cent of the total holdings belongs to small and marginal farmers. About 10.84 per cent of holdings are owned by semi medium and medium farmers and only 0.30 per cent by large farmers. The distribution of land holdings in Himachal Pradesh has been depicted in Table-7.1 About 80 per cent of the total cultivated area in the State is rainfed. Rice, Wheat and Maize are important cereal crops of the State. Groundnut, Soyabean and Sunflower in Kharif and Rapeseed / Mustard and Toria in the Rabi season are important oilseed crops. Urd, Bean, Moong, Rajmash in Kharif season and Gram Lentil in Rabi are important pulse crops of the State. Agro-climatically the State can be divided into four zones viz.:-
1) Sub-Tropical, sub-mountain and low hills.
2) Sub Temperate, Sub humid mid hills.
3) Wet Temperate high hills.
4) Dry Temperate high hills and cold deserts.
The Agro-climatic conditions in the State are congenial for the production of cash crops like seed potato, off-season vegetables and ginger.
The State Government is laying emphasis on production of off-season vegetables, potato, ginger, pulses and oilseeds besides increasing production of cereal crops, through timely and adequate supply of inputs, demonstration and effective dissemination of improved farm technology, replacement of old variety seed, promoting integrated pest management, bringing more area under efficient use of water resources and implementation of Wasteland Development Projects. There are four distinct seasons with respect to rainfall. Almost half of the precipitation is received during the Monsoon season and rest is distributed among other seasons. The State receives an average rainfall of 1,251 mm. Kangra district gets the highest rainfall followed by Chamba, Sirmaur and Mandi

The performance of agriculture is closely related to the pattern of monsoon. During the monsoon season of 2020 (June- September), rainfall was Normal in Kullu, Bilaspur & Una deficient in Chamba, Kangra, Hamirpur, Kinnaur, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmaur, & Solan, and Scanty in Lahul and Spiti. For Himachal as a whole, the total rainfall during the entire monsoon season was 26 per cent below the annual normal. Table 7.2 and 7.3 give southwest monsoon rainfall data in various districts.

The economy of Himachal Pradesh is largely dependent on agriculture and any fluctuation in the production of foodgrains affects the economy significantly. The year 2019-20 remained an average year and the foodgrains production was 15.94 lakh MT against the food grain production of 16.92 lakh MT in the year 2018-19. The production of Potato was 1.97 lakh MT in 2019-20 as against 1.87 lakh MT in 2018-19. The production of vegetables during the year 2019-20 was 18.61 lakh MT as against 17.22 lakh MT in 201819.

The food grain production target for 2020-21 is 16.74 lakh MT. Kharif production mainly depends upon the behaviour of south west monsoon, as about 80 per cent of the total cultivated area is rainfed. The sowing of Kharif crops starts from the end of April and goes up to the mid of June. Maize and Paddy are the behavior principal foodgrain crops growing during Kharif season and other minor crops are Ragi, Millets and pulses. An area of 384.26 thousand hectare was sown under different Kharif crops. During this season, about 20 per cent of area is sown in the month of April-May whereas remaining area is sown in the month of June and July which is a peak Kharif sowing period. Due to normal rain in most part of the State, sowing could be done in time and overall crop condition was normal. However due to good monsoon season of 2019 the production target of 9.17 lakh M.T. for Kharif season, 8.93 lakh M.T. has been achieved. During Rabi 2019-20, rain received was excess by 33% per cent in the post monsoon season rainfall for the period October to December, 2019 the total production of 7.53 lakh M.T. has been achieved. The crop wise production of foodgrains and commercial crops in Himachal Pradesh during last years is shown in Table 7.4.
Growth in Foodgrains Production: There is a limited scope of increasing production through expansion of cultivable land. Like rest of the country, Himachal too has almost reached a plateau in so far as cultivable land is concerned. Hence, emphasis has to be on increasing productivity levels besides diversification towards high value crops. Due to an increasing shift towards commercial crops, the area under food-grains production is gradually declining. In 1997-98, this area was 853.88 thousand hectares which has declined to 735.04 thousand hectares in 2019-20. The foodgrain area and production is reflected at Table 7.5
High Yielding Varieties programme (H.Y.V.P ): To increase production of foodgrains, emphasis has been laid on distribution of seeds of high yielding varieties to the farmers. Area brought under high yielding varieties of principal crops viz. Maize, Paddy and Wheat for, 2018-19, 2019-20 and that proposed for 2020-21 is given in table 7.6. There are 20 Seed Multiplication Farms from where foundation seed is distributed to registered farmers. In addition, there are 3 Vegetable Development Stations, 12 Potato Development Stations and 1 Ginger Development Station in the State.
Plant Protection Programme: To increase the production of crops, adoption of plant protection measures is of paramount importance. During each season, campaigns are organised to fight the menace of crop disease, insects and pest etc. The scheduled castes/ scheduled tribes, farmers of backward areas and small and marginal farmers are provided plant protection chemicals and equipments at 50 per cent cost. Agriculture Department is making effects to reduce consumption of plant protection chemicals by gradually switching to biological control of pests/diseases. Achievement and targets proposed in distribution of chemicals is shown in Table 7.7
Soil Testing Programme: To maintain fertility of the soil, soil samples are collected from the farmers’ fields and analysed in the soil testing laboratories. Soil testing laboratories have been established in all the districts (except Lahaul and Spiti), and four mobile soil testing vans/labs out of which one exclusively for the tribal areas is in operation for testing the soil samples at site. At present 11 soil testing labs have been strengthened, 9 mobile labs and 47 mini labs have also been setup by the department. The Government of India has launched a new scheme based on which the sample of soil is drawn on GPS basis. During the year 2019-20, 19,872 soil samples were analysed.
Prakritik Kheti Khushal Kisan Yojna under Zero Budget Natural farming: The State Government has launched the “Prakritik Kheti Khushal Kisan Yojna” in the State. Government intends to encourage “Zero Budget Natural Farming”, so as to bring down the cost of cultivation. The use of chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides is being discouraged. The budget provided for pesticides/ insecticides to the department of Agriculture and Horticulture will be used for providing bio-pesticides and bio- insecticides.
Fertilizer Consumption and Subsidy: Fertilizer consumption in 1985-86 was 23,664 tonnes, which has increased to 61,778 MT in 2019-20. To promote balanced use of chemical fertilizers, a subsidy of ₹1,000 per MT on complex fertilizers has been allowed. Use of water soluble fertilizers is promoted in a big way for which subsidy has been allowed to an extent of 25 per cent of cost. 51,500 MT of fertilizers will be distributed during 2020-21.
Agriculture Credit: Institutional credit is being extensively disbursed but there is scope to increase the same particularly in respect of the crops for which insurance cover is available. Providing better access to institutional credit for small and marginal farmers and other weaker sections to enable them to adopt modern technology and improved agricultural practices has been one of the major objectives of the Government. 7.12 Crop Insurance Scheme: The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna (PMFBY) was launched in the State from Kharif, 2016 season. In this insurance scheme, Maize and Paddy crops have been covered during Kharif season and Wheat & Barley crop during Rabi season. The different stages of risk leading to crop loss due to delayed sowing, post harvest losses, localized calamities and losses to standing crops (from sowing to harvest) have been covered under this new scheme. From kharif 2020 onwards the scheme is now optional for both the Loanee and nonloanee farmers. Under PMFBY, claims beyond 350 per cent of premium collected or percentage of claims to sum insured exceeds 35 per cent whichever is higher at the national level, of all the companies combined and is paid by Center and State equally. Under Pradhan Mantrai Fasal Bima Yojna and R-WBCIS Scheme 3,02,961 farmers have been covered in Kharif 2019 and Rabi, 2019-20 seasons. A budget provision of ₹7.00 crore has been made for the year 2020-21 which is utilized for the payment of State share of premium subsidy.
Seed Certification Programme: Agro-climatic conditions in the State are quite conducive for seed production. To maintain the quality of the seeds and also ensure higher prices of seeds to the growers, seed certification programme has been given due emphasis. Himachal Pradesh State Seed Certification Agency registers growers in different parts of the State for seed production and certification of their produce.
Agriculture Marketing: For the regulation of agricultural produce in the State, Himachal Pradesh Agricultural/ Horticulture Produce Marketing Act, 2005 has been enforced. Under the Act, Himachal Pradesh Marketing Board has been established. Himachal Pradesh has been divided into ten notified market areas, its main objective is to safeguard the interest of the farming community. The regulated markets established in different parts of the State are providing useful services to the farmers. A modernised market complex at Solan is functional for marketing of agricultural produce, besides construction of market yards in different area. At present 10 market committees are functioning and 58 markets have been made functional. Market information is being disseminated through different media i.e. AIR, Doordarshan, print media and internet to farmers.
Tea Development: Total area under tea is 2,314.71 hectares with a production level of 10.02 lakh Kgs. achieved in 2019-20. Small and Marginal farmers are provided agriculture inputs on 50 per cent subsidy.
Soil and Water Conservation: Two soil and water conservation schemes are being implemented under State sector. The schemes are:-
i) Soil Conservation Works.
ii) Water Conservation and Development. Agriculture department has prepared a plan to harvest rain water by constructing tanks, ponds, check-dams and storage structures. Besides this, low lifting water devices and efficient irrigation system through sprinklers are also being popularized.
Mukhya Mantri Nutan Polyhouse Yojna: To achieve faster and more inclusive growth in agriculture sector, Government of Himachal Pradesh has started “Mukhya Mantri Nutan Polyhouse Yojna covering an area of 100 Hectare in the State and 5,000 polyhouses are being constructed under this scheme. This scheme will be implemented in two phases. In first phase it will be implemented from 2021 to 2022-23 and 2,522 polyhouses will be constructed with an outlay of ₹78.57 crore. Under this project 85% assistance for setting up of polyhouses is provided.
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY): Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna RAFTAAR was initiated in 2007 as an umbrella scheme for ensuring holistic development of agriculture and allied sector. The Projects worth ₹27.02 crore have been approved for the year 202021. The main objectives of the scheme are as under:
1. To strengthen the farmers efforts through creation of required pre and post-harvest agriinfrastructure that increases access to quality inputs, storage, market facilities etc. and enables farmers to make informed choices.
2. To provides flexibility and autonomy to States in the process of planning and executing Agriculture and Allied sector schemes.
3) To promote value chain addition linked production models that will help farmers increase their income as well as encourage production/productivity.
4) To mitigate risk of farmers with focus on additional income generation activities-like integrated farming, mushroom cultivation, bee keeping, aromatic plant cultivation, floriculture etc.
5) To attend National priorities through several sub schemes
6) To empower youth through skill development, innovation and agrientrepreneurship based agri business models that attract them to agriculture.
National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology (NMAET): National Mission on Agricultural Extension and Technology (NMAET) has been launched to make the extension system farmer-driven and farmer arrangement of technology dissemination. NMAET has been divided into three sub-missions.
1) Sub Mission on Agriculture Extension (SAME).
2) Sub Mission on Seed and Planting Material (SMSP).
3) Sub Mission on Agriculture Machanization (SMAM). Under the scheme a budget provision of ₹33.49 crore has been made for 202021.
National Mission on Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA): National Mission for Sustainable Agriculture (NMSA) has been formulated for enhancing agricultural productivity especially in rain fed areas. There are three different components of this scheme.
1) Rainfed Area Development (RAD).
2) Soil Health Management (SHM).
3) Parampragat Krishi Vikas Yogna (PKVY), Enhasing water Use efficiency. Under the scheme a budget provision of ₹16.70 crore has been made for the year 2020-21.
National Food Security Mission (NFSM): The National Food Security Mission (NFSM) aims to enhance the production of rice, wheat and pulses. NFSM has been launched in the State from Rabi 2012 with two major components viz. NFSM-Rice and NFSM-Wheat. The aim of mission is to increase production of rice and wheat through area expansion and productivity enhancement, restoring soil fertility and productivity, create employment opportunities and enhance farm economy in targeted districts. Under this scheme provision of ₹15.01 crore has been made for the year 2020-21.
Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna: To improve agricultural productivity, the Government of India has started scheme, viz. Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchai Yojna (PMKSY). Micro-irrigation projects (“Har Khet Ko Pani”) and end-to-end irrigation solutions are the key focus of this scheme. “The major objective of the PMKSY is to achieve convergence of investments in irrigation at the field level, expand cultivable area under assured irrigation, improve on-farm water use efficiency to reduce wastage of water, enhance adoption of precisionirrigation and other water-saving technologies”. Under this scheme a budget provision of ₹9.00 crore has been made for the year 2020-21 under State Plan.
Efficient Irrigation through Micro-Irrigation Scheme: For efficient system of irrigation, the Government has launched a scheme named ‘Efficient Irrigation through Micro-Irrigation Systems’ with an outlay of ₹154.00 crore over a period of 4 years starting from 2015-16 to 2018-19. Through this project 8,500 hectare area will be brought under Drip/ Sprinkler Irrigation System benefitting 14,000 farmers. Subsidy @ 80 per cent for the installation of sprinkler and drip irrigation system would be provided to the farmers. A budget provision of ₹30.00 crore has been made for this component for the year 2020-21.
Uttam Chara Utpadan Yojna: To increase fodder production, the State Government has launched a scheme; ‘Uttam Chaara Utpadan Yojna for fodder development by bringing an area of 42,000 hectare under fodder production. Quality seed of fodder grasses, cuttings, and seedings of improved fodder varieties is supplied on subsidized rates to the farmers. Subsidy on Chaff Cutters is available to the SC/ ST and BPL farmers. A provision of ₹5.60 crore has been made for year 2020-21 under this scheme.
Mukhya Mantri Khet Sanrakshan Yojna: Monkey and wild life menace causes huge loss to crops annually. Himachal Pradesh has introduced a scheme “Mukhya Mantri khet Sanrakhshan Yojna”. Under this scheme, 80 per cent subsidy is provided. Under this scheme ₹40.00 crore has been provided for the year 2020-21. About 2,000 hectares cultivated land will be fenced/ protected from wild/ stray animals and monkeys menace under this scheme.
Mukhya MantriI Kisaan Evam Khetihar Mazdoor Jeevan Surakhsha Yojna: To provide Insurance cover to the farmers and agricultural labourers in the event of sustaining injury or death due to operation of farm machinery, the State Government has launched ‘Mukhyamantri Kisaan Evam Khetihar Mazdoor Jeevan Surakhsha Yojna in 2015-16. In case of death ₹3.00 lakh, permanent disability ₹1.00 lakh and for partial disabilities ₹10,000 to ₹40,000 is provided to the affected farmers.
Lift Irrigation and Borewell Scheme: In most parts of the State, water has to be lifted for irrigation purpose. As an incentive to the farmers, Government has decided to grant 50 per cent subsidy for construction of Lift Irrigation Schemes and installation of Bore-Wells by individual or group of farmers for irrigation purposes. Under this scheme, financial assistance is available for construction of Low & medium lift irrigation systems, shallow wells, shallow bore wells, water storage tanks of different capacities, pumping machinery and water conveyance pipes to individual farmers or a group of farmers. A budget provision of ₹10.00 crore has been kept for the year 202021.
Saur Sinchayee Yojna: State Government has introduced a new scheme viz, “SAUR SINCHAYEE YOJNA” with a view to provide assured irrigation to crops, enhance the production & productivity where electricity accessibility in remote areas is costly in comparison to Solar PV pumps. Under this scheme, 85% is being provided to farmers for the installation of solar pumping machinery and 5,850 agriculture solar pumping sets. A budget provision to the tune of ₹25.00 crore has been kept for 202021.
Jal Se Krishi Ko Bal Yojna: Government has launched a new scheme “जल से कृषि को बल”. Under this scheme check dams and ponds will be constructed. The total outlay for this scheme is ₹ 250.00 crore for next five years. A budget provision of ₹ 25.00 crore has been kept for 2020-21. Under this scheme, 100 per cent expenditure would be borne by the Government for implementation of community based small water saving scheme.
Krishi Kosh: Farmers Producer Organizations which are weak in resource mobilization and face problems in creating infrastructure facilities on their own. They represent agriculturist, horticulture farmers, dairy farmers and fishermen. They require basic inputs during sowing, harvesting and post harvest infrastructure like grading and packaging machines, transport vehicles, storage godowns and pack house etc. for which long term capital is required. Considering this fact, State Government has introduced a new scheme viz. Krishi Kosh for supporting seed money, interest subvention and credit guarantee cover to the farmers. The scheme will benefit 75 thousand to 90 thousand farmers by 2022. A budget provision of ₹20.00 crore has been made for the year 2020-21.
Krishi Se Sampannta Yogna (KSY): A new variety of Heeng (Asafoetida) has been identified by the Institute of Himalayan Bio Technology (IHBT) Palampur, which can be grown in high altitude area of Lahul & Spiti, Kinnaur and Chamba etc. Similarly, in some parts of the State climatic condition for the cultivation of Saffron is highly favourable. Keeping in view the importance & favourable cultivation conditions of both the crops, State Government from the year 2020-21 has proposed to implement a new scheme viz. Krishi Se Sampannta Yojna. A budget provision of ₹5.00 crore has been made for the year 2020-21.
Krishi Utpadan Sarankshan Yojna (Anti Hail Net): To save crops from hailstorms, the State Government has started a new scheme i.e. Krishi Utpadan Sanrakshan Yojana (Anti Hail net) from the year 2020-21. Under this scheme, the State Govt. will provide 80 per cent subsidy to farmers on purchase of antihail nets. All the vegetable producing farmers of the state are provided antihail nets to protect their crops from natural calamity like hailstorms, stray animals and monkeys. A budget provision of ₹10.00 crore has been made for the year 2020-21.
Kishan Saman Nidhi Yojna: This scheme is Flagship programme of Govt. of India for providing financial support to farmer having less than 2 hectare land and ₹6,000 is provided. Under this scheme 9,26,830 farmers of the Pradesh has been benefitted up to January, 2021 with an expenditure of ₹1,169.37 crore.
National Bamboo Mission: Restructured National Bamboo Mission was approved by the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs on 254-2018. The main objective of this mission is to increase the area under bamboo plantation in non forest Government and private lands to supplement farm income and contribute towards resilience to climate change as well availability of quality raw material requirement of Industries, Department of Agriculture, Himachal Pradesh has been nominated as Anchoring Department and Director of Agriculture, Himachal Pradesh as State Mission Director. Stakeholders are Department of Forest, Rural Development, Department of Panchayati Raj, Department of Industries and State Agricultural Universities. A budget provision of ₹4.00 crore has been made for the year 2020-21.

The rich diversity of agro-climatic conditions, topographical variations and altitudinal differences coupled with fertile, deep and well drained soils favour the cultivation of temperate to sub-tropical fruits in Himachal. The region is also suitable for cultivation of ancillary horticultural produce like flowers, mushroom, honey and hops.
This particular suitability of Himachal has resulted in shifting of land use pattern from agriculture to fruit crops in the past few decades. The area under fruits, which was 792 hectares in 1950-51 with total production of 1,200 tonnes increased to 2,33,300 hectares during 2019-20 and the total fruit production was 8.45 lakh tonnes, while during 2020-21 (up to December, 2020) it has been reported as 4.82 lakh tonnes. During 2020-21 it was envisaged to bring 1,340 hectares of additional area under fruit plants against which 2,588.52 hectares of area was brought under plantation and 7.69 lakh fruit plants of different species were distributed up to 31st December, 2020.
Apple is the most important fruit crop of Himachal Pradesh, which constitutes about 49 per cent of the total area under fruit crops and about 85 per cent of the total fruit production. Area under apple has increased from 400 hectares in 1950-51 to 3,025 hectares in 1960-61 and 1,14,144 hectares in 2019-20.
The area under temperate fruits, other than apple has increased from 900 hectares in 1960-61 to 27,956 hectares in 2019-20. Nuts and dry fruits exhibit area increase from 231 hectares in 1960-61 to 10,070 hectares in 2019-20, citrus and other sub tropical fruits have increased from 1,225 hectares and 623 hectares in 1960-61 to 25,051 hectares and 56,079 hectares in 2019-20 respectively.
The fluctuations in the production of apple during last few years has attracted the attention of the Government. The State is trying to explore and harness the vast horticulture potential of the hill State through diversified horticulture production in varied agro-ecological zones.
During the year 2020-21 for promotion of mechanized farming 1,565 Power Sprayers, 2,084 Nos. of Power Tiller (<8BHP) and 114 Power Triller (>8BHP) are being distributed on Subsidy among the orchardist under Horticulture Development Scheme.
Sub-Mission of Agriculture Mechanisation (SMSM) is being implemented in the State. Under the scheme, assistance is provided to the farmers for the purchase of various modern farm tools and machinery in form of back ended subsidy. State Agriculture Department, Himachal Pradesh is nodal Department of the scheme. During the year 2019-20 funds amounting to ₹14.83 crore has been allocated to the Department of Horticulture out of which ₹ 12.32 crore has been spend under this scheme and 1,530 farmers have benefitted for the year 2019-20.
The fruit producers should get better price of their produce therefore marketing Intervention Scheme is being implemented in the State. Under this scheme during the year 2020-21 the procurement price of Apple ₹8.50 per Kg. The procurement price of Mango fruit is ₹8.50 per kg. of seedling Mango up to 250MT, ₹8.50 per Kg. of Grafted mango up to 500 MT and ₹8.50 per Kg. of Unripe Achari Mango up to 500MT. During 2020-21, 37,931 MT C-grade Apple fruit valued at ₹32.24 crore has been procured under this scheme. The procurement price of citrus fruits has been fixed to ₹7.50 per Kg for B-Grade, ₹7.00 per Kg for C-grade Kinnow/ Malta/Santra and ₹6.00 per kg for all grades Galgal fruits for the year 202021. Total 0.60 MT citrus fruits have been procured under the scheme till 31.12.2020.
In warmer areas of the State Mango has emerged as an important fruit crop. Litchi is also gaining importance in certain regions. Mango and Litchi are fetching better market prices. In the middle zone, the agroclimatic conditions are highly suitable for the successful cultivation of new fruits like Kiwi, Olive, Pomegranate, Pecan and Strawberry. The production of fruits for the last three years and current year up to December, 2020 is given in table 7.8. To bring diversification in horticulture, a total area of 399.49 hectares has been brought under flower cultivation up to 31.12.2020 To promote flower cultivation, two Tissue Culture Laboratories have been established under Model Flower Cultivation Centres at Mahogbagh (Chail, District Solan) and Palampur, District Kangra. Ten Farmers Cooperative Societies are functioning for the production and marketing of flowers in district Shimla-3 Nos, Kangra- 2 Nos, Lahaul and Spiti- 2 Nos, Kullu (Anni)-1No, Solan- 1 No. and 1 No. in Chamba district. Ancillary horticultural activities like Mushroom and Bee keeping are also being promoted. During 2020-21 up to December, 2020, 298.44 MT of pasteurized compost for Mushroom was prepared and distributed from the department units located at Rampur, Bajoura and Palampur. 1,309 MT. of Mushroom was produced in the State during the year up to December, 2020. Under the Bee keeping programme, 393.01 MT of Honey has been produced during the year up to 31.12.2020 in the State. The Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme was initially launched in Himachal Pradesh in 6 Blocks for Apple crop and in 4 Blocks for Mango crop during rabi season 2009-10 on pilot basis. In view of the popularity of this scheme, the coverage under this scheme has been extended during the consecutive years. During 2017-18, the scheme is being implemented in 36 Blocks for Apple, 41 Blocks for Mango, 15 Blocks for citrus, 13 Blocks for Plum and 5 Blocks for Peach crops. In addition, to protect Apple fruit crop from hailstorm 19 Blocks have been covered under Addon cover scheme. From the year 201617 name of the scheme has changed to Restructured Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme (R-WBCIS) and sum insured has been revised and bidding system has been introduced. During Rabi season 2019-20, 84,623 farmers have been covered under R-WBCIS for apple, peach, plum, mango and citrus fruit crops, who have insured their 63,61,540 trees for which the state government has borne 25 per cent premium subsidy of ₹20.31 crore.
For the implementation of Centrally Sponsored Scheme, Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) during the year 2020-21, funds amounting to ₹83.33 lakh have been received from Govt. of India and has been allocated to the field functionaries and the work is under progress. Funds have been provided under ‘Infrastructure & Asset’ scheme amounting to ₹101.24 lakh for ‘Horticulture Development through Farm Mechanization’, ₹42.00 lakh for ‘Establishment of Mushroom units’ ₹73.70 lakh for ‘Creation of water sources’, ₹60.00 lakh for Pack Houses, ₹80.00 lakh for ‘Strengthening of Diagnostic facilities and infrastructure for establishment of clean plant stock and production of virus tested plant material of Apple for distribution to farmers and ₹43.00 lakh for Establishment of High-tech nursery to boost production of fruit crop in subtropical areas of Himachal Pradesh under ‘Flexi Funds’ scheme. A newly launched scheme Himachal Khumb Vikas Yojna was launched during 2020-21 to promote mushroom cultivation in the State and ₹5.00 crore were received and further allocated to field functionaries. During 2020-21 till December, 2020 the Himalayan Research Group (HRG) Button Mushroom compost unit produced 120 MT of spawned compost and was provided to mushroom growers in Shimla, Mandi and Kullu District. On average 20% conversion it was estimated that quantity of compost produced 24MT Mushrooms during this duration. In the year 2020-21 a fund of ₹20.00 crore have been allocated under “Installation of Anti-Hail Nets” Scheme to protect the fruit crops from hail storms and expenditure of ₹11.68 crore have been incurred up to December, 2020 by benefitting 1,231 farmers were benefitted.
The achievement made under Himachal Khumb Vikas Yojna during the year 2020-21 is shown as below table:- For providing employment to the skilled and unskilled unemployed youth and promoting Commercial Floriculture Farming in the State, funds have been allocated under ‘Himachal Pushp Kranti Yojna’ amounting to ₹10.00 crore during the year 2020-21. To produce quality fruit crops and increasing production, to increase honey production and other bee products, ‘Mukhya Mantri Madhu Vikas Yojna’ has been started. A fund of ₹5.00 crore have been allocated during the year 2019-20.
Centrally sponsored scheme, “Mission for Integrated Development of Horticulture” (MIDH) is being implemented in the State under which assistance is provided as back ended subsidy @ 50% to farmers for carrying out various horticultural activities like cultivation of fruits, flowers, vegetables, species and establishment of new gardens, Mushroom Production, Green House cultivation of High value flowers and vegetables, Anti Hail Nets, Horticulture Mechanization, Post Harvest Management etc. For the implementation of the Centrally Sponsored Scheme, MIDH during the year 2020-21 funds amounting to ₹50.81 crore have been approved out of which ₹22.22 crore have been received from Govt. of India as first instalment and a total number of 2,56,843 farmers have benefited from the year 2003-04 to December, 2020 under this Mission. To promote protected cultivation in horticulture the State Government has enhanced subsidy under Poly Houses from 50% to 85% and 87,000 Sq. Mt. area is targeted to be brought under Green Houses during the year 2020-21. 7.36 Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojna-Per Drop More crop (PMKSY-PDMC) is a centrally sponsored scheme which is being implemented in the State since 201516. In the year 2017-18, the PMKSYPer Drop More Crop guidelines were modified with a provision of subsidy @ 55 per cent for small & marginal farmers and 45 per cent for big farmers. The State is providing 25 per cent additional State share to give 80 per cent subsidy to small & marginal farmers. For the year 2020-21, GOI., has sanctioned ₹720.80 lakh for PMKSY-PDMC. Till date (2015-16 to December, 2020) 2,879.74 hectare area has been covered under micro-irrigation benefitting 5,843 farmers. 7.37

H.P.M.C., a State public undertaking, was established with the objective of marketing fresh fruits and vegetables, processing the unmarketable surplus and marketing the processed products. Since its inception, HPMC has been playing pivotal role in the life of fruit growers of the State by providing them remunerative returns of their produce. During the year 2019-20 HPMC had registered overall turnover of ₹88.96 crore against the target of ₹80.02 crore fixed for the financial year 2019-20. Under Market Intervention scheme, during the year 2020-21 the Govt of State continued a policy of Market Intervention Scheme (MIS) of Mango, Apple and citrus fruit in the state with the support price as under:- i) The Corporation has successfully commissioned 5 CA Stores in the following Apple growing areas of District Shimla and Kullu namely Jarol Tikker, (Kotgarh) 640 MT, Gumma (Kotkhai) 640 MT, Oddi (Kumarsain) 700 MT and Patlikuhal (Kullu) 700 MT capable to store total 3,380 MT,s
ii) Setting up of one modern vegetable pack house and cold room at Nadaun district Hamirpur and setting up of Pack house and cold room for packing grading of fruits, vegetables, flowers and culinary herb at Ghumarwin in district Bilaspur with 100 per cent grant in aid of ₹7.89 crore are likely to be completed by March, 2021 for grading and storing of vegetables in the district of Hamirpur and Bilaspur.
iii) Grant in aid to the tune of ₹8.00 crore for the up gradation of Apple Juice Concentrate (AJC) Plant at Parwanoo has been received from Agricultural and Processed Food Products Export Development Authority (APEDA) and work of up gradation has been successfully completed in year 2018 by undertaking trial production in the same year. Plant was set up for commercial production in 2019 and during that production of Apple Juice Concentrate (AJC) stood at 1,012 MT. 703 MT Apple Juice Concentrate (AJC) and 5.7 MT during 2020 Apple Aroma was produced at Food Processing Plant (FPP) Parwanoo. At Fruit Processing Plant (FPP), Jarol (Sundernagar) all time high production during one calendar was recorded in 2019 by producing 235 MT,s of AJC, and 112 MT of AJC was produced at Jarol during 2020.
iv) HPMC has entered an MoU with the parties M/S PH 4 for manufacturing of Apple Cider at FPP Parwanoo and manufacturing of Fruits and Red Wine at FPP Jarol with M/S Mountain Barrel. This will help to boost the sale as well as profit margin of the Corporation in the coming years.
v) HPMC has planned to enhance its existing capacity of Grading Storage and Processing of different fruit produced in the State from the World Bank funded HP HDP Project, Under this project the process of enhancing the existing storage capacity of CA Stores Jarol Tikker, Gumma and Rohru from existing 1,980 MT to 6,000 MT is under process. The work of awarding tender has been completed and its up gradation is likely to be started soon. Besides, the process of setting up of modern Apple Juice Concentrate Plant at Parala with a capacity to crush 200 MT of fruit per day is at advance stage and work is going on to ensure its installation before Apple Season-2022. This will help to cut down the price of AJC and Corporation will be able to compete in the international market for sale of AJC.

Rearing of Livestock is an integral component of rural economy. In Himachal Pradesh, there is a dynamic relationship between Common Property Resources (CPRs) such as forests, water and grazing land, livestock and crops. Livestock is integral to the sustainability of economy of Himachal Pradesh. The contribution of major livestock products during the year 201920 was 15.31 lakh tonne of milk, 1,516 tonne of wool, 106.62 million eggs and 4,601 tonnes of meat which will likely to be of the order of 15.80 lakh tonne of milk, 1,467 tonnes of wool, 106 million eggs and 4,200 tonne of meat during 2020-21. Milk Production and Per Capita availability shown in Table- 7.11 Animal Husbandry plays an important role to boost the rural economy and as such for livestock development programme attention is paid in the State by way of:
i) Animal Health and Disease control
ii) Cattle Development
iii) Sheep Breeding and Development of Wool
iv) Poultry Development
v) Feed and Fodder Development
vi) Veterinary Education
vii) Livestock Census Under Animal Health and Disease Control, 1 State level Veterinary Hospital, 3 Zonal Hospital, 10 Polyclinics, 60 Sub-Divisional Veterinary Hospitals, 361 Veterinary Hospitals, 30 Central Veterinary Dispensaries and 1,759 Veterinary Dispensaries are functioning in the State as on December, 2020. Besides this 6 Veterinary Check posts are also operating to provide immediate veterinary aid to the Livestock. Under Mukhyamantri Arogya Pashudhan Yojna 1,234 veterinary dispensaries have been opened up to December, 2020.
For improving the quality of sheep and wool, Government Sheep Breeding Farms at Jeori (Shimla), Tal (Hamirpur), and Karachham (Kinnaur) are supplying improved sheep to the breeders of the State. One Ram centre at Nagwain in district Mandi is also functioning where improved Rams are reared and supplied to breeders for cross breeding. The flock strength of these farms are 1,275 during the year 2020-21 up to December, 2020 In view of the increasing demand for pure Hoggets and the established popularity of the Soviet Marino and American Rambouillet in the pradesh, the State has switched over to pure breeding at the existing Government farms in the State and 9 Sheep and wool Extension Centres continue functioning. During the year 2020-21, the wool production is likely to be 1,467 tonne. Angora rabbit farms are functioning at Kandwari (Kangra) and Nagwain (Mandi) for distribution of rabbits to the breeders.
Dairy production is an integral part of Animal Husbandry and forms part of the earning of small and marginal farmers in Himachal Pradesh. The recent trend towards the development of a market oriented economy emphasised the importance of milk production, especially in areas falling in the vicinity of urban consumption centres. This has motivated farmers to replace local nondescript breeds of cows with crossbreed cows. Upgradation of indigenous cattle is being carried out by cross breeding with Jersey and Holsten. In buffalo upgradation with Murral bull is being popularized. Artificial insemination with the latest technology of Deep Frozen Semen is being practiced. During 2019-20, 8.46 lakh semen straws for cows and 3.00 lakh semen straws for buffaloes were produced by sperm station. During 2020-21, 11.50 lakh semen straws for cows and 3.50 lakh semen straws for buffaloes are likely to be produced. During 2019-20, 3.78 lakh litre Liquid Nitrogen (LN2) gas was produced and 9.00 lakh litres is likely to be produced in 2020-21. During 2019-20, artificial Insemination facility is being provided through 3,220 institutions to 7.17 lakh cows and 2.40 lakh buffaloes. During 2020-21, 9.20 lakh cows and 3.37 lakh buffaloes are likely to be inseminated. Cross breed cows are preferred because of factors such as longer lactation period, shorter dry period and higher yields. During 2020-21 the “Uttam Pashu Puraskar Yojna” is being implemented with the provision of `21.00 lakh.
During 2020-21 under the Backyard Poultry Scheme 4.10 lakh dual purpose coloured strains chicks are likely to be distributed and 2,000 persons are targeted to impart training in poultry farming 3,06,749 lakh chicks were distributed among the 7,306 beneficiaries under this scheme till December, 2020 One Horse Breeding Farm at Lari in Lahaul and Spiti district has been established with the objective to preserve Spiti breed of horses. 59 horses have been kept in this farm during the year 2020-21 up to December, 2020.
One Yak breeding farm has been also established in the premises of horse breeding Lari. During the year 2020-21 up to December, 2020 the strength of yaks was 62 in this farm. Under feed and fodder development scheme, 15.00 lakh fodder roots, 68,000 fodder plants have been distributed during 2020-21.
Dairy Entrepreneurship Development Scheme (Doodh Ganga Yojna): Doodh Ganga Scheme has been launched in collaboration with NABARD in the state since 25th September, 2009. The components of the scheme include:
1) Establishment of small dairy units (units size comprise of 2-10 milch animals) bank loan of `6.00 lakh for purchase of 10 animals.
2) Bank Loan to the tune of `20.00 lakh for purchase of milking machine/ bulk milk cooling units,
3) Purchase of dairy processing equipments for manufacture of indigenous milk products, bank loan to the tune of `13.20 lakh.
4) Establishment of dairy products transportation facilities and cold chain bank loan of `26.50 lakh.
5) Cold storage facilities of milk products bank loan of `33.00 lakh.
6) Dairy, marketing outlet/ Dairy Parlour bank loan of `1.00 lakh.
Pattern of Assistance
i) Bank ended capital subsidy @ 25 per cent of the project cost for general category and 33.33 per cent for farmers of SC/ ST category.
ii) Entrepreneur contribution (Margin - Money) for the loans beyond `1.00 lakh will be 10 per cent of the project cost.
iii) Apart from above, State Government is providing additional subsidy of 10% for the purchase of crossbreed/Jersey cows and 20% for the purchase of indigenous cows to the benefiters of DEDS scheme.
Backyard Poultry Farming: To develop poultry sector in Himachal Pradesh, department has instituted following poultry development schemes especially in rural areas of the State.
Backyard Poultry Project:-
1) 3 week old Low Input Technology (LIT) birds are distributed among the poultry breeders on cost price
2) 200-Chick Scheme:-Under this scheme the 585 poultry breeders belonging to BPL Families of Schedule cast Category are to be provided with inputs (like 200 days old LIT birds, feed for initial feeding, feeders & drinkers) worth ₹10,000 per beneficiaries. There is also provision of training regarding poultry management for the beneficiaries.
3) Him Kukkut Palan Yojna: There is a provision of budget of ₹214.00 lakh for the establishment of 54 poultry units in the State. The beneficiaries are provided 3000 No. day old broiler chicks, feed, feeders & drinkers. The beneficiaries are provided 60 per cent subsidy on both Capital Investment (construction of shed, provision of feeders & drinkers) and Recurring cost (Cost of chicks, feed etc.)
4) Innovative Poultry productivity Project (IPPP)-LIT Bird (Under NLM): In this scheme 200 beneficiaries are to be provided with 400 four week old LIT birds (in two installments of 200LIT birds each at an interval of 72 weeks) and assistance of ₹15,000 will be provided to beneficiaries for provision of shelter, feed & miscellaneous expenditure.
5) Innovative Poultry productivity Project (IPPP)Broilers (Under NLM): Under this scheme 200 beneficiaries are to be provided with 600 four week old LIT birds (in four installments of 150 LIT birds each installment) feed and assistance of ₹15,000 fund will be also provided to beneficiaries for construction of shed.
Rashtriya Gokul Mission(RGM): Rashtriya Gokul Mission is being implemented with the objectives of:-
1) Development and conservation of indigenous breed.
2) Breed improvement programme for indigenous cattle breeds to improve their genetic makeup and increase the stock.
3) Enhancement of milk production and productivity.
4) Up-gradation of nondescript cattle using elite indigenous breeds like, Sahiwal and Red Sindhi.
5) Distribution of disease free high genetic merit bulls for natural service.
6) Establishing of a Gokul Village in the state 7 Establishing of Murrah Buffalo Farm.
Embryo Transfer & Invitro fertilization Technology for Bovine Breeding: This project has been sanctioned for conservation and propagation of Sahiwal and Res Sindhi breeds through embryo transfer technology (E.T.T.) at Palampur and ₹195.00 lakh has been released by the Government of India and the works is in progress.
Jersey PT project in District Kangra: The Government of India has sanctioned a sum of ₹1,166.54 lakh for the implementation of the project for production of High Genetic Merit Jersey bulls through progeny testing program. Funds have been released to District Kangra for the implementation of this project.
1) To produce the required high genetic merit bulls for semen stations through progeny testing.
2) To establish a system of genetic evaluation of young bulls, bull dams and bull sires and their selection for continuous genetic improvement.
3) To achieve a study genetic progress in the cattle population for milk, fat, SNF and protein yield and type characters in the village where the progeny testing program is implemented.
National - wide AI Programme (NAIP): Under this project a sum of ₹519.43 lakh has been sanctioned by the Government of India on 100 per cent central assistance pattern. The programme is implemented with the following objectives:-
1) Providing door step reliable breeds.
2) Birth of genetically superior breeds
3) Increase in milk production.
4) To educate the farmers to adopt AI technology.
5) Increase in farmer’s income.
National Livestock Mission: (NLM) National Livestock Mission (NLM) is a centrally sponsored scheme launched w.e.f. year 2014-15. The mission is designed to cover all the activities required to ensure quantitative and qualitative improvement in livestock production systems and capacity building of all stakeholders. Activities related to development of Small Ruminants i.e. sheep and goat, fodder development, risk management and poultry development are included in the scheme. State share is different for different components under this scheme.
Assistance to State for Control of Animal Diseases: Due to large scale interstate migration from adjoining states and lack of nutrition grasses and fodder due to hilly topography most of animals are prone to various livestock diseases. Central government has provided assistance to state government for control of contagious diseases under, “Assistance to States for Control of Animal Diseases” (ASCAD) which is on the pattern of 90 per cent Central and 10 per cent State share. Diseases for which free vaccination is being provided to livestock owners are foot and mouth Disease, Hemorrhagic Septicemia Black Quarte, Enterotoxaemia, Peste Das Petitis Ruminants, Raniket Disease, Marek’s disease and Rabies under this project.
Shepherd Scheme: The local sheep is being crossed with good quality Rams of Rambouillet and Russian Merino so that the quality as well as quantity of wool production can be increased. Hence, it is being proposed that these Rams should be provided to the sheep breeders at 60 per cent subsidy.
BPL Krishak Bakri Palan Yona: Under this scheme it is proposed to distribute units of 11 Goats (10 female+1 male), 5 Goats (4 female + 1 male) and 3 Goats (2 female + 1 male) of Beetls Sirohi/ Jamnapari/ white Himalayan breeds respectively on 60 per cent subsidy to landless, BPL category farmers to increase their income.
Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY): The aim of RKVY is to strengthening infrastructure, Veterinary Service, Extension activities, Poultry Development of small Ruminants, improvement of nutritional status of livestock, health status of livestock and other activities related to the livestock owner of the State. Department of Agriculture is the Nodal Agency to implement this scheme and ₹138.89 lakh has been allocated for the financial year 2020-21.
Integrated Sample Survey for Estimation of Production of Major Livestock Product: This survey is carried out in the state as per the guideline of Indian Agricultural Statistical Research Institute (AHS Division) New Delhi. It provides a reliable database relating to livestock population. Integrated Sample Survey is being conducted since 1977-78 regularly every year with the aim:-
1. To estimate season wise & annual milk, egg & wool production.
2. To work out average population & yield estimates.
3. To estimate dung production.
4. To work out average feed & fodder consumption.
5. To study trend of population, yield & production.
Livestock Census: Livestock census is being conducted quinquennially by the government of India and so far, 20 such census has been conducted. Livestock Census is significant for the development of Animal Husbandry in state. New policies related to animal development are prepared based on the exact number of livestock and poultry by Himachal Pradesh.

The dairy development activities in Himachal Pradesh are based on two tier structure of dairy cooperatives. The basic unit of Anand Pattern is a village dairy cooperative where the milk of the milk producer is collected and tested and payment made on the basis of the quality. H.P. Milkfed is implementing dairy development activities in the state. The H.P. Milkfed has 1,024 milk producers Co-operative Societies. The total membership of these societies is 46,687 out of which 215 woman dairy co-operatives are also functioning. The surplus milk from the milk producers is collected by village dairy co-operative societies, processed and marketed by H.P. Milkfed. At present the Milkfed is running 22 milk chilling centres having a total capacity of 91,500 litres milk per day and 11 milk processing plants having a total capacity of 1,00,000 litres milk per day. One milk powder plant of 5 metric tonne per day at Duttnagar in Shimla district and one cattle feed plant of 16 metric tonne per day capacity at Bhor in District Hamirpur has been established and functioning. The average milk procurement is about 1,30,000 litres per day from the villages through village dairy co-operatives. H.P. Milkfed is marketing approximately 27,397 litres of milk per day which includes milk supply to various prestigious dairies in bulk and supply to army units in Dagshai, Shimla, Palampur and Dharamshala (Yol) areas. H.P. Milkfed is manufacturing Him Milk Product such as Milk Powder, Ghee, Butter Dahi, Paneer & Sweetened Flavoured Milk, Khoa under the brand name of ‘Him’. The quality of milk and milk products manufactured by H.P. Milkfed at par with required standard. To improve the quality of procurement of milk, all the dairy cooperatives have been provided 15 no. AMCU (Automatic Milk Collection Unit) and 11 no. milko screen for the testing of adulteration along with fat/snf at plant level. H.P.Milkfed has manufactured around 410 qtls sweets for Diwali festival during 2020-21. H.P. Milkfed has started sale of Milk & Milk products through CSC e-Governance Service India Limited to boost up the sale and also opened Milk bar in alternative locations. H.P. Milkfed provides technical know-how, awareness activities in field of dairy by organizing seminars, camps in rural areas. Besides this, other inputs like cattle feed and clean milk production activities are provided to the farmers at their door steps. Himachal Pradesh Government has increased milk procurement rates by `2.00 per litre w.e.f. 01.04.2020 thus giving direct financial benefits to 46,687 families associated with the Milk Federation.

Himachal Pradesh Milkfed is manufacturing panjiri at ‘Panjiri Manufacturing Plant’ Chakkar (Mandi) to cater the need of the Welfare Department under ICDS Project. During 2020-21 Milkfed has manufactured and supplied 23,341 quintal of Fortified Panjiri 3,985 quintals of Skimmed Milk Powder (SMP) and 18,250 quintals of Fortified bakery biscuit and 5,649 wheat seviyan to Women and Child Welfare Department.
1) A training programme to milk producers at village level for educating them to produce good quality of milk.
2) Deposited about 10,000 KCC forms of the farmers in the concerned banks and around `2.00 crore of credit has been distributed through KCC to the milk producers/farmers.
3) Milkfed equipped its labs with modern equipment under National Programme for Dairy Development Scheme.
4) During 2021-22, H.P. Milkfed were establish one 50,000 LPD capacity milk processing plant at Duttnager and hereby enhancing the handling capacity to 70,000 LPD which would cater to the needs of Dairy cooperatives of Shimla, Kullu, Kinnaur & part of Mandi District.
5) One new plant of 50,000 LPD capacities at MPP Chakkar District Mandi is being established thereby providing benefit to dairy cooperative of Mandi, Kullu, Bilaspur and other districts.
6) Planning to supply Malted Milk Food to Defence units in the next financial year.
7) Planning to introduce Wheat pasta & nutrition drinks in chocolate flavor in the Anganwadis of welfare department.
8) Implementing a State project worth ₹225.00 lakh in the ratio of 60:40 to fulfill the gaps in the existing infrastructure and has provided the lab equipment to the plants of Milkfed.
9) Introduced Chhena Kheer in the State.
10) Launched Immunity Boosting Him Haldi Dudh in the State especially in this pandemic phase of covid-19.
11) Distributed incentive ₹2,000 to 835 milk producers of Mandi, Shimla and Kullu Districts under National Programme of Dairy Development by Hon’ble Chief Minister on 12.08.2020 using Digital Platform.
12) Distributed one thousand Stainless Steel Buckets/pails of 5 litre capacity to milk producers of Mandi, Shimla and Kullu districts for clean and hygienic production of milk.
Wool Procurement and Marketing Federation: The main objective of the Federation is to promote the growth and development of wool industry in the state of Himachal Pradesh and to free wool growers from exploitation by the middleman/traders. In pursuance to the above objective, the federation is actively involved in procurement of sheep and angora wool, sheep shearing at pasture level with the imported automatic machines sheep wool scouring and marketing of wool. During the year 2020-21 up to December, 2020 the sheep wool procurement was of 70,695 kg. and the value of the same was ₹43.64 lakh.
The Federation is also implementing a few centrally sponsored schemes for the benefit and upliftment of sheep and angora breeders in the State. During current financial year the benefits of these schemes is likely to percolate to approximately 25,000 Breeders. The federation is also providing modern sheep shearing facilities for the Sheep breeder of Himachal Pradesh at Village/pasture level and 46,385 sheep were shorn and 274 breeders were benefitted up to December, 2020. The federation is also providing remunerative prices to the wool growers for their produce by selling the wool in the established markets.

Himachal Pradesh has been gifted by Mother Nature with rivers emanating from glaciers which traverse through hilly terrains and finally enrich the semi-plain area of the State with their oxygen rich water. Its linearly flowing rivers Beas, Satluj and Ravi receive many streams during their downward journey and harbour the precious cold water fish fauna such as Schizothorax, Golden Mahseer and exotic Trouts. Cold water resources of the State have shown their potential with the successful completion of ambitious Indo-Norwegian Trout farming project and tremendous interest shown by the hill populace for the adoption of evolved technology. The commercially important fish species in Gobind Sagar and Pong Dam reservoirs, Chamera and Ranjeet Sagar Dam have become a tool for the upliftment of local population. About 5,567 fishermen in the State depend directly on reservoir fisheries for their livelihood. During 2020-21 up to December, 2020 cumulative fish production was 9,811 MT valued at ₹122.86 crore. During current year up to December, 2020, 4.74 tonne trout has been sold from the State farms and ₹71.50 lakh has been earned. The sale of fish in the last year is shown in Table 7.14 The Department of Fisheries has constructed Carp as well as Trout seed production farms in the State to cater the requirement of reservoirs rural ponds and commercial farms in public and private sector. During 2020-21 up to December, 2020 total 12.96 lakh fingerlings of the size 70 mm and above of common carp 3.67 lakh of the same size of IMC and 4.76 lakh of Rainbow Brown Trout have been produced in the State. The approximate value of total seed production produced during the year 2020-21 up to December, 2020 is ₹40.43 lakh. Despite hilly terrain of the State aquaculture is being given due importance. Under “Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojna” (RKVY) an outlay of ₹100.00 lakh has been approved by Government with the breakup as shown in Table 7.15 The Department of Fisheries has initiated many welfare schemes for the upliftment of fishermen. Fishermen are covered under insurance scheme where ₹5.00 lakh is given (in case of death/ permanent disability) and even losses to their gear and crafts are also being borne by the State Government to the extent of 50 per cent under “Risk Fund Scheme”. A contributory saving scheme has been initiated by the State Government and matching State’s share of deposited saving is provided to them during the close season. The amount so generated is paid to fishermen in two equal monthly installments. During the year 2020-21 an amount of ₹160.00 lakh, (₹53.30 lakh contributed by the fisherman plus ₹106.70 lakh as financial assistance from the State and Centre Government) will be provided to 3,557 Fishermen under Saving–cum–Relief Fund Scheme. During the Financial year 2020-21 Department of Fisheries, Himachal Pradesh has started a new scheme “Trout Livestock Insurance Scheme” to provide the insurance cover to livestock of cold-water fish farmers of the State. The premium amount is shared between State Government and beneficiaries in the 65:35 ratios respectively. The wide insurance cover is being provided through United India Insurance Company Limited. This year department has insured 43 trout units by the 29 fish farmers. Each trout unit is covered for maximum input cost of ₹2.50 lakh per annum with a premium of ₹19,175. This was a long standing demand from trout growers of the State. The scheme farming and improve their economic status besides sustaining trout culture in potential areas of Himachal Pradesh. A total no of 317 self employment opportunities were generated by the Fishery Department under various schemes.
Under Pradhan Mantri Matsya Sampada Yojana which is introduced by the State during current financial year. In this scheme, department under Central sector scheme has submitted various projects amounting ₹5,914.59 lakh for sanctioning to the Government of India. In these submitted projects ₹3,579.72 lakh is Central share ₹348.93 lakh is State share and ₹1,985.94 lakh is Beneficiaries share Government of India has accorded sanction of ₹4,063.00 lakh project for the current financial year in which ₹1,877.99 lakh is Centre share ₹208.67 lakh is State share and ₹1,976.34 lakh is Beneficiaries share. Government of India against their total sanctioned Central share has also released ₹300.00 lakh as first instalment which will be used for subsidy in the State to execute the following schemes/projects:
1) Establishment of 6 Fish Kiosk in private sector.
2) Establishment of one Backyard Ornamental Fish units in private sector.
3) Establishment of one Medium size Ornamental Fish units in private sector.
4) Establishment of 3 Medium size Biofloc in private sector.
5) Purchase of one Insulated Vehicle in private sector.
6) Purchase of 20 Motorcycles for fish sale in private sector.
7) Establishment of 6 Medium size Fish Feed Mills in private sector.
8) Establishment of 10 Biofloc Fish Ponds units in private sector.
9) Establishment of 12 Small Biofloc Fish Tanks in private sector.
10) Establishment of one Trout Fish Recirculatory Aquaculture system in Private sector.
Achievements of the Fisheries department during the financial year 2020-21 up to December, 2020 and proposed targets for 2020-21 are shown in Table 7.16

Forests in Himachal Pradesh cover an area of 37,948 Sq. Km. and account for 68.16 per cent of total geographical area of the State. The State has a declared vision of enhancing the forest cover in the State from the present about 27.72 per cent (as per India State of Forest Report, 2019) of its geographical area to 30 per cent by 2030 to meet the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The plan programme taken up by the Forest Department aims at fulfilling these policy commitments. Some of the important plan programme activities are as under:-
Forest Plantation: Forest plantation is being carried out under various State Plan schemes such as Improvement of tree cover, and soil conservation, Compensatory Afforestation Fund Management and Planning Authority (CAMPA), Centrally Sponsored Schemes, National Afforestation Programme & National Mission for Green India as well as under Externally Aided Projects. Pasture and grazing lands of the State are being managed under State scheme for development of Pasture and Grazing lands. Van Mahotsava at State, Circle and Division levels is also celebrated for educating the masses and creating awareness amongst all stakeholders regarding forestry and environmental concerns under New Forestry Scheme (Sanjhi Van Yojana). Apart from this, the department is organizing plantation drive involving local communities like Mahila Mandals, Yuvak Mandals, Local people and public representatives since 201819 to ensure active participation of communities in tree plantation. But due to Covid-19 pandemic the plantation drive could not be organized during the current monsoon season. However, during the year 2020-2021, the department has set plantation target of 12,000 hectare to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal and the same has been achieved by 30.09.2020. An award scheme has been introduced by the Govt. to encourage specific work done in nursery, plantation and forest conservation by the employees of the forest department, locals and school children. Cash prizes are given for best plantation and best plantation management.
Forest Management (Forest Fire Prevention & Management Scheme): Forests in the State are subject to increasing biotic pressure due to increase in human population, changing animal husbandry practices and developmental activities. Forests are exposed to perils of fire, illicit felling, encroachments and other forest offences. Forest protection is being strengthened by equipping check posts at sensitive places with CCTVs to ensure electronic surveillance to curb forest offences. Firefighting equipment and improved techniques are also being introduced and made available to all the forest divisions where fire is a major destructive element. Communication network for effective management and protection of forest wealth is very important. Keeping these factors in view, Centrally Sponsored Scheme- Forest Fire Prevention & Management Scheme and State scheme namely, “Forest Fire Management Scheme” is being implemented in the State. Under these scheme various activities viz. maintenance of 2,500 km long existing Fire lines/ creation of new fire lines, engagement of Fire Watchers, control burning, procurement of fire fighting equipments, soil and moisture conservation works in high risk areas are being carried out.
Experimental Silvicultural Felling/Subsidiary Silviculture operations: Forest wealth of Himachal Pradesh is estimated at more than ₹1.50 lakh crore. The Hon’ble Supreme Court of India has allowed the State for Silvicultural green felling of three species viz. Khair, Chil and Sal on experimental basis in three rangesNurpur range of Nurpur Forest Division, Bharari range of Bilaspur Forest Division and Paonta range of Paonta Forest Division under the supervision of Monitoring Committee constituted for the purpose. The felling of trees was carried out during 2018-19 and during 2020-21 fencing, plantation, recuperation of areas under Experimental Silvicultural Felling is being carried out strictly as per recommendations of the Hon’ble Supreme Court Monitoring Committee. A budget provision of ₹10.00 crore has been kept under this scheme during 2020-21. The Hon’ble Supreme Court further recommended that to maintain healthy young and biodiversity rich forests, it is necessary to allow revival of prescribed silvicultural operations like cleaning, thinning and salvage of dead, dry trees as well as subsidiary silvicultural operations, like control burning for disposal of slash following other scientific prescriptions given in the approved Working Plans. Accordingly budget provision of ₹ 3.00 crore has been kept under scheme Subsidiary Silviculture Operations during 2020-21. 7.57 New Schemes In order to sensitize the local communities, students and general public about the importance of forests and their role in environmental conservation for sustainable harvest handling, value addition to wild harvested non-timber minor forest produce and enhancing economic returns, the following new schemes have been launched:-
i) Samudayik Van Samvardhan Yojna: The main objective of this scheme is to ensure participation of local communities in conservation & development of forests through plantation, improving quality of forest and increasing the forest cover. Rejuvenate and strengthen the bound of rural communities with nature and to ensure sustainable flow of ecosystem services from the forest. The scheme will be implemented through existing JFMCs/VFDSs. During 2018-19 & 2019-20, 29 sites were selected and 5 new sites (JFMCs /VFD Ss) have been kept for the year 2020-21. During current year plantation and soil conservation activities will be carried out in all the 34 selected sites by the selected JFMCs/VFDSs as per approved micro plan of each selected JFMCs/ VFDSs. A budget provision of ₹4.00 crore has been kept under this scheme during 2020-21 and expenditure up to 31.12.2020 is ₹ 63.47 lakh.
ii) Vidyarthi Van Mittar Yojna: The main objective of the scheme is to sensitize the students about the importance of forests and their role in environmental conservation, to inculcate in students a sense of attachment towards nature conservation; to motivate students in sensitizing communities towards conservation and protection of forests and to create forest grooves & increase forest cover. A budget provision of ₹1.75 crore has been kept under this scheme during 2020-21 target to select 110 new schools. Although 114 new schools were selected for carrying out plantation by the students over land of 106.25 hectare but due to Covid-19, the schools remained closed and this target will now be achieved during 202122.
iii) Van Samridhi Jan Samridhi Yojna: This scheme has been started to strengthen the NTFP resource base in the State through active community participation.Building capacity of community groups in sustainable harvest handling and value addition to wild harvested NTFPs for enhancing economic returns. Empowerment of local communities in collection, conservation and marketing of NTFPs to augment the incomes of rural population. The scheme is being implemented initially in 7 most biodiversity rich districts namely, Chamba, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Sirmour, Kinnaur and Lahaul & Spiti through Community User Groups formulated/ identified by Biodiversity Management Committees. 138 Community User Groups have been constituted up to 2019-20 and target to formulate 53 CUGs has been kept for the year 202021. A budget provision of ₹2.00 crore has been kept under this scheme during 2020-21.
iv) Ek Buta Beti k Naam (Started during 2019-20): To sensitize people about the importance of daughters and forest conservation, a new scheme “Ek Buta Beti k Naam” has been launched during 2019-20. It is believed that by planting a sapling in the name of a girl child and with the effort of nurturing each sapling into a tree communities would be sensitized to be more committed towards the rights of the girl-child leading to realization of her full potential. Upon the birth of a girl-child anywhere in the State, the Forest Department would gift robust and healthy tall plants (Saplings) along with “kit” & instructions pamphlet to the family. The plants will be planted by the parents of the girl during monsoon or winter season as per suitability of the locality either on their homestead land or Govt. land. Plants and kits have been distributed to the parents of 13389 new born girls w.e.f. December, 2019 to November, 2020.
v) Parvat Dhara: To rejuvenate extinct and depleted water sources in the State a new scheme “Parvat Dhara” has been launched during 2020-21. This will also help in providing flow irrigation facility to the fields along the slopes. Water harvesting structures will be constructed at the locations determined based on satellite images. This will help in recharging aquifers and also irrigating fields with the stored water. Although the scheme is being implemented by Jal Shakti Department but in forest areas the scheme is being implemented by Forest Department. Activities like construction of village pond, water harvesting structures, plantations, soak pits, dry stone check dams and Afforestation amounting to ₹2.94 crore are being carried out by the department at locations identified by Jal Shakti Vibhag in consultation of other stake holders.

Himachal Pradesh Forest Ecosystems Climate Proofing Project (K.F.W assisted): Himachal Pradesh Forest Ecosystems Climate Proofing Project with the assistance of KfW Bank Germany is being implemented in Chamba and Kangra districts of the State for the period of 7 years w.e.f. 2015-16. The cost of the project is ₹308.45 crore. The funding pattern of the project is 85.10 per cent loan and 14.90 per cent State share. The main objective of this project is the rehabilitation, protection and sustainable use of the selected forest ecosystems in Himachal Pradesh to increase and secure the resilience of forest ecosystems against climate change and ensure flow of forest based products and other services, which benefit the forest dependent communities. In the long run this will contribute in strengthening the adaptation capacity of forest eco systems to climate change, protection of biodiversity, stabilization of catchment areas, conservation of natural resource base and at the same time result in better livelihoods for the people of Himachal Pradesh. An outlay of ₹49.00 crore has been approved for the current financial year 2020-21 and expenditure up to December, 2020 is ₹18.16 crore.
Himachal Pradesh Forest Eco systems Management and Livelihood Improvement Project: A new Project namely “Himachal Pradesh Forest Eco systems Management and Livelihood Improvement Project” for 8 years (2018-19 to 2025-26) amounting to ₹800 crore has been started with the assistance of Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).The Funding pattern of the project is 80 per cent loan and 20 per cent State share. The project will be implemented in Bilaspur, Kullu, Mandi, Shimla, Kinnaur, Lahaul-Spiti districts and tribal areas of Pangi and Bharmour sub-divisions of Chamba districts with project headquarter at Kullu Shamshi, district Kullu and Regional office at Rampur, district Shimla. The objectives of the project are to conserve the forest and mountain eco system and improve livelihood of the forest and pasture dependent communities by increasing forest cover, density and productive potential using scientific and modern forest management practices; enhancing biodiversity and forest ecosystem conservation and to reduce pressure/ stress on forest resources by providing the village communities with alternative livelihood opportunity. During the financial year 2020-21, the Government has provided ₹40.00 crore under this project and expenditure of ₹23.50 crore has been incurred up to December, 2020.
World Bank Aided Integrated Development Project for Source Sustainability and Climate Resilient Rain-fed Agriculture: The World Bank has agreed to support this project at a cost of ₹650.00 crore titled ‘Integrated Project for Source Sustainability and Climate Resilient Rain-fed Agriculture’. The funding pattern of the project is 80 per cent loan and 20 per cent is State share. The project period is 7 years. The project would be implemented in 900 Gram Panchayats in Shivalik and Mid Hills agro-climatic zones spread across various watershed in the State. The key objectives of this project include comprehensive treatment of around 2 lakh hectares non-arable and 20,000 hectares arable lands; and enhancement of water productivity/ efficiency, milk production and livelihood improvement in the project area. An outlay of ₹50.00 crore has been approved under this project during the current financial year out of which expenditure of ₹31.16 crore has been incurred up to December, 2020.
Environment Forestry and Wildlife: Himachal Pradesh is home to a very impressive, diverse and unique, rare fauna. The State’s scheme aim at protection, improvement of environment and wildlife, development of Wildlife Sanctuaries/National Parks and improvement of wildlife habitat, so as to provide protection to various species of birds and animals facing extinction. To protect, develop and scientifically mange the wildlife and to improve its habitat an outlay of ₹25.73 crore has been approved for the current financial year out of which expenditure of ₹4.52 crore has been incurred up to December, 2020.
Forest Ecosystem Services in Himachal Prdesh: During 2017-18, it was observed that the value of timber provisioning services is about 0.31 per cent of State’s GDP, while that of NonTimber Forests Products (NTFP) Provisioning Services is 0.27 per cent of State’s GDP. The value of the carbon retention service obtained using a social cost of carbon approach during the year 2017-18 is equivalent to 11.14 per cent of State’s GDP, which is almost triple the share of the forestry sector in State’s GDP. The value of the carbon retention service computed for the year 2017-18 is estimated as ₹15,532 crore. The State-level estimates of the economic value of these ecosystem services obtained have been summarised in Table 7.17 below.

Provision of safe drinking water to every house is the priority of the State Government. As on 20th January, 2021 out of 55,279 habitations, 33,752 habitations are fully covered getting water ≥ 55 lpcd and 21,527 habitations are partially covered getting water < 55 lpcd. The status of habitations as on 20th January, 2021 is as under:
Urban Water Supply Schemes: There are 61 Towns/Urban Local Bodies in Himachal Pradesh. The water supply schemes of 59 Towns/ULBS are under Jal Shakti Vibhag, Shimla Town is under Shimla Jal Prabandhan Board and Parwanoo Town is under HIMUDA. The improvement of water supply schemes of 53 towns including Shimla has been completed and rest 6 are under progress.
Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM): The Government of India has launched Jal Jeevan Mission (JJM), with an outlay of ` 3.5 lakh crore. Its aim is to provide Functional Household Tap Connection (FHTC) to every rural household by 2024. In Himachal Pradesh, it has been proposed to include every rural household in this scheme by July, 2022. Out of 17,03,626 households, 12,86,832 have been provided FHTC’s before 1st of January 2021. During the current financial year, the proposed target is to provide FHTC’s to additional 2,44,351 households. Thus 75.53 per cent households have been provided with domestic connection against a national average of 33.64 per cent household.
Hand Pump Programme: The Government has an active programme to provide hand pumps to regions facing scarcity of water during summer season. Total 40,624 hand pumps have been installed up to December, 2020.

Out of total geographical area of 55.67 lakh hectare of Himachal Pradesh, 5.83 lakh hectare is the area under cultivation. It is estimated that ultimate irrigation potential of the State is approximately 3.35 lakh hectare, out of this 0.50 lakh hectare can be brought out under irrigation through major and medium irrigation projects and balance 2.85 lakh hectare of area can be provided irrigation through minor irrigation schemes up to December, 2020.
Major and Medium Irrigation: The only major irrigation project in the State is Shahnehar Project in Kangra District. The project has been completed and irrigation facility to 15,287 hectare land is being provided. The Command Area Development work is in progress and out of 15,287 hectare, 9,998.50 hectare land had been brought under Command Area Development (CAD) activities by December, 2020. Under Medium Irrigation Projects, Changer area Bilaspur 2,350 hectare, Sidhatha Kangra, 3,150 hectare and Balh Valley Left Bank 2,780 hectare have been completed. The work of CAD Sidhatha is in progress and 2,635.10 hectare land has been brought under CAD activities up to December, 2020. At present work is going on the Medium Irrigation Project Phinna Singh (CCA 4,025 hectare) and in the Nadaun area in District Hamirpur (CCA 2,980 hectare) There is a target of 1,000 hectare area for the year 2020-21 under major and medium irrigation against which 700 hectare achievement is reported up to December, 2020.
Minor Irrigation: During 2020-21, there was a budget provision of `302.05 crore in the State sector to provide irrigation facilities to an area of 4,437.98 hectare against which up to December, 2020 an area of 3,256.18 hectare has been covered with an expenditure of `85.70 crore up to November, 2020.
Command Area Development: During the year 2020-21, a provision of `99.01 crore has been provided by the Government of Himachal Pradesh which includes `45.01 crore for HIMCAD activities for minor irrigation schemes to bridge the gap of potential created and utilized and rest of amount is for major/medium irrigation and minor irrigation schemes ongoing in the State including Central share. (There is a physical target of 1,870.80 hectare CCA for providing CAD activities, out of which 1,117.74 hectare has been achieved up to December, 2020 with an expenditure of `139.46 lakh up to November, 2020. CAD activities for major irrigation Shahnehar and medium irrigation Sidhatha projects were included for funding under CAD Water Management programme of Government of India).
Flood Control Works: During 2020-21 a sum of `87.37 crore has been provided to protect 986.36 hectare of land. An amount of `23.39 crore upto November, 2020 has been spent to protect an area of 255.29 hectare upto December, 2020. The work for Swan River Phase-IV and channelization of Chounch Khad is in progress.

Plastic Waste Management: The State Government has banned use and littering of plastic items by notifications from time to time under Himachal Pradesh Non-Biodegradable Garbage (Control) Act, 1995. A fine of `7.00 lakh has been collected from 654 violators in the year 2020-21. Under Buy-back Policy for non-recyclable plastic waste in the year 2020-21, an amount of `19.65 lakh has been paid on purchase of 31,751 kg of specified plastic waste to the households and 566 registered rag pickers in the State. The State Government is promoting use of biodegradable Pattals and donas made of plant leaves. To support artisans/poor families involved in making traditional pattal and dona making machines are being provided under Corporate Environmental Responsibility (CER). Till date the provision of providing 82 pattal & dona making machines has been made under CER.

A State Knowledge Cell on Climate Change has been set up in the Department of Environment, Science and Technology, Himachal Pradesh with the assistance of Department of Environment, Science and Technology, Government of India under National Mission for Sustaining Himalayan Ecosystems (NMSHE) with the financial assistance of `2.73 crore. The Climate Change vulnerability assessment of Beas River Basin has been completed and another study of Satluj River Basin covering the areas of Kinnaur, Shimla, Kullu,Solan,Mandi and Bilaspur has been initiated with the financial outlay of `88.50 lakh.
Implementation of Project Sanctioned under National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC): Under this project drought prone areas of three Developmental Blocks of Sirmaur District have been c overed with the financial outlay of `20.00 crore. The rural small and marginal farmers including rural women are being provided a package of Climate Smart Farming Technologies along with required social engineering and capacity building which leads to improved food security and enhanced livelihood options to enhance resilience. The project is likely to be completed in the year 2021-22 after one year of extension due to Covid-19 pandemic.
Proposals under National Adaptation Fund for Climate Change (NAFCC) & bilateral funding: A project proposal of `20.49 crore on “Reducing Glacial Outburst and Flood Risk in Parvati Velley of Kullu district, Himachal Pradesh” has been approved by the Ministry of Environment, Forest & Climate Change, Government of India. Another project proposal of `250.00 crore on “Biodiversity Conservation & Rural Livelihood improvement Project (BCRLIP)” has also been approved by Department of Economic Affairs, Government of India and forwarded to German KFW/ AFD(French Development Agency) and ` 1.00 crore has been approved for DPR preparation by the AFD. Another project on Climate Adaptation and Finance in Rural India (CAFRI) has been initiated in financial year 2020-21 in the State.
Capacity Building of marginal Farmers in rural areas: The Government of India has sanctioned a project titled as “Capacity building of marginal farmers in rural areas of Himachal Pradesh on biotechnological interventions for Climate change Adaption to ensure sustainable livelihood” for Lamba Thach Panchayat of Seraj block, district Mandi. `59.00 lakh have been sanctioned for five wards (Sunah, Nihri, Kyoli, Leh & Balenda) for a period of two years.

Himachal Pradesh Environment Leadership Awards scheme is regular scheme of the Department of Environment, Science & Technology. `20.00 lakh have been earmarked to be utilized during the year 2020-21 and awards to 13 winners were given during the year 2020.
Creation of Model Eco Villages: The State Government through Department of Environment, Science & Technology is implementing Model Eco Villages scheme in the State. This scheme is focusing towards the perspective of developing low impact lifestyle as to reduce the “ecological footprint” by as 50% of the base assessment from the launch of the scheme. Under this scheme ` 50.00 lakh will be utilized over a period of 5 years by the identified village for adoption of Model Eco village scheme. There are 15 villages identified in the State where this scheme is being implemented as per approved Eco Village Development Plans.
Setting up of bio-methanation plant at Kufri, Shimla: The department is setting up 2.5 MTPD bio-methanation plant using horse dung/biodegradable waste from hotels and residential areas to generate biogas/bio CNG on turn-key and end to end basis (waste collection till disposal) at Kufri, Shimla. Budgetary provision for this plant is `1.40 crore. MoU has been signed with the expert agency and `25.00 lakh has been earmarked for the purpose in the financial year 2020-21 and the work is in progress.
Setting up of 10 demonstration Micro Municipal Solid Waste management facilities: Department of Environment, Science & Technology is setting up 10 demonstration Municipal Solid Waste management facilities through expert agencies having capacity to dispose of approximately 0.5 ton to 5 ton of waste to be installed at 10 different locations in Himachal Pradesh as pilot projects on PPP mode. The financial outlay of `4.48 crore under NMHS (National Mission on Himalayan Studies) by MoEF&CC, Government of India has been approved. The first installment of `3.38 crore has been released by the Govt. of India.

Industrial sector performance is critical and plays a decisive role in determining the overall growth of State output and employment through backward and forward linkages with the other sectors of the economy. Objective of present State Industrial Policy is “To create an enabling ecosystem to enhance the scale of economic development & employment opportunities, ensure sustainable development & balanced growth of industrial & service sectors to make Himachal as one of the preferred destination for investment”. Recently many initiatives have been taken by State Government to facilitate investment in the State.
Past Journey: During the last few years Himachal Pradesh has made significant achievements in the field of industrialization.
1) Starting from almost nothing, the Industrial Journey of Himachal Pradesh has been spectacular. Despite being a geographically challenged State, Himachal is a classic example of rapid transformation from a backward to a relatively advanced State in India.
2) Before grant of Statehood only a few industrial units namely Nahan Foundry at Nahan, M/s Mohan Meakins Breweries at Kasauli and Solan, Salt Mines at Drang (Mandi), Nurpur Silk Mill, Palampur Co-oprative Tea Factory, Rasin & Turpentine Factories at Nahan & Bilaspur and four small gun factories at Mandi were the main industrial units functioning in the State.
3) After attaining Statehood, the concerted efforts were made for significant infrastructure development and Industrial Areas/Estates were developed at Parwanoo, Barotiwala, Bilaspur, Shamshi, Nagrota Bagwan, Mehatpur, Chambaghat, Kangra, Kullu & Kinnaur.
4) Industrial growth attained momentum after 1978 when District Industries Centres came into existence as a 100 per cent Centrally Sponsored Scheme.
5) Till 2003-04, the growth was slow. The then Prime Minister, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpai ji announced the Industrial Package for the State in January 2003, which proved to be a growth accelerator in the Industrial sector.
6) The Baddi- Barotiwala- Nalagarh sector has emerged as biggest pharmaceutical hub in the country.
7) With a mere 7 per cent contribution to State GDP in 1970, today the Secondary Sector boasts of a contribution of 39.66 per cent.
8) The State Government recognized the importance of Industrial Policy as an effective instrument to boost the confidence of investors and accelerate industrial development. Incentives to Industries were notified initially during 1971 and were then revised periodically with the latest policy notification in August 2019. Through this policy graded Incentives are being offered with higher incentives to the inner areas of Himachal Pradesh.

1)Presence of more than 28,000 enterprises.
2) Micro, Small & Medium Enterprises (MSME) comprising 99 per cent industrial sector. 93 per cent of total employment generation of industrial sector is from MSME sector.
3) Annual export worth `10,000 crore to more than 60 countries.
Pharma Hub: Himachal Pradesh has emerged as a hub of drug manufacturing units and meets 35 per cent of the demand of pharma products in Asia. Due to the growth of the pharmaceutical industry, Baddi-Barotiwala-Nalagarh industrial belt is known Globally for production of formulation drugs. The belt manufactures more than 150 formulation drugs, with a demand in over 200 countries.
Khadi and Village Industries: HP Khadi and Village Industries Board is also playing a pivotal role in rural industrialization and employment generation by encouraging rural artisans/entrepreneurs to establish micro/village industries at their doorsteps thereby, utilizing locally available raw material and skills. The Board is implementing “Prime Minister’s Employment Generation Programme” providing wool carding and finishing of woolen clothes facilities to sheep rearing people of the Tribal Areas of the State through 13 wool carding and one finishing plant established in the tribal and far-flung areas. The Board is also engaged in marketing of Khadi and Village Industries products.

Industrial sector performance in terms of its contribution in Gross State Value Added (GVA) has decreased in 2020-21 over 2019-20. The contribution of Manufacturing Sector in Gross State Value Addition (GSVA) at Current Prices has increased from 28.94 per cent in the year 2016-17 to 29.18 per cent in the year 2019-20. It has decreased to 26.94 per cent in the year 2020-21, this has occurred due to lockdown measures taken under COVID -19 pandemic, which has hampered the industrial production. State Government is taking many initiatives such as Incentives to Investors, and enabling Ease of Doing Business etc. to increase its contribution. The contribution of Mining & Quarrying Sector in Gross State value addition (GSVA) at Current Prices has decreased as it has decreased from 0.64 per cent in the year 2016-17 to 0.25 per cent in the year 2020-21, due to the effect of COVID -19 and more contribution from the other sectors of the economy. It is also resulted due to stringent action taken to check illegal mining by the State Govt. The details are as shown in Table below.
Development of Industrial Areas/ Estates: Since the formation of Himachal, there was a land pool of approximately 3,000 acres is available with the Industries Department for industrial development. The Government has now added to this and created a land bank of approximately 2,800 acres for Industries Department during this current financial year for the proposed future industrial development.
Attracting Investment: In order to give a further boost to the economy of the State and create more job opportunities, the Department has successfully organized the first Global Investor Meet and Ground Breaking Ceremony in 2019 where MOU’s for 236 projects worth 13,600 crore were signed..
Prime Minister Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFMFPE): Under Atama Nirbhar Bharat, “Prime Minister Formalisation of Micro Food Processing Enterprises (PMFMFPE)” has been launched, with an objective to assist Food Based Micro Enterprises of unorganized sector and bring them to organized sector. The Department is working proactively to implement this scheme in the State.

Under Mukhya Mantri Swavlamban Yojna, till now more than 3,000 projects have been sanctioned by the Banks, through which approx. 10,000 self-employment opportunities have been generated. It is an ambitious scheme of State Govt. to provide self-employment opportunities for youth of Himachal Pradesh. This scheme became very popular in spite of “Covid Pandemic” with a phenomenal increase in the sanctioned cases. The scheme has been available online with the provision of 60 per cent “Front Loading” of subsidy.

In order to bring transparency and save time, the entire process of sanctioning the mining lease is now online. Strict provisions have been made to check illegal mining: the amount of fine has been raised from `25,000 to `5,00,000 and the provision for imprisonment has been modified to provide for up to 2 years for an offence. Previously, there was a provision of charging a minimum fine of `25,000 for mechanical illegal mining in river beds, which has now been increased to `50,000. Where on one hand Government is committed to check illegal mining and punish the offenders with the strict provisions made in the rules, on the other hand, it is making all efforts to make mining material available for legal activities. The bordering Districts of State viz: Kangra, Una, Solan and Sirmaur are sensitive for the activities of illegal mining. Government therefore decided to set up 10 mining Check posts / Weighbridges in some of the sensitive areas of these districts in the beginning to check illegal Mining activities. In compliance of this decision, 1 Mining Check post / Weighbridge at Solan and 5 at Una have started functioning. To check illegal mining, all Mining lease holders have been directed to install CCTV cameras in their leased areas.

Himachal Pradesh is making new strides on the front of Ease of Doing Business by improving its performance on various parameters of its assessment. Recently, Government has taken several industries specific reform initiatives, such as Single Window Clearance System, Online portal for issuance of EC and permissions to purchase land u/s 118, HP MSME (Facilitation of Establishment and Operation) Act, 2019 and Project Implementation Monitoring through “Himpragati Portal”, which have significantly improved the overall business environment. Under Ease of Doing Business rating by Govt. of India, State has secured 7th position in the Country. It is an unprecedented achievement, as previous ranking was 16th. State has emerged as the Fastest Moving State in the Country. This improved ranking will create a friendly environment for Industrial Investment.

The Index of Industrial Production (IIP) is a Yardstick for measuring industrial growth, it includes the relative change of physical production in the field of Industry during specific period as compared to the previous period. The main objective of this index is to estimate the contribution of Industrial sector to the Gross State Domestic Product. IIP in the State is being compiled on base year 2011-12. The IIP is estimated quarterly by collecting data from selected units of Manufacturing, Mining, Quarrying and Electricity, on the basis of quarterly indices, annual indices have been worked out and are shown in following table. The General Index has increased from 192.3 to 223.9 in the year 2019-20 showing an increase of 16.43 per cent, this increase is mainly attributed to the Electricity production that resulted in a healthy growth of the Industrial sector. As regards the indices for year 2020-21, these have been worked out on the basis of two quarters (June and September, 2020). As compared with the quarterly indices of the June 2019-20 quarter for the same quarter of 2020-21, it a dip has been observed in Mining and Manufacturing indices due to COVID 19 lockdown measures. This has hampered industrial production though a marginal increase has been observed in 2020-21 September quarter both in Mining and Manufacturing indices, which is a healthy sign of V shape recovery.

As per 2011 Census, 30.05 per cent of the total population of the Pradesh is classified as main workers, 21.80 per cent marginal workers and the rest 48.15 per cent as non-workers. Out of the total workers (main+marginal) 57.93 per cent are cultivators and 4.92 per cent agricultural labourers, 1.65 per cent are engaged in household industry and 35.50 per cent in other activities. The employment assistance/information service to job seekers in the Pradesh is rendered through 3 Regional Employment Exchanges, 9 District Employment Exchanges, 2 University Employment Information and Guidance Bureaus, 65 Sub-Employment Exchanges, one Special Employment Exchange for Physically Handicapped, one Central Employment Cell for Vocational Guidance and Employment counseling to the youth as well as for collection of employment Market information are working in the State. All 77 Employment Exchanges have been computerized and are online.
Minimum wages: Himachal Pradesh Government has constituted a Minimum Wage Advisory Board under the Minimum Wages Act-1948 for the purpose of advising the State Government in the matter of fixing and revising the minimum rates of wages for the workers. The State Government has enhanced the minimum wage for unskilled category of workers from 250 to 275 per day or 7,500to 8,250 per month w.e.f. 01.04.2020, in all existing 19 scheduled employments under the provision of Minimum Wages Act, 1948.
Employment Market Information Programme: At the district level, the employment data is being collected under the Employment Market Information Programme since 1960. The total employment in the State as on 30.06.2019 in Public Sector was 2,75,419 and in Private sector it was 1,80,410. The number of establishments in public sector are 4,407 and in private sector 1,814.
Vocational Guidance: The Department of Labour and Employment provides Vocational/ Career Guidance to the youth. In these guidance camps apart from providing information about Schemes/Welfare programmes being implemented for the youth, information about Skill Development, career options, employment/ self employment opportunities etc. is also provided by the officers/competent officials of the Department and officers/representatives from different Department/organizations. During Financial Year 2019-20, 404 vocational/career guidance camps were organized by the Department and 47,202 youth participated in these camps. Due to covid-19 Vocational/ Career Guidance Camps have not been organized in current year, but during this financial Year (up to 31.12.2020) 3,447 youth were provided individual/group counseling through the Employment Exchanges.
Central Employment Cell: To provide technical and highly skilled manpower to all the industrial units, institutions and Establishments, Central Employment Cell has been set up in the Directorate of Labour and Employment of the State which remained engaged in rendering its services during the year 2020-21. Under this scheme, assistance is provided to the employment seekers in finding suitable jobs in private sector, according to their qualifications and to recruit suitable workers without wastage of money, material and time. The Central Employment Cell organizes Campus Interviews for Private Sector Employers to meet their requirement of unskilled labour. In this financial year up to December, 2020, the Central Employment Cell has organized 55 Campus Interviews wherein 574 candidates have been placed. The Central Employment Cell also organizes Job Fairs in the State but due to Covid19 no Job Fair was organized in the State during this Financial Year, up to 31st December, 2020.
Special Employment Exchange for specially abled: The special employment exchange for the placement of physically disabled persons (visually disabled, hearing disabled and locomotor disabled) was set up in the Directorate of Labour and Employment in 1976. This special employment exchange renders assistance to the specially abled candidates in the field of vocational guidance and provides employment assistance in Public and Private Sector. The physically disabled persons who are among the weaker section of society have been provided number of facilities/concession which include free of cost medical examination of the disabled persons through the Medical Boards constituted at the State and District level, relaxation of age by 5 years, exemption for qualifying type test for those who suffer from disability in the upper limbs extremities with 4 per cent reservation for appointment in Class-III & Class-IV posts. During the Financial Year 2020-21 (up to December, 2020) a total of 1,321 specially abled persons were brought on the Live Register of the Special Employment Exchange bringing the total number to 18,936 and 11 physically disabled persons were provided employment.
Employees Insurance and Provident Fund Scheme: The Employees State Insurance scheme is applicable in the areas of Solan, Parwanoo, Barotiwala, Nalagarh, Baddi in Solan District, Mehatpur, Bathri and Gagret in Una District, Paonta Sahib and Kala Amb in Sirmaur District, Golthai in Bliaspur District, Mandi, Ratti, Ner Chowk, Bhangrotu, Chakkar and Gutkar in Mandi District and Industrial Area Shoghi and Municipal area of Shimla in District Shimla. 11,794 establishments with an estimated 3,14,720 insured persons are covered under ESI Scheme in Himachal Pradesh and under Employees Provident Fund scheme about 17,09,604 workers working in 20,511 establishments have been brought in up to March,2020.

Under this Act, various provisions have been made to implement welfare schemes such as providing Maternity/Paternity Benefits, Disability Pension, Retirement Pension, Family Pension, Medical Assistance, Financial Assistance for marriage of self and up to two children, Skill Development Allowance, providing bicycles and washing machines to women workers, providing induction heater or solar cooker. and solar lamps to beneficiaries. About 2,199 establishments are registered with the Department of Labour & Employment and 2,88,766 beneficiaries are registered with the Himachal Pradesh Building and Other Construction Workers to Welfare Board. Benefits amounting to 257.54 crore under various welfare schemes have been provided to the eligible beneficiaries and 632.01 crore has been deposited with H.P. Building & Other construction Welfare Board, Shimla upto December, 2020.
Skill Development Allowance Scheme: During this Financial Year, a budgetary provision of 100 crore has been made under Skill Development Allowance Scheme. Under this scheme there is provision of Skill Development Allowance to the eligible un-employed youth of the State for their Skill-Up gradation and increasing their employability. This Allowance is payable 1,000 per month and for 50 per cent or more permanent physically challenged 1,500 per month for duration of Skill Development Training subject to maximum period of two years. During the Financial Year 2020-21 (up to December, 2019) 19.28 crore Skill Development Allowance has been disbursed amongst the 42,859 beneficiaries. The department is also implementing Industrial Skill Development Allowance Scheme, 2018. Under this scheme there is provision of Industrial Skill Development Allowance to the eligible employed youth engaged in Private Industrial Establishment of the State for their on job Skill Upgradation and for better employment opportunities. The disbursement Criteria under this scheme is same as for the Skill Development Allowance Scheme and under this head an amount of 10.95 lakh was disbursed amongst 297 beneficiaries.
Unemployment Allowance Scheme: During this Financial Year 202021, budgetary provision of 40.00 crore has been made under Unemployment Allowance Scheme. Under this scheme, there is provision of allowance to the eligible unemployed youth of the state @ 1,000 per month and for 50 per cent or more permanent physically challenged @ 1,500 per month for a maximum period of 2 years to enable them to sustain themselves for a certain period. During the period up to December, 2020, total 65,288 beneficiaries have been benefitted under Scheme and 34.09 crore has been disbursed.
Employment Exchange Information: During this financial year (up to December, 2020) 96,026 applicants were registered, 867 placements were done in Government sector against 3,266 notified vacancies and 637 placements in private sector against 4,438 notified vacancies. The consolidated number on Live Registers of all employment exchanges as on December, 2020 is 8,27,712. The District-wise registration and placements done by the employment exchanges with effect from April to December, 2020 is given in Table 10.1 below:

The Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS), a new series launched by the Government of India in 2017, discontinuing the quinquennial Employment and unemployment surveys of National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO), now National Statistical Office (NSO), Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (MOSPI), provides labour force data on an annual basis. The PLFS data is now the primary source of data on employment and unemployment at national and State level. The Government of India released the first Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2017-18 Report in May 2019 based on the survey conducted by NSO from July 2017 to June 2018 and second PLFS 2018-19 Report in June 2020 which is based on the survey conducted by NSO from July 2018 to June 2019. Estimates of the labour force indicators based on the usual status (ps+ss) approach and current weekly status approach adopted in the survey for classification of the population by activity statuses. The reference period for usual status (ps+ss) approach is one year and for current weekly status approach, it is one week.

The situation of the labour force in Himachal Pradesh can be gauged from the indicator such as Labour Force Participation Rate (LFPR), Worker Population Rate (WPR), Daily Wage Rate and trends in industrial relations. According to Periodic Labour Force Survey 2018-19 (PLFS), “Persons who were either ‘working’ (or employed) or ‘seeking or available for work’ (or unemployed) constitute the labour force”. Labour force or in others words, the ‘economically active’ population, refers to the population which supplies or seeks to supply labour for production and, therefore, includes both ‘employed’ and ‘unemployed’ persons. The Labour Force Participation Rate is defined as “the percentage of persons in the labour force among the persons in the population”.
Table 10.2 presents the LFPR in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, and India in 2017-18 and 2018-19 as per the PLFS. As compared to 2017-18, LFPR of all ages has increased in 2018-19, in Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, and India. In 2018-19, LFPR (all ages) for Himachal Pradesh (52.8) is higher than Uttarakhand (34.3), Punjab (37.4), Haryana (34.3) and all India (37.5). Worker Population Ratio (WPR): WPR is an indicator used for analyzing the employment situation and knowing the proportion of the population actively contributing to production of goods and services in the economy. “WPR is defined as the percentage of employed persons in the population”. Table 10.3 shows the worker population ratio in the Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Haryana, and India. It is clear at all ages the WPR of Himachal Pradesh in 2018-19 (50.1) is better than Uttarakhand (31.2), Punjab (34.6), Haryana (31.1) and all India (35.3). It is evident from the survey results that women (44.6 per cent) in Himachal Pradesh are more actively participating in the economic activities than their counterparts, at all India level and among neighboring states. The Worker Population Ratio (WPR) in usual status (ps+ss) was about 46.4 per cent at the all-Himachal level in 2017-18 which has increased to 50.1 per cent in 2018-19. It was about 47.4 per cent in rural areas and 37.9 per cent in urban areas in 2017-18 which increased to 51.4 per cent and 39 per cent simultaneously. The WPR in usual status (ps+ss) for rural males increased to 56 per cent in 2018-19 from 55.1 in 2017-18 and for rural females it has increased to 46.9 per cent in 2018-19 from 40 per cent in 2017-18. Unemployment Rate: “Unemployment rate (UR) is defined as the percentage of persons unemployed among the persons in the labour force”. It is measured in terms of usual status (ps+ss) and weekly status in the PLFS surveys, shown in table 10.4. This gives the portion of the labour force actively seeking/available for work. According to the Periodic Labour Force Survey (PLFS) 2018-19, unemployment under usual status (ps+ss) for persons of all ages among the neighboring states and all India, shows that Himachal has an unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent (least) as against the all India of 5.8 per cent, Uttrahakand 8.9 per cent, Punjab 7.4 per cent, Haryana 9.2 per cent (Figure 10.2). The unemployment rate in Himachal Pradesh has declined from 5.5 per cent in 2017-18 to 5.2 per cent in 2018-19. The unemployment rate in the usual status (ps+ss), was 5.3 per cent among males and 4.3 per cent among females in rural areas, while the rates were 6.5 per cent among males and 14.9 per cent among females in urban areas.

Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam is a State Government Corporation, incorporated on 14th Sept, 2015 under Companies Act, 2013 as the State Skill Mission. It was established with a mission “To bolster the employable skills and livelihood potential of the State’s young generation (15-35 years) and equip them for continuous growth and learning in a changing job and entrepreneurial environment in India and the World”. Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam (HPKVN) is the primary implementing agency of the Himachal Pradesh Skills Development Project (HPSDP), the flagship employment and livelihoods scheme of the Government of Himachal Pradesh. It is also the State implementation partner of the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY). These schemes, in line with the National Policy for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship, aim to enhance the technical and vocational skills of youth in the State through education and training. The immediate goal is to train over a lakh young men and women in the period 2018-22. The Organisation’s broader objective is to prepare the youth population of the State for the emerging labour markets in India and across the World. Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam plans and facilitates vocational training programme for youth of Himachal Pradesh with objective to enhance employability and provide them better placements. The trainings are also aimed at promoting entrepreneurship and establishment of small-scale business start-ups.
Asian Development Bank Assisted Flagship Training Programme: During financial year 2020-21, the target for contracts awarded and disbursement under the project has been fixed at ₹180.00 crore and ₹155.00 crore respectively.
1) Setting up of Center of Excellence (CoE): In order to create institutional framework for long term skill development needs of the state, a Center of Excellence (CoE) is being setup at Waknaghat, Solan with an estimated cost of ₹ 68.00 crore under ADB assisted Himachal Pradesh Skill Development Project. This institution shall provide high quality training in Hospitality and Tourism sector.
2) MoU’s with reputed Government Training Institutions: With a view to focus on high and aspirational skilling, Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam has signed MoU’s with various Government Institutions and Public Universities like National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology, Centre for Development of Advanced Computing, Click-Through Rate, National Institute of Financial Management, Himachal Pradesh University, Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, University of Horticulture & Forestry and National Institute of Food Technology Entrepreneurship and Management for imparting training to 7,370 Himachali youth in high skill jobs such as those in Artificial Intelligence, Web Designing, Machine Learning, Advanced Tax laws etc.
3) Training Programme under English, Employability & Entrepreneurship Skills and BFSI Sector: To cater the much felt need of linking skill with employment, special focus has been laid by Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam in development of soft skills of the Himachali youth and to impart training in English, Employability & Entrepreneurship Skills, and Banking Financial and Insurance services in Government Colleges/State Public Universities of Himachal Pradesh from the Academic Session 2020-21. The training programme will cover 4,700 students/ candidates under English, Employability & Entrepreneurship Skills programme and 5,000 students over three years in BFSI Sector.
4) Up-gradation of Tools & Equipments in 50 ITI’s, Women Polytechnic Rehan and Government Engineering Colleges: The Himachal Pradesh Skills Development Project (HPSDP) is also facilitating the up-gradation of 50 ITI’s where 23 trades will convert from State Council for Vocational Training to National Council of Vocational Training certificates. This will benefit 23,000 students. ₹93.00 crore is to be spent during the financial year 2020-21 under the project. The process for procurement of requisite equipments for various trades (Mechanical, Electrical, Electronics, Hand Tools, Embroidery, Information and Technology and Beauty & Wellness etc.) is in progress.
5) Short Term Training Programmes through Government Industrial training Institutions (ITI’s) of Himachal Pradesh: Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam under its Himachal Pradesh Skill Development Project has started short term up skilling and multi skilling training in 38 ITI’s and more than 4,500 students have been enrolled in various sectors such as Automotive, Construction, Plumbing, IT-ITes, Capital Goods, Apparel & Made-ups, Electronics & Hardware, Beauty & Wellness, Iron & Steel, Media & Entertainment etc. This is aimed at creating a multi skilled workforce with higher employability potential both in industry and self-employment sectors.
6) Graduate Job Training Programs: To increase employability of final year Graduating students of 13 Government Degree Colleges, Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam has introduced a National Skills Qualifications Framework aligned Graduate add on training program in sectors complementing their core studies like Banking, Financial Services and Insurance ,Electronics, Information Technology ,Beauty & Wellness and Apparel sectors. Presently, 1,590 students are undertaking training in 13 colleges across the State. During the academic year 2020-21, 15 more Government Degree Colleges would be covered for training 5,500 students under Graduate job training programme.
7) Bachelor of Vocation (B. Voc) Degree Programme: The Bachelor of Vocation (B.Voc) Program is joint effort of Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam and Department of Higher Education (DoHE). This three years full-time Degree Programme is running in 12 Degree Colleges for the State in two Sectors (Retail and Tourism & Hospitality) from Academic Year 2017-18. Presently more than 2,691 students have been enrolled.
8) Other Short Term Training Programmes through Training Service Providers (TSP’s): Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam has on-boarded Training Service Providers to impart skills training to youth of Himachal Pradesh on various sectors such as Automobile, Manufacturing, Power, Construction and Plumbing, Banking, Financial Services and Insurance, IT-ITes, Electronics, Healthcare, Tourism & Hospitality. During the financial year 2020-21, more than 12,000 youths are to be trained.
9) Livelihood based Skill training of Persons with Disability (PWD): Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam has launched ‘Nav Dharaana’- a livelihood based training programme for persons with disabilities for nurturing employment and entrepreneurship skills amongst the differently abled persons. Process for selection of Training Service Provider for training approximately 300 PWDs in Retail, Hospitality, Agriculture and Food Processing sectors is in progress.
10) City Livelihood Centers (CLCs), Rural Livelihood Centers (RLCs) and Model Career Centers (MCCs): To provide institutional support for skill development activities across the State the construction of City Livelihood Centers (CLCs), Rural Livelihood Centers (RLCs) and Model Career Centers MCC) are under progress. Construction work of City Livelihood Centers (CLC) Sundernagar and Shamshi and RLC Sadiyana in Mandi Zone has been completed and training in these CLC’s and RLC’s are to be initiated soon. Suitable land for setting up of a Skill Centre in Jeori and for RLC at Nagrota Bagwan (Kangra) and Bangana (Una) has been identified. The tendering process has been initiated. In addition to this 9 MCCs are being constructed/ renovated in association with Department of Labour & Employment to provide the Himachal youth with proper career counseling support to match their aspirations with their vocation and also to provide them access to National Career Portal for job opportunities across the country. 10.18 State Component under Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna 2.0 Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam is implementing agency for the State component of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna 2.0. To meet the said mandate, Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam has enrolled more than 13,000 youth during the financial year 2019-20 in various job roles in 22 Sectors, out of which training for more 9,000 youth has been than completed and target to enroll more than 18,000 youth under the programme by March, 2021.
Awareness Creation and Publicity Himachal Pradesh Kaushal : Vikas Nigam has drawn an elaborate Publicity and brand building plan to reach out to all Himachal youth aspiring for vocational education. To ensure broader outreach, publication of IEC materials such as FAQs, Counseling Booklet, Program Brochures, Videos, Posters, and Leaflets etc. is being undertaken. Regular TV and Radio programmes are being broadcast to create awareness of the various programmes and schemes of Himachal Pradesh Kaushal Vikas Nigam. Social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter are also being utilized extensively.

Power is lifeblood of any economy. This is crucial input for nearly all the goods and services of the modern world. Being a hilly State, Himachal Pradesh has traditional and renewable sources of energy such as hydro power, solar and fuel wood. Electric supply at the time of formation of the State in 1948 was available only in the Capitals of the erstwhile princely States and the connected load at the time was less than 500 KW. Thus the organization of the power utility in the State began and first Electrical Division was formed in August, 1953 under the Public Works Department. Subsequently a department of M.P.P & Power was formed in April, 1964.
Himachal Pradesh has immense potential for hydropower as it is naturally blessed with abundant streams and rivers flowing down from towering mountains. Hydro power generation is the engine for the economic growth of the Himachal, as it makes a direct and significant contribution to economy in terms of revenue generation, employment opportunities and enhancing the quality of life. The State of Himachal Pradesh has an estimated Hydro Potential of 27,436 MW out of which 24,000 MW has been assessed as harnessable while the Government has decided to forgo the rest to safeguard the environment and to maintain ecological balance and protect social concerns. The State has been accelerating the pace of Hydropower development through the active involvement of both the public and the private sector. Directorate of Energy’s Physical and Financial achievements made during financial year 2020-21 (up to December 2020 and anticipated up to 31st March 2021):
a) Allotment of above 5MW capacity HEPs, viz. Tandi (104), Rashil (130) and Sach Khas (267) MW capacity HEPs have been allotted to SJVNL.
b) Revenue received from sale of GoHP share of power up to 31st December 2020 is `610.00 crore and anticipated from January 2021 to March 2021 is `66.00 crore, whereas, budget estimates `900 crore for financial year 2020-21.
c) As per Energy Conservation (EC) Act 2001, all the State Governments / UT Administrations have designated an agency as State Designated Agency (SDA) to coordinate, regulate and enforce the provisions of this Act within the State, either by assigning additional responsibilities to one of the existing departments of the State Government or by establishing a dedicated Stand-Alone SDA for energy efficiency. For this purpose Department of Energy has launched various programmes and schemes under SDA such as awareness programes, Energy Conservation Building Code, State energy Conservation Fund in which an incentive scheme for 100 industries, 6 LPD in solar power heater in Government establishment have been granted. Publicity and awareness through Radio-Jingles has also been started on Energy Conservation Week.
Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd.: The Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board was constituted on 1st September, 1971 in accordance with the provisions of Electricity Supply Act (1948) and has been reorganized as Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board Ltd. w.e.f. 14.06.2010 under company act 1956. HPSEBL is responsible for the supply of Uninterrupted & Quality power to all consumers in Himachal Pradesh. Power is being supplied through a network of Transmission, Sub-Transmission & Distribution lines laid in the State. Since its inception, Board has made long strides in executing the targets entrusted to it. Following table lists various schemes of HPSEB Ltd:
Hydro Electricity Generation and Transmission:
i) Hydro Electricity Generation 27 hydro electric projects with installed capacity of 489.35 MW are under operation in HPSEBL. One hydro electric project Uhl Stage-III (100 MW) is under construction by BVPCL, a subsidiary company of HPSEBL. During current Financial Year up to December, 2020 1,791.86 MU of energy has been generated by HPSEBL’s own power houses and additional 238.67 MU of energy is expected to be generated by the end of Financial Year 2020-21.
ii) Transmission The transmission wing of HPSEBL has installed 54 EHV Sub-Stations with a transformation capacity of 4,789.19 MVA and 3,595.45 Ckt. Km EHV lines till financial year2019-20. During 2020-21 up to December, 2020, 20.326 Ckt. Km EHV lines and 1 No. EHV SubStations have been commissioned.
Future Plans of the Department:
1) Computerization of all the offices in HPSEBL.
2) Augmentation and construction of new Sub-Stations and HT/LT lines to provide quality and reliable power to the consumers in the State of H.P.
3) To reduce the transmission and distribution losses.
Projects under Operation/ Execution stage through HPPCL are as under:
a) The proposal of Triveni Mahadev HEP (78 MW) has been found viable from techno commercial angle in preliminary studies hence HPPCL is preparing the DPR of this project jointly with HPSEBL.
b) DPRs of Kashang Stage-IV (48 MW). Bara Khamba (45 MW) in district Kinnaur are being prepared.
c) For Gyspa Dam project (300 MW) fresh ToR for obtaining permission for investigation works from MoEF &CC have been requested. Tender will be flouted after ToR are issued.

HPPCL has set up a 5 MW Berra Dol solar power plant, near Shri Naina Devi Ji Shrine in District Bilaspur. This is the first solar power project in Himachal Pradesh which was built in the Government sector. HPPCL has generated 16.97 MU of electricity from this project and revenue generated by sale of power till 31.12.2020 was ` 6.45 crore. Targets of power generation up to 31.03.2021 are 19.29 MU. HPPCL has also planned to set up another solar power plant of 10 MW capacity at Aghlor in district Una. DPR has been prepared and HPPCL is pursuing the matter of transfer of land with industrial department.
Financial Achievements in Respects of Projects under Construction/ Implementation Stage: Following table presents achievements of the projects under construction/implementation stage of Himachal Pradesh Power Corporation Limited are hereunder: HPPCL had generated ` 386.30 crore in previous year i.e. till 31.12.2019, whereas, it generated ` 90.09 crore revenue from sale of power till 31.12.2020. The fall in revenue generation is due to the COVID-19 forced countrywide lockdown which reduced the demand of power from industries.
Himachal Pradesh Power Transmission Corporation Limited (HPPTCL): This corporation is an undertaking of Govt. of Himachal Pradesh with an aim to strengthen the transmission network and to facilitate evacuation of power from upcoming generating plants. The tasks entrusted to Corporation by Government of Himachal Pradesh include execution of all new works; both Transmission Lines and Sub-Stations of voltage rating 66 KV and above, formulation, upgradation, and execution of Transmission Master Plan of Himachal Pradesh for strengthening of transmission network, and evacuation of power. HPPTCL is discharging the functions of a State Transmission Utility (STU) and coordinating the transmission related issues with Central Transmission Utility, Central Electricity Authority, Ministry of Power (Govt. of India), Himachal Pradesh Government and HPSEB Ltd. Besides, corporation is also responsible for planning and coordination of transmission related issues with IPPs, CPSUs, State PSUs, HPPCL and other State/Central Government Agencies. The Government of India has approved ADB loan for implementation of transmission projects covered in Power system Master plan (PSMP) of Himachal Pradesh. The loan was trifurcated into Tranche I, II and III respectively. Tranche I and Tranche II have been successfully closed up to 30.06.2020. The following works are under execution in Tranche III. In addition to above, Green Energy Corridor-I (GEC-I) funded by KfW Bank, Germney amounting to 57 million Euro has been signed in October, 2015. The GEC comprises Intra State and InterState transmission system, system strengthening along with other control infrastructure for the renewable power capacity addition in eight renewable resource rich States including Himachal Pradesh. There are a total of 10 projects, of which 3 have been completed and the rest are currently under execution. The following table shows various schemes under Green Energy Corridor:-

HIMURJA has made concerted efforts to popularize renewable energy programmes throughout the State with financial support of Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Government of India and the State Government. HIMURJA is also assisting 134 the Government for exploitation of Small Hydro projects (upto 5 MW) in the State. Following programmes are launched by Himurja:
Solar Power Plants/ Projects: Following Solar Power Plants are the main Himurja projects run all over the State.
Small Hydro Electric Projects Upto 5 MW Capacity Being Executed Through Private Sector Participation: During the current financial year, up to March, 2021, it is anticipated that the installed capacity of 14.00 MW hydro projects will be acheived. For the financial year 2021-22, capacity addition of 20.00 MW has been targeted. As on December, 2020, the allotted projects up to 5 MW capacity are in the Table below.
Micro Hydel Projects up to 100 KW programme and Projects under State Sector: There are, 55 Micro Hydel projects allotted up to December 2020. Whereas, under State sector 12 projects of 32.94 MW capacity were sanctioned up to December, 2020. Out of 12 projects 4 were commissioned, 3 were allotted on BOT basis and 5 were on Pre-Implementation Agreement Stage. Apart from above, solar Off-Grid power plants of 250 Watt capacity (each household) have been provided to 1,000 BPL families households in remote and tribal area of Pangi valley in Chamba district.

1) Hydro Power Policy amended.
2) Free Power royalty rationalized.
3) Mandatory purchase of power by HPSEBL for projects up to 10MW.
4) The tariff determination process streamlined.
5) Exemption in open access charges for projects up to 25MW.
6) Allocation of projects up to 10MW for captive use of industrial units.
7) Reduction in upfront premium and capacity addition charges.
8) Nominal charges for Government/ Forest land announced.
9) One time Amnesty to the project developers by redefining zero date for projects which are under investigation and clearance stage where IAs have already been signed and by redefining Scheduled Commercial Operation Date (SCOD) for projects under construction stage.

Himachal Pradesh is a major tourism destination and tourism is contributing greatly to the growth, development and economy of the State. The contribution of the tourism sector to the State GDP is about 7 per cent which is quite significant. Himachal Pradesh is famous for its towering hills, enchanting valleys, beautiful landscapes and popular hill stations. Many outdoor activities such as rock climbing, mountain biking, paragliding, trekking rafting, ice skating and heli-skiing are popular tourist attractions in Himachal Pradesh. As a result of COVID-19 pandemic, in the year 2020-21 there is a shortfall of incoming tourists. There were a total of 32,13,379 tourists (31,70,714-Indian, Foreigner42,665) in comparison to 1,72,12,107 (1,68,29,231- Indian, Foreigner- 3,82,876) who visited Himachal in 201920. The department of Tourism and Civil Aviation with the assistance of Asian Development Bank (ADB) under Infrastructure Investment Program for Tourism in Himachal Pradesh, during financial year 2020-21 completed 8 subprojects worth `258.00 crore. The infrastructure created under these 08 sub-projects will provide better facilities to the tourists and will increase the tourist inflow and has the potential to increase per visitor spending and length of stay in the State.
Interest Subvention Scheme: The Government of India, has notified Interest Subvention Scheme on Working Capital Loan for Hospitality Industry on 02-07-2020 to support business investment and economic growth over the short term by providing loan for immediate needs like running day to day business, paying workers wages, rents and utility bills etc for smooth functioning. Total Number of 105 cases have been recommended by the field offices up to 21-12-2020 and out of which 27 cases worth `4.94 crore have been approved by the banks under this scheme.
Publicity: Tourism Department prepares different types of promotional publicity material like brochures/pamphlets, posters, calendars, blow ups etc. and participates in various tourism fairs and festivals organized in the country and abroad. This department is also promoting tourism through promotional films and Social Media platform like Face book, Twitter and You tube.
Civil Aviation: To attract high end tourist in the State, the Government will take up expansion of Kullu, Kangra and Shimla Airstrips on top priority basis. Under the RCS UDAN-2, five heliports are being developed in Himachal Pradesh- Shimla and Rampur (Distt.Shimla) Baddi (Distt.Solan) Kangnidhar (Distt. Mandi) and SASE (Manali, Distt. Kullu). Proposal for construction of Greenfield Airport at Nagchala in Mandi District is under active consideration by the State Government for which land measuring 2513 bigha has been identified.
Nai Raahein Nai Manzilein: The State Government has launched a new scheme “Nai Raahein Nai Manzilein” with an outlay of ` 50.00 crore for the development of unexplored areas from tourism point of view. Under this scheme .Govt. of Himachal Pradesh has proposed to construct a “Shiv Dham” consisting of the replica of all the 12 Shiva Jyoterlingas and culture center with open spaces for meditation etc in Mandi town for which ` 20.00 crore has been released under this scheme. Bir Billing area in District Kangra is being developed as a Paragliding Destination with the support of Forest Department (`8.36 crore), Chansahal area in District Shimla is being developed as Ski Destination (`5.31 crore). Since Water Sports have a huge potential in the State. three areas are being developed as water sports activities centre in H.P. i.e. Larji Reservoir (`3.72 crore), Pong Dam Area (`1.72 crore ) and Kol Dam (`6.44 crore). In addition to this, the Government of Himachal Pradesh has sanctioned an amount of ` 7.36 crore for the development of Atal Rohtang Tunnel area (South Portal). The Government has started the process of preparing detailed estimates for Tourist Information Centre, Souvenior Shops, Restaurant, Public Convience etc. to develop Sissu (North Atal Tunnel) as a new tourist destination.
Ropeways: In order to provide more facilities to the tourist/visitors, the Department has signed following agreements for setting up of Ropeway projects in the State:
1) Dharamshala Ropeway in District Kangra.
2) Sri Adi Himanai-Chamunda Ji in District Kangra.
3) Palchan to Rohtang in Distt Kullu.
4) Bhunter to Bijli Mahadev in Distt.Kullu.

UNESCO defines sustainable tourism as “tourism that respects both local people and the traveller, cultural heritage and the environment”. Sustainable tourism seeks to provide people with an exciting and educational holiday that is also beneficial to the people of the host country. All tourism activities, whether it be motivationholidays, business travel, conferences, adventure travel and ecotourism–need to be sustainable. This approach to tourism is becoming so popular that it is believed it would become ‘main stream’ within a decade. 12.8 Sustainable Tourism in Himachal Pradesh The State Government being very conscious of the ecological sensitivity of the region, has resolved to protect and enhance its natural resources and to follow the path of sustainable development in all sectors as seen from the State’s Hydropower policy, sustainable tourism policy, sustainable forest management policies and environmental master plans. The State also plans to encourage investors who see sustainability as a viable economic venture. In 2013, the State had come up with the Sustainable Tourism Development Policy to use sustainable tourism as a means to provide better employment and greater business opportunities for residents, to contribute to the protection of the State’s unique natural and cultural heritage. Government of Himachal Pradesh Tourism Sector Policy 2019 is designed in such a manner that it will accelerate economic development, minimize social inequality, reduce poverty, conserve tangible and intangible heritage (by making use of state of the art technologies) all in a sustainable manner. One of the most important objective of this policy is “To create an enabling environment for investments for sustainable tourism”. This policy has been framed to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDGs 8 and 12 through various objectives directed towards the socio-economic growth of host communities, offering quality experience to travelers, protection of the naturalcultural environment and State’s destinations, and creating an investment friendly environment for private investors.

The Himachal Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation (HPTDC) is a pioneer in the development of tourism infrastructure in Himachal Pradesh. It provides a complete package of tourism services, including accommodation, catering, transport, conferencing & sports activities having the largest chain of finest hotels and restaurants in the State with 54 hotels having 983 rooms with 2,275 beds. The Tourism Industry in India and cross the Globe has been hit hard by Corona Virus Paramedic as such the Tourism Industry of the State as well as the HPTDC has also effected very badly. However, some hotels were used as Quarantine Centre and have generated meagre revenue. The Hotels of the Corporation are opened from July, 2020 but the inflows of the tourist are very less in comparison to previous year and likely to be normal by April, 2021. HPTDC generated an income of `24.41 crore up to December, 2020 against the target of `31.14 crore.

Roads are a very vital infrastructure for rapid economic growth of the State. The development of important sectors of economy such as Agriculture, Horticulture, Industry, Mining and Forestry depends upon efficient road network. In the absence of any other suitable and viable modes of transportation like railways and waterways, roads play a vital role in boosting the economy of the hilly State like Himachal Pradesh. Starting almost from a scratch the State Government has constructed 39,998 kms. of motorable roads (inclusive of jeepable and track) till November, 2020. The State Government has been assigning a very high priority to road sector. The target fixed for 2020-21 and achievements made up to November, 2020 are given as under in table 12.1:- In the State 10,508 villages as details given below in table 12.2 connected with roads as on 30th November, 2020:-
National Highways (Central Sector): At present, 2,592 kms. of 19 National Highways are the main lifelines of the State Road network. Out of which 1,238 kms. length is maintained/ developed by State Public Works Department. Beside the above, the National Highway Authority of India has developed and/or maintained 785 kms. of 5 National Highways that are under various stage for implementation. Additionally 569 km. of 3 National Highways are being developed or maintained by Border Road Organization.
Railways: There are two narrow gauge railway lines connecting Shimla with Kalka (96 kms.) and Jogindernagar with Pathankot (113 kms.) and one 33 kms. broad gauge railway line from Nangal Dam to Charuru in District Una as of December, 2020.
Road Transport: Road Transport is the main stay of economic activity in the Pradesh as other means of transport namely Railways and Airways are negligible therefore, the Road Transport Corporation of the State assumes paramount importance in the State. The passenger transport services to the people of Himachal Pradesh, within and outside the State are being provided by Himachal Road Transport Corporation with a fleet strength of 3,161 buses, 75 Electric Buses, 21 Taxies & 50 Electric Taxies and in private sector fleet strength of 3,267 Buses, 27,084 Taxis and 12,394 Maxi cabs are providing transport services in the state.
HRTC Schemes for the benefits of Passengers: For the benefit of people the following schemes remained in operation during the year
i) Green Card Scheme:-Green card holder is allowed 25 per cent discount in fare, if the journey under taken by passenger is of 50 km. The cost of this card is `50 and having its validity for two years.
ii) Smart Card Scheme: Corporation has introduced Smart card scheme. The cost of this card is `50 having its validity for two years. This card holder is allowed having 10 per cent discount in fare and also valid in HRTC Ordinary, Super Fast, Semi Deluxe and Deluxe buses. In Volvo and AC buses discount is to be allowed from 1st October to 31st March, every year.
iii) Samman Card Scheme: Corporation has introduced Samman card scheme for the senior citizen of the age of the 60 years or more. Under this scheme, the discount of 30 per cent in fare is allowed in ordinary buses.
iv) Free Facility to Women: Women have been allowed free travelling facility in HRTC ordinary buses on the occasion of “Raksha Bandhan” and “Bhaiya Dooj”. Muslim women have been allowed free travelling facility on occasion of “Id” and “Baker Id”.
v) Discount in fare to Women: The Corporation has also allowed 25 per cent discount in fare in ordinary buses within the State to the women.
vi) Free Facility to Students of Government Schools: The students of Government schools up to +2 classes have been allowed free travelling facility in HRTC ordinary buses.
vii) Free Facility to the person suffering from serious disease: Free travelling facility to cancer, spinal injury, kidney and dialysis patients along with one attendant in HRTC buses for the purpose of medical treatment on referral slip issued by the Doctor within and outside the State.
viii) Free Facility to the Special abled persons: The Corporation is providing free travelling facility to special abled persons having disability of 70 per cent or more along with one attendant within State. ix) Free Facility to the Gallantry Awardees: The Gallantry Award winners have been allowed free travelling facility in HRTC’s ordinary buses in addition to Delux Buses in the State. x) Luxury Buses: The Corporation is plying 51 owned and 28 buses super luxury (Volvo / Scania) and 6 luxury AC buses under WetLeasing scheme on Inter State routes to provide better transport facility to the public.
xi) 24X7 Helpline: 24x7 HRTC/ Private Bus Passenger’s helpline No.94180-00529 and 01772657326 have been introduced to lodge and redress the complaints of passengers.
xii) Taxies on sealed roads: Taxies Services have also been introduced by the Corporation in Shimla Town for public on sealed/ restricted roads.
xiii) Free travelling facility to the families of Martyrs: The corporation is providing free travelling facility in ordinary buses to the widows, children up to the age of 18 years, parents of armed force personnel and Para Military troops who were martyred on duty.
xiv) Facility of electric buses to tourist place: The Corporation has introduced electric buses for the tourist and visitors to the famous tourist places.
xv) Facility of wheelchair to special abled person at Bus Stands: For the benefit of special abled person, wheel chair has been provided at 30 Bus Stands.
xvi) Facility of sanitary pad vending machines for women: For the benefit of women sanitary pad vending machines have been installed at 30 Bus Stands and in future will be provided in other Bus Stands.
Achievements: The Transport Department is working on objectives like employment generation along with providing quality, comfortable and choice transport services to passengers and generation of revenue to the state. Road safety remains top priority of the state. As on 31st December, 2020 the State has 17,87,482 transport and non transport registered vehicles. During 2020-21 up to December, 2020 the transport department has collected revenue of `247.69 crore and challaned 9,160 vehicles for different offences and a sum of `4.23 crore have been collected as fines up to December, 2020.

Significant achievements of the transport Department during the year 2020-21 are as under:
Water Transport:Water Transport Activities like passengers, cargo & tourists, water sports and Shikaras to be developed in Chamera, Koldam & Govind Sagar Lake for both Cargo & Passenger Transport. In this direction four locations finalized namely:-
i) Near Govt.Degree Collage Sunni.
ii) Near Hotel Hot Spring,Tattapani
iii) Village-Randol, Tattapani
iv) Village-kasol, Distt Mandi
Driving Training School (DTS) and Pollution Check Centre: In order of impart training to aspirant candidates, department has given licenses to 282 driving training schools in the State which include 8 DTS of ITI, 10 HRTC and 264 private driving training schools. Beside 104 pollution check centres have also been authorized in the State.
Guidelines for safe Transportation of School Children: The State Government is seriously concerned with the safety of school children. Department of Transport, under the guidelines of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Government of India is continuing its efforts by way of enforcement and wide publicity on Road safety.
Employment Generation: Transport Department has fixed a target of 14,500 persons employment generation for the year 2020-21 out of which direct employment to 8,600 people has been provided up to December, 2020
Inspection and Certification (I&C) Centre: In order to improve the inspection and Certification of vehicles in the State, Ministry of Road Transport Highways (MoRTH) has proposed to sanction one State of art I&C Centre at Baddi in Solan District with a cost of `16.35 crore.
Creation of Transport Nagar: To sort out the problem of traffic congestion in the State the department plans to develop Transport Nagars in every District HQ in the State.
Ropeway and Rapid Transport Corporation: State Govt. has developed a new Ropeway and Rapid Transport Corporation under the control of Transport Department. The Ropeway and Rapid Transport Development Corporation will be working on the following projects:-
(i) 21.4 km. ropeway all weather connectivity to Pangi area over Saach Pass.
(ii) Passenger ropeway from Narkanda to Hatu Peak on PPP mode
(iii) Passenger ropeway from National Highway 21 near Pandoh Dam to Mata Baglamukhi Temple, Bhakhli, District Mandi.
Electric Vehicle Policy: The Government of H.P. is committed to establish Himachal Pradesh as a model state for Electric Vehicle Adoption across segments (personal, shared and commercial) and to provide sustainable, safe, eco-friendly, inclusive and integrated mobility. For this purpose electric vehicle policy has been prepared which aims to provide incentives for electric vehicle consumers, manufactures as well as to the establish the Charging Stations.
Road Safety Measures: The Govt. of Himachal Pradesh is deeply concerned about road safety and reducing the accidents as well as fatalities. There is a need for the society at large to take cognizance of the issue and to join hands to make road safety a social movement. To give all the stakeholders an opportunity to take part in concerted action for the cause. National Road Safety Week is observed throughout the state every year in order to highlight and emphasize the need for safe roads. The 31st Road Safety Week was observed from 11th January to 17th January, 2021. The rate of road accidents has reduced as compared to the figures of last year as per table below.

When Himachal Pradesh attained status of full Statehood, the literacy rate of the Pradesh was only 31.96 per cent. As per 2011 census, it stands at 82.80 per cent. Male/female literacy rate differs somewhat in the State: as against 89.53 per cent literacy rate for males, it is 75.93 per cent for females. Following figures present a snapshot of enrollment of children in Government, Private as well in other institutes in the State: In the enrollment of children in Government schools is higher relative to private schools though the gap has closed down substantially. The enrollment of girl children for 15-16 age group is highest (74.0 per cent) in government schools, whereas boys enrollment is 57.4 per-cent and girls is 40.7 per cent. In 7-10 age group, enrollment is highest in all age group in the private schools. Percentage of children not in school is 5.7 per cent for boys and 3.2 per cent for girls in the age group, 15-16 years. Out of total enrolled children, 90.3 per cent households having Smart Phones but only 56.9 per cent students enrolled in Government Schools having Smart Phones. In all standards, boy’s proportion has fallen from 58.8 per cent in 2018 to 52.3 per cent in 2020 out of all boys enrolled in all standards in Govt. schools and girls’ proportion has fallen from 64.9 per cent in 2018 to 62.9 per cent in 2020 out of all girls enrolled in all standards in Government schools. In H.P. mother and father education, status of children enrolled in Government school is low as compare to children enrolled in Private schools. For all grade students, 96.4 per cent enrolled in Government schools have text books compare to 96.2 per cent enrolled children in Private schools. This has become possible due to the initiatives of State Government to provide free textbooks and position of Himachal Pradesh is far better than the adjoining States.

As on 31.12.2020 there are 10,723 Primary Schools and 2,029 Middle Schools in Government Sector. To overcome shortage of trained teachers, efforts are being made to make fresh appointments of teachers in remote schools regularly. An attempt has also been made to cater to the educational needs of specially abled children. The policies of the Government in the field of elementary education are implemented with following aims:
1) To achieve the goal of universalization of Elementary Education.
2) To provide Quality Elementary Education.
3) Access of education to every child in the State.

The following incentives were provided during the year 2020-21:-
NISHTHA: In Service Training at Elementary Level Department of School Education and Literacy Government of India have launched a National Mission to improve Learning outcomes at the Elementary Level through an Integrated Teachers Training Programme called NISHTHA. In 2019-20 MHRD had approved 40,381 teachers and State has trained 33,064 teachers. Remaining 8,982 Teachers will be trained online during 2020-21. NCERT has developed 18 training modules under NISHTHA for Elementary Teachers.

The programme has been launched as “Har Ghar Pathshala” as an online mode of education. During COVID-19 Har Ghar Pathshala was started as a home based teacher facilitated self study programme during lockdown period announced by the Govt. of Himachal Pradesh, to engage students in meaningful learning activities for 2 hours on a daily basis, for class 1st to 12th with the following objectives:
1) To ensure students learning is not hampered due to closure of schools in this pandemic.
2) Boosting emotional well being, immunity and fitness of students.
3) To ensure an inclusive learning environment for children with special needs.
4) Teachers constructively use this time to do online self-paced training through “Teacher App”.
e-PTM: The e-PTM drive has been extremely successful, as over 7.05 lakh Students were reached over the course of 4 days by 48,000 teachers, with participation from 98% blocks in Himachal. On an aggregate, around 80% of the parents reported that they were finding the study material being prepared by the State, as part of Har Ghar Pathshala program, useful.
Pre-Primary Programme: Pre –primary classes are being run by Government of Himachal Pradesh in selected 3,391 primary schools for the last three years. Presently, the number of schools under pre-primary intervention has increased to 3,840 in 2020-21. Due to COVID-19 breakdown, formal admissions could not be done in the early month of 2020, therefore Samagra Shikasha, Himachal Pradesh initiated online registration campaign for Nursery and KG classes from 25th July 2020.

Highest Priority is being given to education in the State. Up to December, 2020, there are 932 Government High schools, 1,869 Government Senior Secondary Schools and 139 Government Degree Colleges including 7 Sanskrit Colleges, 1 SCERT, 1 B.Ed. College and 1 Fine Art College, running in the State.

Scholarship Schemes: To improve the educational status of the deprived sections of the society, various scholarships/ stipends are being provided by the State/ Central Governments at various stages. The scholarship schemes are as under:

Tremendous efforts are made to promote Sanskrit Education by the State Government as well as Centre Government. The details are as under:-
a) Award of scholarships to students of High/ Senior Secondary Schools studying Sanskrit.
b) Providing grant for the salary of Sanskrit Lecturers for teaching Sanskrit in Secondary Schools.
c) Modernization of Sanskrit Schools.
d) Grant for various schemes for promotion of Sanskrit and for research/ research projects.
Teachers Training Programmes: The teachers training programmes are used to equip in-service teachers with the latest techniques/ teaching methods. Due to Covid -19 Pandemic, the State Council of Educational Research and training Solan and Govt. College of Teacher Education Dharamshala H.P. had organized online Training Programme in the month of October and November, 2020. 186 college and school Principals have been trained during the year 2020-21.
Free Text Books: The State Government is providing free text books to all students of 9th and 10th classes. During the year 2020-21 `17.30 crore have been spent for this purpose and 1,31,072 students have been benefitted.
Free Education to Handicapped Children: Free education to the children having more than 40 per cent disabilities is being provided in the State upto University level.
Free Education to Girls: Free education is being provided to girl students in the State up to University level including vocational and professional i.e. tuition fee is exempted.

Information Technology education is being imparted in all Government Senior Secondary Schools on self finance basis where students have opted for IT education, as an optional subject. The department is charging IT fee `110 per month per student. The students of SC (BPL) families are getting 50 per cent fee concession. In the year 2020-21 about 77,861 students are enrolled in IT education subject out of which 5,846 SC (BPL) students have benefitted under this scheme.
Samagra Shiksha: Following schemes are running under Samagra Shiksha.
i) Rashtriya Madhyamik Shiksha Abhiyan (RMSA): The RMSA is running in sharing pattern of 90:10 (90% GOI and 10 % State Govt.) The activities under RMSA are being taken up to strengthen infrastructure in the existing secondary schools, training to in service teachers, self defense trainings and kala Utsav with annual grant to schools in the State.
ii) Information and Communication Technology (ICT) Project: To improve and strengthen the teaching learning activity by using smart class rooms and multi-media teaching aids, department has successfully implemented ICT in 2,137 Government High/ Senior Secondary Schools up to 2019-20 and 418 Govt. schools are being covered during the financial year 2020-21.
iii) Vocational Education: Under the National Skill Qualification Framework Scheme, vocational education is being provided in 953 schools and 50 more schools will also be covered before 31.03.2021. Under this scheme: trades i.e. Automobile, IT/ITeS , Tourism & Hospitality, Telecom, Healthcare, Security, Retail, Agriculture , Media& Entertainment, BFSI, Physical Education , Apparels, Makeups & Home Furnishing, Beauty & Wellness, Electronics & Hardware and plumbing are being taught to the students . Further, through JioT.V the department is also providing vocational education of 15 trades in Him Shiksha-Vocational Channel during the year 2020-21.
iv) Inclusive Education for Specially abled at Secondary Stage: Under this scheme, 12 model schools have already been established in all the districts. 2,074 children with special need have been enrolled in Government schools during the year 2019. Due to Covid-19, the department could not provide Aids, Appliances and other material to the CWSN during the year 2020-21. Stipend to CWSN Girls studying in the Govt. schools is being distributed during the year 2020-21.
Rashtriya Ucchtar Shiksha Abhiyan: The Rashtriya Ucchtar Shiksha Abhiyan has been implemented in the State to improve the higher education system. Under this scheme at present 39 Govt. Degree college will be accredited from, NAAC Banglore during the year 2020-21.
Distribution of Net books/ Laptops: To strengthen teaching learning activities in schools, the department has distributed the laptops/Netbooks to 9,886 meritorious students of 10th and 12th class (4,493-10th and 4,488-12th class) of Himachal Pradesh Board of School Education, Dharamshala and 905 meritorious students of colleges affiliated with H.P.U for the academic session 2017-18 under “Srinivas Ramanujan Student Digital Yojna”.
Medha Protsahan Yojna: To assist meritorious economically weaker students of H.P by providing them coaching for CLAT/ NEET/IIT/ JEE/AIIMS /AFMC /NDA/UPSC/ SSC/ Banking etc. assistance up to `1.00 lakh is provides, 429 candidates (Graduate150, Science-200, Arts-38 and 41) benefitted under this scheme during 2020-21
Installation of CCTV Surveillance System: To provide safety and security of the Govt. Educational institutions and Students, CCTV surveillance systems have been installed in 100 government schools during the year 2020-21.
Swaran Jayanti Utkrisht Vidalaya and Utkirsht Mahavidyalaya Yojna: The Higher Education Department, H.P. has identified 68 schools of each assembly constituency and designated as Utkrisht Vidyalayas under Swaran Jayanti Utkrisht Vidyalaya Yojna in the current financial year and approved budget of ` 44.00 lakh for each school for the development and beautification of school campus and environmental friendly features. Beside this, also designated 09 Govt. Degree colleges as Utkrisht Mahavidyalya.
Khel Se Swasthaya Yojna: Sports goods such as Kabbaddi mats, JUDO mats, Wrestling, Weight lifting and Boxing rings have been provided to 29 Sr. Sec. Schools and 34 Govt. Colleges to encourage the students for the participation in sports activities under this Yojna.
Swaran Jayanti Super 100 Yojna: The department has started the process to provide the financial assistance of `1.00 lakh to the top 100 meritorious students of 10th class of Govt. schools for undergoing coaching for admission in professional / technical courses under this Yojna during the financial year 2020-21.
C.V Raman Virtual Class rooms for schools and Colleges: The department has setup 24 Nos. Virtual Class Rooms under CV Raman Virtual Classroom Yojna in District Shimla and the process of establishing virtual class rooms in 56 schools and 50 colleges is under way in the current financial year 2020-21.
Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Cluster University: Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel Cluster University of Mandi Distt has been made functional by Higher Education Department, H.P during the year 202021. Govt. Degree colleges Bassa, Drang at Narla, MLSM Sundernagar, are the constituent colleges of the Cluster University.
Initiatives during Covid -19: Due to Covid -19, the schools were closed for last 10 months and the department has decided to provide online education to the students at their home so that their studies could not be suffered. For this Department of Higher Education, H.P. has started programmes like “Har Ghar Pathshalla” wherein on line free study materials are being provided to 2,84,885 students of different classes studying in Govt. schools and also started the classes on Doordarshan Shimla under “Himachal Doordarshan Gyanshala Program” on daily Basis. The study material and notes are being made available to the students at their home through different sources. E- sambad mobile App has also been launched to resume the simit (limited) Sambad between parents and teachers during the current year 2020-21.

The department is providing Technical Education, Vocational and Industrial Training and reached a stage where aspiring students of the State can get admission in Engineering/ Pharmacy both diploma and degree as well as certificate courses in Himachal Pradesh through following institutions in Himachal Pradesh. The present intake of students in the existing Institutions is as under:
i) Degree Level 2,554
ii) B-Pharmacy 1,310
iii) Diploma Level 5,636
iv) Govt/Private ITI’s 49,000
Total 58,500
Technical Education quality Improvement programme phase-III (TEQIP-III) was started from April, 2017 and will end in March 2021. Three colleges of the State viz Jawaharlal Nehru Govt. Engineering College, Rajiv Gandhi Govt. Engineering College, Atal Bihari Vajpayee Govt. Engineering College, and Himachal Technical University have been selected under project namely Technical Education Quality Improvement Programme Phase-III with project cost of ` 20.00 crore sanctioned to Himachal Pradesh Technical University and ` 10.00 crore to each of the selected Institution.
Short Term Training under HPSDP: Under Himachal Pradesh Skill Development Project(HPSDP), HPKVN has signed MoU with 38 Govt. Industrial Training Institute (ITIs) for providing NSQF aligned Short Term Skill Training to youth of Himachal Pradesh. At present, 4,500 candidates of 33 Govt. ITIs are undergoing training. Under this project target for 3 years is 27,655 trainees for variety of job roles.
STRIVE PROJECT: 19 ITIs have been selected under Centrally Sponsored Scheme namely Skill Strengthening for Industrial Value Enhancement (STRIVE) to upgrade the infrastructure of these ITIs, so that quality training could be imparted to the trainees and `30.71 crore have been allocated for project life selected under STRIVE project. For the financial year 2020-21 `12.24 crore have been sanctioned by Govt. of India and transferred to ITIs as per their allocation and ` 11.80 crore have been allocated for State directorate.

1) More than 300 faculty have been trained through online Faculty development Programme conducted by NITTTR, IIT, NIT, NIFT and CIPET etc.
2) Conducted the online admission and counselling process with respect to engineering and pharmacy courses for the year 2020-21 and started the classes of admitted students as per AICTE/State Government institutions. Besides, the classes of existing students are being arranged online.

Health and Family Welfare: State Government’s vision is to ensure good health and well being of all citizens of the State by providing them good health services, elimination of communicable and non-communicable diseases and also expanding its health care service in this decade. State has made considerable progress on the health front and is in better position in health indicators than those of the rest of the Nation. In Himachal Pradesh, Health and Family Welfare department is providing services which include curative, preventive, primitive and rehabilitative services through a network of Hospitals, Community Health Centers etc. which are given below in the table. A brief description of various health and family welfare programs carried out in the State during 2020-21 are as under:-

Presently six Medical Colleges and one Dental College are functioning under this Directorate in Govt. sector, besides, this one medical college and four Dental Colleges that are there in private sector. The institution wise allocation and expenditure of funds during 2021-21 up to 07.01.2021 is given in the following table: Academic Achievements: Academic achievements in Medical Education and Research are as follows:-
1) MBBS & PG: During academic session 2020-21, total 870 MBBS seats were filled in Government & Private Sector besides 266 PG seats in various specialties were allotted in IGMC Shimla, Dr. RPGMC Tanda and Maharishi Markandeshwar University, Solan.
2) BDS & MDS: 355 BDS seats and 95 MDs seats were filled in both Government & Private sector during Academic Session 2020-21.
3) Nursing : 30 seats for ANM training course, 1,540 seats for GNM course, 1,780 B.Sc. Nursing, 435 Post Basic B.Sc Nursing and 181 seats for M.Sc Nursing Degree course have been approved in various Govt. and Private institutions during academic session 2020-21,
4) Para Medical Courses: 61 students were enrolled in Para Medical courses of various streams during Academic Session 2020-21 in IGMC Shimla and Dr. RPGMC Tanda.
5) Scholarship/Stipend: State Government has enhanced the stipend of MBBS and BDS Intern students from `15,000 to `17,000 per month which shall benefit 200 passed out MBBS students and 60 BDS students of the Government Medical/Dental Colleges yearly.
6) Diplomate of National Board (DNB) Courses: For admission to the DNB courses 2 seats each in Neurology & Physiology in Dr RPGMC Tanda and 3 seats in Gyane in SLBS GMC Mandi have been made available during the academic session 2020-21.
The Institution wise major achievements up to December, 2020 are given at Table 13.7:-

Indian System of Medicines and Homoeopathy plays a vital role in the Health Care System of the State of Himachal Pradesh. The Department of Ayurveda was established in 1984, now it has been named as AYUSH Vibhag. Health Care services are being provided to the general public through AYUSH health infrastructure in the State. To meet out this objective, State AYUSH Policy, 2019 was framed and notified on 6th November, 2019. Under this policy, 48 MoUs worth `1,323.25 crore were signed with prospective Investors in AYUSH Sector. Overall view of the AYUSH infrastructure is given below: Development of Herbal Resources: One Model Nursery in public sector is being established by spending `25.00 lakh at Karsog and two small nurseries were established by spending `12.50 lakh at Solan and Kinnaur for propogating/ promotion of cultivation of medicinal plants. One nursery in private sector is also being set up in Dehra with a grant of `12.50 lakh under National Medicinal Plant Board.
COVID-19 Management: The total numbers of COVID positive cases were 58,222 of which 56,917 recovered and COVID deaths comprised of 981as on the 14th February, 2021. These statistics compare favourably or better than the national averages. District- wise detail is as below:

In order to curb COVID -19 Pandemic, initiatives were undertaken from time to time as per need of the hour and preparedness was ramped up as per case load. The following initiatives have been taken:
Surveillance and Contact Tracing: i) To prevent and control local transmission of COVID 19, instructions for closing schools were issued in month of March itself, fairs/ tournaments / melas were postponed, religious gathering closures were done and timely lockdowns were ensured. ii) Contact-tracing teams were formed in the districts for containing of the spread of COVID 19. The containment zones in the districts were notified by the district administration. The active surveillance was being carried out in containment zones and passive surveillance in the buffer zone by health workers. Micro plans for containing local transmission of COVID 19 were formulated. iii) Active case finding campaign for COVID 19 was conducted on 3rd April, 2020 to 16th April, 2020 to identify a database of the vulnerable population and identify high risk individuals for quarantine. iv) Himsuraksha Abhiyan across all the districts of the State was carried out from 25th November, 2020 to 4th January, 2021 in a campaign mode to enhance COVID 19, TB, and Leprosy case finding in state with special focus on vulnerable population.
Information Education and Communication:
i) In order to promote COVID 19 appropriate behavior extensively at the grass root level intensive IEC activities were undertaken across the State through print, electronic and social platforms since the alert was announced by Government of India.
ii) Jan Andolan was launched by Hon'ble Prime Minister on 8th October, 2020 on COVID-19 appropriate behavior to follow three mantras, namely, wearing of face mask, washing hands frequently and maintaining safe distance of 6 ft.
iii) The people in the State are being made aware about preventive measures regularly through various mass media campaigns. A special campaign of “Sureksha Ki Yukti, Corona se Mukti” has effectively been launched throughout the State for awareness of the general public.
iv) The Public representatives are generating awareness in their respective areas regularly under leadership of Chief Minister and Ministers. This shows the ownership of the programme at highest level and is an important motivating factor for all stakeholders involved in control of COVID-19.
v) The tourists visiting the State are regularly being made aware through different IEC media to follow preventive measures relating to COVID-19.
vi) During 2020-21, 50,000 No. of packets costing `30.00 lakh of Madhuyshtiadi Kshay (Immunity Booster) have been distributed free of cost amongst Senior citizens/corona warriors/ active and recovered cases of COVID 19 and also manufacturing AYUSH Kwath worth `1.30 crore at Auurvedic Pharmacy Jogonder Nagar and this Kwath will be distributed free of cost during 2021-22 amongst 7.50 lakh Senior citizens and all COVID warriors of the State.
Testing:
i) At the start of the COVID 19 pandemic, samples from Himachal Pradesh were sent to NIV Pune. After that IGMC, Shimla and Dr. RPGMC, Tanda, Kangra started to process the samples and eventually 8 RT PCR Labs were established and all the COVID samples of the State were tested at these labs.
ii) In the Districts, 25 TrueNAT machines, 2 CBNAAT machines and Rapid Antigen Kits were procured for strengthening of COVID 19 testing. 108 ambulances were specially modified for COVID-19 testing and are being utilized at field level.
iii) The state is processing around 8,000 samples on daily basis. The private Labs have been authorized to conduct various categories of tests in the state in order to ramp up the testing capacity.
iv) The rates to be charged by private labs for conducting True NAT testing in the State has been fixed @ `2000 per test, for Rapid Antigen Testing rates to be charged are `300 per sample inclusive of all the charges and applicable taxes.
v) Auto SMS to all persons being tested for COVID19 by RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen are being sent as soon as result is available. This has reduced the unnecessary travel/ wait/anxiety for want of result by general public and has brought more transparency in reporting/ sharing of results.
vi) Jeevan Dhara–“Mobile Health and Wellness Centre” has been initiated to provide health care services for the population living in remote, inaccessible, underserved areas. It is also used for testing the COVID suspects in remote areas.
Treatment and Management:
i) To minimize mortality and morbidity of the general population at large, non COVID health services were enabled. Essential health services were resumed in the month of April, directions for routine surgeries in non COVID facilities were given in the month of August, maternal and obstetric care services along with immunization were in continuum.
ii) Dedicated facilities were created for management of COVID patients depending upon severity of illness. The asymptomatic and mild cases are managed at Dedicated COVID Care centres (generally Non-Health facilities at Panchayat/Block Level), those with moderate illness are managed at Dedicated COVID Health Centres (Subdivisional/Distt Level) and severe cases are managed at Dedicated COVID Hospitals at District Level/Medical Colleges. All the treatment/diet etc. are provided free of cost at all these facilities
iii) Through 104 comprehensive call centre and e-OPD, counseling services on mental health issues such as depression, anxiety, distress is being provided to all the patients For non COVID health care the community at large was encouraged to undertake, e-OPD consultations.
iv) For the better clinical management of COVID Patients, the State COVID Clinical Team and COVID clinical committees at Medical college level have been formed. The committees from time to time issued clinical management protocol for management of COVID patients and undertake the death audits.
Incentives for Workers:
i) To motivate health workers, the State of Himachal Pradesh has announced incentives for the Sanitation workers and the ward boys @ ` 200 per shift.
ii) ASHA workers @ `2,000 per month from September to December 2020, for the COVID related work.
Strengthening of Health System/Infrastructure:
i) To provide quality health care to COVID 19 patients in Himachal Pradesh, oxygen cylinders were procured and oxygen manifold were installed in Dedicated COVID Hospitals. Also ventilators provided by Govt. of India were installed in the facilities in order manage the critical COVID patients.
ii) Oxygen generation plants are ready in DDU Shimla, SLBSGMCH Nerchowk, ZH Dharamshala, Dr. RPGMC Tanda and Dr. YSPGMC Nahan. Oxygen generation plants in PLNGMC Chamba, DRKGMC Hamirpur are in development stage.
iii) To handle any unanticipated increase in COVID19 cases in future, Makeshift hospitals are being developed at Nalagarh (Solan), IGMC Shimla, DRPGMC Tanda (Kangra), SLBSGMCH Nerchowk (Mandi). These will be utilised in future as per need of the area/hospital.

The Social Justice and Empowerment Department of the State is engaged in socio-economic and educational upliftment of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, other backward classes, infirms, specially abled, orphans children, widows, destitute, poor children and women etc. The following pension schemes are being implemented under social welfare programme: The department is also providing funds to three Corporations viz; Himachal Pradesh Minorities Finance and Development Corporation, Himachal Pradesh Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation and Himachal Pradesh Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribe Development Corporation under the head investment for the running of various self employment schemes.

The important schemes implemented during 2020-21 are as under:-
Women State Home Mashobra: The main purpose of the scheme is to provide free shelter, food, clothing, education, health and medicines, counseling and vocational training to the young girls, widows, deserted, destitute and women who are physically and sexually abused. At present 21 inmates and 2 children inmates are living in State Home, Mashobra. For rehabilitation of such women after leaving State Home, financial assistance up to ` 25,000 per woman is provided. In case of marriage financial assistance of `51,000 is also provided to women
One Stop Centre: One Stop Centre is a Central Sponsored Scheme. The main objectives of the scheme are to provide integrated support and assistance to women affected by violence, both in private and public spaces under one roof; and to facilitate immediate, emergency and non-emergency access to a range of services including medical, legal, psychological and counselling support. Presently one “One Stop Centre” has been set up Head Quarter of each District in Himachal Pradesh.
Mahila Shakti Kendra: The Scheme provides an interface for rural women to approach the Government for availing their entitlements and for empowering them through awareness generation, training and capacity building. Student volunteers engaged under the scheme encourage the spirit of voluntary community service and gender equality, these student volunteers serve as “agents of change” and have a lasting impact on communities and Nation. This scheme is operational in all the district of Himachal Pradesh.
Saksham Gudiya Board: The main objectives of the scheme are as follows:
1) To make recommendations for the policies for empowerment of girl child/adolescent girl.
2) To make recommendations on acts, rules, policies and programme related to safety and security of girl child.
3) To review the implementation of various programmes being run by different departments for upliftment and empowerment of girls child in the State.
4) To make recommendations for protection of crime against girl child and other social security measures.
5) To make recommendations for qualitative improvement in health and Nutritional aspects of girls.

The increase in expenditure on social services sector affirms the commitment of the government towards social well-being. The expenditure on social services (education, health and others) by the State as a proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) increased to 10.89 per cent from 7.68 per cent, during the period 2014-15 to 202021 (Advanced Estimate-A). An increase is witnessed across all social sectors during this period. For education, it increased from 4.12 per cent in 2014-15 to 5.31 per cent in 2020-21 and for health from 1.25 to 1.93 per cent during the same period. The share of expenditure on social services out of total budgetary expenditure increased to 34.68 per cent in 2020-21 (A) from 25.73 per cent in 2014-15 (Table 13.14) Note:
1) Social services: It includes, education, sports, art and culture, medical and public health, family welfare, water supply and sanitation, housing, urban development, welfare of SCs, STs and OBCs, labour and labour welfare, social security and welfare, nutrition, relief on account of natural calamities etc.
2) Expenditure on ‘Education’ pertains to expenditure on ‘Education, Sports, Arts and Culture’.
3) Expenditure on ‘Health’: It includes expenditure on ‘Medical and Public Health’, ‘Family Welfare’ and ‘Water Supply and Sanitation’.
4) The ratios to GDP at current market prices are based on 2011-12 base. GDP for 2020-21 is BE Estimates.

The main objective of the Rural Development Department is to implement the poverty alleviation, employment generation and area development programmes in the rural areas of the State. The following State and Centrally Sponsored Developmental Schemes and programmes are being implemented in the State.
Deen Dayal Antyodaya National Rural Livelihood Mission (DAYNRLM): This programme is one of the flagship programmes of Ministry of Rural Development (MORD), Government of India aiming to reduce poverty by enabling one from a poor household to access gainful employment and skilled wage employment opportunity resulting in sustainable livelihood. NRLM is being implemented across the State in 80 intensive blocks.
The main features of this programme are as under:
1) Self employment by imparting area/need based trainings in different trades to SHGs through RSETIs,
2) Women employment through providing opportunities for livelihood earnings of all rural households by giving them necessary trainings.
3) Another source of livelihood for women is becoming Resource Women like Community Resource Persons (CRPs), Professional Resource Persons (PRPs), and performing rounds to make self help group (SHG) and VOs. In Himachal Pradesh more than 23,531 women Self Help Groups (SHGs), 513 Village Organizations (Vos) and 8 Cluster Level Federations (CLFs) have been formed. Under this programme women SHGs have been provided with financial assistance in term of Start-up Fund, Revolving Fund and Community Investment Fund.
The incentives being provided to the women SHGs are as under:
i) Interest Subvention: All DAY-NRLM women SHGs are eligible for interest subvention on credit up to `3.00 lakh at 7 per cent per annum. This scheme has been segregated into two types of districts. Category 1 Districts: Kangra, Mandi, Shimla and Una (Under Govt. of India), and Category 2 Districts: Bilaspur, Chamba, Hamirpur, Kinnaur, Kullu, Lahaul & Spiti, Sirmaur and Solan (under State Govt. i.e HPSRLM). Till date HPSRLM has disbursed `66.29 lakh under interest subvention.
ii) Financial aid through Revolving Fund and Community Investment Fund: Under NRLM, Self Help Groups (SHGs) and higher level federations (village organizations and cluster/block level federation) of poor women have been formed. On performance basis, three months after the formation, SHGs are provided with revolving funds (RF) amounting to `15 thousand, if the group regularly holds meetings, and keeps records of savings, interperson loans, and repayments. HPSRLM has disbursed revolving fund amounting to 18.02 crore to more than 12,462 SHGs.
iii) Startup funds: Startup fund ₹ 2,500 is provided to all SHGs and ₹45,000 for each VO instantly after its formation. HPSRLM has started disbursing startup funds from 2018-19 and since then ` 220.47 lakh has been disbursed to 8,710 SHGs and `87.90 lakh to 196 VOs.
iv) Revolving fund (RF): Revolving fund of Ten to Fifteen thousand would be provided to those SHGs who have been practicing Punchsutra for the last 3 months. Till date ` 11.40 crore has been disbursed to 6,767 SHGs.
v) Community Investment Fund (CIF): Community investment fund of `50 thousand to `1.10 lakh is provided to each SHG who have adopted regular internal lending of savings and revolving fund to the members by small loans for the previous 6 months. These funds are routed through the Village Organizations to the SHGs in the shape of loan. 169 Village Organizations, who are performing well, are covered under this scheme and are given additional funds amounting to `5.90 crore as CIF from NRLM.
vi) Livelihood Promotion: HPSRLM has identified approx. 16,000 SHGs which are involved in different livelihood activities. From this year onwards HPSRLM is also working to enhance the farm livelihood opportunities, which have wide scope to achieve Zero Based Natural Farming (ZBNF). The products made by these SHGs/VOs are sold under Him-Ira brand. This brand commenced in June, 2019 and women have earned more than ` 2.50 crore under this brand.
The district-wise Targets and Achievement during the year 2020-21 under NRLM up to December, 2020 is as under:
Mukhya Mantri 1 Bigha Scheme: Mukhya Mantri 1 Bigha Scheme, launched in the month of May 2020, is a convergence scheme between NRLM & MGNREGA. Any woman of a registered SHG with NRLM can avail the benefit of this scheme up to ₹1.00 lakh if she holds MGNERGA job card. Under this scheme 20,540 applications have been received of which 11,397 were sanctioned. On the basis of Sanctioned applications 2,779 works were started and 140 works completed with total expenditure of `4.20 crore.
Deen Dyal Upadhaya- Gramin Kaushalya Yojna (DDU-GKY): Deen Dyal Upadhaya-Gramin Kaushalya Yojana is being implemented in the State through Rural Development Department and is the flagship scheme of MORD, GOI. The main aim of programme is to provide skills to rural youth, who are poor and provide them jobs having regular monthly wages at or above the minimum. The Benefits under this Scheme are as below:
1) It has been assured that 70 per cent of the trained candidates will get placements in various Sectors.
2) Training and Hostel facility is given free of cost.
3) Course duration varies from 3-12 months.
4) Candidates post placement tracking is done for one year.
Watershed Development Programme: With the objective to develop wasteland/ degraded lands, droughtprone and desert areas and to restore the ecological balance by harnessing, conserving and developing natural resources, the integrated wastelands development is being implemented on watershed approach in the State. This programme is being implemented on the funding pattern of 90:10 between Centre and State. Up to December, 2020, the progress made under WDC-PMKSY is given below:-
Pradhan Mantri Awaas Yojana Gramin (PMAY-G): The PMAY-G aims to provide a pucca house with basic amenities to all homeless households and households living in kutcha and dilapidated buildings, by 2022. The minimum unit size has been enhanced from the current 20 sq. mt. to 25 sq. mt including dedicated area for hygienic cooking. The unit assistance has also been increased from `75,000 to `1.30 lakh in hilly States and hard areas. Under this scheme a financial assistance of `1.50 lakh from 2019-20 is being provided to the beneficiaries for construction of a house. The State Government has sanctioned an amount of ` 20 thousand in addition to building unit cost of `1.30 lakh, from 2019-20. The identification of beneficiaries is done using SECC-2011 data. As on December, 2020, 3,839 beneficiaries have been sanctioned houses out of target 4,094 houses in 2020-21.
Mukhaya Mantri Awaas Yojana (MMAY): The State Government had announced this scheme in the budget of 2016-17 for the first time for general category BPLs in the State. The benefits of this scheme have been extended to all categories of BPLs from 2018-19. There is a planned budget provision in current year 2020-21 of `17.48 crore with which 998 houses of all categories have been proposed to be constructed in the State.
Saansad Adrash Gram Yojana (SAGY): The main objective of the SAGY is to trigger processes which lead to holistic development of the identified Gram Panchayats. To improve the standard of living and quality of life of all sections of the population through improved basic amenities, higher productivity, enhanced human development, better livelihood opportunities and reduced disparities, access to rights and entitlements, wider social mobilization and enriched social capital. Under Phase-II of SAGY implementation, one MP has identified the Adrash GP as given below.
Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission (SPMRM) H.P.: Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Rurban Mission (SPMRM) was launched by the Prime Minister on 21 February 2016 and the mission’s objective is to develop 300 clusters in a period of five years by providing urban facilities in rural areas. The larger outcomes envisaged under this Mission are:-
i) The clusters under the mission have been identified from potential locations (sub districts) listed by MoRD Govt, of India. Within these identified sub districts, the State has to identify contiguous villages to form a Rurban cluster.
ii) The cluster is selected based on decadal growth in rural population, decadal growth in non-farm activities, potential areas of economic growth, place of tourism and religious significance.
iii) Rurban cluster is a cluster of geographically contiguous villages with a population of about 25000 to 50000 in plain and coastal areas and a population of 5000 to 15000 in desert, hilly or tribal areas.
iv) Under the mission, every Rurban cluster is to be developed as a project with 70 per cent of the project cost to be provided by convergence with the schemes of the other departments and 30 per cent of the project cost is provided as critical gap funding with Centre and State share in ratio 90:10.
v) Out of 300 clusters allocated by the Ministry, 6 clusters have been approved for the State of HP under National Rurban Mission (NRuM) in three phases of the mission. Six clusters have been sanctioned by the Ministry of Rural Development Govt. of India, which are given below.
Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin): The Government of India has launched the Swachh Bharat Mission (Gramin) on 02.10.2014 to achieve the goal of Swachh Bharat. The District-wise physical progress under the mission up to December, 2020 is as under:
Panchwati: During the current financial year, State Government has launched a new scheme called Panchwati in convergence with MGNREGA, SBM (G) and 14th Finance Commission. Under the scheme parks and gardens are constructed in Panchayats with necessary facilities. Under Panchwati, 364 sites have been identified and work has been started on 180 sites. So far an amount of `528.89 lakh has been spent in convergence with MGNREGA, SBM (G) and 14th Finance Commission.
Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS): The Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act was notified by the Government of India in September, 2005. During 2020-21, Central share amount to `744.25 crore and State Share amounting to `86.41 crore have been credited in the State Employment Guarantee Fund Account. Funds amounting to `821.82 crore have been utilized and 287.18 lakh Mandays have been generated by providing employment to 5,85,269 households.

At present there are 12 Zila Parishads, 81 Panchayat Samities and 3,615 Gram Panchayats (including 389 newly created) constituted in this State. Gram Panchayats have been empowered to collect the land revenue from the land owners and right holders. The Gram Panchayats use the collected land revenue at their own level. Gram Panchayats have also been authorized to impose various taxes, fees and fines and also to borrow for creation of income generating assets. Gram Panchayats have also been authorized to grant permission for erection of mobile communication towers and to levy fee. Gram Panchayats have also been empowered to hear and decide the application for maintenance under section 125 of the Cr.P.C.1973 and can grant a maintenance allowance not exceeding `500 per month. The Cess of `1.00 per bottle of liquor sold in the rural area is collected and transferred to the Gram Panchayats for utilization in the developmental activities. It has been made mandatory that village level functionaries of Agriculture, Animal Husbandry, Primary Education, Forest, Health and Family Welfare, Horticulture, Irrigation and Public Health, Revenue and Welfare Departments shall attend the meetings of the Gram Sabha in whose jurisdiction they are posted. The other major provisions relating to Panchayati Raj are as under:
The recommendations of 15th Finance Commission has been started in the year 2020-21. During this financial year `429.00 crore has been approved by Centre to State Government out of which `214.50 crore has been received by State Govt. This amount has been provided to Gram Panchyats (70 per cent), Panchayat Smiti (15 per cent) and Zila Parishad (15 per cent).
Under National Gram Swaraj Abhiyan (RGSA), Ministry of Panchayti Raj (MoPR) has approved `126.69 crore of Annual Action Plan for the State, of which `22.09 crore has been released by MOPR to State. Out of total `24.54 crore (including State share), `15.74 crore has been released for the following activities/components:
i) Capacity building and training of elected representatives and officials of PRIs.
ii) Recurring cost on additional facilities and maintenance of four DPRCs Kangra, Mandi, Hamirpur and Solan.
iii) Co-location of Common Service Centre (CSCs) with the GP. iv) Strengthening of Gram Sabha in PESA areas of distt. Lahaul &Spiti, Kinnaur and Pangi, Bharmaur of Chamba Distt.
As per recommendation of State Finance Commission, `228.39 crore was provided to Panchayats for meeting committed liabilities and capital works.
The Government is providing grant-inaid to PRIs for meeting the expenditure on travelling and daily allowances of the elected representatives of PRIs.
The State Govt. has provided facilities for staying in Government Rest Houses to the office bearer of Zila Parishad and Panchayat Samities while they are on official tour.
Honorarium for tailoring teachers on contract basis has been enhanced from `6,300.00 per month to `6,800.00 per month w.e.f April, 2020.
Honorarium for panchayat chowkidars has been enhanced from `4800.00 per month to `5300.00 per month w.e.f April, 2020. Various applications have been introduced by the department whereby the general public can avail various online facilities relating to pariwar register, ration cards, marriage registration etc. Access to the accounts of the panchyats is available through PRIA soft application.

Government of Himachal Pradesh through Housing and Urban Development Authority (HIMUDA) is providing Houses, Flats and developing plots of various categories, so as to meet the housing demand of the people of various income groups. Of the outlay of `118.00 crore for the current financial year, an expenditure of `45.00 crore was incurred up to December, 2020. During the current year there is a target to construct 227 flats, 13 houses and to develop 92 plots of different categories. Out of which construction work of 15 flats and 2 houses has been completed. Addtionally 36 plots have also been developed. Construction work for 56 flats, development work for 87 residential plots and 20 industrial plots will be completed by March, 2021. HIMUDA proposes to develop new housing colonies in Dharamshala, Dehra, Sohala (Sirmaur), Rampur (Shimla) & commercial complex in Shimla. An estimated 1,007 plots, 1,076 flats and 2 cottages would come up in these colonies. Planning of new housing colony in Shimla near airport is in progress. Construction work of Housing colonies at Flowerdale, Chhabrogti (basement flats), Dhrampur (Solan), Kamli road Parwanoo and Rajwari (Mandi) is in progress.

In HIMUDA 6,78,364 Mandays of wage employment is estimated to be generated during the year 2020-21 through construction of different works which are being executed by HIMUDA through private contractors. To reduce human interface and in order to bring more transparency, HIMUDA has moved towards e-governance and has digitized the record in the Head office. Now, HIMUDA website is dynamic with online web enabled services to facilitate online application for flats/houses/ plots and their allotments thereof.

Consequent upon the 74th constitutional amendment, the rights, powers and activities of the urban local bodies have increased manifold. There are 61 urban local bodies in Himachal Pradesh including Municipal Corporations at Shimla, Dharamshala, Solan, Mandi and Palampur. The Government is providing grantsin-aid every year to these local bodies to enable them to provide civic amenities to the general public. As per the recommendations of the State Finance Commission, ` 137.09 crore has been released to the ULBs so far and balance funds will be released during the current financial year. This includes development grant and gap filling grant between income and expenditure.
Maintenance of Roads in Municipal Areas: About 3,098 kms of Roads, paths, streets and drains are being maintained by 54 Urban Local Bodies. During 2019-20, there was a budget provision of `12.00 crore under this scheme which was released to the Urban Local Bodies. 15.3 Deen Dayal Antyodaya YojanaNational Urban Livelihood Mission (DAY-NULM) The main objective of NULM is to reduce poverty among the urban poor through the promotion of diversified and gainful self employment and skill wage employment opportunities, resulting in an appreciable improvement in their livelihood on a sustainable basis, through building strong grass roots level institutions of the poor. This scheme has following main components:-
i) Employment through skill training and placement.
ii) Social Mobilization and Institution Development.
iii) Capacity Building and Training.
iv) Self Employment Programme.
v) Shelter for Urban Homeless.
vi) Support to Urban Street Vendors.
vii) Innovative and special Projects.
Recently, Govt. of India has released the 1st installment amounting to ` 5.21 crore under this scheme and a proposal has been submitted to the State Govt. to release the funds along with matching State share. Progress during 2020-21 is as follows:-
1) 537 Self Help Groups (SHGs) have been formed.
2) 575 beneficiaries were provided skill training under this scheme and 42 candidates have been provided placement.
3) 276 individuals and 71 SHGs were provided loan assistance on subsidized interest for setting up their micro enterprises.
4) 1,854 identity cards have been issued to street vendors. Around 2,900 loan applications have been submitted to banks under PM SVANidhi Scheme out of which 1,635 applications have been sanctioned and loan to 1,185 applicants have been sanctioned and disbursed.
Central Finance Commission Grant: The 15th Finance Commission has recommended two types of grants to be released to Urban Local Bodies and Cantonment Boards. First is the Untied Grant (50 per cent) to be released unconditionally and the second is Tied Grant (50 per cent) subject to fulfillment of certain conditions as laid down in the 15th Finance Commission Report. There is a budget provision of `207.00 crore during the current financial year 202021. The 1st installment of United Grant to the tune of `51.75 crore stands released to Urban Local Bodies and Cantonment Boards and the 1st installment of Tied Grant amounting to `51.75 crore also stands released to ULBs and cantonment boards during the current financial year 2020-21. The 2nd installments of both United and Tied Grants for the current financial year 2020-21 is yet to be released by the Govt. of India.
Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation (AMRUT): Shimla and Kullu have been included under this mission. During the year 2018-19 funds amounting to `36.00 crore and during 2019-20 funds amounting to `74.07 crore were released under this scheme. During the current financial year there is a budget provision of `55.00 crore as Centre and State share under this scheme against which funds amounting to `66.26 crore have been released. Out of 75 projects, 36 projects have been completed.
Smart City Mission (SCM): Smart City Mission has been launched in June, 2015. Municipal Corporation, Dharamshala has been approved by Govt. of India under the mission with a project cost of ` 2109.69 crore. Special purpose vehicle (SPV) for Dharamshala Smart City Ltd. has been registered under company Act, 2013. During the financial year 2017-18, Municipal Corporation, Shimla has also been selected under Smart City Mission by Govt. of India with a project cost of `2905.97 crore. The Govt. of Himachal Pradesh has notified the SPV for the same. During the current finance year there is a budget provision of `100 crore as Centre and State Share under this Mission and funds amounting to `117.00 crore stand released so far under this scheme. Out of a total of 74 projects in DSCL, 18 have been completed and 29 more are initiated. In SSCL, out of 53 projects, 28 most do-able projects have been identified. These are further bifurcated into 172 components, out of which 9 components have been completed and for 56 components, work is in progress.
Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban): Swachh Bharat Mission (Urban) is a flagship Programme of Government of India and being implemented in all statutory towns by Ministry of Housing Affairs, Government of India. The main aim of Swachh Bharat Mission is to make cities/towns open defecation free and provide a healthy and livable environment to all. Following actions/ progress has been made under the Mission:-
i) Funds disbursed to ULBs for construction of individual household toilets and Community/Public toilets for providing adequate toilet facilities in the towns. Till date more than 6,606 individual toilets for the households not having toilet facilities, have been constructed under the mission and 275 Community & 1,208 public toilet seats have been installed newly or renovated.
ii) For Awareness, Various IEC activities are being conducted regularly in the State to make general public aware through Swachhta pakhwada, hordings/ banners, nukkadnataks, print & electronic media etc. For the current financial year, there is a budget provision of `5.00 crore as Centre and State share for implementation of this scheme.
Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojna Housing for all (Urban): A new mission “Housing for all” (Urban) has been launched by the Government of India effective from 17.06.2015 to 31.03.2022. The aim of this scheme is to provide houses for slum dwellers under in-situ slum rehabilitation component providing affordable houses for economically weaker sections (EWS), low income group (LIG) and middle income groups (MIG) through credit linked subsidy component, providing houses for economic weaker section through public private partnership component. The Government is also providing funds for construction of beneficiary houses through subsidy for beneficiary-led individual house component. For the current financial year, there is a budget provision of ` 35.20 crore as Centre and State share for implementation of this scheme.
Construction of Parking: To solve the parking problems in the urban areas of the Pradesh `5.50 crore has been provided in the budget during the current financial year, out of which ` 4.65 crore stands released to 5 Urban Local Bodies so far for the construction of Parking Places.
Development of Parks: For construction of parks in Urban Local Bodies in phased manner `5.50 crore has been provided in the budget during the current financial year. The funds under this scheme are released in the ratio of 60:40 (i.e.) 60 per cent is provided by the Govt. and 40 per cent by the concerned (ULBs).
Atal Shreth Shahar Yojana: In the budget speech for the year 2020-21 the Hon’ble Chief Minister Himachal Pradesh has enlarged the scope of “Atal Shreth Shahar Yojana” to cover top three Municipal Councils and top three Nagar Panchayat to complete for Puruskar in which each Municipal Council and Nagar Panchayat will be ranked for prize money as 1st, 2nd & 3rd. The prize money for Municipal Councils given is `1.00 crore, `75.00 lakh, `50.00 lakh respectively and for Nager Panchayats the prize money given is `75.00 lakh, `50.00 lakh and `25.00 lakh, respectively. The best performing Urban Local Bodies are felicitated with Atal Shreth Shahar Puruskar by the Hon’ble Chief Minister on 25th December of every year on the birth anniversary of the Late Sh.Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Mukhya Mantri Shahri Ajeevika- Guarantee Yojna: The Government of Himachal Pradesh keeping in view the present scenario of covid-19 pandemic, has notified scheme known as Mukhya Mantri Shahri Ajeevika Guarantee Yojna (MMSAGY) on 16.05.2020 to enhance livelihood security in urban areas by providing 120 days of guaranteed wage employment to every household in the financial year 2020-21. All adult members of the household who register under this scheme will be eligible to work. Local residents of the ULB residing within the jurisdiction of the ULB either in their own house or on rent are eligible. Household will comprise of husband, wife and their minor children. However, only adult members of households shall be eligible to work. The upper age limit for providing work shall be 65 years. The Urban Development Department has developed online portal for Mukhya Mantri Shahri Ajeevika Guarantee Yojna (MMSAGY). The beneficiary can register themselves without visiting municipality office. Under this scheme 4,693 beneficiary have been registered and 2,551 beneficiaries have been given wage employment under this scheme. The total wage expenditure amounting to `288.54 lakh has been incurred till December, 2020.

To ensure functional, economical, sustainable and aesthetical living environment through planned, equitable and regulated development, ensuring balanced use of scarce land resources, in view of demographic and socioeconomic factors, preservation of environment, heritage and rational use of precious land resources by their sustainable development through community participation, the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Act, 1977 has been enforced in 55 Planning Areas (1.60% of the total geographical area of the State) and 35 Special Area (2.06% of the total geographical area of the State).
Initiatives
1) For simplification of map approval process, provision of self declaration /certification in respect of obtaining necessary approvals/ clearance from the departments has been made easy. For this a notification No. TCP-A(3)-2/2019 dated 20.08.2020 has been issued. However, access permission to properties along National Highways/ by-passes/ four lain shall have to be obtained by the applicants prior to submission of case for grant of development permission under the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning Act, 1977.
2) In order to boost the investment in the State, the Govt. vide Notification No. TCP-A(3)-2/2019 dated 20.08.2020 has revised the industrial use regulations i.e. Appendix-2 of the Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning rule, 2014, as per the analogy of the approved Himachal Pradesh industrial investment Policy-2019
3) The work for preparation of GISbased Development Plans for Shimla Planning Area and Kullu Valley Planning Areas under AMRUT Sub-Scheme of GOI is under progress. This will ensure comprehensive planning for the development of these Areas.
4) In view of Budget Assurance, 2020 the draft proposal of Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for delegation of powers to the Registered Private Professionals (RPP) empanelled under Himachal Pradesh Town and Country Planning rules, 2014 for grant of development permission up to 500 square meter of plot area for residential use only in all notified Planning / Special Area and Urban Local Bodies across the State was prepared and submitted to the Govt. with due consultation with field offices and the stakeholders.
5) The work of preparation of regional plans for Solan and Lahaul and Spiti districts has been outsourced on 09.09.2020 and work is in progress.
6) Development Plans for Planning/ Special Areas namely Dhualakuan- Majra, Jogindernagar, Shri Chintpurni, Bhota, Bharmour and Ner-Chowk have been outsourced to consultants and first stage of the RFP has been completed.
7) In order to meet the increasing parking requirement and ensure smooth flow of traffic on all major road of the towns, relief has been granted by the State Govt. vide Notification No. TCP-A(3)-2/2020 dated 4.12.2020 to all buildings located on valley side or hill sides of the roads and having minimum clear setback of 2.0 Meter after controlled width/retaining wall/plot boundary and having clear access from the road, open to sky parking (uncovered and parallel to the building) on 50% frontage of such setback shall be permissible.

Himachal Pradesh Real Estate Regulatory Authority started its functioning from April, 2020. This authority is in the process of registering Real Estate projects and Real Estate Agents besides attending complaints. Till date 60 Real Estate Projects and 58 Real Estate Agents have been registered. About 35 complaints have been registered with the authority so far and hearing site inspections on the same are under process. This authority is dealing all the cases of registration of Real Estate Projects, Real Estate Agents and complaints, online.
Initiatives Like the rest of the world, COVID19 has impacted the pace of real estate sector in Himachal Pradesh also. In compliance to the directions of the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs (MoHUA), Govt. of India, HP RERA vide order No. 01/2020-21/ 233235 dated 4.6.2020 has issued advisory by invoking “Force Majeure” clause of the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 and treating the force majeure period as “Moratorium period”. This authority has conducted various webex meetings with all the registered promoters and has assured full help to promote the Real Estate Business in the State.

National Building Organization has entrusted the Department of Economic and Statistics to collect the Building construction material prices and compile the Building Cost Index of the State. Department has been preparing and releasing the State level Building Construction Cost Index (BCCI) with base year 2011-12. On the basis of quarterly indices, annual indices have been worked out and are shown in following table. In the year 2019-20 overall BCCI has increased from 121.45 to 131.75 in the year 2020-21.

Under National e-Governance Plan (NeGP), Department of Digital Technologies and Governance, Himachal Pradesh (DIT-HP) created secure network called HIMSWAN (Himachal State Wide Area Network). HIMSWAN provides secured network connectivity to all State Government Departments till block level and provides efficient electronic delivery of G2G (Government to Government), G2C (Government to Citizen) and G2B (Government to Business) services. HIMSWAN was set-up in February, 2008 and now 2,072 Government Offices across the State are connected through HIMSWAN network. Considering the growing demand for bandwidth due to video conferencing used in offices especially in COVID times, HIMSWAN is being revamped to provide high speed connectivity using state-of -the–art technologies with stringent SLA’s Network downtime, voice data and video services. HIMSWAN has played a pivotal role during COVID-19 pandemic. Several Government meetings with field functionaries were held virtually using HIMSWAN.
Himachal Pradesh State Data Centre: To keep the Government applications / websites running in the event of a power outage, natural disaster or any other disruption, a disaster recovery (DR) site of HP State Data Centre has been setup for HPSDC at Delhi in October 2020. During financial year 2020-21, 19 new applications /websites have been hosted in HPSDC cloud, after successful security audit closure.
Himachal Online Seva Portal: During this financial year, the Department has added 10 new services in Himachal Online Seva portal for online delivery. Out of these 3 are of Revenue Department and 7 are under the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) program. Now, 65 online services of various departments including Revenue, Women & Child Development, Panchayati Raj, Rural Development, Urban Development etc. are being provided through this portal. Before COVID-19 period, there were around 100 transactions per day on the portal. However, during COVID-19 lockdown and thereafter owing to massive IEC campaign and improvement in service delivery quality through online platform, the transactions an average have increased from 100 to 8500 per day.
e -Office: e-Office is being implemented in various departments of the State to enable paper-less offices. During this year, 55 departments covering 2,474 officers / officials have started e-Office and 19,701 files have been created in e-Office. e-Office is also being implemented in HP State Secretariat in a phased manner. Extensive trainings to the staff have been carried out, scanning of old files record has commenced from 1st January, 2021 and thereafter branches of HP Secretariat will gradually shift to paperless mode.
CM Dashboard: The State Government has taken an initiative towards Good Governance by setting up the CM Dashboard with an aim of having up-todate information of schemes on a real time basis, till the grass root level to closely monitor their implementation and outcomes. The Dashboard provides a single ICT platform to cover all the Departments and all Deputy Commissioners in order to integrate all key State authorities on a single platform. Chief Minister Dashboard is being developed to aggregate information collected electronically from 8 various departments and displayed on real time manner on the Dashboard, in the first phase.
Mukyha Mantri Seva Sankalp Helpline @1100: 76,891 complaints and 8,244 demands/ suggestions have been registered in the MMSS helpline in this financial year till 22nd December 2020, out of which 47,130 (61%) complaints have been resolved to the satisfaction of the concerned citizens.
Integrated Command and Control Centre (ICCC): High-tech state-of-the-art Command and Control Centres are proposed to be setup in Shimla and Dharamshala with the aim to ensure convergence of various citizen services at one place using Information and Communication Technology (ITC) as a tool. ICCC would be utilized to capture data pertaining to various citizen centric services in real time manner and provide useful information to the public using One City One App, provide emergency as well as disaster management services to the citizen. Services to be included under ICCC project for the two cities would include One City one App, Solid Waste Management System, Water and Sewerage supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) integration, Smart Lighting system, Smart Parking system, Land slide Monitoring etc.
Bharat Net: Bharat Net is an initiative of Government of India to provide broadband services to the Gram Panchayats of the country. It aims to provide broadband connectivity especially in rural areas. It is the world’s largest rural connectivity scheme to be connected by the Optical Fibre network. Under Phase II of BharatNet - 159 remote Gram Panchayats are being connected using VSAT links. Material has been delivered in 154 locations out of which, VSAT have been installed at 114 locations and rest are under installation process.
e- Cabinet: A paperless e-Cabinet System is being implemented. This will not just reduce the processing time of Cabinet notes but will also improve the security of the process.
IT Park: In order to promote IT Investments, 2 STPI Centres are being setup in the State. One STPI Centre is being setup in Shimla and the other Centre is being setup in Gaggal, Dharamshala. Land has been provided to HPKVN at IT Park Waknaghat for setting up of Centre of Excellence for skill enhancement of local youth.
Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT): The IT Department has identified 163 (Centre-76; State-87) schemes with concerned departments out of which DBT has been implemented in 60 schemes (Centre-31; State-29). As per guidelines of Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance, the DBT for all the schemes is to be routed through National Automated Clearing House (NACH). Out of the 60 DBT schemes, 16 (Centre-1; State-15) have been converted to NACH platform during this financial year. Further, as per directions of MeitY, GoI, the notifications under section 7 of Aadhaar Act 2016 are to be issued for enabling Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) for different identified schemes. During the current financial year, an amount of `1,317 crore has been transferred through DBT to 12.47 lakh beneficiaries under 45 schemes.
COVID-19 Applications: IT Department developed and implemented various IT Applications and solutions to facilitate the smooth operation of day-to-day business of administration and citizens during the COVID-19 period. The State Government at various levels is using these technology platforms provided by the Department for information gathering, monitoring and decision- making as well as office working in an efficient manner. The citizens are using them for getting contactless services online without the need to visit Government offices. Till now, following applications have been rolled out across the State by IT Department:
1) COVID-19 Integrated Portal The website (http://covidportal.hp.gov.in/ ) is a consolidated repository for COVID-19 related information, applications and portals developed for the use of Citizens and Government Officials.
2) COVID Government Orders A website (http://covidorders.hp.gov.in ) has been created as a common platform for all Government Orders, Advisories and Media Bulletins to avoid any misinformation or rumours during pandemic
3) COVID Curfew e-Pass: This portal (http://covid19epass.hp.gov.in ) was developed for the citizens to apply online for Curfew Pass during lockdown and District Administration to issue the Pass online. Approximately 30 lakh applications were received and about 16 lakh registrations/ ePasses were issued after scrutiny and verification by district administration.
4) Himachal e-Pass Verification App (Android based QR Code scanning app): - This Mobile app was developed and provided to police personnel at inter-state barriers to verify the validity of ePasses by scanning QR codes on e-Passes issued by DCs. It was also used to generate MIS report regarding the persons who entered the State at the barriers.
5) COVID Quarantine App: This app was developed to keep a record and to track the location of quarantine violations by COVID19 suspected persons in the State. Data of 70,134 quarantined persons was entered during the lockdown.
6) Law & Order Monitoring & Reporting System The portal (http://covid19lo.hp.gov.in) provided facility to SPs and Police Stations to upload Law & Order related information, as desired by MHA GoI, and consolidate the same on the above portal.
7) Health Inventory This website (http://covid19inventory.hp.gov.in) has been made for use by Health Department Officials to maintain inventory Isolation/ Quarantine facilities in the State and stock of critical items in these facilities like Masks, PPE Kits and Ventilators etc.
8) Fake News Portal The Portal (http://fakenews.hp.gov.in/) is an initiative by State Government to protect Citizens from misinformation/ rumours during this sensitive time. This portal provides list of fake news identified by Fake News Monitoring Unit of State Government.
9) Event Registration Portal (covid.hp.gov.in) This portal is developed for citizens to seek online permission to organize any event during COVID-19.
10) Donation This functionality was provided on the CM portal (https://cmhimachal.nic.in/) to donate securely in the Himachal Pradesh COVID-19 Solidarity Response Fund as a means to contribute in Himachal Pradesh’s efforts to respond to the Corona Pandemic. Apart from above applications, MMSS helpline@1100 was operational during Covid-19 lockdown to help the citizens.
1) MMSS Helpline Call Centre was made available for taking calls from stranded people for inter-state movement registration.
2) The MMSS Helpline is contacting Covid-19 positive patients since November 30, 2020 to seek their feedback on Government facilities and to identify the major source/ cause of infection so that government may take necessary steps to control the spread of COVID-19.

Lok Mitra Kendra (LMK) Policy : State Government has issued new Lok Mitra Kendra (LMK) policy on 28th July, 2020 which will help in providing online services to citizens and provide self-employment to the local youth at the Panchayat level. After the notification of new policy, 127 new Lok Mitra Kendras have been added in the State to increase the reach of online services through Himachal Online Seva portal to common citizen.
Row Policy: Based on Indian Telegraph Right of Way Rules 2016 of Government of India, Draft Right of Way (RoW) Policy has been prepared to attract investment and to improve telecom infrastructure in the State. The policy will be notified soon after cabinet approval.
New Initiatives: Information and Communications Technology (ICT) played a vital role during the pandemic, specifically in the following three areas:
1) Reducing footfall in the Government Offices by providing online services to the citizens
2) Facilitating the concept of Work from home for the Government officers/ officials
3) Providing guidelines in application and implementation of IT tools issued by State Disaster Management Authority from time to time.
Strengthening the digital infrastructure in the following areas of State with the help of Information & Technology:
1) DIT is working on to add more Government to Citizen Services through the e-District (Himachal Online Seva portal/ Lok Mitra Kendra).
2) High-speed secure internet connectivity through HIMSWAN is being extended to every Government office/ location, where the e-office shall operate.
In order to maintain flawless/ uninterrupted speed of network for e-office, the minimum bandwidth in all offices through HIMSWAN shall be increased to 8 Mbps.
1) On requirement basis, secured VPN connectivity will be provided to Government officials in order to increase productivity during work from home.
2) Single Sign On (SSO) will be implemented across all major portals of State Government to allow officers/ officials to login with the single username and password on these portals.