Economic Survey 2022: The Story Of India's Development... In Maps

Real-time data has become important to economic forecasting. More so after the pandemic. And the Government of India is trying to keep up.

This year’s Economic Survey details the use of new forms of data and information for tracking economic activity and development, the survey for 2021-22, published a day ahead of the union budget, said. One such source of information is the use of maps and geospatial data to track, compare and represent longer term developments.

Geospatial maps not only let users visualise data but also help better understand trends, relationships and patterns, the survey explained.

"This is still the first generation of such data. There is as much art in interpreting this data as there is science," said Sanjeev Sanyal, principal economic advisor to the Government of India. "The data does coincide with other high frequency indicators and most indicate a tilted W-type recovery."

Darkness And Light

Using satellite images, India’s nighttime luminosity is compared between 2012 and 2021.

Nighttime luminosity provides an interesting representation of the expansion of electricity supply, the geographical distribution of population and economic activity, urban expansion as well as growth of ribbon developments between urban hubs, the survey said.

The maps have been created by combining satellite data over the course of a 12 month period in each year.

Roads, Roads And More Roads

The construction of roads continue to be the government's most important projects. A comparison of geo-spatial images a decade apart gives a glimpse of just how much difference that's made.

Financial Inclusion

The survey also shows the extent of physical as well as financial infrastructure development in India.

Using new geospatial methods, population density of select Indian cities is compared over time, showing the extent of urban expansion in up and coming urban conglomerates in Mumbai, Delhi-NCR and Bangalore between 2001 and 2021.

A comparison of the kharif crop cycle in Moga district, Punjab during 2005 and 2021, shows that kharif sowing cycle has shifted ahead by around two-to-three weeks causing the kharif harvest to almost coincide with Rabi sowing in November.

The closing of the gap is a likely factor that encourages farmers to burn stubble and may be related to restrictions on early transplanting of Kharif paddy, the survey said. These restrictions were introduced in 2009 in order to reduce pumping of ground-water but may have had the unintended consequence of damaging air quality.