Supporting The Public Sector of India
Education
Public spending on education was 3.3 per cent of GDP in 2010. There are nine years of compulsory education starting at the age of six. Primary school comprises five years and secondary seven.
Education in India is provided both by the private and public sector. The 2005 Right to Education Bill gave effect to the guarantee in the constitution of the right to education for all children between the ages of six and 14. The act requires government schools to provide free education to all admitted children and private schools to admit at least 25 per cent of children free of charge.
There are some 44 ‘central’ universities under the Department of Higher Education of the Ministry of Human Resource Development; 285 state universities under the state governments, the oldest three of which – the universities of Calcutta, Madras and Mumbai – date back to 1857. There are more than 130 higher education institutions recognised and granted autonomous status by the Department of Higher Education and 112 private universities (2012). The female–male ratio for gross enrolment in tertiary education is 0.7:1 (2010). Literacy among people aged 15–24 is 81 per cent (2006).
Health
Public spending on health was one per cent of GDP in 2010. Primary health care is provided in rural areas by more than 20,000 centres, backed by sub-centres and community health centres. Western medicine predominates, although Ayurvedic medicine is also practised. The Ayurvedic tradition also gave rise to homeopathy (some 365,000 practitioners). Nine out of ten people use an improved drinking water source and 34 per cent have adequate sanitation facilities (2010). Infant mortality was 47 per 1,000 live births in 2011 (146 in 1960). National health programmes have been established to combat malaria, filaria, sexually transmitted diseases (including AIDS), leprosy and tuberculosis.
India is one of world’s largest consumer-directed health care markets with the private sector making up almost three quarters of total health expenditure. There is no specific licensing system for hospitals, most of which are in urban areas. They include charitable hospitals, religious mission hospitals, privately funded hospitals and government hospitals.
There are approximately 10,000 companies involved in the pharmaceutical industry, the most notable of which are Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals and Dr Reddy’s Laboratories. The pharmaceutical industry is heavily price-regulated. The Drug Controller General of India carries out regulation.
Transport
There are 3,316,450 km of roads, 47 per cent of which are paved. The number of vehicles and the demand for roads is growing very rapidly.
Rail: India has Asia’s biggest, and the world’s fourth biggest, railway system, with 63,330 km of track. Express trains connect the cities and there are local trains between most parts of the country. The railways are run by the state-owned Indian Railways, with the exception of a few privately owned lines run by ports and industrial owners, such as the Mumbai Port Trust Railway.
Ports: The chief western port is Mumbai and the chief eastern ports are Kolkata, Haldia and Chennai. A host of services and works at ports are tendered out to the private sector.
Airports: There are large international airports in Mumbai, New Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata and Ahmadabad. In early September 2013, as part of a PPP initiative, the Airports Authority of India began the process of privatising six government-run airports by allowing private companies to buy 100 per cent equity stake in the operation and management of the selected airports.
