Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari has called investors from the United States to come forward and invest in roads and highways projects in India. Mr. Gadkari also termed the US and India partnership as natural one and said they have to contribute for mutual growth. Inaugurating the 19th Indo-US Economic Summit virtually, Mr. Gadkari said, the theme chosen this year- “The New Agenda for next 25 years” – will set the roadmap for strengthening the India-US relation.
Gadkari said, Road infrastructure plays a critical role in the growth of the Indian economy as 70 percent of goods and nearly 90 percent of passenger traffic uses the road network to commute. He added that today India’s national highway network has reached around one lakh 47 thousand kilometers from 91 thousand kilometers in 2014. The Minister said, the government is investing 1.4 trillion dollars in infrastructure development through National Infrastructure Pipeline and the road sector will account for 19 percent of this capital expenditure over the period of 2019 to 2025.
Per Capita Government spending
on healthcare increases by 74% since 2013-14
The per capita government spending on healthcare has increased by 74 per cent since 2013-14. As per National Health Accounts Estimates India 2018-19, the per capita government spending in 2013-14 was one thousand forty-two rupees, which has increased to one thousand eight hundred and fifteen rupees. It said, government’s share in the overall spending on health in the country is increasing steadily. The government’s share in current health expenditure has increased from 23.2 per cent in 2013-14 to 34.5 per cent in 2018-19.
The government spending on primary healthcare has increased since 2013-14. The government health expenditure during that period on primary healthcare was around 51 per cent, which has increased to over 55 per cent in 2018-19. The per capita Out-of-pocket expenditure in the country has also decreased by eight per cent since 2013-14.
