Uttar Pradesh: Economy and Social Development

What the official syllabus says

UPPCS Preliminary Examination, Paper I: General Studies-I:

Economic and Social Development: Sustainable Development, Poverty, Inclusion, Demographics, Social Sector Initiatives, etc.

Note: Candidates are expected to have general awareness about the above subjects with special reference to Uttar Pradesh.

Topics in detail

Overview of the economy

• Size and structure of the state economy: shares of agriculture, industry and services; per capita income compared with India
• The state budget: main receipts and expenditure; fiscal indicators
• Regional imbalance: western UP, central, eastern (Purvanchal) and Bundelkhand regions

Agriculture and allied sectors

• Leading crops: wheat, rice, sugarcane, potato, pulses, oilseeds; the state's place among the largest producers of wheat, sugarcane, potato and milk
• Agro-climatic zones of the state (nine zones); cropping seasons and patterns
• Sugar industry and sugarcane belt of western and central UP; State Advised Price for sugarcane; cooperative and private sugar mills
• Agricultural marketing: mandis under the State Agricultural Produce Markets Board, procurement of wheat and paddy, farmer producer organisations
• Horticulture (mango of Malihabad, guava of Prayagraj), floriculture, sericulture, fisheries; dairying and animal husbandry
• Problems: small holdings, irrigation dependence on groundwater, usar lands, stray cattle, Bundelkhand drought

Industry and trade

• Traditional industries and clusters: leather (Kanpur, Agra), brass (Moradabad), glass (Firozabad), carpets (Bhadohi), locks (Aligarh), sports goods (Meerut), chikan embroidery (Lucknow), silk (Varanasi)
• One District One Product (ODOP) programme (2018)
• Modern industry: electronics and IT in Noida and Greater Noida; the Uttar Pradesh Defence Industrial Corridor (nodes at Agra, Aligarh, Chitrakoot, Jhansi, Kanpur and Lucknow)
• Industrial and investment policies of the state; MSMEs; industrial development authorities (NOIDA, YEIDA, UPSIDA)

Infrastructure

• Expressways: Yamuna, Agra-Lucknow, Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Gorakhpur Link and others
• Railways and the Eastern and Western Dedicated Freight Corridors; National Waterway 1 (Varanasi terminal)
• Airports; metro rail in Lucknow, Kanpur, Agra and NCR cities
• Power: thermal plants (Anpara, Obra, Singrauli and Rihand in Sonbhadra; Dadri), Narora Atomic Power Station, solar parks; hydro power at Rihand

Social development

• Demography: Census 2011 figures for the state (population, growth, sex ratio, literacy); population policy of the state
• Health: maternal and child health indicators, encephalitis control in eastern UP, health infrastructure
• Education: basic, secondary and higher education; state universities
• Poverty, migration and employment; skill development
• State welfare schemes for girls, women, farmers, labourers and the elderly (the state's own and central schemes run in the state)
• Developmental indices of the state in national rankings

Tourism

• Religious and heritage circuits: Buddhist circuit (Sarnath, Kushinagar, Shravasti, Kaushambi, Sankisa, Kapilavastu), Ramayana circuit (Ayodhya, Chitrakoot, Shringverpur), Braj (Mathura, Vrindavan, Barsana), Varanasi, Prayagraj
• Heritage tourism: Agra, Fatehpur Sikri, Lucknow, Jhansi; eco-tourism in Dudhwa and the Terai
• Tourism as a source of income and employment; the Kumbh and Magh Mela

Overlaps

In the Main Examination the economy, agriculture, industry, investment, schemes and energy of the state are General Studies VI; central welfare schemes in the state and its health and education systems are in General Studies V.