NCAER Study: State of education, health & tourism in Himachal Pradesh

The state ESA estimates its total education expenditure at Rs. 12,500 crore, of which expenditure by households and government expenditure account for 29.8 per cent and 51.4 per cent, respectively, while the remaining is spent by private entities.

The Education Satellite Account (ESA) of Himachal Pradesh provides a report card on the financial health of education and is instrumental in policy-making by providing information on whether the resources allocated to education are being equitably and effectively distributed. The state ESA estimates its total education expenditure at Rs. 12,500 crore, of which expenditure by households and government expenditure account for 29.8 per cent and 51.4 per cent, respectively, while the remaining is spent by private entities. The total education expenditure amounts to be 9.03% of the state GDP and 18.4 per cent of the total state government exchequer.

The total education expenditure amounts to be 9.03% of the state GDP and 18.4 per cent of the total state government exchequer.

The Health Satellite Account (HSA) of Himachal Pradesh estimates the total health expenditure of the state at ₹4351.9 crore for 2017-18, of which the out-of-pocket expenditure incurred by households accounted for 52.1% while the rest was spent by government. The study draws its methodology from the National Health Accounts—Guidelines for India, 2016, prepared by the Ministry of Health and Family welfare, Government of India. As per the HSA, public health expenditure stood at about 5.98% of the total government expenditure for 2017-18. On the other hand, households spent about 3.2% of their total expenditure on health care.

With around 20 million tourists visiting the state every year, Himachal Pradesh has huge tourism potential. Tourism activity contributes significantly to the creation of employment opportunities and also in enhancing the state’s income through the generation of demand for goods and services among tourists. According to the TSA of Himachal Pradesh, tourism is estimated to contribute 3.46% directly to the State Gross Value Added and 3.89% to the State employment. With the inclusion of indirect shares, these shares work out to be 7.53% in GVA and 14.4% in employment.

NCAER prepared the first Education Satellite Account, Himachal Pradesh (ESA) and Health Satellite Account, Himachal Pradesh (HSA) for 2017-18, and the latest Tourism Satellite Account, Himachal Pradesh (TSA) for 2018-19 following the internationally accepted concepts, guidelines and methodologies.

The study can be accessed by clicking here.