The road to Net Zero by 2070 will have some certainty now with the NITI Aayog proposing to come out with a comprehensive policy next month to assign accountability to relevant agencies.

“Who has to do what to achieve the targets will be assigned,” NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer BVR Subrahmanyam has said here on Tuesday.

The much-talked about policy will lay emphasis on areas like green transition, how to tackle hard-to-abate sectors; and circularity.

“A 20-member team is working on the policy. We will release it next month. It will discuss how to set up a green transition ecosystem; and how to deal with hard-to-abate sectors such as steel, chemicals, cement, and aluminum,” he said.

“It will also focus on circularity. We identify at least five areas where circularity is doable. They include lithium ion batteries, electronic components, vehicles, rubber, tyre, steel and metals. About 90 per cent can be rehashed in these areas,” he said.

Subrahmanyam said that the country could aspire for a growth rate of 9 per cent. “It is aspirational. It is doable considering the way manufacturing sector is growing. The sector grew over 7 per cent. Jobs are being added. 

“The numbers were very good. We registered over 7 per cent growth in the manufacturing sector. Manufacturing is firing. Number of jobs went up. More than 1 million were added. Over 22 lakhs jobs were added after the Covid,” he pointed out.

“The gross value added per worker has gone up. Emoluments per worker have gone up by Rs 70,000 year. That’s a huge jump. Workers wages have gone up. Manufacturing is growing fast. Employment is growing. Incomes are growing,” he said.. 

“In the national economy, about 50-55 per cent is contributed by services. About 25 per cent comes from industries (manufacturing, mining, and realestate), and agriculture contributes 15-20 per cent. One-fourth comes from manufacturing. If it is growing by 7 per cent and if it reaches 8 or 10 per cent it will contribute (in achieving 9 p.c. growth). An increase in the service sector growth too will help,” he said.

He was in the city to take part in a WEP (Women Entrepreneurship Platform) programme. Supported by the Niti Aaayog, the programme empowers women entrepreneurs by providing them mentorship, marketing access and other help they might require in rolling out their projects. WeHub, an incubator that promotes women entrepreneurs in Telangana, teamed up with the Telangana Government and Niti Aayog to set up the WEP’s first State chapter.