Services sector growing, but agriculture is floundering Karnataka Economic Survey 2018-19

• The regional disparity within the State has been rising over the years, particularly as the services sector, concentrated in, grows by leaps and bounds while agriculture, the backbone of most districts, stagnates, according to the Economic Survey 2018-19. 
• When compared to 2014-15, Urban saw its average income increase by nearly Rs.83,000, but in Yadgir, incomes went up only by Rs.12,000. 
• Bengaluru Urban’s tertiary sector income is 10 times more than its closest competitor Dakshina Kannada and 50 times that of Yadgir.
• District income is a useful policy indicator to monitor the nature and degree of inter-district variations as well as, disparities in the process of economic growth at the State-level.
• There are Special Development Plans (SDPs) to address the inequalities of North Karnataka, but not the governance infrastructure to implement it. 
• There has to be a system that imposes penalties if the SDPs are not spent within the time limit.
• While allocations to backward areas are high, the “absorptive capacity” is low. “Funds that are allocated are spent well in districts that are better off. The per capita expenditure on health, education and infrastructure is higher there, compared to backward areas where sanctioned posts remain vacant and they aren’t able to spend their allocations.