[Assam] Money flows, NE does not grow! (The Sentinel,03.11.2007)

[Buljit Buragohain]

        DATELINE GUWAHATI/Wasbir Hussain
Money flows, NE does not grow!
Money literally flows into the North-east, and yet the region does not grow. Can you believe that during the Tenth Five Year Plan (2002-2007), the Centre had allocated a whopping Rs 80,500 crore for development of the north-eastern states? If you choose to be polite and won’t like to ask as to where has the money gone, you and I can well ask where is the ‘development’. Well, where have I got this fantastic piece of statistics? That New Delhi had provided Rs 80,500 crore to the region during the past five years was stated in a newspaper interview by Prof Atul Sarma, Steering Committee Member for the NE region set up by the Planning Commission for, you know what, the Eleventh Five Year Plan. Well, in the new Five-year Plan, the region could well get upwards of Rs 100,000 crore!
Let’s take a look at some of the indicators of development (or the lack of it) in the largest and most ‘developed’ of the north-eastern states, Asom: Between 1960-61 and 1969-70 to 1970-71 and 1979-80, the Net State Domestic Product at the all-India level grew from 3 to 3.6 (current prices-decades of sixties and seventies). In the case of Asom, it fell from 4 to 3 during the period mentioned above. Similarly, the Gross State Domestic Product between 1980-81 and 1990-91 to 1993-94 and 1998-99 at the all-India level grew from 5.6 to 6.8. Again, in Asom, it fell from 3.6 to 2.7 during the same period. These are figures from the Planning Commission, the same agency that allocates funds to be spent by our law makers and the obliging bureaucracy, many of whom know only too well that they are not above board in their dealings.
Now, look at the extent of people below poverty line (BPL): At the all-India level, the percentage of people below poverty line was 54.88 in 1973-74. This has, as it should, declined to 51.32 per cent in 1977-78, 44.48 per cent in 1983, 38.86 in 1987-88, 35.97 in 1993-94 and 26.10 in 1999-2000. Again, things have to be different in Asom. It has not always been declining. The percentage of BPL people in Asom has even increased in between! As much as 51.21 per cent of the people in Asom were those below poverty line in 1973-74. This, in fact, rose to 57.15 per cent in 1977-78, coming down to 40.47 in 1983 and 36.21 in 1987-88. But, in 1993-94, the BPL population in Asom grew to 40.86 per cent, again coming down to 36.09 per cent in 1999-2000. All said and done, there is nothing to cheer about on this front.
The power scenario, or more specifically, the per capita consumption of power in a state goes to reflect a lot on the economic progress or development of the place. Let’s look at the all-India per capita consumption of electricity (in KwH) over the years: in 1974-75, it was 174.9 KwH, and this rose to 354.75 KwH in 1999-2000. In Asom, it was 24 in 1974-75 and this saw an increase to just 95.5 in 1999-2000, the same figure as that of Tripura! Look at the figure for Orissa, not known anytime as an industrially advanced state: in 1974-75, its per capital electricity consumption (in KwH) was 69.2 and in 1999-2000, it rose to 354.6.
The Eleventh Finance Commission had devised an infrastructure index for the year 1999. This index brings out a composite comparative profile of the availability of physical, social and institutional infrastructure in the states. Asom ranked 9th in the decreasing order, only marginally above Nagaland. Amongst all the states existing in 1999, Goa had the highest index for infrastructure. This means that Goa was the best-placed State in terms of infrastructure facilities. The other States with a high infrastructure index were Kerala, Punjab, Gujarat and Haryana. Arunachal Pradesh, as also most of the other north-eastern states, had the lowest Index. 
To add to this gloomy scenario is the dismal social sector spending in the north-eastern region. In the expenditure on the health sector, for instance, Meghalaya recorded the highest fall: from 15.34 per cent of the total allocation in 1981-82 to 7.22 per cent in 1997-98. This being the case, the question arises as to what will the states do with the money that it gets in the Eleventh Five Year Plan, that too close to Rs 100,000 crore, if not more!
The North-east actually does not have the capacity to absorb such huge amounts of money. The region is weak in infrastructure, there is no accountability in governance and the underground economy of terror eats into the developmental funds. Moreover, project planning is simply dismal in the states with babus, many with no interest in the region whatsoever, entrusted with the task of preparing project reports for the people. The result: projects which are not implementable or projects which do not yield the desired results. 
The best thing for the Centre to do, as an experiment, is to set up a Financial Accountability Commission (Prakash Karat can head this Commission for the greater interest of the nation), with powers over the whole of the region and disband such agencies (which are white elephants and nothing more) like the North Eastern Council and even that thing called DoNER (Department for Development of North Eastern Region). Mani Shankar Aiyar is a veteran and can be accommodated in another ministry!
     (The Sentinel,03.11.2007)


       
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