The most paradoxical situation in the world today is of iniquitous distribution of income, which has resulted in some people enjoying an excessively luxurious life, while others lack food and the barest of necessities. This is not only true between countries, but within the country too, as one would notice when India’s income pattern is examined. The average per capita income of India was ` 60,603 in 2011-12, whereas the per capita income of Assam was Rs. 33,633. The state with the highest per capita income in the Northeast Region (NER) is Sikkim, with Rs. 121,440. All the states except Sikkim and Arunachal Pradesh have lower per capita income than the Indian average. This is to be viewed against the available data which shows that the region as a whole was better off relative to the average Indian state, till about 1961-62. The NER got cut off from the mainland after the partition. But the efforts to raise the income of the region did not get adequate attention till Prime Minister Deve Gowda’s time. As the gap between the rest of India and the NER became bigger, the attitude of the people of the region towards the leaders too started changing.
Rich in natural wealth, but…
The local people as well as the rest of India know that the NER is rich in natural resources (NR). This has to be viewed in light of the fact that the only other area which is equally placed in terms of NR is the Chhotanagpur plateau, and that too is underdeveloped. This has made terms like “resource curse” very common among the development workers in the NE region. It is an irony that the more resource the region has, the more underdeveloped it is.
In the world stage we find that Africa is similarly placed – there is an abundance of resources, yet the countries are poor. In the case of present day Southeast Asia however, the poor countries could come up with institutions and policies which made them grow very fast within a short span of time – giving hope to the other countries that the “resource curse” need not be a given. In a similar way, the Malthusian depiction of the population growth and food availability which result in a low level trap for the countries trying to develop, seems to have been negated. High population growth is no longer a bane. North Korea which is resource rich but has very low per capita income, and South Korea which is resource poor but is highly developed, depict a situation where institutional development has made up for the lack of natural resources.
In the NER, there are abundant water resources, fauna and flora and fertile soil, besides those that lie underground. The petroleum resources, natural gas, coal, limestone, uranium and so on are also there to show that nature has been kind. There are numbers to show that these resources which are highly valued in today’s market, make the people in the NER feel rich – but without the corresponding benefit in terms of actual income to the people.
Plywood industries used to be one of the prime movers in the NER. But the intervention of the Supreme Court has brought its expansion to a halt. Replacement of wood by bamboo which is abundant in the NER has not made much progress, even though in South-East Asia this has made much progress. For the local entrepreneurs to play a big role, there is need of bank loans. As reflected by the low credit-deposit ratio (CDR), bank loans for the local entrepreneurs are difficult. Yet, outside investors do not have the feel for such industries. Thus, most of the extractive industries in the NER are in the public sector and vice versa. For new industries in the public sector, there is difficulty in getting permission as the new policy of the Government of India seems to be that it should be staying away from business, and should in fact encourage divestment.
Is the Centre playing fair?
Although the revenue that is coming to the NER states in terms of royalties is quite substantial, such questions as to the adequacy of revenue do arise now and then. Besides, sometimes it is seen that other states which have similar natural resources too, get more than what the NER is getting. The recent case of the lower petroleum royalty paid to Assam compared to Gujarat, as pointed out by Assam’s CM is one such example.
Ever since the partition, the NER states have questioned the intention of the Centre towards it. There has been a trust deficit, and because of this any step to exploit the NR of the region is viewed suspiciously. For everything that the rest of India gets – like mobile connectivity – the NER has to wait due to the Centre’s security considerations. Even then, there is discrepancy regarding the policy on the western border of the country and the eastern border. The states in the western border with their proximity to Delhi have developed much faster than those in the NER. Security considerations, however, continue to block the setting up of any industry in the region.
A striking feature of the NER is the land ownership structure which is constitutionally upheld by the provisions contained in the Sixth Schedule to the Constitution, whereby, land ownership is not transferable to non-tribals. Therefore, the NR becomes the property of the tribal community and at the same time, the right to mine the resources also rests with the people. This has made the exploitation of uranium and hydel power in some areas, a difficult thing. Of late, the rat hole mining of coal in Meghalaya has been stopped in response to a Public Interest Litigation (PIL).
A very important issue is the exploitation of the NR, where the views of the local people differ from the rest of the nation. For instance, in Arunachal Pradesh, through which some of the important tributaries of the Brahmaputra river flow, many private as well as public sector players have come forward to generate power from the hydel projects. While the government and the industrial houses are supporting the move, there is a huge section of the people which is opposed to the targeted projects as they consider it “anti-Northeast”, and they feel that proper feasibility studies have not been undertaken. This also is a result of the trust deficit that exists.
The need to train local manpower, gain trust
A big problem plaguing the region is that while there are deficiencies in the provision of infrastructure, setting up institutions of higher learning and research has also been kept at bay by the Centre. Even the ones which are there do not have good staff from the region. Thus there is an inflow of people from outside to man the establishments. Some of them do work sincerely, but most of them take their transfer as punishment posting. As a result, the circle becomes vicious, not virtuous – instead of higher research resulting in more learned people from the region and higher institutional development leading to more economic and social development of the region, there is human resource outflow from the region. Even existing institutions are suffering from lack of good manpower resulting in reluctance in setting up new institutions.
Lack of good manpower has also led to some other issues. For example, every time there is the question of choosing heads of the existing Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs), the local people demand that a local person should lead. But the Centre more often than not, puts outsiders in charge of the organisation. This offends the local population. These are subjective matters perhaps, but they need to be viewed against the backdrop of the trust deficit referred to earlier. Many a time there appears a clash of interests between the PSUs exploiting the NR, and the local people. In such cases, the decision of the PSUs and who is heading the organisation are discussed, critically usually, by the local leaders. For example, one does understand that for jobs like precision welding, the skill level of the local job seekers may not be comparable to the people from outside. But the local leaders say that unless a local person is hired and trained, how will they learn? And where else can they go? Job opportunities for the unemployed are limited in the NER, while the PSUs have many vacancies.
To get out of the present situation involving the exploitation of the natural wealth of the NER, the trust deficit has to be wiped out. The sincerity of the government at the Centre and in the NE will make a big difference. One would like to see more transparency in decision making. In this region there are many powerful organisations. It is better to invite them for a discussion and take them into confidence. The complaint that there are no local entrepreneurs, is not tenable. Had the bank loans and subsidies been easy for the local candidates, and the infrastructure been of all India standard, the development scenario would have been different. Lastly, the decisions regarding the NER are ‘fair’ and have to be accepted by the people. And let us understand that ‘fairness’ is itself dependent on education, exposure, as well as the level of development of the NE region.