The Hindu Business Line : Northern States lag behind on economic norms

While North India accounts for 44 per cent of the country's geographical area and 56 per cent of the agricultural production, its contribution to the industrial output is only 30 per cent, according to a study conducted by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI). The 10 North Indian States also lag behind on critical economic and social indicators compared to other parts of the country.

Releasing a Policy Paper titled "The North Versus the Rest: Where do we stand? Where do we go from here?" Ms Sushma Berlia, President, PHDCCI, said: "The northern block accounts for 40 per cent of the total exports of the country, it lags behind in almost all critical indicators like infrastructure, investment climate, consumer market and even technical education sector."

New Initiative

In Haryana, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, there is a serious education problem including lack of vocational education and skill-formation infrastructure. The South has almost double the number of engineering and management seats than the North, according to the study.

In terms of the size of the consumer market (which reflects the growth and prosperity of the people), other than some pockets of wealth in the North, there are considerable pockets of deprivation.

To rid these States from the problems, the chamber has embarked upon the idea of NICE - the North India Common Economy.

Under this, the chamber has taken upon the task of facilitating and forging a common agenda between the States, which in the first stage will aim to remove the barriers to inter-State trade.

In the next step, it will promote a dialogue between the stakeholders on how to increase the scale of industrial and economic development of the region.

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