A balanced socio-economic and women development of Himalayan states is necessary

By K R Sudhaman

A balanced socio-economic and women development of Himalayan states is critical for India to become a developed economy in the next decade or two. The Indian Himalayan  region is spread across 13 Indian States/ Union Territories (namely Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim, Tripura, Assam and West Bengal), stretching across 2500 km. Nearly 50 million people reside in this region, which is  characterized by a diverse demographic, and versatile economic, environmental, social and political systems.

As far as Human Development Index is concerned, some of the north eastern states and Himalayan states have not done all that bad. For instance, states like Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and Mizoram have done well as their HDI is above national average but their socio-economic development is far behind some of the western and southern states like Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka. Of course,  some  of the northern and eastern states too have not done well in this regard.

But the problem with Himalayan states is they are not only backward but also ecologically fragile and that makes it that much more difficult the development process. Development has to be well calibrated so that further  damage to the eco-system is slowed down for the common good of the entire nation and the World from environmental disaster, which have become more rampant in recent years. Also the political system is such that it has become breeding ground for corruption making the development process that much slower and adhoc. But a significant development that has happened in recent years is the emphasis by the Narendra Modi government in the development of infrastructure in the north-east and the bordering states. Road and rail development is phenomenal and now practically all the north eastern states and Kashmir have rail connectivity beside air connectivity.

Several border roads are being built besides several tunnels that  would make the road connectivity all weather besides shortening distance between towns in the region. Northeast  India, in a touristic lexicon, is popularly known as seven sisters. However, Sikkim state became part of Northeast India subsequently, and it became seven sisters (Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura) and one brother (Sikkim).

It shares 98 per cent of its international boundary with China, Bangladesh, Bhutan and Myanmar,   and only 2 per cent with  other  states of India. What distinguishes Northeast India from other parts of the country is its unique geopolitical terrain.    The region is home to above 220 ethnic communities spread across  eight states (262,179 square km). It contributes 3.76 per cent of India’s population (45 million). The region is not a homogenous category. Each state has its distinct history, varied ethnic communities, structural inequality and power relation dynamics. Northeast   India is lacking in infrastructural development index compared to other parts of the country even though it fares well in the human development index.

Infrastructure development is disproportionately distributed within and across the region’s respective states. There is poverty and crumbling of infrastructure wherever the ethnic minorities (tribals in Manipur, tribes of Eastern Nagaland, Naga   tribes in Arunachal Pradesh, among others) predominately reside. In contrast,  infrastructural facilities are fairly developed in urban conglomeration where dominant ethnic communities reside – Imphal, Guwahati, Itanagar, Shillong, among others.

The  socio- political processes of investing and building infrastructure in Northeast India has certainly been given a push in recent years. But what is now needed is to identify those states and areas where there is poverty of infrastructure and accordingly invest and built resilient infrastructures for peace and progress. The women in northeast enjoy much better status than women in many states of north India. The women are generally educated and they are in all spheres of activity as in some of the states in south India. In the Himalayan states of North India, particularly Himachal Pradesh and Utharakand, Women are hardworking  than men, but their status in the society is not that much empowered as in northeastern states. They are also not educated. In Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh too women are hardworking but educationally backward. Also in Kashmir, women are discriminated just as in other northern states.

Regarding economic development Himalayan states  still  a lot of catching up to do just as northeastern states even though there is a renewed emphasis on infrastructure development particularly in border areas.   With the abrogation of article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh, tourism development too has been stepped giving much needed boost to economic activity. Also security environment too is gradually improving. This  will facilitate some   trade and industrial activity going forward. Road development in the northeastern states is remarkable in recent years. There are seven bridges are coming across Brahamaputra River, which will vastly improve connectivity to ports and rest of country besides intra- road connectivity among northeastern states.

Overall the Himalayan region is certainly moving  forward in socio-economic development  but it has still a lot of catching up to do with some of the developed states in the Western and Southern regions. Among the Northern states, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh  are doing reasonably well and the Himalayan states are certainly progressing better than states like Bihar and West Bengal.