A Northern Economic Union
The states have to lift border barriers for their economies to grow in double digits, says PHDCCI
Feroz Ahmed (Businessworld)
North Indian states have reasons to worry. A study by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) points to a dismal picture on the state of their economies. The most striking being the relative shortage of an educated workforce. The study points out that the number of literates per thousand persons in the North is 512, while it is 618 in the South, and 612 in the West.
East is at the bottom with 504 literates among every 1,000 people. The number of engineering seats in government recognised colleges in the North are slightly more than the West — 95,649 compared to 95,093. But almost half are in the South (184,698), according to the study.
The North’s contribution to industrial output too is only 30 per cent . While only a few of its states — Delhi, Haryana, Punjab and Himachal Pradesh — are relatively well off, the region, as a whole, is languishing on infrastructure, governance, health, etc. The impoverished states of Uttar Pradesh, Uttaranchal, Chhattisgarh, Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh account for 44 per cent of India’s geographical area, 38 per cent of population, 56 per cent of its agricultural production, and 45 per cent of the national GDP.
Given the gap, PHDCCI brought together chief ministers of the region in September. The objective: to consider formation of a North India Common Economy (NICE) to bring the region on a par with the South. Chief ministers of Jammu & Kashmir, Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Delhi and Haryana and representatives of the chief ministers of Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and the lieutenant governor of the union territory of Chandigarh attended the conclave.
According to PHDCCI president, Sushma Berlia, the state governments are willing to collaborate and cooperate on infrastructure development and taxation issues. She also points out that the Prime Minister’s Office and the Planning Commission too have thrown their weight behind NICE. They have appointed their representatives on the task forces working on key areas such as harmonisation of taxation policies and administration, water and power resources, and use of IT in governance.
“There is an unprecedented seriousness among the state governments of the North about economic development and reforms,” says Berlia, adding that the region needs to pull its weight if the Indian economy has to grow at a double digit rate. However, being NICE is only a step in this direction.
