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AHMEDABAD, BANGALORE, BHUBANESWAR, CHENNAI, HYDERABAD, KOLKATA, MUMBAI AND NEW DELHI | THURSDAY, 27 MARCH 2014

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Commercial Feature

The East: A resource-rich region

T

he economy of India is growing,

despite the recent crisis that engulfed
the world, with the national investment
rate at around 33-34% in 2013 which
is projected to grow at a higher rate of
6.7% in 2013-14 due to revival in consumption. This is expected to increase to 36% by the
end of 12th Five Year Plan (2012-17). It is needless to say that the Eastern Region of the country makes for a substantial part of this overall
growth, defying several drawbacks faced during the recent time of socio-political insurgency. But when looked upon this part of the
country, individually, the growth rate seems to
be negligible in comparison with the remarkable potential and resources that the states
have, which are all going into waste.
The eastern part of the country comprises
of the states of Bihar, Chattisgarh, Jharkhand,
Orissa, West Bengal and the eight states of the
North-East. The land with huge potential, the
region is blessed by nature with rich minerals,
forests, fertile soil and rivers - all in plenty. This
untapped wealth of nature, matched by skilled
human resource in abundance, according to a
literature by Indian Chamber of Commerce
(ICC), has compelled the nation to acknowledge the region's potential as the gateway for
the "Look East Policy". The abundance of natural resources makes the region the ideal base
for agricultural growth. In a nation like ours,
where a lion share of economic growth has
been retained by the agriculture sector, such
natural base could have simply added on to it.
But the abominable governance of the states of
this region has only restrained them from
attaining the deserving success. The stake of
agriculture in the national GDP growth rate has
declined remarkably in the last two decades;
from around 35% in 1990 - 91, its has come
down to as low as mere 3% in the beginning
of the new millennium.
With a vast history behind the cultural heritage of Bihar, the state is considered to be a

sleeping giant of agriculture. It has been

blessed with huge natural resources, like most
of the other eastern region states, which
include minerals, fertile soil and sweet water
bodies - home for fishes high in demand in the
global market; and it is needless to mention of
the skilled human resource. All these have
made the state a ready launch pad for investment. All this promising market needs is just,
corruption free governance. While leading the
GDP chart Bihar entice the investors of the
nation and beyond for newer ventures, the
political dadagiri, leades to poor management
and holds the state back from attaining the
status of other heavyweight states of India.
The division of Bihar in the year 2000 left
the state to part with the major mineral producing areas that went into Jharkhand. Hence
an agro based economy primarily dominates
the Bihar market. Credit goes to the highly fertile soil married with a proper climate. A number of vegetables and fruits produces in excess
and supplied to the national market, earns the
state high revenue. 70% of the national produce of Litchi and Makhana is supplied from
Bihar alone. As food makes for the single
largest component of private consumer expenditure, with an ever growing rate of population,
Bihar alone is expected to see a food consumption market of Rs. 83000 crore by the year
2015. Therefore, viability of Food Processing
Industry in the state is easily understood.
Besides agro industries, Bihar market has
also seen an up rise in the telecom sector.
IFFCO's Kishan Sanchar Ltd. has already tapped
the market with value added services like free
daily voice updates on mandi prices, farming
techniques, weather forecasts etc. Microfinance
is the other emerging enterprise in the state
which is still doing good unlike the neighbouring state of West Bengal.
The economy of Chattisgarh depends at
large on tourism and the rest on its mineral
resources. Intersected by meandering rivers and

dotted with hills and plateaus, the state offers

awe inspiring scenic beauty to the inbound
tourists. The government's take on tourism as a
globally emerging business opportunity has
come up with some dexterous policies to nurture the immense possibilities of growth in
tourism sector like developing basic infrastructure, ensuring tourist safety, revival and maintenance of heritage sights and monuments present in the state etc.
Chattisgarh also celebrates its richness in
minerals along with Jharkhand. Both the states
are endowed with mineral resources like no
other state in India. Chattisgarh, other than
diamond, iron ore, coal, limestone, dolomite,
bauxite and gold, is the largest producer of tin
ore in India and the most ideal environment to
produce cement. NMDC is exploiting its huge
reserve of iron ore to export to other countries
like Japan and also to supply to Visakhapatnam
Steel Plant.
Jharkhand, after being carved out of Bihar
has secured the richest mineral base in its part.
As good as 40% of the total country's mineral
supply comes from Jharkhand which is also the
credit of sole producer of cooking coal and uranium. Collaborating administrative set up
works to boost the industrial scenario of the
state and cater to the large consumer market,
home and outside.
Agriculture provides employment for the
65% work force in Orissa. Horticulture based
farming is the other factor providing livelihood
to the small land holders of the state. Orissa is
under a huge coverage of National Horticulture
Mission as the state emerges as a hub of
export for such produces. Sericulture in the
state has already attracted the attention of the
central government while its rich iron ore store
has made it a preferred destination for
investors both from national and global market.POSCO, Tata Steel, Bhusan Group, Jindal
Group, Essar Steel, Hindalco, Vedanta, Aditya
Aluminium and L&T - Dubai are the giants who

had already considered the potential of this

beautiful and culture rich state of the east.
Handloom of Orissa needs no special mention
as it is already known to the world, but the
required infrastructure for the weavers and
modern scientific management of their business is still at large lacking behind.

of proper infrastructure. Rubber and Bamboo

are two of the major agricultural produces of
the region. Tripura is considered the 'second
rubber capital of India' by the Indian Rubber
Board, as Kerala leads the chart and Mizoram
and Assam follow in quick succession. Globally
India ranks third in producing rubber.
There is abundance of fruits, vegetables
and other horticulture products and a remarkable production of spices like ginger, chillies,
turmeric and mustard seeds. Sub-tropical fruits,
through organic farming are produced in havoc
in the hilly areas of Arunachal Pradesh,
Mizoram and Manipur. The commonly required

The North-East region comprises of the

eight states viz. Arunachal Pradesh, Assam,
Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland,
Sikkim and Tripura. Except for Arunachal
Pradesh, all the other states' literacy rate
stands higher than the national average of
64.8%. With such a good pool of educated
human resource and diverse and vast natural
resources, the states definitely merit for special
political and administrative interventions,
opines ICC. The states are endowed with varied
topography and supporting agro-climatic condition, that make ideal home for agriculture, horticulture and forestry. Yet agricultural feed are
not quite same in all the states owing to lack

facilities like cold storage, ware houses, quality

control laboratories, packaging, power and
water supply are made available to the small
scale producers in this food park to provide
them with ample scope to flourish. Pineapple,
bamboo shoot, passion fruits and orange juice
processing has already seen the graph taking
an upward curb.
But all these positive steps and natural
advantages are not enough as there are major
infrastructural constrains of the region that hinder the development of the states that they
should attain. The most uneconomical pattern
of fragmented land holdings by small and mar-

ginal farmers holds the region from maturing

its dream development while the enviable natural resources remain to be unused. Ample irrigation infrastructure is one more important
aspect where the region lacks behind, leading
to poor produces.
The dire need of the time is huge improvement in infrastructure of North-East. The eight
states are bordered by four neighbouring countries viz. Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan and
Myanmar on three sides while connected with
the nation through the market of the gateway
of east, Kolkata - the capital city of West
Bengal. Adequate and appropriate roadways
are the prime criteria that the
respective state governments in
association with their central counterpart should concentrate on.
Proper road connectivity will open
the doorway to national and international market for the North-East.
Also there should be ventures of
Public - Private Partnership format
to create more scopes for infrastructural improvement.
Last, but definitely not the
least, West Bengal, a leader in cultural as well as ethnic diversity,
reaps from its share of the
Gangetic plain and stands one of
the agriculture giants of the country. But when it comes to industrial
development, the state has to part
with potential business propositions by corporate and industrial
giants owing to lack of proper land
acquisition acts and foresight of
political parties; their egocentric and narrow
political discord that gamble with the fates of
millions of the state.
The fourth largest growing state of India is
primarily an agrarian state following suit with
the region. The thrust on the IT sector for quite
a long time has started to yield as the state
homes IT giants such as Wipro, IBM and likes.
The development of Haldia, Durgapur and
Siliguri as Tier - II cities will only elevate the
economic scenario higher if the state government can realize the policies. Petrochemicals,
Iron & Steel, Textile, Leather, Food Processing
and Tourism are the prime focus of the hour.

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