IAS/PCS/CSAT COACHING

                                                          Punjab development report

Punjab today contributes nearly 40 per cent of wheat and 60 per cent of rice procured for distribution through the public distribution system the state went in for promoting the white revolution,resulting in the highest per capita availability of milk to the people.Despite its relatively high-income level, the state is noted for considerable

outmigration to other parts of India as also emigration to several countries. This is attributed not to any distressful situation at home but to attraction of greater prosperity outside.

At the time of the partition of the Indian subcontinent in 1947, Punjab was bifurcated into two parts: West Punjab (Pakistan) and East Punjab (India). Of its 3,59,179 square kilometres and 29 districts only 1,52,649

square kilometres and 13 districts were left with Indian Punjab Punjab now with an area of 50,362 square kilometres.The state accounted for 1.5 per cent of the total area of the country and 2.4 per cent of the total population in 2001.

In 1966, the state was trifurcated into Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. The state economy, which was growing at a faster pace than the national economy until the late seventies and was moving ahead almost at the same pace during the eighties,received a setback in the nineties. During the last decade, the annual growth rate of the state economy was slower (4.7%) than that of the national economy (6.9%). Punjab held the top position in per capita income among the major states at the beginning of the nineties, but came down to the fourth place by the end of the decade. Factors, which seem to have adversely affected the state’s fiscal situation over the past 15 years are a high salaries and wage bill, mounting debt burden, heavily subsidized social and economic services, slow growth of revenue and loss-making PSUs.

There is an unbearable amount of subsidy involved in both agri and industry which form the major part of the state budget . Among other factors, such a situation has led to a considerable decline in the share of development expenditure, from 72 per cent in 1980-81 to 44 per cent in 1999-2001.

Punjab is an agriculturally progressive state producing over eight tonnes per hectare of wheat and rice, with 94 per cent of the cropped area irrigated, and 186 per cent cropping intensity. It uses 184 kg/ha of chemical fertilizers and has 9.35 lakh tractors in use.Lately, agricultural activities have begun to show signs of fatigue, because of:

·  Monocropping of paddy and wheat with attended manifestations of stagnating yields, increase in cost of production and low returns.

·  Over-exploitation of water and soil resources.

·  Declining public and private sector investments.

·  Inadequacies in marketing, pricing and processing of vegetables, fruits and other crops.

·  Dwindling agricultural research and extension inputs.

Agricultural development can be rejuvenated through:

·  Crop diversification with high yielding, remunerative alternative crops, supported by pricing and marketing.

·  Soil, water and environmental conservation.

·  Efficient management of input-use for increasing crop and animal yields.

·  Facilitating contract, commercial and organic farming.

·  Introduction of corporate sector in services and agro-processing sectors.

·  Re-vitalization of research and extension.

·  Re-orientation of subsidies in the light of WTO.

·  Strengthening Panchayati Raj and co-operative systems

Ludhiana, Patiala and Ropar districts account for half the industrial production in the state. On the other hand, Faridkot, Mansa and Muktsar districts have a share of less than one per cent each.

In Punjab, which is the fifth major urbanized state in India and a highly urbanized state in the northwest region, the growth pattern of urban centres is creating imbalances in infrastructure, housing and level and quality of services. The situation is the worst in small and medium towns. City governments are financially weak and functionally unstable.

The poverty level of Punjab, as defined by the Planning Commission of India, is slightly higher than Bihar and considerably lower than U.P., Orissa and Rajasthan. A slight upward revision of the poverty line can raise the number of the poor considerably. District-wise trends of urban poor indicate that Ludhiana and Jalandhar districts have the  largest number of urban poor (i.e., more than 50% BPL families), and hence require immediate attention. Poverty alleviation schemes have not had much impact because of the inadequate participation of the poor, lack of convergence of line-departmental schemes and programmes. Programmes and schemes need to be re-oriented in the pattern of Kerala and Self Employed Women’s Association (SEWA) of Ahmedabad. ULBs should create poverty alleviation funds with special emphasis on employment,

security and opportunity as envisaged in the World Development Report 2000-01.

Education - Issues and Recommendations

·  District-wise Imbalances in educational status and development are significant. All the universities and        three/four colleges are located in urban areas. Therefore, educationally backward and under-developed districts and rural areas must be given more attention.

·  More educational institutions have to be established in rural areas with more vocational courses, to equalize educational opportunities.

·  Existing resources must be optimally utilized for this purpose.

·  As no autonomous institutions of higher education exist in Punjab, such colleges

should, therefore, be promoted.

·  There is no universal system of admission policy; even degree programmes are

not organized on the basis of the established manpower needs; therefore, the

admission system needs to be restructured.

·  There is a wide gap in the enrollment status of students between upper-castes and lower castes. Therefore, education opportunities for the Scheduled Castes should be equalized. Further, distance education must be developed into a viable and effective alternative, to enable education reach most deprived and needy sections of the population.

·  UGC recommendations of 200 working days in a year, 40 working hours in a week per teacher, 75 per cent attendance of students in a year, have to be adopted to improve the quality and accountability of higher education. The number of holidays can be reduced by papering date-based information of working norms in each institution.

·  Subsidy to students belonging to better-off families should be removed and privatization of higher education encouraged to achieve better standards and status of higher education.

On the whole, Punjab emerges as a grand success story. Evolved in the mode of a culture of competition’, the state is taking time to acquire a ‘culture of co-operation’. Human development is yet to reach the expected level. Succinctly put, Punjab has not been in a position to realize its potential fully.

In the medium-term, it could be placed at 1 November 2016,when Punjab would be celebrating the golden anniversary of its formation; in the short term, it can be placed at 31 March 2007 when the Tenth Plan gets completed; and as a relatively long-term scenario, it can be dated as 31 December 2020, in the spirit of a new vision. These three datelines can adopt evolving development dimensions as their top priority: financial recovery as the necessary base (2007); human development (education and health) by 2016; and habitat (environment) by 2020.