Attaining Comprehensive Development: A Comparative Study of Demographic, Migration and Socio-Economic Trends

R S Bora, Swati Virmani

Research output: Contribution to specialist publicationArticle

Abstract

Development is generally perceived as a multi-dimensional process, reflected in a wider context like improvement in the quality of life, achieving demographic transition, population stabilization, creating economic infrastructure and much needed investment. It includes growth and is a broader perspective term. The success story of inclusive growth, poverty reduction and achieving socio-economic development depends upon the quality of governance. Inadequacies of governance may not be reflected from overall growth rates, but are clear from issues such as unmet demand leading to migration. It is therefore important that any analysis of government intervention must not simply take into account growth; it must capture development in an equitable way.
During the formation in 2000 there were widespread expectations that reforms would rapidly put Uttarakhand on the path of balanced development and provide a surge of opportunities. However such expectations went unobserved, as the development literature itself supports that economic activities, social development activities, and demographic transition tend to foster growth in those regions that are already developed. Instead of a balanced pattern of development, an increase in regional inequalities was observed; resulting in a situation wherein only state policies and governance could counter regional imbalances (Bhattacharya and Sakthivel, 2003; Krugman, 1991). Uttarakhand is a case of late formation, whereas, Himachal is all set to meet the National Population Policy (NPP) targets and is better placed in terms of development indicators, in a way pointing towards the benefit of being a timely formed state.
It is often argued that as a result of formation of smaller states, the unproductive expenditure on the administration increases. Though national per capita expenditure on administration may rise in the first instance, but the productivity of such expenditure may also increase in smaller states (Rao, 2010). As Uttarakhand was bifurcated from the larger state of UP, the study pays attention to some of the characteristics of UP to validate the rationale for the constitution of smaller states, quite clear from Uttarakhand’s (and Himachal, another smaller state) demographic, education, migration and growth trends, outperforming UP.
The study is divided into six sections. The second section analyses the recent demographic trends; trends in education and employment are analyzed in third; forth is devoted to analyzing the structure of economy; fifth looks at the extent of migration; and finally the last section draws a few broad conclusions
Original languageEnglish
Pages122-129
Number of pages8
Specialist publicationThe India Economy Review
Publication statusPublished - 2011
Externally publishedYes

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