Economic development involves growth with equity. Equity has several dimensions, such as, interpersonal, inter-group, inter-generational and inter-regional. In a vast country like India regional disparities are quite natural and policies for convergence in the levels of development across regions are therefore necessary. The paths towards this convergence with however have to be region specific as regions have their own peculiarities in terms of location, endowment, history and culture. This book attempts to trace out such a path for Barak Valley, a small region within India’s North Eastern region. In the process the book also presents a fairly comprehensive account of the economy of Barak Valley, analyses its strengths and weakness and works out the key policy measures that would be necessary to usher in an agricultural growth led broad based development process in the region. The book should be of immense use to students, teachers, professionals and laymen interested in the economy of the Barak Valley in particular and India in general.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR M.P. Bezbaruah
Madan Prasad Bezharuah, born on 1st December 1941 at Guwahati (Assam), is an IAS offcer of 1964 batch of the Assam-Meghalaya cadre. He has held many important assignments both in the Government of Assam and the Government of India. He was Secretary in Government of Assam in the Departments of Education, Health, Industries and Finance and Chairman of the Assam State Electricity Board. He was Home Secretary of Assam from January 1986 to August 1990. He served as a Secretary in the Ministry of Tourism, Government of India and Principal Adviser in the Planning Commission. During 1990-94, he was Minister (Economic) in the High Commission of India, London. In this assignment, he was closely involved in the formation of the ‘Indo-British Partnership’. He was also a short-term Consultant to the National Development Planning Commission of Ghana. He was also Chairman of the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) for 2000-2001. He has written two books, Indian Tourism: Beyond the Millennium and Frontiers of New Tourism, and a number of literary articles in vernacular magazines as well as articles on popular economic topics in regional English newspapers. He has contributed articles/reviews to – Contemporary South Asia, Oxford; and Economic and Political Weekly, Mumbai. He secured a first class M.A. degree in Economics from Delhi School of Economics and obtained the Master of Public Administration (MPA) degree from Harvard University, USA.
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