Balanced Regional Development in India: Issues and Policies

Balanced regional development has always been an essential component of the Indian development strategy in order to ensure the unity and integrity of the nation. The fact that there are vast areas of the country which have remained backward over the years is both a challenge and an opportunity. Relatively richer states need to pay adequate attention to the claims of the backward states must also be sustained on the basis of proven programmes for the benefit of the backward regions. Efforts at attracting private investments by state governments has already led to a certain degree of competition in grading of fiscal and other concessions. While a certain degree of competition in this regard manly may be desirable, in the long-run it would adversely affect the fiscal viability of some of these states to provide the basic social and economic infrastructure. With a view to addressing the problem of regional inequalities, a new initiative in the form of the Rashriya sam Vikas Yojana (RSVY) was operationalised in the Tenth Five year Plan (2002-07). It aims at focused developmental programmes for backward areas which would help reduce imbalances, speed up development and help these areas to overcome poverty, besides facilitating the states to move up the ladder of reforms. With the opening up of the economy and removal of controls, the play of market forces may tend to exacerbate disparities. The equality-promoting role of central planning assumes added importance in this context. Balanced regional development has been an integral part if economic planning in India since the launching of the First Five Years Plan in 1951. Part I of this work provides an introduction to policies, programmes, and current issues pertaining to balanced development of various parts of the Indian economy. Part II of the book reproduces edited extracts on the subject from India’s Five year Plans. Part III contains latest data on regional imbalances in India.