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Economic
Development Policy |
| DEVELOPMENT
OBJECTIVES |
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The
key development objectives
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Accelerating
the growth rate of the economy; |
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Generating
adequate productive work opportunities; |
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Eradicating
poverty through the provision of growth opportunities to the weaker
sections; |
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Providing
the basic minimum services of safe drinking water, primary healthcare
facilities, universal primary education, shelter and connectivity to all
in a time bound manner; |
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Ensuring
balanced development so that acute regional disparities are
eliminated. |
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The
wide-ranging economic reforms undertaken by the country in the nineties,
aimed at an extensive liberalisation
effort, catapulted the economy on a high growth path. Madhya Pradesh
experienced growth rates of 4.4% between 1993-94 to 1998-99 compared to
national growth rate of 6.8% during the same period. Faster growth rates
are required for the state to move ahead and meet its development
objectives.
High
growth rates are possible through the development of the Industry &
the Services sectors. These sectors, by virtue of being high value
generators, provide higher gains on an average. In addition, through the
creation of new job opportunities they ensure employment and therefore
opportunities for betterment for the populace at large. Services sector,
in particular, tends to be highly labour
and skill intensive.
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in contrast, tends to experience lower growth rates. It
is also perhaps responsible for the wide fluctuations in
the performance of the state, on account of its exposure
to the vagaries of nature. On the other hand,
agriculture provides livelihood to a majority of the
population. Therefore robust growth in this sector is
the best guarantee for achieving broad-based growth of
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Employment
Profile - 1991 |
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Source:
Govt. of MP, ADB |
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income levels and employment levels especially in the
rural areas. 77% of the state population resides in
rural areas and depends on Agriculture for
sustenance. In this scenario, the development of this sector becomes
critical to the entire socio-economic developmental process of
the State.
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Poverty,
which is largely concentrated in rural are can be effectively targeted through the generation of greater employment
opportunities and improved returns. While the employment elasticity of
agriculture may not be favourable,
its allied sectors of Horticulture, Dairy, Fisheries etc. are highly
labour
intensive and offer huge employment potential. These sectors, Dairy and Inland
Fisheries in particular, are not dependent on land and therefore
constitute an effective means of targeting the landless poor.
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Poverty
Indicators - 1996 |
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Source:
Govt. of MP, ADB |
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While economic
growth and employment opportunities go a long way in improving the
living conditions of the poor, they in themselves are not enough. They
need to be combined with the provision
of social
infrastructure and
services such
as primary education
and healthcare, safe drinking water, sanitation etc. Building capabilities
in the
weaker sections is an effective means of improving their access to
opportunities and therefore prosperity.
There
are regions or pockets of backwardness, predominantly tribal, which have
remained isolated from the over-all growth process. Special attention
needs to be focused on such regions to integrate them with the rest of
the economy. For example, roughly 40% of the tribal population is
concentrated in just 6 districts. The development of Agriculture and
other rural activities, through improvement in productivity and
providing connectivity to these backward area is a potent tool for addressing regional
disparities. Similarly,
disparities between the urban and rural centres can be curtailed through
the same process.
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Quality
of
Life - %
of
Villages with Access
to
Facilities |
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Human Development Report -1999 |
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It
is therefore obvious that all the three sectors of Agriculture, Industry
& Services will have to be simultaneously targeted for the
development of the State economy. While Agriculture will continue to be
the mainstay of the economic process in the short to medium term,
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Concentration
of Tribal Population
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Source:
Human Development Report |
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Industry & Services will take over and will start accruing benefits
in the medium to long term.
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