7 Northeastern states behind national average income levels

The conditions in the north eastern states of India are far from ideal. Even the policymakers have not been able to bring about too many changes to the present condition. As per newest economic data the levels of income in 7 of the 8 states in the northeastern region in India are lower than the average levels of earning in rest of the country. Only a decade and a half ago there was a different situation whereby the levels of income in 4 of these 8 states was higher than the average income in India. Only Mizoram has been able to sustain its levels of income in the past 15 years. In 1993-94 fiscal the average income levels in Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and Nagaland were higher than rest of India by at least 10 to 20 percent. At present Arunachal Pradesh is under the radar by more than 15 percent and in case of Nagaland this rate is 25 percent. For Sikkim the rate is 2 percent. States like Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur were never really economically affluent. In 1993-94 Assam and Meghalaya were behind by 25 percent but at present they are deficient by 35 percent. Meghalaya, who were 10 percent behind in 1993-94, are now facing a deficiency of 17 percent. Tripura is the only state where the situation has improved. From 30 percent behind they have progressed up to 5 percent behind the average levels of income in India. Every central ministry, since 1998, has allocated 10 percent of its yearly budget for development in the northeast. The Ministry of Development of North-Eastern Region has said that in excess of INR 42,600 crores have been set aside in the period of 1998 to 2006 for developmental purposes. A number of questions have been raised by activist groups in the regions about the credibility of the higher levels of governance regarding usage of funds for developmental purposes.