Premium Gist of Yojana: February 2013
Contents
- Higher education at the National Level ()
- Khasi Sacred Forests
() - Nitrogen Fixing Techniques of the Angamis
() - Recommendation of the High Level Committee
() - Approach of XII Plan
() - Perfromance of Farmers
() - Entrepreneurship Development in India
() - Developing Entrepreneurship in North East
() - What’s FDI?
() - North Eastern Rural Livelihood Project
()
HIGHER EDUCATION AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL
The country presently (201112) possesses 634 universities and
33,023 colleges with the student strength of 1,69,75,000 (girls 70,49,000). The
number of graduates coming out of technical colleges was slightly over 7,00,000
in the last year. However, 75 percent of technical graduates and more than 85
percent of general graduates are unemployable by India’s high growth global
industries, including information technology. In the North-East states 40
universities and such institutions are present with Nagaland having 3, Assam 10,
Meghalaya 9, Sikkim 5, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram, Manipur and Tripura each
having 3. The small number of institutions in these states can be due to the
small size of the states.
In the country out of the GDP, 3.77 percent was spent on education in 2011,
32.3 percent of the total amount went to higher education.
Despite growing investment in education, 25 percent
population still remains to be illiterate; 15 percent of Indian students reach
high school and just 7 percent college and university. The quality of higher
education is significantly poor. India’s post-secondary institutions offer only
enough seats for 7 percent of India’s college-age population.
COMPONENT OF INFRASTRUCTURE
Infrastructure Development is a fundamental prerequisite for
realizing the vision of progress towards peace and prosperity and for creating
an investment climate and market development in the North East. In fact, this is
a basic prerequisite for development and has strong complementarities with
measures to improve health and education as well as industry and services are
crucial for establishing a stable and peaceful society and hence for the
progress and prosperity of the entire region.
Transport:
Transport is a vital input for the proposed shift from
subsistence agriculture to cash crop based farming, as well as the planned
development of industry and the service sector. Most of the area in the region
is hilly and undulating with low population densities, accompanied by low per
area production of goods. In the hilly terrain, what it is in the NER (except in
Assam and some parts of other states) development of inland waterways is the
most expensive. Similarly, rail connectivity in such a terrain is not only time
consuming but would need prohibitive investments, probably beyond the means of
the nation. It is road connectivity which would play a dominant role in
fulfilling the transportation needs of the public. Air connectivity would
certainly play a role for a limited segment of people and goods.
Roads
The main grid of transportation of goods and passengers in
the North East is the road network of 82,000 Kms. This network is most developed
in the Assam and Arunachal Pradesh. The five other main States in the region
have networks ranging from 5000 to 9000 Kms. The vast majority of roads, around
are unpaved roads, which are generally unsuitable for transport of heavy goods.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has been
paying attention to the development of National Highways (NHs) in the
North-Eastern region and 10 percent of the total allocation is earmarked for
this region. The total length of NHs in the NE, including Sikkim, is 6880 Kms
and these are being developed and maintained by three agencies-the State Public
Works Department (PWD), Border Roads Organisation (BRO) and National Highways
Authority of India (NHAI). Special Accelerated Road Development Programme for
the North Eastern Region (SARDPNE) is a flagship programme implemented by the
Mof Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) covering the improvement/ construction
of 8737 kms road. Phase-A covering 2304 km had approved for implementation and
Phase-B the length to be covered is 4570 Kms. The objectives of the programme
are as under:
- Connectivity of all State Capital towns with NH through at least 2 lane
road - To provide 2-lane connectivity to the remaining 51 District Headquarter
towns of NER (there are in all 85 District Headquarter towns of NER, 23 are
already connected by 2-lane road and connectivity to l l District HQ is
provided under Phase-A of SARDPNE). - To provide inter-connectivity of all the State Capital towns by at least
2-lane NH - To improve certain roads of strategic importance
- To provide improved connectivity to remote and backward areas, and
- To improve road connectivity to border areas, Land Custom Stations and
neighbouring countries
The Asian Highways project covering a road network of about
65,000 km. and passing through 15 countries is lying dormant for more than 40
years. The objective of this project is to promote and coordinate development of
international road transport for connecting all the capital and industrial
cities, sea routes and places of tourist and commercial interests in the Asian
region. The proposed roads in the Asian Highways project would connect the NER
not only with Bangladesh but also with other East Asian countries. This will
give a big boost to the development of this region. This project, therefore,
needs to be pushed through for implementation.
Rail
The railroad network is limited to 2500 Kms and lies almost
entirely within the State of Assam (2466 Kms), with short stretches in Nagaland
(13 Kms) and Arunachal Pradesh (I Kms). Only 960 Kms of this network consists of
standard gauge track suitable for haulage of bulk goods and the majority of the
network is made up of narrow gauge track suitable for small trains and
transportation of passenger and transportation of smaller cargo.
Similarly, there is an urgent need for a rail link to
Meghalaya and Sikkim. The more important issue from the long-term point of view
of the strategic planning is to develop a rail network with the aim of
increasing inter-state connectivity. In addition, rail connectivity should be
integrated with developments in the other avenues of transport being proposed
for the NER as a whole.
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