Rural poverty in North Eastern Region: Problems and Prospects

Abstract

Proportion of rural poor households varies between 73.39% in Arunachal Pradesh and 55.48% in Meghalaya. In all other states this proportion is above 60%. This high and widespread existence of rural poverty vitiates the otherwise positive indicator of economic development of the region. As per Planning Commission 2002-07, there is 38% poverty in NER as against all India average of 21%. The poverty ratio in the states like Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Haryana etc ranges between 2% and 5%, much lower than the northeast states^. What can be the reasons for this persistent poverty ratio at such a high rate in NER? Among various reasons, unemployment problem is highly relevant to rural poverty. Due to the saturation of the employment avenues in the existing government, public and private sector, unemployment is continuously on the rise. Employment generation has been primarily through various government schemes. The government schemes are being complemented by efforts of the support and promotional organizations that are also working towards changing the general tendency of looking for a government job by the educated.