When Jharkhand’s boundaries took shape as the 28th State on the Indian map, withthe passing of the Bihar Reorganization Bill, on November 15th 2000, a dream gotconverted into reality. Jharkhand has it all to be a winner: a prodigious child of theIndian Nation now entering the 18th year of its existence has much to boast.
Look atit from the point of view of topography, flora or fauna, industries, or mineral wealth,the State of Jharkhand does have a distinct laudable character of its own.
With 40 %mineral resources of the country comprising, inter alia, coal, iron ore, copper ore,kyanite, graphite, mica, uranium and gold, a good industrial base comprising Iron &Steel, aluminum, Iron –ore and Coal Mining, Motor vehicles, coke-oven products,basic ferrous and non-ferrous metals, machinery etc., nearly 1400 mm of annualrainfall, a good network of rivers like Subernarekha, Damodar, Barakar, Koel,Shankh, Mayurakshi, Kharkai etc., the State does carve for itself a niche among theStates of India. Given the picturesque beauty of the state with all its water falls andforests, flora & fauna, leave alone all other endowments, the state has potentialenough to attract tourists and launch a tourism inspired economic growth path.
Nonetheless, with all the bounties of nature notwithstanding, the State is indeed astudy in paradox.
Even with all the gifts of God, it still reels under the curse ofpoverty with nearly 40% of its population under the poverty line, net irrigated areabeing less than 10% of the net sown area ( to understand the contrast :Punjab has apercentage of 97% and the neighboring State of Bihar is above 60%). It has been around nineteen years of the formation of Jharkhand State and several developmentinitiatives have also been launched during this period but the problems remainlargely the same : poverty, unemployment, poor infrastructure (The State is belowthe national average in basic infrastructure, such as irrigation, electricity, road andrail transport), corruption, low productivity, poor law & order and above all lack ofopportunities for the youth of the State who comprise a good majority of thepopulation.
All these compound to prevent Jharkhand from attaining the heights itcan with ease and facility.
At 6 % GSDP rate of growth, it certainly has to cover a lotof ground to catch up with the other leading States. With a potential to reach 15%GSDP rate of growth, the State has to work out the nitty-gritties for achieving a higherproductivity, growth and sustainable development.