Question : REGIONAL DISPARITY

(a) whether regional imbalances exist within each State in the country despite efforts being made through various centrally sponsored schemes;

(b) if so, the details thereof; State-wise along with the reasons for the prevalence of such imbalances;

(c) whether the Government has conducted/proposes to conduct any study/survey to ascertain the extent of the prevalence of such imbalances in each region and among States;

(d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and

(e) the steps taken/proposed to be taken by the Government to attain balanced development of all region and States in the country?

MINISTER OF STATE FOR PARLIAMENTARY AFFAIRS AND PLANNING (SHRI RAJEEV SHUKLA)

(a) to (e): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 377 REGARDING “REGIONAL DISPARITY” RAISED BY SHRI JAGADANAND SINGH DUE FOR ANSWER ON 19TH FEBRUARY, 2014.

(a) & (b): The levels of development vary from one State to another State as well as from one region to another within the State due to sub-continental dimensions of India, with inherent differences in geographical parameters and historical developments owing to differences in resource endowment, levels of infrastructure and socio-economic parameters.

(c) to (e): Planning Commission has not conducted any survey to detect regional imbalance within the States of the country. The planning and development of an area is primarily the responsibility of the State concerned. The Central Government, on its part, supplements the efforts of the State Governments through various Special Area Programmes, Flagship Programmes and Centrally Sponsored Schemes. In order to specifically address the problem of regional imbalances in the country, the Government initiated the Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) in 2006-07. BRGF includes the district component covering 272 districts, Special Plans for Bihar, the KBK districts of Odisha, West Bengal, the drought mitigation package for Bundelkhand region spread over Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh and Integrated Action Plan (IAP). Besides, the area development programmes such as Hill Area Development Programme (HADP), Western Ghats Development Programme (WGDP) and Border Area Development Programme (BADP) etc. also target the development of areas with specific problems.