Is Assam really a sick state?
I was arguing with one of my friends that Assam been out of India been out of India it would have been able to survive well.
My friends, a non-assamese, was not convinced. He said that we do not have anything to sustain us apart from oil. Assam survived because of India. All the loans that it gets from the centre. Also with all the extremist activist activities in the region, the North East was in no way on the development path.
No matter how hard i argued, i did understand that, not all his arguements were baseless. The extremisim in the region had certainly dissuaded business houses from investing there.
I in fact have a friend whose father dropped plans of setting up a factory in Guwahati, the only city in the whole region.
But then to say that Assam and the rest of North east is short of resources is ignorance.
The region is full of resourses. Oil is no doubt the key income for Assam. Out of 13 refineries in the country, Assam has four, and one more in Bihar gets its oil from Assam.
Tea is another major industry. Assam tea is considered one of the best in the world and accounts for over 55 per cent of the Indian tea production and over 15 per cent of the world tea production.
The wood and cane industry is booming with majority of the plywood and canes used across the country coming from the region. Assam is the only state with over 30 per cent of forest area. The national average is somewhere in the lower 20s.
Apart from all these, the region is a scenic beauty with exotic flora and fauna. It is a photographer's dream country. And also the nature lovers and adventure seekers. The valleys of Assam, The hills of Arunachal, the waterfalls of Meghalaya... it surely a paradise.
And over all these, the people and the culture, which is often misunderstood, is the highpoint of the region. The culture is undoubtedly on the most advanced and the history of the region is unrivalled for the bravery it has shown. Lachit Borphukan's country has not lost its potency to give birth to great son's. May be dormant for some time. But Assam is surging and so is the rest of the region... And Assam will be Golden again, with or without India. The Human resources are yet to be explored just like the rest of the resources... truly Paradise Unexplored
My friends, a non-assamese, was not convinced. He said that we do not have anything to sustain us apart from oil. Assam survived because of India. All the loans that it gets from the centre. Also with all the extremist activist activities in the region, the North East was in no way on the development path.
No matter how hard i argued, i did understand that, not all his arguements were baseless. The extremisim in the region had certainly dissuaded business houses from investing there.
I in fact have a friend whose father dropped plans of setting up a factory in Guwahati, the only city in the whole region.
But then to say that Assam and the rest of North east is short of resources is ignorance.
The region is full of resourses. Oil is no doubt the key income for Assam. Out of 13 refineries in the country, Assam has four, and one more in Bihar gets its oil from Assam.
Tea is another major industry. Assam tea is considered one of the best in the world and accounts for over 55 per cent of the Indian tea production and over 15 per cent of the world tea production.
The wood and cane industry is booming with majority of the plywood and canes used across the country coming from the region. Assam is the only state with over 30 per cent of forest area. The national average is somewhere in the lower 20s.
Apart from all these, the region is a scenic beauty with exotic flora and fauna. It is a photographer's dream country. And also the nature lovers and adventure seekers. The valleys of Assam, The hills of Arunachal, the waterfalls of Meghalaya... it surely a paradise.
And over all these, the people and the culture, which is often misunderstood, is the highpoint of the region. The culture is undoubtedly on the most advanced and the history of the region is unrivalled for the bravery it has shown. Lachit Borphukan's country has not lost its potency to give birth to great son's. May be dormant for some time. But Assam is surging and so is the rest of the region... And Assam will be Golden again, with or without India. The Human resources are yet to be explored just like the rest of the resources... truly Paradise Unexplored
Comments
Post a Comment