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Is rural India more industrialised than urban India?

Economic Census of India - Interim Findings

Is rural India more industrialised than urban India? Are there more enterprises employing 10 people or more in rural areas than in urban areas?

The answer is Yes, to both the questions, as per the interim findingsof India's Economic Census 2005. We have to wait till December for the final confirmed figures. But you can read some of the interim findings here.

Interesting, very interesting.

Here's my take though:

1.Most industrial units are located on the outskirts of urban areas because (a) the land is cheaper and (b) to benefit from the subsidies if any, offered by the Govt.

2.However, we can't really call these areas rural. In most cases, they have become part of the city. Just because the corporation or municipal council limits do not extend till these industrial areas (yet), it does not mean they are all located in rural areas.

3.IMHO, as part of the economic census, the very classification of whether an area is rural or urban should also be reviewed. The last census happened in 1998. India (both the urban and rural parts) has undergone tremendous transformation since then. Many cities have expanded and become - Greater Bangalore, Greater Hyderabad and the like, literally swallowing dozens of villages in the process.

Okay, my rants apart, there is some good news as well:

To conduct the Census, students and Integrated Child Development Staff, and thousands of volunteers have been trained in data collection techniques. This is a novel use of India's enormous human capital.One hopes that in the process, the students and volunteers gain an understanding of the enormity of the task ahead - that of India's development. As any thing that doesn't get measured, doesn't get done, learning to measure is also an important skill.It can help you understand the 'doing' part also better.

Coming to the findings, the growth rate in the North East states of Sikkim, Tripura, and Mizoram and in (surprise, surprise) strife-torn Jammu and Kashmir, shows that not all hope is lost.

More on this later, if I find any interesting discussions on the various Indian Economy blogs.

Comments

suresh said…
the present situation in AP is miserable ,which is unwarranted ,purely created by the central govt to weaken andhra and benefit other states, divided andhra will not have much importance later, this is a utterly malicious , barbarian and selfish, uncouth action , with total regard to unity of andhra and even india, creating more states and regionalism, the central ministers who are from other states like maharashtra, TN , karnataka are favouring telangana as there will not be a big AP to compete with..congress govt has created anarchy and despair ,in AP. this is a total betrayal of telugu people.the greedy , ruthless ministers have filled their pockets ,with no regard for unity and common development of AP.