SHILLONG: Questioning the authenticity and truthfulness of an IndiaSpend report that has projected Meghalaya as the fastest growing state in the whole country with a growth rate of 9.7% in 2013-14, UDP working president Paul Lyngdoh on Tuesday said the projections are doubtful in view of the repeated yearly reports of established organizations.
Expressing his views on the report, Lyngdoh said, “There are lies, damned lies and statistics.”
Observing that the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) cannot be looked upon as an economic indicator, former Finance Minister and NPP leader Conrad Sangma said that it is a good thing that Meghalaya has achieved this feat, but there are many other factors which need to be looked at to gauge the real growth of the State.
“Growth should be sustainable and it should continue, then only it will bring benefits for the state in the long run,” Sangma added.
UDP legislator Jemino Mawthoh wanted to know where the growth was actually.
“Here in Meghalaya we have growth, but without any employment,” he observed.
“Where is the growth? For growth, we need quality in education, good health infrastructure, proper sanitation, good water supply and housing and all these have to be taken into consideration,” he said.
Mawthoh said that GSDP alone does not reflect the quality of life of the people of the State even as he added that there is a need to look at the improvement in quality of lives of the people.
It may be reminded that the IndiaSpend report said Meghalaya, despite many constraints, has emerged as the fastest growing state in the whole country with a growth rate of 9.7% in 2013-14, higher than the fastest-growing big state of Madhya Pradesh (9.5%) and several notches ahead of the national growth rate.
Meghalaya’s growth in GSDP of 9.7% was better than that of Bihar, which had a GSDP growth rate of 9.1%. Meghalaya has also India’s second-lowest unemployment rate (after Gujarat) with 0.4% in rural areas and 2.8% in urban areas in 2011-12, the report stated.
