By Harsh Shrivastava
My last article citing official data from the Union Finance Ministry showed that Meghalaya’s per capita income is getting poorer relative to the rest of India—falling from 74 percent of the national average to 67 percent of the national average in nine years. Looking at the same per capita income data given in the Economic Survey, I was also surprised to know that Sikkim, Mizoram, Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, and even Tripura are all richer than Meghalaya. Only Manipur is poorer. In this article, I want to explore how Meghalaya can learn from its sisters and at least figure out how to catch up with them, if not with the rest of India.
Before I start I want to address one comment about my per capita income. It was said that Meghalaya is poorer because it has a lot of migrants. All those migrants are also earning—otherwise why would they come to Meghalaya. When they earn, they contribute to the state’s economy, just as residents do. If they are increasing the denominator (number of people), they are also increasing the numerator (Gross State Domestic Product) and would probably make no difference to the per capita income. A thought experiment: if all the migrants—most of whom are equally citizens of India, magically went away, would Meghalaya be richer or poorer.
The latest IMF data show that Bangladesh’s per capita income has crossed India’s. This implies that Bangladesh is much richer than Meghalaya. In a few years, it will be unlikely that richer Bangladesh citizens will want to come to poorer Meghalaya, and those who did come may start thinking of going back.
Now to the other NE states. Let’s start with Sikkim. There’s a lot for Meghalaya to learn from Sikkim. It’s smaller than Meghalaya but much richer. Why? How? Its literacy rate and other human development indicators are higher than even the rest of India, but that’s no excuse for Meghalaya to not invest in schools, hospitals, teachers, and rigorous studies to catch up. That’s not just the State Government’s job—but also society’s, ADCs’, parents’, and others’.
Sikkim is also rich because it has hydropower projects. But Meghalaya has coal, limestone, and uranium—all three of which could and should generate more wealth. Sikkim has tourism, but so does Shillong. Sikkim has spending by the army, but Shillong has the Air Force, so that cannot be the reason why Sikkim continues to be richer. Lots to learn from the smallest of the eight sisters.
Mizoram next. What does Mizoram have that Meghalaya doesn’t have? Meghalaya has more tourists, more well-known culture, football, schools, and colleges. Meghalaya has the minerals, which Mizoram doesn’t. And yet, Mizoram is getting richer. Its neighbouring country, Myanmar is poorer than Meghalaya’s neighbour, Bangladesh, so there is less trade. What is it about Mizoram’s culture, attitude towards work and wealth, peace, education, cleanliness, governance can Meghalaya learn from?
Arunachal Pradesh. Again a state that’s less well-connected than Meghalaya, with fewer tourists, yet doing better. Yes, there are mega dams coming up in Arunachal Pradesh and Assam on the Brahmaputra. When ready, they will contribute to the state, but today, there must be something Arunachal is doing right.
If Meghalaya is a complex state, Assam is even more so. It is India’s only state which is simultaneously multi-lingual, multi-religious, and multi-ethnic. And it suffers floods every year. So why is Assam steadily prospering economically—question to ponder.
Nagaland is also richer than Meghalaya. Nagaland is so much like Meghalaya. Proud tribes, strong culture, Christian values. Meghalaya also has richer Bangladesh than Nagaland’s poorer Myanmar. Many more tourists. More minerals. And in some ways less complex politically and culturally. Despite all that, Nagaland is richer than Meghalaya. This must be the most urgent task of any well-wisher of Meghalaya. To find out what and how Nagaland prospered more. What business does Nagaland have that Meghalaya doesn’t. What does its society do that Meghalaya civil society can learn from? What’s Nagaland’s secret sauce?
Tripura is more remote than Meghalaya. Poorer connectivity and long distance means the costs of moving material into and out of Tripura is more than Meghalaya. Consequently, Shillong has far more tourists than Agartala, in addition to its refugee problems. There’s rubber in Tripura, but as I said Meghalaya has coal and limestone and uranium. There’s something happening there that has made the state and its people outperform Meghalaya.
Meghalaya has more natural advantages than every other state, apart from Sikkim; it also has prospering Bangladesh next door. Leaving aside Sikkim, all other NE states have broadly similar health and education. All get roughly the same support from the taxpayers of the rest of the nation as does Meghalaya. Most states have many tribes resident in them. All have vibrant civil societies and relative peace, except Manipur, which is consequentially poorer.
Lastly, politics. Barring Manipur, all other NE states are as stable as Meghalaya. All have hard-working leaders, many of whom have been re-elected, so they are experienced, as are their ministers. Thus, it cannot be said that Mizoram has “better” politicians than Meghalaya or Sikkim or even Tripura. There is no “excuse” for Meghalaya to comfort itself in its relative poverty by blaming other factors.
The answer to what can Meghalaya and its people do better to catch up with their sisters has to come from first understanding each state and drawing appropriate lessons. What are their businesses doing more—since it’s business that creates wealth. What are their youth doing more—are they working harder? Why? Is society more cohesive—if so how, especially almost when every state also has tribes and non-tribal fellow citizens. Is governance better? Again, how, when the quality of the executive, legislature, and judiciary—the three pillars of government—is broadly the same in all NE states.
Understanding and learning from other NE states isn’t going to easy. First, it requires an acceptance that there is something to learn from others. From that learning comes the next more difficult question. How to convert the learning to a willingness to improve. Business must improve. Society must improve. Government must improve. And they must coordinate better with each other and support the bigger goal of creating wealth and move Meghalaya from second to bottom to second to top, at least in the next ten years.
Willingness to change has to be followed by capacity to change and then actual change. What behaviours do businessmen and employees and entrepreneurs need to learn that their counterparts in other states already have. What should mid and lower level officials in government do more—should they work longer hours? How can they be assisted to do more to meet the increased expectations that everyone else will have of them. What can civil society do that is positive and delivers prosperity, rather than always worrying about dividing the cake in many more ways so that each group gets a more fair share. As societies and individuals get richer, societies will change. What change is to be accepted as desirable, and what change, especially tribal culture that needs to be supported.
What more can migrants from Meghalaya who are working in Gurgaon and Bangalore do to contribute to this proposed “Great Catch-up Plan”. Apart from remittances, how to get more investment and more ideas from them. Just as more young Meghalayans are migrating to other parts of our nation, residents from other states are also migrating to the state, as is their right. How to make these so-called outsiders feel welcome and urged to do even more for their new state.
All these are urgent questions and they need to be studied by a representative group of Meghalaya citizens—the proposed independent think-tank that I wrote last time. Studying and then adapting to Meghalaya’s unique needs and then taking everyone along in ways that complement what the government is already doing. The other states aren’t standing still; they are also growing, as is the rest of our nation. So Meghalaya must grow faster than everyone else to catch up. I’m confident that it will.
