Governor CH Vijayashankar announced on Republic Day that Meghalaya’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) recorded a real growth of 9.66 % in the financial year 2025 making it the second fastest growing state and scoring nearly double the national average. With this growth trajectory it would appear that Meghalaya’s economy is growing exponentially. But is that the case and does this GSDP translate into real growth for Meghalaya’s citizens? At the outset let’s understand what GSDP is. Common citizens too should know how the GSDP is affecting them. The GSDP is the total monetary value of all final goods and services produced within the geographical boundaries of a state in a given period, usually a year, accounted without duplication. It is arrived at by aggregating the Gross Value Added (GVA) of all economic activities within the state, often referred to as the “production approach” or “value-added method.” Undoubtedly some sectors in the state have managed to do well particularly the horticulture sector. Meghalaya’s oranges and turmeric have become well known outside the state and abroad too. Add to that Meghalaya’s organic honey or that is what producers claim but without any organic certification.
Chief Minister Conrad Sangma correctly places much stress on technology and says the youth of Meghalaya must be future ready and get into the technology bandwagon. But the irony is that Meghalaya is also a data-scarce state. Any claims made without evidence becomes a mere assumption and makes policy intervention difficult. There is no specific data on the number of school and college drop-outs in 2023-24, 2024-25. There is also no data on the number of citizens here who live below the poverty line (BPL). Has poverty come down or have the numbers of the poor gone up? There is no latest data so how is the Government making interventions where it needs to?
Data is crucial for governments to enhance decision-making, improve service delivery, and increase operational efficiency. Since the CM is tech savvy he would know how important it is for officers in the last mile – the Blocks to get real time insights through Data analytics. This in turn helps to make policies that impact on the ground because they are formulated on the real needs of people thereby making service delivery more personalised. The role of Government is primarily to allocate resources based on needs, not on assumptions. The real need in Meghalaya’s rural outback are roads, rural livelihoods, education and healthcare. Unless these are in place, urban migration will grow and urban centres face pressure to provide the basic amenities. The exponential growth in the number of hawkers in Shillong city, with many coming from the outskirts, is a clear indication of the lack of opportunities in rural areas. Meghalaya needs to buck up on data generation in key areas. One question that stares the state in the face is whether the Anganwadi centres are even working. Most of them are in a dilapidated condition and look as if they are rarely open. Yet these are centres that are supposed to address malnutrition, under-nutrition, stunting of children which the National Family Health Survey (NFHS) has consistently pointed out to. The Government should not shy away from getting accurate data for that alone would enable it to address the real problems of Meghalaya’s citizens.
