Assam - Struggling Economy

North east belt of India consists of the following sister state Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura. All these states are abundant with respect to natural resource. Assam, it always reminds me of home and brings a smile to my face. Assam being my hometown holds a special place in my heart. But sadly these states have nothing to boast about when we talk of economy. Though Assam is growing but still it has a long way to go.

Assam’s economy is majorly dependent on agriculture. Tea, Oil refineries, tobacco industries etc form the source of income for the people of Assam. What is the future of Assam and all these less prioritised states? Central govt is least bothered about its falling economy and thus more or less leaves it to its own plight.

There are people employed by state govt-run industries like the Agro based industries (primarily into distribution of agro products including tractors, pesticides etc giving rebate to the farmer’s etc) among few other sectors who are waiting for their salary for not months but years now but are still working with the hope that someday there dues will be paid off. But the question is will they really be paid off? Often I wonder how they live and the question sends shivers down my spine.

Assam is the world's single largest tea growing region, producing more than 1,500,000 pounds of tea annually. But as tea prices have fallen and tea plantations have closed down it has resulted in a more deteriorating situation. Tea worker’s are losing there jobs and those who are involved with this industry are leading a miserable life with a bare minimum wage, which is hardly sufficient for sustaining their families.

The Assam film and music industry has been booming since the last decade. I have watched 2 flicks “Hiya Diya Niya” and “Nayak”, an average flick, but still I enjoyed both.

As far as the information technology sector is concerned, there is this STPI in Guwahati. But by and large nothing is really happening in this domain, except for the NIIT, Aptech and a handful of other computer course academies in every nook and corner of the state, mostly surviving by giving basic computer education, stuck with windows 98 and some being honest with DOS and Windows 3.1. There courses include Word, little bit of Excel and whole lot of stress is given on Paintbrush apart from how to create and send an E-mail. voila there you are, a computer literate !!

Oil refineries are also not being able to generate a handsome profit because of the ever increasing price of crude oil and lack of proper infrastructure to market their products.

But Asaam is also making progress with few central sector projects like, Guwahati Refinery, Bokajan Cement factory, Oil India Ltd., ONGC Ltd., HFC Ltd. HPC, Bongaigaon Refinery and Petro-Chemical project and more recently Numaligarh Refinery etc. as a result of economic planning in India. The State Government also chipped in the process by promoting a few large industries in pulp and paper, petrochemicals, fertilizer, sugar and textile sector. In between there have been a sizeable number of small scale units. More recently a good number of medium scale projects too have come up particularly with the support of State level financial Institutions. [ Source: http://www.techno-preneur.net/new-timeis/assam1/industry-policy-assam.htm ][sic]



Above all the legendary “bandh” system in Assam, which govt employees seems to enjoy every bit of, has paralysed Assam in every respect. You can hear all kind of bandh's starting from chakka bandh to any sort and range of “bandh”. One can do his doctorate in this topic from Assam. I sometimes wonder if I don’t feel like going to office, all I have to do is spread news about some hoax bandh and for real it will be “bandh”.

MOVIE BUZZ

Last week I watched Poseidon and I would rate it as 4 out of 5. I liked the way the whole thing was picturised. Many people have compared it with Titanic, but I personally disagree with it. It is basically an action flick and it happens to be about an apparently unsinkable ship caught by the furies of Mother Nature. The director has not wasted any time in building up the momentum. It’s like “HOLD ON TO YOUR SEAT” right from the beginning. I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of the movie. Josh Lucas did a great job and was looking gooood of course in a non-gay way !!!

Much anticipated movie in near future would be

The Da Vinci Code : I guess it’s the most anticipated movie of the year. I am waiting for its release in India as every body else. I have read all his books and I must say Dan Brown’s style of writing is very gripping.

X Man, The Last Stand : I liked both the preceding series and I am sure the 3rd of the final trilogy won’t let my expectations down. I would be there 1st day 3rd show at the booking counter (can’t screw up my job!).

MIIII : I thoroughly enjoyed both the 1st and the 2nd parts. As per speculations in the media, the first 2 parts are more intensifying than the 3rd one but my expectations for this one is high as well. Anyways I am a true fan of MI series, so I am looking forward to it.