Introduction :

• Punjab ranks among top five states having relatively higher per capita income and at the same time has highest percentage (31.94%) of Scheduled Caste (SC) population in the country. As per recent (2015) Socio-Economic & Caste Census (SECC) of Government of India, this percentage is reported even more higher (36.74%) in rural areas which is nearly double the national average (18.46%). Apart from it, there is a large number of socially deprived people belonging to OBCs in the State. Around 39 castes of Scheduled Castes and 69 castes of OBCs are notified in the State. Further,a large number of people live in disadvantageous areas of International hostile border and in uneven topography of Kandi belt. In addition to it,a significant proportion of population belonging to socially deprived sections of migratory labour also resides in the state on permanent basis or as seasonal labour. The Socio-Economic & Caste Census-2011 has reported that Punjab has highest percentage (43.34%) of landless population in Northern states and 5th highest in the country.Another unfavourable factor is that it is landlock border state. It is prone to internal and external disturbances almost on an interval of a decade. It suffered severe human and economic loss during partition in 1947. It was again divided administratively during reorganization in 1966. The state faced internal crisis on account of Naxalite movement during 1960-1970 and militant movement during 1980-1990.
• Notwithstanding all these factors, Punjab occupy an extremely important place in the country. It is the trendsetter state in terms of agriculture development and pioneer of Green Revolution in the country. It is the largest grain producer state and ensures food security of the Nation. It also plays the key role in military defense of the country. Punjab is projected as a role model of development for the other states. Agriculture played the key role in economic development of the state. The industrial sector is dominated by small scale enterprises. Adequate roads network, 100% rural electrification, safe drinking water, schools and health centres provide basic amenities to the people of state which are still not available to large areas of the rest of the country.

Statistics :

• Present Punjab is a Punjabi language speaking state with 50362 km area and 2.77 crore population living in 143 towns and 12575 villages. Out of total area, 96% of area is rural and only 4% area is categorized as urban. The state has very low (6%) area under forest.
• The state is administrated through 22 districts, 82 tehsils and 146 blocks. It has common High Court and Common capital of Chandigarh with Haryana State.
• There are 20 Parliamentary constituencies (13 Lok Sabha and 7 Rajaya Sabha) and 117 Vidhan Sabha Constituencies in the state. The density of population is 551 and 62.52% of total population is living in rural area. The literacy rate of the state is 75.80% and nearly one third (31.94) of its population belongs to Schedule castes. Sex ratio, which is a serious cause of concern for the state, is improving over the period yet it is only 895 which is significantly lower than national average 940.

Location :

• Present Punjab extends from 29° 30’ to 32° 32’ N Latitude and 73° 55’ to 67° 50’ E Longitude. It is a land locked state situated in the North Western part of Sub-continent. It is surrounded on the north by J & K, on the north east & east by Himachal Pradesh, on the South & South east by Haryana and on the South west by Rajasthan.

Physiography :

• The state of Punjab can be divided broadly into three socio-cultural regions: Upper Bari and Bari Doab plain, Satluj and Ghaggar Malwa plain and South-Western Zone. Punjab has nearly homogeneous physiography. Major proportion of the physiography of the State is flat/plain except low ranges of shivaliks in north and northeast, locally known as “Kandi; area.” As per the variation in physiography, the state may be divided into three regions i.e hilly tract, foot hill and flat plains.

Climate :

• Punjab has continental semi-arid to sub humid climate. Most of annual rainfall occurs in monsoon months(July-Sept). The winter rains period is December & January. The lowest and highest temperature months in the state are January and June, respectively.

Per Capita Income :

• Punjab remained nation's most developed state. The growth rates of the economy in Punjab have been comparatively higher in the post-independence period. After the Green Revolution it acquired significantly higher growth rate. In 1960-61, Punjab ranked fourth in per capita income but got the top position in 1964-65 which was maintained up till 1992-93. After this period although per capita income slipped to lower position due to various reasons, yet it maintained its position among 5 top ranking states of the nation. Per Capita income (constant prices) of Punjab is Rs 49529 in 2013-14 compared to Rs 39904 at national level.

State Income :

• As per the quick estimates of 2013-14, the GSDP of the State is estimated to be Rs. 317556 crore at current prices showing an increase of 11.38 percent over 2012-13 (P). As per the advance estimates, it is expected to rise to Rs. 349826 crore at current prices showing an increase of 10.16 percent. As per estimates of GSDP at constant (2004-05) prices, GSDP for 2013-14 is Rs. 174038 crore showing an increase of 5.73 percent over the provisional estimates of 2012-13. It is expected to increase to 183298 crore as per the advance estimates in 2014-15.Service sector by contributing 37.41% predominates in the economy followed by live stock, agriculture etc.

Banking and Credit Deposit Ratio :

• Punjab has a well knitted banking system with as many as 5413 commercial banks. The state has a commercial bank branch for the population of 5125 as compared to 10997 at the national level. In the post re-organisation period, state has improved its credit deposit ratio significantly from 35.16% in 1970 to 81% in 2013 when it surpassed the national average of 76.89%.13.64

Agriculture Development :

• Among the Indian States, Punjab holds place of pride for its outstanding achievements in agricultural development. Beginning with consolidation of landholdings, followed by reclamation of new agricultural lands and synchronous extension of irrigation through canals, and propagation of new agricultural technology, Punjab agriculture continued making rapid strides over the years. The agrarian structure characterized by middle level peasantry, with landholdings of two to four hectares, and predominance of owner cultivators also contributed to the success of this process. With 1.53 per cent geographical area and around 4.5 per cent cultivated area of the country, the Punjab state became the largest food grain surplus state in India which made the country self reliant in food and overcame serious food crisis faced by the country during 1950 and 1960s. During 2013-14 the State contributed 43% of wheat and about 25% of rice to the central pool. The contribution of agriculture and allied sectors to GSDP is 21.39% and 36% workers are employed in this sector.
• The State harvests highest wheat and rice productivity in the country. In the year 2011-12, wheat productivity was 51 q/ha against the national average of only 31.8 q/ha and paddy productivity was 56 q/ha against the national average of only 35.5 q/ha. Due to expansion of tube-well irrigation, irrigated area in the state rose to more than 98 per cent of net sown area by 2011-12 from 59 per cent in 1965-66. On a per-hectare basis, fertilizer use increased from 38 kg to 243 kg of cropped area, respectively. The production of food grains rose to 294.52 lac MT in 2013-14 from 192.18 lac MT in 1990-91.
• After a tremendous performance for about three decades since the mid-1960s, the agriculture sector in Punjab is now facing a slowdown in the growth of productivity of crops.
• In Punjab, the size of landholdings is predominantly small. As per the Agricultural Census (2011) 64% of landholdings are less than 4 hectares and 28.36% holdings size is between 4 and 10 hectares. Large size holding above (10 ha), constitute 6.62%, have appx. one fourth (25.93%) operated are in 2010-11 but on the other hand small & marginal holdings which constitutes 15.62% of total holdings have only 2.55% operated area. Another significant of Punjab land holding is that number of marginal & small holdings is declining and number of medium & large holdings is increasing. In 1970-71 numbers of marginal and small holdings were 13.75 lac which declined to 10.52 lac in 2010-11 showing a decrease of 23.47%.

Area and Population: Smaller State bigger contribution :

• Punjab may be termed as smaller state with bigger contribution.Geographical area of Punjab is 50,362 km2 with 2.77 crore population (2011). It accounted for 1.5% of total area and 2.29% only of total population of country. It is pertinent to mention that despite its smaller size, the contribution of Punjab state has been very significant especially in food grains.
• Cropping intensity of the State is also 199% and almost all cultivable area is under irrigation. Another landmark of the state is that it has highest yield of rice (3998 kg per hectare) and wheat (4724 kg per hectare) is another landmark of the State. It has made significant progress in promotion of white revolution and poultry also. Punjab is one of the leading producers of milk.
• Annual milk production in the state is 10014 (2013-14) thousand tonne. The state has highest 971gm (2013-14) per capita availability of milk per day as compared to 273 gm at national level. In the recent years, the state has become one of the leading producers of honey also. In the year 2013, the honey production in the state was 14000 MTs which was 23.3% of the nation. Hard working and enterprising Punjabi farmers supplemented by State and Central government efforts made the Punjab as one of the most developed states in the country with agriculture as its foundation.

Industry :

• Punjab Inherited a weak industrial foundation at the time of Independence as most of Industrial units as well as areas supplying raw material were left with Pakistan. After partition, the Punjab acquired the status of border state having hostile neighbourhood which became an unfavourable factor preventing enterpreneurs investing in the state.
• Most significant feature of the industry of Punjab State is that it is dominated by small scale industrial establishments. In the year 2014-15, there were 1,60,000 small scale units with a fixed investment of Rs.14460 crore which provide employment to 11.48 lac persons with production value of Rs.86240 crore. The number of large and medium scale units was 446 only during the 2013-14 with a fixed investment of Rs.55244 crore which employed 2.44 lac persons with a turn over of Rs.91130 crore. The share of industrial sector in GSDP was 28.86% in 2012-13.

Infrastructure network :

• Punjab has best of the infrastructure network as compared to rest of the country. The State has 81402 km road length. All the villages are linked with metalled roads i.e. 100% road connectivity. Similarly 100% of its villages are electrified.The length of railway network in the state is 1776.235 km. The State has both domestic & International airports catering to the needs of external & internal travelers. The main airports of the State are Amritsar International Airport and Chandigarh Airport. In terms of communication, Punjab is much developed than the rest of the country. The State has 959661 landline connections (31.10.2013) and 3168696 mobile connections (31.10.2014). Tele-Density in Punjab is 107.27 against 75.23 in India. In the rural area, teledensity is 71.96 in Punjab as compared to 44.01 at national level. In urban areas this figure of Punjab is 154.34 against 145.46 at National level.
• The state has sufficient irrigation infrastructure facilities in the form of tubewells & canals system. There are around 14 lakh tubewells in the state, which is the main source of irrigation (2012-13). 72.47% of area of the state is irrigated by tubewells and 27.53% by the canals. The availability of all these infrastructure facilities along with inputs like fertilizers and high yielding variety seeds made the Green Revolution strategy a success in the state. As a result of development in agriculture sector, the state economy grew at much faster rate in the post green revolution period compared to previous period.

Power :

• Power is the major thrust area of the State Government.The state achieved 100% electrification of all villages in 1975-76. Present installed plant capacity of electric power generation in the state is 11054 MW (2014-15).

• The State Government has taken a number of initiatives to make Punjab a power surplus state. First Unit of Rajpura Thermal Power Plant (700 MW) was commissioned in February, 2014 and its 2nd Unit of 700 MW was commissioned on 10th July, 2014. The Ist Unit of 660 MW of Talwandi Sabo Thermal Power Plant (1980 MW) was commissioned on 5th July, 2014. The state will witness a quantum jump with the commissioning of two thermal projects adding to 1860 MW that are coming up at: (i) Near Talwandi Sabo -1320 MW (ii)Goindwal Sahib -540 MW
• The State government has brought down its Transmission & Distribution (T&D) losses from 20.12% in 2009-10 to 15.19% in 2014-15, with a target to reduce it by 15% by the end of 12th Plan. PSPCL has recently got A plus ranking in power utility services.

Renewable Energy :

• Punjab has considered potential in the renewal energy sector. The state has fixed target to achieve 5400 MW by 2022 i.e. from Solar 4200 MW Biomass 300 MW, Biomass Co generation 680 MW, Small hydro 200 MW, Waste to energy 20 MW. The state is performing quite well for the development of this sector and recently Punjab bagged "Best Performing State Award" in Renewable Energy Capacity Building from Government of India on 15th February 2015. The total projects of capacity 815 MW have been commissioned in the state upto 31st March 2015.

School Education :

• Punjab has quite satisfactory infrastructure and access to school education. Punjab Government is committed to provide quality and affordable education to all.In order to strengthen the school system, a special emphasis has been laid on the recruitment of teachers. The state Government has notified the RTE rules under which every habitation has to be served with a primary school within one km radius and upper primary school within 3 km radius. As per latest position of school mapping, there are 47 villages which don’t have access to primary school within one km radius & 38 villages which don’t have access to Upper Primary school within 3 km radius. The state aims to achieve 100% GER, 100% NER, Zero dropout and 100% retention by the end of 12th Plan.

Poverty: Local and Global context :

State and National level :

• Punjab has tackled the problem of poverty in a more effective manner than other states and country as a whole. As per latest poverty estimates (June, 2014) prepared by Expert Group constituted under chairmanship of Dr. C Rangarajan, percentage of population living below the poverty line in Punjab is only 11.3% as compared to 29.5% at the national level. Poverty line in rural and urban area has been fixed at Rs. 1127.48 and Rs 1479.27 respectively in Punjab viz-a-viz Rs 972 and 1407 at National level. In percentage terms, people living below poverty line in India are 18.2 % more than in Punjab. Punjab is better placed among the major states of India in the terms of poverty ratio and it is placed at 2nd rank after Himachal Pradesh. A peculiar and highlighting feature of poverty in Punjab is that people living below poverty line is significantly less in rural area(7.4%) than in urban area (17.6%). At national level, percentage of population living below poverty line is higher in rural area (30.9%) than in urban area (26.4%). Punjab poverty ratio is also less than All India level and it was decreased at consistent rate from 1973-2011 as per Lakdawala Expert Group and Tendulkar Expert Group.

• But the results of recent Socio Economic Caste Census 2011 reveals that S.C. (36.74%) Population living in rural Punjab is highest in the country. It means most of population reported to be living below poverty line in rural area belongs to the SC population.

Global Context: Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) :

• Eradication of extreme poverty is one of the eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) adopted in Millennium declaration of the United Nations. These goals have to be achieved by 2015. Punjab State has already achieved the target of percentage of people below poverty line and is likely to miss the target of percentage under nourished children by about 3.77 % points.

Relative Poverty: Declining real farm income and farmer suicides :

• In Punjab, real farm income is declining and cost of cultivation is increasing resulting in high incidence of debt among farmers. As per recent survey conducted by PAU, 5000 farmers committed suicide due to fall in real farm income in last 10 years.

Conclusion :

• The above analysis clearly shows that despite the fact that Punjab is relatively developed state of Indian union, yet pockets of deprivation and regional disadvantageous areas exist in the state which require immediate attention. The state is making the best possible efforts to improve the situation of these groups despite the fiscal problems accumulated over the militancy period and require support of Government of India to meet these commitments.
• The State has the largest socially under privileged sections yet its commitment to uplift this section has fulfilled by bringing the population above poverty line. Enrolments of Scheduled Caste at primary and upper primary was almost 38.5 % and 37.6% respectively in 2012-13,
  which was double the National level i.e. 20.2 % & 19.4 %. For consolidation of these achievements,,the state government expects that the Central Government must acknowledge state's effort of tackling the problem of poverty in past and provide encouraging support to achieve the 100% elimination of poverty from the state. With the support of Government of India Punjab can add another chapter of success story in the development history of the country by having zero poverty.