Manipur - Economy
While Imphal valley region can be understood as an area of intense economic activities, the Manipur hill area, on the other hand can be seen as an area of low level of economic development yet having much prospects.
Notwithstanding diversities in the physical and economic factors above, a great deal of interdependence exists between the two, which makes them a well-knit fabric of interactions. The Manipur hill area has rich reserve of natural resources which is exploited in the central valley for economic and industrial development. In the central valley, where there is no forest wealth, there are number of industries based on forest resources. This region, therefore, depends entirely on the hill region for the supply of firewood, timber and other forest products. The shifting cultivation practised in the hills leads to deforestation and soil erosion in the hills and silting of the rivers and lake beds causing floods in the plain. Ecologically also, therefore, the two regions form inseparable part of the total system.
Agriculture being the main occupation of the people of Manipur, it has an important place in the economy of the state. Agriculture sector contributes a major share to the total state domestic product and provides employment to about 52.19 percent of the total workers in Manipur. The size of the cultivated area is about 7.41% only of the total geographical area of the State. Of this total cultivated area, 52% is confined to the valley. Therefore, half of the total valley area which accommodates 67% of the total population is occupied for agriculture purposes. The pressure on land in the valley is thus quite conspicuous.
A high rate of unemployment exists in Manipur, particularly among the educated youth. According to the Live Register of Employment Exchange, the total number of educated job-seekers were recorded as 5,83.65 thousands as on 31st March., 2007 as against 548.70 thousands as on 31st March, 2006 showing an increase of 6.37 percent over the previous year and 605.84 thousands educated job seekers were recorded as on 31st March 2008, with an increased of 3.80 per cent over 2007.
Manipur gets its share of power from the Central Sector Power plants located in the North Eastern Region. The share of power for the State from the Central sector power plants including the shares from the unallocated share of power of the Central Projects is 122.52 MW when the plants are operated at their full capacity. The present requirement of the State is 170MW during peak hours; whereas the availability of power from Central Sector Power plants varies from 45 MW during summer off peak to 119MW during monsoon peak.
Manipur has substantial hydro power potential of about 2000 MW, which is sufficient not only to meet the local requirement for domestic and industrial uses but leave surplus for marketing outside. The State Power Department has so far identified about a dozen of hydro power potential sites in the State and they are at different stages of implementation.
Imphal Airport is the second largest airport in the NE-Region with postal air cargo services six days a week. Imphal is well connected with daily flights to Guwahati, Kolkata, Bangalore and Delhi and other destinations in and outside NE Region. Indian Airlines, Indigo, Kingfisher & Jetlite offers frequent flights ranging from 4 to 6 days a week. To further improve the air connectivity night landing facility is ready and airfield is being expanded to increase parking space for eight aircraft at a time. New State of the art terminal Building with cold storage facilities is in pipeline which will facilitate marketing of produces and products.
Three National Highways, viz., N.H-39, N.H- 53 and N.H-150 criss-cross the State connecting all districts. The Saurashtra-Silchar Super Highway project is being extended to Moreh. With the proposed Moreh to Mae Sot (Thailand) highway coming up, Manipur will become India’s Gateway to South-East Asia. Manipur is on the threshold of India’s rail map. NH-39 links Imphal with railhead at Dimapur in Nagaland, 215 km. to the north. NH-53 links Imphal with railhead at Jiribam, 225 km. in the South-West.With the coming of Jiribam to Tupul railway line which is in progress, Imphal will be much more closer to the rest of India.
Manipur, though located in a far flung north-eastern corner of the country and largely hilly terrain in its landscape, it has got many areas of strength and opportunities that justifies investment in the State. The existing Indo-Myanmar Border Trade currently underway in the border towns of Moreh & Tamu has already paved the way for a full scale trade between India and Myanmar which would further extend to other adjacent countries, like Thailand, Laos, South West China along the old Burma road and the proposed Trans-Asia Highway and railway. In this context, Manipur is the gate way to the International trade route connecting between Indian sub-continent including Nepal, Bhutan and Bangladesh. Resultantly, not only the production and trading units can flourish taking advantage of the expanding international trade but there is also good scope for investment in creating infrastructure facilities in the areas of road construction, power generation, developed industrial areas, water facilities, IT services, etc.
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