After ‘Udta Punjab’ comes ‘Girta Punjab’ – the financial downfall of Punjab is unavoidable

The farmers of Punjab are on a vandalising spree. So far 1,300 towers have been destroyed by the farmers, leading to disruption of telecommunication and Internet providers within the state. The farmers’ protests and the vandalism by miscreants are costing the state dearly as the economic homes primarily based in Ludhiana and Jalandhar- two necessary industrial hubs of North India- are struggling closely. As per knowledge from Punjab’s state division, the full lack of the {industry} as of November 20 was 30,000 crore rupees, and by now, it most likely has crossed one lakh crore rupees. The blockade of inputs and outputs has develop into a significant drawback for the industries primarily based in Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, and Himachal Pradesh amid the farmers’ protests.The farmers’ protests and their aggression in the previous couple of weeks will drive the industrialists additional away from the state, whose economic system is already sinking. In the previous couple of a long time, the economic system of Punjab has witnessed little or no progress in comparison with Gujarat, MP, Tamil Nadu and even Haryana.Until the Nineteen Nineties, Punjab was miles forward of different Indian states by way of its per capita earnings, because of the ‘Green Revolution’ of the late Nineteen Sixties. However, as India reworked from primarily agrarian economic system to providers and industry-based economic system after the reforms of 1991, Punjab was left far behind.Source: Handbook of Statistics on the India Economy (Shamika Ravi & Mudit Kapoor)As per the graph above by economists Shamika Ravi and Mudit Kapoor, the financial progress in Punjab in the previous couple of a long time has been so low that it has been left behind by many states by way of per capita earnings. Today per capita earnings in Haryana is 1.5 instances greater than that of Punjab. Punjab is now far behind in all of the three sectors- agriculture, {industry}, and providers.Agriculture:In the previous couple of weeks, there was a lot discuss concerning the agricultural progress of Bihar as a result of the anti-reform apologists are arguing that the state abolished the APMC Act again in 2006 however it’s nonetheless impoverished. This is the sturdiest argument one can ever digest as a result of these knowledge illiterate folks have no idea that Bihar’s agricultural progress within the final one and a half-decade has been round 8 per cent which is thrice greater than that of India’s common (3 per cent) and 4 instances that of Punjab (2 per cent).Industry:While the opposite states are industrialising quickly since the previous couple of a long time, Punjab has witnessed speedy de-industrialisation within the final one and a half-decade. Economist Shamika Ravi, in an article printed in The Print, argued that industrial clusters in Punjab are witnessing closure. “Manufacturing clusters of Jalandhar, Gurdaspur, Mandi Gobindgarh and Ludhiana have been struggling over time and reported lack of growth and rampant closures. One of the major reasons for this is the non-competitiveness of Punjab compared to other Indian states. Several states, including neighbouring Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, and Uttarakhand have improved their ease of doing business environment and offered incentives such as 100 per cent income tax and excise exemption, subsidised working capital loans, etc,” she wrote. Services: While each Indian state is luring IT service industries by IT parks and different incentives, the Punjab authorities has not taken a single measure to make sure the school graduates get employment within the state. Gurgaon, the town in Haryana, reworked itself from a village to providers hub of North India, and Noida, a small industrial township that got here into the Eighties, is right this moment an industrial hub whereas Chandigarh, probably the most stunning and well-maintained cities of the nation, couldn’t entice any main service sector participant in the previous couple of a long time, because of the lethargy of Punjab authorities.Punjab has India’s highest debt of GDP ratio within the nation at round 40 per cent. Moreover, the state has one of many lowest expenditures on well being and mortality fee from the current COVID-19 pandemic is double to that of the nationwide common. Even the share of youth affected by psychological well being situations within the state is as excessive as 18 per cent on account of alcoholism and substance abuse. The political economic system of Punjab is sinking, the social providers are within the dire state, industries are leaving, and the farmers of the state are busy vandalising the Jio towers (which can additional drive off the industries from the state) as an alternative of asking for reforms from the state authorities.