Essay on industry in Assam
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Explanation:
Introduction
Assam is situated at the North-eastern Himalayan Sub-region of India. In spite of having huge development potential, the economy of Assam remained underdeveloped as it is characterized by poverty, under-utillised man power and untapped natural resources. The economy of the state is depending too much on agriculture. In Assam, cultivators and agricultural labourers together account for 64.0 percent of the total working population, whereas workers of manufacturing other household industries constitute only 2.8 percent of the total worker of the state. Assam is one of the industrially backward states of the country. In spite of being blessed with a high potential for development of resource-based and demand-based industries in the state, the pace of industrialization in Assam had not been satisfactory. The industrial sector in the state had been centralized around some particular sectors, like tea, petroleum, coal, jute and forests. Industries in Assam can be broadly classified into four heads : (a) Agro-based industry,
(b) Mineral-based industry,
(c) Forest-based industry, and
(d) Other industries.
Agro-based industries of Assam include-Tea industry, Sugar industry, Grain mill products industry-(Rice, Oil and Flour Mill), Food processing industry and Textile industry. Mineral-based industries of Assam includes-Railway workshop, Engineering industry, Re-rolling mill, Steel Works, Motor Vehicle Workshop, Galvanized wire units, cycle factory, Aluminum utensils industry, Cycle spare parts, Steel Trunk, Tubewell pipe, Steel wire net, Barbed wire, cement industry etc. Moreover, the non-metal based industries include oil industry, Natural Gas-based industry etc. Forest-based industries of Assam include-Plywood industry, sawing mill, Paper and Paper-pulp industry, Match industry, Leather industry, Hard board industry etc. Other industries of Assam include-Power industry, Fertiliser industry, Printing Press,Brick and Tiles industry, Chemical industry etc. Shyness of capital due to high cost of production, vulnerability of the region, inadequate economic and basic infrastructural facilities, derth of technical personnel, lack of entrepreneurial motivation on the part of local people and low level of central sector investment etc. are responsible for poor industrial development of the State. During the decade of planning the industrial sector practically remained stagnant. It was during the Third Plan that the industrial development programmes were accelerated alongwith the development of infrastructural facilities. It is also encouraging that over the past few years persistent efforts are being made for increasing and improving various infrastructural facilities which are paving the way for gradual industrialisation in the State. Besides, the State Government is also providing technical training undertaking surveys and investigation of raw materials, developing industrial sites and participating in the share capital of private enterprise. These developments created a favorable climate for industrial investment in the State.