India infrastructure database (2005)/by Buddhadeb Ghosh and Prabir De V.2

Compiling a database on infrastructure for a vast heterog and varied country like indie is germination and origin to many factors, and it is an outcome of concerted effort of lg g of me and persons the s a reasonably long period of time. Beyond the mundane level, i represents a unique metal makeup of the present h which we first came to identify way back in 1994. But we have always been forced to defer the beginning of our plan the invitation of the workshops organised for a special issue of Economic and Political Weekly and Indian c Association in early 1997. These stimulated our interest for a deeper enquiry imo the subject. Later, whenever we got a chance to discuss the subject with academicians and policy makers of our country, we found that lack of comprehensive information in this field restrained researchers, policy makers and madents (particularly those who are away from the metropolis) from working on issues which are relevant for India's regional harmony. This encouraged us to organise set of relevant data on the infrastructure sector. Misconceptions about the heterogeneity of our motherland among educated people in our neighbourhood are so all-pervading that we first tried to re-educate ourselves. Moreover, in sequent stages we realised that many more concerned people would have been interested in this field had there been a flow of readily available set of pertinent data. And we have tried to do that.

It is well established that congested roads and ports, deteriorating railway services, collapsing sewerage systems periodic droughts and floods, frequent water shortages, widespread malnutrition and illiteracy, rampant growth of informal sector and suspect health care facilities bear the testimony of crumbling conditions of the country's infrastructure in various parts. To strengthen India's economic foundation, economists and policy analysts have urged the government to increase investment on the infrastructure sector. The deteriorating infrastructure facilities in many countries have been identified as the major sources of slow growth of income, employment, productivity, international competitiveness and the like. But it remains to be ascertained which precedes what infrastructure or income? Does public capital contribute to more income? Or, do states having greater income tend to acquire more capital and hence better infrastructure facilities? In the latter case, political economy factors become powerful determinants in subsequent stages. Most of the studies on macroeconomic impact of infrastructure were generated in the 1980s as a resultant of the initial failure to account for the productivity slow down in the developed nations particularly USA. These studies suggest that infrastructure does contribute towards a state's output, income and employment growth and aho quality of life. But less has been focused on the LDC Lack of consistent data in this field might be one of the reasons for dearth of high quality research in desirable direction. Apart from this, teachers and students at various layers of our educational institutions find it difficult to draw informed conclusions regarding the fascinating heterogeneity of our country

At present, we are more concerned with the country's unbalanced regional growth. Despite conscious efforts through the Five Year Plans, we have failed to fulfil the objective of balanced regional development not only across the states but also across the districts. This has in fact led to a dispersed coalitional politics in recent India. We feel that the strategic factors for harmonious regional development have been thoroughly neglected over the decades. It is a systematic broad-based effort to determine where a community wants to go, how it can go there, what geographical factors determine the fate and destiny of the races living there. These factors relate to land, water, river, port, road, rail, power, forest, quality of population, mineral resources, climate, rainfall, quality of soil, adversity of nature and the like. All are nature's gifts but human skill can transform them into national resources. Many communities react to economic problems rather than plan for economic opportunity. Detailed and disaggregated information about a country's regional economic and geographical parameters will help frame requisite policies to these ends. This will also help emerging investors to reap the benefits of increasing returns from regions of unused or underutilised resources.