Part I Chapter I I N T R O D U C T I

PART I CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION I . statement of Problem Many industrially developed and developing countries have faced and have been facing, in their economic develop ment, the problem of regional imbalance. To-day, India is also facing the same problem. Apart from being indus trially an under-developed country, India exhibits all the evils of mal-distribution and acute concentration of industrial activity since long. In the year 19U3» about 2/5th of the industrial activity of the country was con centrated in only two centres - Greater Bombay and Greater Calcutta. ^ Regional imbalanceis caused by a number of factors, both natural and historical. Some areas are naturally richer and advantageous than others because of the availability of natural resources and infra-structure facilities. Naturally those areas attract concentration of industries. In a country like India, all these factors vary from area to area and ultimately cause the imbalance in economic and industrial development of the country. It is also possible to explain this element of re gional imbalance with reference to the historical back ground. Under the British rule, the managing agents pioneered and developed certain industries in our country. But being foreigners they were not really interested in 1 Census of Manufacturing Industries in India, 1952 the many sided development of this country. Vhat was uppermost in their mind was the interest of their own country. They treated India more as a colony supplying the necessary raw materials to the Industries in Great Britain. As a rssult of this, they failed to develop in dustries in different parts of the couotry. Instead they concentrated and developed industries at a few places con venient to them such as the ports and leading cities in India. That is to say> the developmei^t of industries took place at such places having the basic facilities such as power, transport, raw materials, skilled labour and other amenities like housing etc. The major cities being such places, all the industries were concentrated there and this led to regional imbalances, which resulted in (i) creation of economic inequalities and uneven distribution of national dividend among dif ferent regions of the country, (ii) under-utilisation of the resources of the industrially backward regions as these remained untapped, (iii) lack of uniformity in social progress among different regions, (i v ) large-scale migration of people from backward areas to the industrially advanced regions,and (v) overcrowding, heavy traffic, inadequacy of essential services and facilities, etc. etc. Apart from Bombay, W«st Bengal, Bihar, Uttar Pradeah, very few of the other States were Industrially developed upto 1950. According to the Census of Manufacturing Industries (I9 5 2 ), the States of Bombay, West Bengal, Bihar, Madras and Uttar Pradesh accounted for 70^ of the total number of factories, 80^ of the total capital employed and 80^ of the total persons employed In factories In 1931• This means that many of the States were more or less totally neglected and thus were denied of the economic and Industrial development. The aspect of regional balanced development under conditions of overall economic growth has been recently accepted as the basic criteria for assess ing the rate of development. After Independence, and particularly after the launching of Five Year Plans In our country, the developmental efforts have been Intensi fied and the Planning Commission, set up in 1950> accepted the principle of prepfirlng national as well as State Plans. The object behind this Is to understand the needs of the different areas and to redress the regional Imbalances In the economy. The steps thus taken can be said to have produced on the whole favrourable results. The first fifteen years or so of our planned efforts reveal that the indus trial activities have to be accelerated If we want to achieve the objective of regional balanced development In the near future. There Is no doubt that Maharashtra is one of the most Industrially developed States in the country. It ranks third in the list of developed States. Maharashtra alone accounts for nearly one-fourth of the total industrial output in the country. In 1966-6 7> the State shared about 17 per cent of productive capital, 2h per cent of gross value of output and 26 per cent of the value added by 2 manufacture in the factory sector in the country. Again> according to the revised series of State Income, the State Income of Maharashtra is estimated at R s . 3053 crores during 1967-68 as against the National Income estimated at Rs. 27922 crores. The per capita State Income of Maha rashtra during that year estimated at Rs. 6^k is higher by 20 per cent than the per capita National Income of 3 R s . •5U3. However, this flattering picture of the State is rather deceptive because the economic development is not uniform and balanced. In the State there are pockets of highly developed and industrialised centres such as Bombay-Thana Area and Poona-Pimpri-Chinchwad complex on the one hand and vast areas of agricultural and industrial backwardness on the other. Existence of all the basic facilities in adequate measure is the important cause for the development of this Bombay-Poona complex. Greater Bombay alone plays an important part in brightening the position of Maharashtra as an industrially developed State in the country. This can be seen from Table 1. 2 Maharashtra - An Bconoicic Review, 1968-69, p. I5 . 3 Ibid., p. U • 5 Table 1. Distribution of Working Fact ories According to Working Strength (I965-66 ) District Divis ion No. of No. of factories workers 1. Greater Bombay Bombay *♦635 5,72,kk7 2. Thana Bombay 67U 62,030 3 . Kolaba Bombay 81 k,6j2 k • Ratnaglri Bombay k3 2,152 5 . Nasik Bombay 301 21,075 6 . Dhulla Bombay 208 8,l»l»9 7 . Jalgaon Bombay 13,109 8 . Ahraednagar poona 260 21,262 9, Poona Poona 895 55,876 lO.Satara poona 95 7,671 ll.Sangll Poona 97 7,kkS 12 .Sholapur Poona 335 29,573 13 .Kolhapur Poona 358 13,057 Ilf .Aurangabad Aurangabad 122 5,910 1 5 .Parbhanl Aurangabad 5k 2,732 l6 .Bhlr Aurangabad 35 786 17 .N anded Aurangabad k2 5,7ti7 18 .Osmanabad Aurangabad 27 1,099 19 .Buldhana Nagpur 67 k,529 2 0 .Akola N acpur 79 6,232 2 1 .Amravati N agpur 89 8 ,2l»«t 22 .Yeotmal Nagpur 71 5,593 2 3 .Wardha Nagpur 39 5,832 2k .Nagpur Nagpur 39k 29,285 2 5 .Bhandara Nagpur 166 If, 525 26 .Chanda Nagpur 50 3,957 9,kl2 9 ,03,293 Source 1 Statistical Abstracts of Maharashtra, 1966-6 7 iP•191• From the above table It seems that Greater Bombay alone accounted for UU per cent of the total number of factories and 63 p*r cent of the persons employed in factories in the State. This shovs the unevenness in the economic and industrial development of different districts and regions in the State. The Bombay division had 6197 factories, whereas Aurangabad Division had only 280 factories in 1966, meaning the whole division being Industrially back ward. This has caused the lop-sided development in the State. Only three districts, viz. Greater Bombay, Thana and Poona, have been Industrially developed, although some factors of location are favourable to other districts. But due to lack of other infra-structure facilities and amenities, most of the districts have been neglected. Now in future the allocation of developmental expendi ture between the various regions of the State should be based on the principle of redressing the existing Imbalance and qiilckening the pace of development in the underdeveloped regions of the State. In this context, it is essential to understand the present state of imbalance and also the possibility of quickening the speed of growth. It becomes therefore, necessaxy to undertake district-wise surveys not only of the existing industries but also of the exist ing resources and of future potentialities. Such district surveys would go a long way in assessing the perspective planning in each region of the State. That is why It is regarded as a fit subject to study the position of existing industries in Nasik district, their p^blems and possibilities of further development. Upto 1962 the district was an industrially backward dis trict in the State. But since I962 , rapid and diversified development is taking place with the active assistance from the State Government. Effort has been made to study all these aspects of industrial development in the district and to suggest necessary improvements to that effect. I I . Objects Though we have accepted the principle of 'State Plan', it would be much better to focus our attention on areas defining them in terms of 'District' rather than on State for the purpose of economic and industrial development. It is a vital aspect of the economics of growth to find out a method and strategy of regional planning that would not only result in a higher rate of development in the State, but also in a wider spread which is most essential to fulfil the twin objectives of providing more and more employment opportunities and improving the general standard of living of the people in the region. As such 'regional planning for balanced growth* can be described as the first step in the direction of rapid economic and industrial develop ment. In the case of industrial development, the State should try to ensure that the benefits of industrialisation are equitably shared by different parts of its territory 8 and with this object In view, to check the evils of exces sive industrial concentration in certain localities.

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