State tribal population increased by 5 %

By Our Reporter

SHILLONG, JAN 21: Allaying fears of being overrun by outsiders, the state government on Saturday informed that the indigenous tribal population in Meghalaya has increased by 5 percent in the past 40 years.

The government felt the rise in the percentage of the tribal population is an indicator the issue of infiltration and influx has been addressed effectively.

Speaking at the 45th Meghalaya Day celebration held in U Soso Tham auditorium, Meghalaya chief secretary KS Kropha said that the state’s population has grown from 10,11,699 in 1971 to 29,66,889 in 2011.

“What is more significant is that the ratio of the indigenous tribal population has increased from 80.48% in1971 to 86.15% in 2011. This would suggest that the measures taken to tackle the issue of infiltration or influx have proved to be effective,” he claimed.

His statement comes at a time when there is a demand from anti-influx activists for implementation of the comprehensive mechanism to curb inflow of illegal immigration and influx into the state.

Highlighting on the achievements of the state since 1972, when it became a full-fledged state, Kropha said the gross state domestic product (GSDP) at constant prices were Rs 3,237 crore in 1980-81, which increased to Rs 19,909 crore in 2014-15.

Claiming that the state has made rapid progress on all fronts over the four decades, he said that literacy has improved from a low figure of 29.49% in 1971 to 74.43% in 2011.

He said the road length has increased from 3,024 kms in 1971 to 9,666 kms in 2014-15 adding the road density has also gone up from 13.48 kms to 43.1 kms during the same period.

He informed that the number of vehicles registered also ha sincreased from 3,754 in 1971 to 2, 56,943 in 2014-15.

On the agricultural sector, the chief secretary said agriculture production has recorded significant improvement as he informed that food grains production rose from 1,18,140 tonnes in 1971-72 to 3,53,502 tonnes in 2014-15.

“Productivity also registered significant improvement where average yield per hectare of food grain crops rose from 1,054 kgs in 1071-72 to 2,530 kgs in 2014-15,” he added.

Stating that it is the endeavour of the state to achieve 100% electrification without any delay, Kropha said we have made huge strides in this, and compared to 77 villages electrified in 1976-77, 6,098 villages were electrified till 2015-16.

He  also pointed out on the significant increase in the number of the educational and health institutions. Education institutions rose from 3,210 in 1972 to 12,257 in 2014-15, whereas the health institutions rose from only 83 in 1977 to 163 in 2015-16, he said.

He added that the students enrolled in the schools rose from 2,16,552 in 1971-72 to 9,63,602 in 2014-15 and the number of school teachers rose from 6,501 to 53,117 during the same period.

Informing that the banking infrastructure had expanded significantly, he said there were only 17 bank branches in 1972, which became 294 branches in 2015.

“Deposits with the banks rose from a meager Rs 14.3 crore in 1972 to 16,643 crore in 2015 and the credit advanced rose from Rs 16.1 crore in 1982 to Rs 4,308 as on March 2015,” he added.

Stating that tourism has become big draw for the state, he said there has been a big jump in the tourist footfalls, both foreign and domestic.

The foreign tourists increased from 185 in 1972 to 8,664 in 2015 while the domestic tourists rose from 2,983 to 7,17,789 during the same period, he said while asserting that it has the potential to become the major source of employment and income generation for the state.

“By no measure, this record of performance over this short period could should be seen as mean achievements,” Kropha said adding “We must learn to take pride in what we have done and achieved,