India's star constituencies lag in economic performance: Report

NEW DELHI: Fifteen of the 20 worst mid-size cities by economic performance are from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, according to a recent report on non-metropolitan class-I cities in India. Interestingly, five of these, which fall in the category of cities with less than 10 lakh population, have been traditionally represented by the who’s who in Indian politics.
According to the report prepared by the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA) of Union housing ministry, the worst performers on economic parameters include Hajipur, Ara and Buxar in Bihar and Etawah, Akbarpur, Mirzapur, Lakhimpur and Barabanki in Uttar Pradesh.Jangipur in West Bengal also finds place in the list.
On the contrary, non-metropolitan cities from Tamil Nadu dominate the list of top 20 best ones as far as their economic performance is concerned. While Udhagamandalam ranks first and Gurgaon second, Noida, Gonda, Ambala and Rohtak also find pride of place among the best performing ones.
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The report has been prepared based on the 2011 census data for 416 class-I non-metropolitan cities.
Interestingly, the report also indicates how there is a huge gap in monthly per capita income among the top 20. While it’s as high as Rs 29,560 in Udhagamandalam and Rs 28,802 in Karaikudi in Tamil Nadu it’s only Rs 4,661 in Greater Noida and Rs 4,918 in Rewari in Haryana.
The report points out an alarming trend of one in every five workers in such cities who were found to be living below the poverty line indicating that in most of cases workers may not be getting the mandated minimum wage. The report mentions, “20.5% of the male workers and 23.3% of female workers in non-metropolitan India were found to be below the poverty line in 2011-12. In 2011-12, 20.7% of the self-employed persons; 27.7% of the unpaid family workers; 3.3% of the employers; 41.8% of the casual workers; and 10.5% of the regular wage workers were found to be poor.”
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It also has some interesting findings such as the names of cities, which have high internet penetration. While north India’s IT hub Gurgaon tops the list with more people having computer/ laptop with internet, Panchkula in Haryana and Aizawl in ranked second and third.
The report shows how major urban centres in north India have higher percentage of cars and jeeps. While in Panchkula and Gurgaon every third household has such a vehicle in Noida-Greater Noida more than 30% homes own a car.