This document discusses the various committees and criteria established to identify backward regions and districts in India for targeted development efforts. Key points: - The Committee on Dispersal of Industries in 1960 and the Planning Commission Study Group in the 1960s proposed initial criteria to define backwardness. - The Pande Committee in 1968 recommended criteria to identify 10 backward states and 238 industrially backward districts. - The Wanchoo Committee proposed fiscal incentives to promote industry in backward areas. - Subsequent committees and the Planning Commission refined the criteria and approaches, but implementation faced challenges in adequately targeting the most underdeveloped areas.

1. Backward Regions
Criteria

2. Committee on Dispersal of Industries
• Constituted by the Small Scale Industries
Board in 1960
• Term of Reference: Rural Industrialization

3. Continue……………
• Criteria suggested by the Committee to identify
the Backward Regions OR Backwardness are;
1. Poverty
a. Low per capita income
b. Low per capita consumption

4. Continue……
2. High Population Density in terms of Resources
and Employments: the indicators/ factors are as
follows;
a. High ratio of population to cultivable land (Low per
capita land holding – 50% less than national average)
b. Low %age of population engaged in output (> 50%)
c. Under utilization of other natural resources i.e.
Minerals, forests etc
d. Low %age of population engaged in secondary and
tertiary activity
e. Low %age of Factory Emmployment

5. Continue………..
3. Poor transportation and communication
4. High incident of unemployment
5. Consumption of electric power

6. Study Group
• Constituted by Planning Commission
• To formulate the fourth Plan (1966-71)
• To suggest Criteria to Identify the Backward
Region
• 15 Criteria suggested by the Group: which are;

7. Study Group [continue….]
The 15 Criteria suggested by the Group are;
1. Population and population density
2. Number of agricultural workers including Agr.
Labourers
3. Cultivable area per Agricultural Workers
4. Net Area Sown per Agricultural Workers
5. Net Area Sown per Agricultural Workers
6. %age of Gross Cropped Area to Net Sown Area
7. %age of Gross Irrigated Area to Net Sown Area
8. Number of Establishments (Manufacturing) using
Electricity [A. Total, B. Household and C. Non
households]

8. Study Group [continue….]
9. Number of Workers per lakh population engaged in
registered factories
10. Mileage of Surfaced Roads A. Per 100 Sq Miles & B.
Per Lakh Population
11. Number of Commercial Vehicles Registered in a
Districts
12. %age of Literate Population [Male/Female]
13.%age of School Going Children [ Boys/Girls & 6-11
Years/ 11-14 years]
14.Number of Seats per million population for
Technical Training [ Craftsmen & Diploma Level]
15.Hospital Beds Per Lakh Population

9. Critical View of Study Group
• Mahesh T Pathak
– “Development of Backward Areas: Problems and
Prospects”, Artha Vikas, July 1973
– Indicators did not selected precisely
– Density of Population does not related to degree
of Backwardness
– Cultivable Area or Net Area sown
– Absolute Number of Manufacturing
– Number of Seat in Training Institutions not
relevant
– Number of Technically Trained Person per 1000
Population

10. Pande Committee
• National Development Council Set up Two
Working Groups to study the Regional
Imbalances in 1968
A. One for Recommending Criteria for Identification
of Backward Regions – Pande Committee
B. Other for Recommending the fiscal and
Financial Incentives for the Backward areas to
set up industries – Wanchoo Committee

11. Criteria for identification of Backward States
recommended by Pande committee
1. Total Per Capita Income
2. Per capita income from industries and mining
3. Number of worker in registered factories
4. Per capita annual consumption of electricity
5. length of surfaced roads in relation to
a. The population
b. Area of the state
6. Railway mileage in relation to
a. The population
b. Area of the state

12. 10 Backward States identified by Pande
Committee
1. UP
2. Bihar
3. Rajasthan
4. MP
5. Himachal pradesh
6. Andhra Pradesh
7. Orissa
8. Nagaland
9. J&K
10. Assam
Except Chandigarh, Delhi and Pondicherry all Union
Territory were classified as Backward States

13. Criteria for identification of Backward Districts
recommended by Pande committee
1. District outside the radius of 50 miles from large cities or large
industrial projects
2. Poverty : Low per capita income[25% below the state average]
3. High density of population in relation to utilization of resources
a. Low %age of population engaged in secondary and tertiary activities
income [25% below the state average]
b. Low %age of factory employment [25% below the state average]
c. Non and/or underutilization of economic and natural resources like
mineral, forests, etc
4. Adequate availability of electric power or likelihood of its availability
in next two years
5. Adequate availability of transportation and communication facilities
or likelihood of its availability in nest two years
6. Adequate availability of Water or likelihood of its availability in nest
two years
On these bases 238 districts were identified as industrially backward
, covering 60 percent of total population as well as area of the
country

14. Wanchoo Committee
• To consider nature of incentives to promote
industrial development in the Backward Areas
• To consider the Role of State Govts. and
financial institutions
• To examine the disincentive to aviad
concentration of industries in the
metropolitan and developed states

15. Recommendations Wanchoo Comm
1. Grants of higher development Rebate to
industries located in the backward areas
2. Exemption from Income Tax, Corporate Tax for
Five years
3. Exemption of payment of Excise Duties on plant
and machineries, other components etc
4. Exemption of payment of Sale Tax both on Raw
materials and finished goods
5. Transport Subsidy

16. Recommendations Wanchoo Comm
In addition to these incentives, the Committee also
advocated to Offer certain special incentives like’
1. Supply to developed Plots [on the down
payment of 10% of the value]
2. Built up accommodation [50% subsidy]
3. Machinery and equipments

17. Criteria identified by Planning Commission
The NDC had not accepted the Pande Comm.
Recommendation and it was given to Planning
Commission to decide the criteria to identify
Selected Backward Area in the States and Uts
1. Per Capita food grains/Commercial Crop production
2. Ratio of Agricultural Workers to population
3. Per Capita Industrial Output
4. Number of Factory employees per lakh population or
number of persons engaged in secondary or tertairy
occupation
5. Length of surfaced roads in relation to population or
railway mileage

18. CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF
GOVERNMENT’S POLICY FOR
THE DEVELOPMENT OF
BACKWARD REGIONS

19. Critical analysis…….
• Causal and indifferent attitudes towards the
problems of the backward areas
• Only after two decades of planning – an attempt
was made to demarcate and identify the backward
areas : Pande Committee & Wanchoo Committee
• Third Plan considered the necessity of development
of backward areas but NO Specific Plan for them
• Some of the important recommendation of
Wanchoo committee were not implemented
• Basic recommendation of Pande Committee were
set aside and new criteria were developed
• Pande committee recommended that effort of
development should be concentrated Only in the
Industrially Backward Districts of Backward states

20. Continue……….
• Because of political pressure planning commission
identified backward districts in all the States (247
districts all over the country)
• Thinly distribution of limited resources over wide
areas
• Modified criteria suffered some serious
drawbacks.[weightage was not specified]
• District selected for special incentives should
posses a minimum level of infrastructure – also
went against backward areas [biult in bais in favour
of developed states]
• Paradoxical situation: some of the most backward
states have lesser number districts declared as
backward districts

21. Continue…………
• Also population covered by the backward
districts of backward states was lesser than that
of developed states
• 13 out of 16 districts of West Bengal were
declared as backward while Bihar has the
lowest proportion of its districts as backward
• Tamil Nadu [ranked second] and Karnataka [7th
ranks]had the highest proportion of their
population eligible for incentives than state like
Orissa, HP, Rajasthan, Bihar, Assam, Andhra
• The criteria of Minimum infrastructure favoured
the backward districts of developed states

22. National Committee on Development of
Backward Areas [NCDBA]
• Formed in 1978 by Planning Commission
• To look afresh the approach of development of
Backward Areas
• Central government subsidy and financial
concession scheme benefited only limited
number of districts
• Mostly in close proximity to relatively developed
industrial centres
• The programmes has not helped in relocating the
industries in backward areas
• The licensing policy is negative approach

23. NCDBA Recommendations
• Locating the industries in suitable Growth
Centres with due weightage to industrially
backward states
• Advocated to create 100 Growth Centres in the
Country during 6th Plan period
• 30 in the industrially developed states and 70 in
the backward states
• Out of 70, 10 in Hilly areas,
• The share of each state should be in proportion
to its area and population [equal weightage to both]

24. Criteria for Set up 100 Growth Centres
1. Population: more than 50,000
2. Sufficient infrastructure: to minimize the cost
3. Should have less than 10000 workers in non
household manufacturing industries
4. Near the exiting centres where non household
manufacturing industries workers exceed 10000
5. Setting up Industrial Development Authority (IDA)
in each 100 Growth Centres
6. Package of Incentives: Income tax concession to
industries located outside areas of influence of
exiting industrial centres
7. The modification of central subsidy
8. Linking the state subsidy to central subsidy

25. Special Area Development
Programmes
Hill Area Development Programmes

26. Approach of Special Area Development Plan
1. Beneficiary Oriented
2. Development of Infrastructure
3. Local Resource Development
4. Conservation of Environment and Ecology

27. Special Area Development Plan
The Backward Areas Grouped into Broad
Categories
1. Areas with Unfavorable Physio-geographic
Conditions
a) Hill Area
b) Drought Prone Area
c) Tribal Area
2. Economically Backward Areas

28. Objectives of Special Area Development Plan
1. Poverty Alleviation
2. Human and Social Development
3. Development of Agriculture, Irrigation,
4. Food Security and Nutrition
5. Development of Industry and Minerals,
Power including Tourism development
6. Transport and Communication
7. Environment and Forest

29. Hill Area Development Programmes (HADP)
The hill areas of the country fall broadly into the following
TWO categories :
(i) Hill States/Union Territories, namely, Jammu and Kashmir,
Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland,
Tripura, Arunachal Pradesh and Mizoram, Uttrakhand
(ii)Areas which form part of a State, which are termed
as ”Designated Hill Areas”
A. Two hill districts of Assam - North Cachar and Karbi Anglong
B. Major part of Darjeeling District of West Bengal.
C. Nilgris District of Tamil Nadu
D. 163 talukas of Western Ghats area comprising parts of
Maharashtra (62 talukas), Karnataka (40 talukas) Tamil Nadu
(29 talukas), Kerala (29 talukas) and Goa (5 talukas).

30. Objectives of HADP
• Socio-economic development of the hills and the people
living there in harmony with ecological development
• the HADP, aimed at promoting the basic life support systems
with sustainable use of the natural resources of the area
• Eco-restoration and Eco-preservation, Eco-Development
• Involvement of the local population
• Gender sensitive planning
• Use of appropriate technology
• Redevelopment of traditional agro-eco-systems based on
traditional knowledge and technology
• Scientific approach to agriculture, animal husbandry and
horticulture in order to raise productivity
• Development of ecologically sustainable industries and
tourism

31. Approaches of HADP
• The approach and the strategy of the HADP has evolved over time
• The programmes implemented during the Fifth Plan period were
mainly Beneficiary Oriented
• Emphasis shifted to Eco-development in the Sixth Plan
• The Seventh Plan laid particular emphasis on the development of
Ecology and Environment as summed up in three phrases, namely,
Eco-restoration, Eco-preservation and Eco- development.
• It aimed at evolving plans and programmes to take care of: A) Socio-
economic growth, B) Development of Infrastructure and
C)Promotion of ecology of the areas
• During the Eighth Plan, attention has been given especially, in
Modernizing the Agricultural Practices and Small Scale Industries at
household, cottage and village levels.
• Toachieve this, involvement of the people, would be of paramount
importance.

32. Approaches of HADP ……..Continue
• Intensive efforts at the implementation level to halt the process of
degradation of the hills and improve productivity of land.
• Innovative approaches to family planning and welfare to contain the
population growth to sustainable levels
• Financial and physical Monitoring of the HADP by the State
Governments sought to improve implementation of various prog.
• Popularization of Afforestation Programme through village
Panchayats, schools and other local organisations, groups and clubs.
• Encouragement of Private Nurseries, especially, of multi-purpose
trees which yield benefits like fodder leaves, edible fruits or leaves or
flowers, seeds, leaves of commercial value
• Application of scientific inputs to agriculture and allied sectors,
including identification of crops suitable for the agro-climatic zones,
• Multipurpose species of trees and bushes to meet requirements of
the people from a well-developed small land area are of special
importance: Permanent Greening Programmes
• Appropriate technologies to bring about localized self-sufficiency and
generate alternative means of livelihood, as opposed to heavy
dependence on forests, and livestock rearing.

33. Approaches of HADP ……..Continue
• Use of appropriate technologies to upgrade the traditional productive
systems like agricultural, livestock rearing, arts and crafts, household and
cottage industries, etc.,
• Reduce Hardship of women in fetching water, fuel-wood, fodder and other
demanding daily domestic chores needs to be encouraged on priority.
• The technologies have to be need-based, more productive, efficient, low-
cost, and ecologically sustainable.
• Extension services should enlighten and educate people on how to
enhance productivity of both cultivated and community land on a
sustainable basis in the context of increasing human and livestock
pressures.
• Consolidation of small and scattered land holdings which help in
improving water and land management and ultimately, productivity of the
limited land assets of the hills.
• To involve local communities to evolve suitable models of land
• The State Governments may take a fresh look at their Plan and non-Plan
Schemes, forest policies, the land tenure systems, land and water use
policies and realign them to eradicate practices destructive to ecology and
environment.

34. Approaches of HADP ……..Continue
• In order to reduce pressure on land, quality of
livestock, including goats, sheep, pigs and poultry
birds has to be improved and their numbers reduced.
• There is an urgent need for relating livestock
population to the bearing capacity of available land
• The livestock and cattle improvement programmes
need to be integrated with fodder and cattle-feed
development, stall feeding and scientific grazing
• The productivity of pastures and grazing areas needs
to be restored and enhanced. The effort should be to
meet the requirements of food, fuel-wood, timber and
fodder through scientific utilisation of scarce hill
resources on sustainable basis from the least land
area.

35. Approaches of HADP ……..Continue
• Development of non-conventional energy and use of
non- wood based sources of energy
• Development of watersheds that can meet water
requirement
• Food security has to be ensured on top most priority.
• Development of horticulture, sericulture and
plantation, especially cash crops having low volume,
light weight, high value and long shelf-life
• Area specific marketing infrastructure, especially for
perishable produce
• Strong Public Distribution System could be extended,
provided other adequate income generating avenues
exist.
• Suitable non-wood based packaging materials could
be increasingly used on a viable basis.

36. Approaches of HADP ……..Continue
• Incentives and encouragement for the formation of large viable hill villages
• A number of cottage industries like carpet weaving, handlooffis,
handicrafts and other household based small-scale industries can be
encouraged.
• Rubber plantations could be encouraged.
• Development of sericulture has good potential in hill areas. A systematic
programme of planting feedstock trees for silkworms on all spare patches
of land can be taken up
• Tourism can be organised as an industry, with due care taken to avoid
exploitative use of scarce local resources, especially, water and fuel-wood.
• Mining can be carried out but with adequate safeguards in favour of
ecology during and after the mining operations.
• Schemes, Projects and programmes which do not benefit people in
improving their quality of life or are destructive to ecology, can be reduced
down or terminated.
• Shifting cultivation, called Improvement in agricultural practices,
development of land for permanent cultivation, increase in “jhum”land
productivity and lengthening of 'jhum ' cycle, will help in blunting the
destructive edge of the practice. Simultaneously, development of location
specific alternative income generating occupations can continue.

37. Approaches of HADP ……..Continue
• Media support for transfer of suitable modern agriculture technology and
its extension need to be given.
• Some of the voluntary organizations doing commendable work in the hills
can be encouraged,
• People have to be made aware of the far reaching implications of
environmental degradation and their active participation has to be sought
for reconstruction of ecology.
• Environmental aspects can be suitably woven into the curriculum of
primary and high school classes.
• Willing and active cooperation of the people for Regeneration and
development of the hill environment
• The hill areas prone to intense tectonic and seismic activities, need to be
identified activities
• In many hill areas men folk have migrated to towns and plains in search of
employment opportunities. In such areas, women are managing land and
other economic assets. The approach and policies should keep this in view,
especially for lightening their burdens of daily chores like collection of
fuel-wood, water, and tending to livestock and other domesticated
animals and birds. It will be of much advantage if women extension
workers are appointed in such villages.