Present Status of Assam Economy
3.7 Infrastructure Facilities
other urban centres. The reason why urban areas do not to rely on the surrounding rural areas may be the cost of the product, its quality or the availability. The agri- horticulture producers of the state need to ensure the competitiveness of their products in terms of quality, price and availability and to expand their marketing efforts to make the consumers aware of the local products (Sheng, 2006).
3.7.1.3 Airways
Assam is connected with the rest of the country through six numbers of airports. Lokpriya Gopinath Bordoloi International Airport, Borjhar, near Guwahati is the only international airport of the region.
3.7.1.4 Waterways
The Brahmaputra (declared as National Waterway No.2) and Barak are the two navigable rivers in the state. Presently, two public sector organisations, the State Directorate of Inland Water Transport (SDIWT) and Central Inland Water Transport Corporation (CIWTC) are operating services between Guwahati and Kolkata exclusively for movement of goods. The total volume of cargo and passengers handled by ferries by Inland Water Transport vessels at different points on the banks of rivers Brahmaputra and Barak are 8,65,148 M.T of cargo and 265,53,151 numbers of passengers (Government of Assam, 2009).
3.7.1.5 Postal and Telecommunication Services
The number of post-offices and letter boxes in the state in 2008-09 is 4006 and 18,485 respectively. The number of telephone exchanges and number of rural telephone connection as on 31-03-09 are 605 and 4, 46, 504 respectively. The number of wireless phones is 58, 10, 958 in the same year (Government of Assam, 2009). Out of 61.62 lakh total telephones in the state 23.07 lakhs are rural telephones and 37.75 lakhs are urban telephones. According to a Survey conducted by NCAER (2007) the percentage of rural households with telephone connection is only 5.15 per cent in Assam whereas the figure is 22.16 per cent for Kerala. No. of public telephone per village is only 0.40 in Assam against 8.50 in Kerala. The following table shows that rural tele-density in the state is much lower than the country average whereas the urban tele-density is higher in the state compared to the national average. However, the mobile connections are increasing in both rural and urban areas in the state. In comparison with Kerala, Assam is lagging behind in providing these facilities to rural areas (refer Table 3.7 and 3.8).
Table 3.7
Tele-Density in Rural and Urban Assam
Rural Tele-Density (%) Value Fixed Urban Tele-Density (%) Value
2004 2005-06* 2009 2004 2009
Assam 0.56 0.67 9.36 11.37 86.98
Kerala - 9.76 - - -
All India Average 1.58 1.74 10.95 -
Source: Jain , Rekha and G. Raghuram (2007), “Part II: Accelerating Rural Telecom Penetration: A State level analysis”, India Infrastructure Report, 3iNetwork, Oxford University Press; Government of Assam (2009).
* NIRD (2007-08).
Table 3.8
Status of Rural Telephone Services to Wireless in Local Loop (WLL) and Mobile Technology in Assam, as on 29-02-2008
Global System for Mobile
Communication Centres (GSM) WLL Total Rural (Public+Private)
Assam 752530 96024 8,48,554
Kerala 2994546 908905 39,03,451
Source: www.indiastat.com
3.7.2 Power
The power supply position in the state is not satisfactory. The installed capacity of generating plant of the Assam State Electricity Board is 401.5 M.W and the generation of power in the state is 1682.82 MU in 2008-09. During the same period the estimated requirement of power for the state is 6433.000 MU while the availability is 4270.764 MU thereby resulting in shortage by 30 per cent.
In order to meet the shortage of power supply, the state has continued to purchase power from the other sources (Government of Assam, 2009). The rural power gaps in supply i.e. number of unconnected household is 77 per cent in Assam whereas the figure is 33 per cent for Kerala and 52 per cent for India as a whole (NCAER, 2007). The rural-urban disparity in providing power facilities in the state is presented in Table 3.9. The table shows that the rural-urban gap in electricity connection in relatively more in the state than the country average in all the years under consideration.
Table 3.9
Percentage of Households with Electricity Connections
1981 1991 2001 2005-06*
Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban
Assam - - 12.4 63.2 16.5 74.3 27.3 80.6
India 14.7 62.5 30.5 75.8 43.5 87.6 55.7 93.1
Source: Housing and Amenities, Paper 2 of 1993; Census of India, 1991, 2001, Table No.7.33A.
Note: All India figures exclude Assam in 1981 and Jammu & Kashmir in 1991.
* National Family Health Survey (NFHS) III, 2005-06 Fact Sheet from www.nfhsindia.org/pdf accessed on 07-04-08.
3.7.3 Banking Services
The total number of reporting scheduled commercial bank offices (including Regional Rural Banks) in the state in March, 2009 was 1771. The volume of deposits and credits of these banks stood at Rs. 42467 crores and Rs.
16583 crores respectively in the same period. The credit-deposit ratio in the state in March, 2010 is 37.00 per cent compared to all India average of 72.70 per cent (Reserve Bank of India, 2010). The following Table 3.10 shows that credit and deposit transactions of the scheduled commercial banks are less in rural areas than in urban areas in the state.
Table 3.10
Number of Offices and Distribution of Deposits and Credits of Scheduled Commercial Banks (in lakhs of Rs.) in Rural and Urban Areas in Assam
No. of Offices Deposits Credits
Rural Urban Rural Urban Rural Urban 1981 (December) 301 247 7,698 33,995 3,399 14,010 1991 (March) 880 356 52,040 1,67,935 33,851 75,432 2001 (March) 818 450 2,31,959 7,53,806 73,071 2,42,916 2009 (March) 775 593 5,25,618 25,79,455 3,16,929 9,98,105 Sources:
1. RBI (1980-81), Banking Statistics-Basic Statistical Returns, Vol. II, December.
2. RBI (1991), Banking Statistics- Basic Statistical Returns, Vol. 20, March
3. RBI (2001), Basic Statistical Returns of Scheduled Commercial Banks in India, Vol. 30, March
Note: Here, urban includes both urban and semi-urban.