As per the poverty estimates worked out by an expert group constituted by the Planning Commission under the Chairmanship of Prof D T Lakadawala, the poverty ratio in NE region during 1993-94 was 45.01 per cent of the rural population. It has declined to 40.01 per cent in 2000 as per NSSO’s round survey, 2000.

The North-Eastern region comprises the States of Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland, Sikkim and Tripura. It occupies about eight per cent of the country’s land area and accounts for about four per cent of the country’s population. The region has about 4,500 km of international border with Bhutan, China, Tibet, Myanmar and Bangladesh. Most of the land has a rough terrain and mountainous periphery. The density of population in the region is 122 per sq. km. The total literacy rate, according to 2001 census, varies from 54.15 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh to 88.41 per cent in Mizoram and rural literacy rate from 37.02 per cent in Arunachal Pradesh to 72.47 per cent in Mizoram.

According to NSSO’s 55th round survey, about 131.53 lakh persons are below poverty line in areas of the NE region including Sikkim. Highest number of persons below poverty line are in the State of Assam (92.17 lakh) followed by Tripura (12.53 lakh), Meghalaya (7.89 lakh), Manipur (6.53 lakh), Nagaland (5.21 lakh), Arunachal Pradesh (3.80 lakh), Sikkim (2 lakh) and Mizoram (1.40 lakh).

Government of India has been aware of the need to bring the region at par with the other States in the country through the development of infrastructure, generation of employment and alleviation of poverty in the rural areas. To impart the much needed thrust to development in the rural areas of north-eastern region, a number of rural development schemes of the Ministry of Rural Development are being implemented in the region. These include, self-employment scheme such as Sampoorna Gram Rozgar Yojana (SGRY), Stream-I & II, Indira Awaas Yojana (IAY), Pradhan Mantri Gramodaya Yojana (PMGY) — Gramin Awaas, Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRDP), Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP), Integrated Wasteland Development Programme (IWDP), District Rural Development Agency Administration (DRDA) and Pradan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY).

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