Why Arunachal Pradesh’s Social Sector Development is Asymmetrical: A Cross-district Investigation

Abstract

Regional inequality, in terms of cross-district variations, has attracted the attention of researchers and policy-makers alke, helping them to understand horizontal differences and provide alternatives in removing disparities. Several studies have indicated that such variations are an important reason behind the ethnic and political strife found in such regions—a problem that gets accentuated when these areas are dominated by the tribal and are simultaneously underdeveloped. Apart from historical and social factors and the endowment of natural resources, government policies and programmes have also contributed in creating unequal levels and trends in the socio-economic development of a region. Arunachal Pradesh, one of the least studied states in India and located in the north eastern part of the country, is in a transitional phase of its socio-economic development and has shown variations in the levels of development across districts. Given the quality of social capital available in the state, it seems that development is required not only to increase an adequate resource flow, but also to create an enabling environment to attract people towards realising the importance of social capital. For such an understanding, a mapping of cross-district variations in the development of the social sector in Arunachal Pradesh is vital. This study tries to assess the disparity in the social sector across Arunachal Pradesh’s districts by using the principal component analysis (PCA) method to rank districts. On the basis of ranks, the study attempts to analyse reasons behind the levels of disparity. In conclusion, on finding conceptual problems in traditional indicators of social sector development, some alternatives have been outlined.