Meghalaya’s strengths

Meghalaya is one of the seven sisters state situated in the North-Eastern part of India. The state is also known as “Abode of Clouds”. North-East is natural resource rich, land locked, and strategically located between three major economies (China, East Asia, and South-Asia). The state has a location advantage for South-East Asia Market. The neighbouring countries viz. Bangladesh, Myanmar and Bhutan have been involved with the state for business and commerce.

Meghalaya has unique strengths and opportunities that can be leveraged upon to promote sustainable development. The state offers significant avenues for investment with abundant natural resources in terms of flora, fauna, forests, medicinal plants, minerals such as coal, limestone, quartz, feldspar, granite, industrial clay, sillimanite, and uranium. A conducive climate for Agri-horticulture sectors and eco-tourism, untapped hydroelectric potential, human resources, forest resources, mineral resources and the social capital in the village communities are some of the key ones. Several high-value agriculture and horticulture crops viz., Strawberry, Ginger, Lakadong turmeric, Honey, black pepper, Potato, Jackfruit, Pineapple, Areca Nut and various exotic flowers. Further, most of the state’s produce is naturally organic.

As per the report of Reserve Bank of India (Handbook of Statistics of Indian States-2021), the Gross State Domestic Product (at Constant price) of state is Rs. 23,29,655 Lakhs (2020-21 data) and per capita net State Domestic Product is of Rs. 56,471 (2020-21). Around 80 percent of the population is dependent upon agriculture and allied sector, which contributes 17 percent to the state GDP.

About 80 percent of the population is dependent upon agriculture; however, presently the sector contributes only 17 percent to the state GDP. The state has a literacy rate of 75.5% (census,2011), with a sizeable English-speaking population in comparison to most of the Indian States. Further, Meghalaya has a matrilineal societal structure and women’s participation in the workforce, at 34 percent for rural and 24 percent for urban areas, is higher than the national average.

Meghalaya is also geographically rich in minerals and has the potential for industrial setups based on these mineral resources. Above all the Meghalaya Industrial Policy is framed for the ease of doing business and increase trade and commerce. The added advantage being the climate in Meghalaya is good for the development of electronics chips. Types of Industry that can be ideally setup in the state are Mineral based Industry, Horticulture and Agro-Based Industry, Electronics and Information Technology, Export Oriented Units, Tourism and besides these the recent development in the state has seen many upcoming service sectors on customer service, real estate’s etc. The Department of Commerce and Industries provides various types of State Incentives for the established Industrial Setup.

To Summarize the strengths of Meghalaya:

• Stable political environment.
• Strong GSDP growth in last few years.
• Availability of literate and trainable human resources.
• Large English-speaking population
• The region has a very well performing gender development index
• Several tourist attractions
• Presence of an ethnic tribal culture each with unique customs and traditions, which can attract tourists.
• Rich bamboo and forest reserves.
• Extensive mineral resources including coal and limestone.
• Abundant Agriculture and horticulture resources.
• Handloom and weaving are skills acquired by the local community
• High Hydro-power availability.
• Ideal climate conditions
• Safe and clean, pollution free environment
• Reasonably good existing base of micro enterprises in traditional handicraft, handloom, agricultural and horticultural units.

Meghalaya is a development priority of the Government of India (GOI). The GOI has set up a special ‘NITI Forum’ for speedy growth of NER including Meghalaya. For “Transformation by Transportation” in NER under the Forum, 3 rail sections, air-connectivity of Meghalaya with NER and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries, and 4 National Highway corridors connecting Meghalaya with Bangladesh are being developed.

Government of India’s “Act East Policy” has supported North-Eastern States to build trade relations with Southeast Asian countries for trade, agriculture, tourism, and people-to people connections. Meghalaya is connected to other parts of India through Roads, Railway and Airways:

Road Network

Meghalaya has a road network of 13,000 km and its road density is 0.48 km/sq. km. GOI is also planning to develop BBIN2 corridor, which will connect Meghalaya with Bangladesh, Nepal, and Bhutan. A network of more than 4800 Km of roads consisting of State Highways, Major District Roads & rural roads is being developed under other programs such as Special Accelerated Road Development Program (SARDP) for North-East, Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and Shillong Smart-city program. Intra-state passenger connectivity is facilitated by Bus terminals in Phulbari, Tura, William Nagar, Sonapahar, and Shillong while inter-state connectivity is handled by ISBT in Shillong and Tura.

Rail Connectivity

Meghalaya has a railhead at Mendipathar and regular train service connecting Mendipathar in Meghalaya and Guwahati in Assam. Guwahati is the nearest major railway station connecting the north-east region with the rest of the country through a broad-gauge track network. The state currently has 22 Km of railway tracks and work is in progress regarding rail links with Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim.

Aviation

Airport

The state has an airport at Umroi which is at 30 kilometers from Shillong. There is also a helicopter service connecting Shillong to Guwahati and Tura. Other nearby airports are in Assam, Borjhar, Guwahati airport, about 124 kilometers from Shillong.

Helipad

Baljek Airport near Tura became operational in 2008 and hosts a Helipad, in addition to the one in Shillong. Considering the benefits of helicopter flights in tourism connectivity, medical emergencies (air ambulances) and disaster response in navigating difficult terrains such as Meghalaya, Heliports in Wahiajer, Resubelpara, Nongstoin, Mawkrywat, Dawki, Williamnagar, Nongpoh, Mairang, Ampati ,Baghmara and Khliehrait are planned in a Phase-wise manner.

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State Profile

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Advantage Meghalaya