The economy of Assam is largely agriculture based

with 69 % of the population engaged in it. Assams

biggest contribution to the world is tea. Assam
produces some of the finest and most expensive
teas in the world. Assam produces over half of
India's tea and accounts for over 12% of annual
global tea yield, The total turnover of
the tea industry in Assam is likely to reach Rs
16,500 crore by 2015 from the current level of
about Rs 9,500 crore. India is world's
largest consumer, second largest producer and
fourth largest exporter of tea after China. Assam
exports its tea mostly to Europe and Middle-East
countries, says a senior official of Tea Board of
India The climate of the state is such that it gives a
sweetness and an earthy flavor to the tea leaves
produced. Also, small tea growers are also
contributing to the development of the tea industry
of Assam. According to the "Survey Report and
Data Bank on Small Tea Growers, published by
State Industry Department recently, Assam has
68,465 small tea gardens. These small tea growers
account for about 25 per cent of the State's total
tea output.

In 2013 The failure of the Government of Assam to

spend the planned allocations become a matter of
serious concern, while, a number of states having
smaller population than Assam have managed to
get much larger plan outlays by contributing from
their own resources, which contributed to the
development of those states.
Official sources told The Assam Tribune that in the
year 2011-12, the plan allocation for Assam was Rs

9,000 crore but the State could spend only Rs

6357.46 crore and the balance amount was lapsed.
In the financial year 2012-13, the allocation was Rs
10,500 crore and up to January 2013 around
60 percent of the money was spent. The plan size
of the State for the coming year is yet to be
finalized and the State Government is expecting
around eight to 10 per cent hike.
Though Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi has been
claiming that the financial position of Assam
improved considerably, the State has not been
able to contribute from its own resources to
increase its plan size as was done by several other
states. At least 13 states of the country managed
to increase their plan sizes in the current financial
year by contributing from their own resources.
According to information gathered by The Assam
Tribune, as per the 2011 census,
Assams population was 2.58 percent of the
total population of the country and the plan outlay
of the State in the financial year 2012-13 was Rs
10,500 crore. But States having
smaller populations have managed to increase
their plan size considerably by contributing from
own resources. For example, the population of
Chattisgarh is around 2.11 per cent of the
national population and the plan size of the state in
the financial year 2012-13 was Rs 23,480 crore,
which was more than 40 per cent higher than the
outlay of the previous year.
The population of Punjab was 2.30 per cent of the
national population and the plan size of the state
was Rs 14,000 crore, the population of Haryana
was 2.09 per cent of the countrys population and
the plan size was Rs 26,485 crore, which was

30 percent higher than the previous year.

The population of Delhi was 1.58 percent of
Indias population and the plan size in the financial
year 2012-13 was Rs 15,852 crore. Jharkhand,
which also has smaller population than Assam had
a plan size of 16,300 crore, which is substantially
higher than that of Assam.
Plan size of the states are determined by several
factors like population, backwardness, ability to
contribute from their own resources etc and the
failure of Assam to contribute from own resources
is affecting the state.
The failure of the State Government to spend the
plan allocation was due to several factors like the
Assembly elections, passing of the state budget
only in July etc contributed to the delay. But over
the years, no serious effort was given on capacity
building and most of the works departments do not
have the ability to spend the plan funds on time.
However, on the positive side, the State is not
spending plan money for payment of salaries as
was the case earlier. At one point of time, the State
used to spend up to 70% of the plan fund
in payment of salaries, but after transfer of posts
from plan head to non plan head, only a negligible
amount of plan fund is now spent on salaries.