An Investigation into the Social Sector Development and Human Development Linkage in Assam: A District Level Analysis

Background/ Objectives: The most striking feature of development that Assam witnessed in recent years is the disproportionate growth. Some districts are advanced comparatively to the others leading to many problems such as ethnic conflicts, insurgency and identity politics with unbearable negative impacts. This inequality in the level of development is now considered as one of the biggest threat to the level of development of the state. Under this background, in this paper an attempt has been made to study the level of social sector and human development among the districts of Assam. Moreover, it is tried to study the linkage between social sector and human development in the state.

Methods/ Statistical analysis: The paper is based on the secondary data. The Principal Component Analysis (PCA) is used to construct social sector development index and Human Development Index is used to show the level of human development at district level for the state of Assam and consequently districts are ranked. Finally, to test the relationship between social sector development and human development, Spearman's rank correlation test is conducted.

Findings: The present study reveals that both social sector development and human development go hand in hand; and for all-round development priority should be given both on education and health sector in the state. The Social Sector Development Index and Human Development Index both shows that social sector development leads to human development. The districts having high social sector development have high level of human development. However, minor change in the place of ranking among the districts is also observed.

Improvements/Application: The government of Assam should give importance on social sector development to create human capital and also to employment generation for raising income so that ultimately goal of Human Development is achieved maximising people's welfare.