City slips to third position in per capita income in country

Chandigarh, April 29
Chandigarh has lost the distinction of being the city with the highest per capita income in the country. In the national ranking, the city has ranked third. The top position has been grabbed by Goa and the national capital has been ranked second.
In the latest data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, it has been pointed out that the per capita income of the city stands at Rs 1,28,634 compared to Rs 1,28,743 in 2009-2010. On the other hand, the per capita income of Goa and Chandigarh stand at Rs 1,92,652 and Rs 1,75,812, respectively. The city was, however, far above the national average figure of Rs 60, 972.
Though no official reason has been attributed to the fall in the per capita income, delay in implementation of a number of crucial projects, resulting in poor generation of job opportunities, was said to be one of the reasons. In proportion to the increase in the city population, job opportunities had not increased. Against the projected generation of 40,000 jobs with the setting up of the IT park, only 18,000 jobs could be created there.
Quoting statistics, officials said till 2008, the city ranked high in the national ranking.
In 2008, Chandigarh had once again bagged the top position in the country, while Goa had clinched the second position. The constantly increasing per capita income of Chandigarh had multiplied about 2.5 times between 2000 and 2008.
While the average per capita income of Chandigarh was Rs 44,502 in 2000, it had increased to Rs 1,10,676 in 2008. Comparatively, it had increased to Rs 1,28,634 in 2012, meaning an approximate increase of Rs 18,000 in the last four years.
The statistics corroborate the belief that though the city has firmly moved away from the primary sector in terms of occupation, the job generation has been primarily restricted to the service industry and there has not been much industrial growth. Some of the projects cleared under the conversion policy and multiplex policy have yet to see the light of the day. The contribution of the primary sector - agriculture and allied activities has been regularly decreasing since 1999-2000.