outw i t geography to prosper key to assam 's gr ow t h: connect ivi t y & el ect r oni cs hi r en phuk an is a challenge out sm ar t geogr aphy. this the assamese have to meet w ith all ser iousness. if they want their state to for ge ahead they cannot just lounge ar ound doing nothing, to bor r ow a phr ase fr om br itain's fir st w oman pr ime minister mar gar et thatcher. the idea, w hich i initially br oached in assam, and i am r eintr oducing her e to dr aw the attention of singapor e's assamese community, fir st spar ked in my mind w hile going thr ough a r eview in the new yor ker magazine of jeffr ey sach's book, the end of pover ty: economic possibilities for our time. on based the r eview has a section fr om the book in w hich the r eputed amer ican economist explains afr ica's failur e get r id of pover ty --- an analysis by the global finance magazine, inter national monetar y fund data, finds that of the 23 poor est countr ies in the w or ld, 19 ar e located in afr ica. the democr atic republic of congo (drc) r anks as the poor est countr y in the w or ld based on its gr oss domestic pr oduct the 2009-2013 per iod. a telling figur e: drc citizens ear n on aver age us$394.25 [rs 26,380.96] a year w her eas in qatar people ear n an aver age of us$105,091.42 [ (gdp) per capita over rs 70,34,707.35] a year. [accor ding assam gover nment figur es, the state's per capita income r ose to rs 49,480 in fiscal 2014-2015 fr om rs 13,059 in 2001.] the new yor ker r eview cites sachs as ar guing that economists have gener ally paid too little attention to geogr aphic factor s. he said that it was in bolivia, dur ing an assignment as an economic adviser to end a r ound of hyper inflation, he r eceived "a wake-up call on economic r ealism'' w hile conver sing w ith a wor ld bank consultant named david mor aw etz. what the consultant told sachs, as quoted by him in his book that i later bought , was this: "this is a landlocked countr y, up in the andean mountains, facing incr edibly high tr anspor t costs. the only pr oducts that bolivia has even been able to expor t 10 ar e commodities w ith a ver y high value per unit w eight because only those commodities can successfully over come the tr anspor t costs.'' for bolivia such goods included silver , gold, r ubber and tin. tr anspor t costs r uled out expor t of low er -value goods, such as foodstuffs. "mor aw etz's point about bolivia's geogr aphical distr ess was tr uly (and to me," sachs r evealed. "in all of my tr aining, the ideas of physical geogr aphy and the spatial distr ibution of economic activity had not even been mentioned." incr edibly) something new sachs' explanation for afr ica' pover ty? the new yor ker r eview , noting that having been aler ted to the impor tance of geogr aphy, sachs decided that afr ica's failur e to develop was pr obably connected to the fact that much of the continent is hot, isolated, and r idden w ith tr opical diseases. star ved of fer tile soil, tr anspor t links, pow er , and adequate health car e, much of the continent is stuck in "the w or st pover ty tr ap in the w or ld." assam of cour se is not afflicted w ith w oes of the same magnitude. its but it is landlocked, isolated, its tr anspor t links to the r est of the countr y long and immensely costly, its pow er gener ation pathetic, and far mlands r avaged year after year , ever y year , by r ecur r ing floods. its tr ade access to for eign countr ies touching it, or not far fr om it, have pr actically been zer o. officials in assam and its people ar e awar e of the tr anspor t logjam the state and the nor th-east as a w hole face. a for mer adviser to chief minister ( economic & financial), dr jayanta madhav, pointed out in an ar ticle in str ategic affair s quite some time ago that ar ound 98 per cent of of the nor th-east is sur r ounded by for eign countr ies and that, after par tition of indian sub-continent, assam, manipur and tr ipur a lost their tr aditional r outes to the main centr e of commer ce and industr y --- calcutta. the he w ent on list the follow ing significant facts: +the pr oblem of lost tr aditional r outes per sists mor e than 60 year s after par tition; +road distance fr om calcutta to agar tala is 1,500 km. it cost, at the time his ar ticle was published, rs 45,000 for a 9-tonne tr uck to car r y goods betw een these points. in compar ison, the calcutta-chennai distance is slightly mor e but the cost to car r y the same amount of goods was rs 26,000 +befor e par tition, boats laden w ith tea, coal and timber r eached calcutta fr om dibr ugar h in 8 days tr avelling day and night. the for calcutta-guwahati shipments incr eased over the year s to mor e than 25 days, w ith tr avelling at night taken time discontinued because of insur gency. customs and other for malities add to the delay. air shipments ar e expensive, r uling out shipment of low -value goods, as in bolivia. many or ganisations, including local industr y body assocham, have been lamenting that absence speedy connectivity (by r oad, tr ain or by other possible means) w ithin the r egion and the r est of india has been a major constr aint on industr ial development. recur r ing annual floods, a phenomenon for w hich neither gover nments in dispur or delhi, nor even the socially inclined br ightest of the assamese, have been able to w or k out a lasting solution, w or sen the state's economic handicaps and untold suffer ings of especially the r ur al people. the logic of geogr aphy r equir es assam, and the nor th-east, to br eak out of their isolation if the r egion as a w hole is to pr osper. an ur gent initial need is to make a compr ehensive study of how other landlocked countr ies have coped. but one immediate answ er w ould be to invest a list that comes to mind w ould include: +infor mation technology and all pr ocesses electr onic, w ith assam developed to have the countr y's best telecommunications lines and inexpensive inter net connections. as electr onics is br inging about a pr oduction tr ansfor mation acr oss the w or ld w ith automation and r obotics, it is high time for the assamese to scan the futur e and equip themselves w ith the r ight skills. +tour ism r esor ts of inter national standar ds and mor e kazir angas and national par ks, w her ever possible, to dr aw as many tr aveller s fr om the r est of india and over seas; +a chain of spor ts complexes so super b that they cannot but be r egar ded as a natur al venues for inter national cr icket and soccer matches and other spor ting events; + an education hub, w ith the some of india's best schools, colleges and institutes that w ould attr act students fr om all over the countr y and even over seas. + the state must be r eady to go over boar d in investing in its young and the w or k for ce to give them the skills needed to seize the oppor tunities that w ould come fr om steer ing the economy into a new er a of gr ow th. r ooted violence, investments and +entr epr eneur ship has to be encour aged and a star t-up cultur e nur tur ed. pipe dr eams? they w ould r emain so of cour se as long as the vicious cir cle of paltr y in separ atism, and tendency to blame ever ything on the author ities w ith no pr oactive inputs fr om qualified citizens, continue. the cir cle has to be br oken w ith massive state and centr ally dir ected investments to star t w ith. an effective end to the malignant cir cle w ill allow pr ivate investments to follow. how ever , in a state w her e, accor ding to dr madhav, 70 per cent of the total budget goes to maintaining gover nment ser vants and the establishment, about 18 per cent for debt ser vicing for development, w her e w ill the state investments come fr om? leaving only 15 per cent heavily in having as many quick access r outes as possible, by land, r iver , r ail and air , to the r est of the countr y and the nor th-easter n states, par ticular ly to south-east asia, for tr ade and commer ce. it goes w ithout saying tr anspor t w ithin assam and links to the other states in the nor th-east have to be of the highest class. lands sur r ounding for eign the villager s must never have to complain of the lack of seamless tr anspor t to car r y their pr oduce to lucr ative ur ban mar kets w ithin the r egion. the r egional gover nments can achieve this thr ough cooper ation and joint investments. the millstone of geogr aphy makes it str ategically vital to nur tur e industr ies and activities the minimum of r ecur r ing tr anspor t costs. that need the state author ities have to make a r enew ed sear ch for an answ er. funds they must find, w hether by cajoling the centr al gover nment, stopping wasteful spendings or opening door s to for eign capital.if and w hen money comes in, fr om the state's ow n r esour ces, the centr e, wor ld bank, asian development bank or other s, and innovative individual and collective effor ts pour in, w hat must never be for gotten is the logic of geogr aphy that has to be defeated. the w r i t er i s a f r ee-l ance j our nal i st , am ong t he f i r st assam ese to ar r ive i n si ngapor e i n quest of a bet t er f ut ur e. a ver si on of t he ar t i cl e by t he w r i t er f i r st appear ed i n the sent i nel , guwahat i 11