Transportation and Economic Development

Adam Smith said that trade between nations is such a thing that helps to create wealth among the nations. In this context, the transportation system plays a significant role. Without a transportation system, economic growth and development cannot take place. At present transport System of India consists of several models, 

1. Road
2. Rail
3. Inland Waterway
4. Coastal Shipping, and
5. Airways

1. Road

India has one of the largest road networks in the world. On the basis of length of the road network, India holds 2nd rank after the USA. It is the second-largest road network after the USA. India’s total road network is 6,215,798 km. It helps to connect village to village and village to urban areas. It has an important role to transport mainly agricultural commodities from farms to the markets. Regional planning and economic development cannot be completed without discussing the role of roads. There are many kinds of road networks. Those are:

• Expressways, 
• National highways,
• State highway,
• District Roads,
• Panchayat roads or rural roads.

a) Expressways

• High-speed and multi-lane roadways are called Expressways. At the present total length of the National Expressway in India is almost 1535 km. It plays a vital role in a country’s development as well as the regional economy. At present, there are 19 state expressways of 2049.2 km in 10 states and 8 National expressways. Among 8 national expressways, 3 are operational, 4 are under construction, and 1 are planned. All the expressways have a major role in the logistic economic growth of the country.

b) National Highways

• National highways are the vein of India and it is used to boost the economic development of a country. It is also constructed and maintained by the central government. At the present total length of the National highways in India is 151,000 km (according to 2020-21 data). It is 2.8% of the total road network. But it carries over 40% of the total tariff across the country. Almost 64 percent of freight and 82 percent tariff is carried by road. It is constructed and maintained by the National Highway Authority of India (NHAI) which comes under the Ministry of transport.

c) State Highways

• It is constructed and maintained by the state government of that State. The total length of state Highways according to government data is 176166 km. It plays an important role to connect the districts, towns, cities within the state and connect the state with the national highways. It also connects the state with its neighboring states.

d) District Roads

• It is constructed to connect villages or towns with the district headquarters. The total length of the District roads in India is almost 632154 km. Zilla Parishad has the authority to maintain and construct the district roads.

e) Panchayat Roads or Rural roads

• For the overall development of a country, panchayat roads or rural roads connectivity is the most critical component. By providing access to amenities like education, health, marketing, etc. which are very important for the socio-economic development of the rural areas. Evidence also indicates that as the rural connectivity improves, the rural poverty levels come down. Rural roads are maintained and constructed by district panchayat. The total length of rural roads is almost 453511 km.

2. Rail 

• The railway network of India is the 4th largest railway network in the world. The total length of the railway network in India is almost 1,15,000 km. In the year 2019-20, India’s GDP was approximate ₹146 lakh crore approx. of which ₹50,669 crore comes from passenger ticket sales. It is almost 2.9% of the Indian GDP of that year. In Passenger business 7.3 billion USD and in cargo sector it contributes 18.7 billion USD in the year 2018-19. FDI flows in the railway-related companies from 2000 to 2019 have been 927 million USD almost.
• There are three types of Railway gauges. These are mainly i) Broad gauge,  ii) Meter gauge, and iii) Narrow gauge.
• 65% of the total length of the railway networks is the Broad gauge of which 48% has been electrified.
• According to an estimate, Indian Railways will generate revenue for 2021-22 is ₹ 2,17,460 crore. It is 12% more than the year 2019-20.
• The Narrow-gauge route is used in the hilly region such as the Darjeeling toy train. This railway network is come under the UNESCO World Heritage site and become a tourist spot that generates much revenue.
• Railways have played an important role in the field of the cotton textile industry. It is also the cheapest transport way of our country. The government has announced that railway freight traffic will increase by almost 3.2 billion tonnes by 2030.

3. Inland Waterway 

• The cheapest transportation way of any country is the Inland Waterways transport. In India, there are 14,500 km. navigable waterways of which only 3700 km. is used. According to the National Waterways act 2016, India has 111 notified Inland National Waterways.

4. Sea ports 

• In India, there are 13 major ports and 280 minor ports. Indian ports control 90% of trade by volume. It is 70% of the value of external trade in India. They are most suitable for carrying heavy goods. Ports  have an important economic value.
• Seaports reduced the pressure on rail and road transport. It is relatively pollution-free and low cost as well. It also helps to promote coastal-based industries such as fishing and corals collection.
• Kandla Port is one of the 13 important major ports. It comes under free trade Zone and was constructed after independence. So it is called “child of partition“.
• Jawaharlal Nehru Port is the modern and fastest-growing port. It is India’s largest container port with a world-class port equipped with all the modern facilities. It is controlling 55% of containers cargo across all the major ports.
• The government has taken Sagarmala Flagship Programme to promote port-related economic developments. Under this project government will invest ₹8 lakh to modernized all major ports and built new ports to boost countries Economic growth.

5. Airways

• The fastest mode of transportation is the airways. It helps to reduce distance and to make the world into one unit. Though this transportation system is costlier than the other transport systems, it is very helpful and plays a vital role in the country’s economic development. It helps to boost trade, Tourism, seamless flow of foreign investment.
• Air transport in India originates in 1911 A.D. First-time air transport travel a distance of 10 km between Allahabad to Naini.
• Civil Aviation Policy 2016: Approved on 15 June 2016. Under this, a target has been set to create a civil aviation market.
• Udan Plan: On 27th April 2017, the prime minister started the program “Ude Desh Ka Aam Nagrik” (UDAN) from the Shimla airport.
• India has the 9th largest civil aviation market In the world. It created 4.2 million jobs. India become 3rd largest domestic aviation market in the world. There is a total of 25 International airports in India.