Vol. 11, Issue 2, Part C (2025)

Abstract

The process of economic development has been associated with structural changes in every economy. Structural change is conceptualized as the change in the relative importance of aggregate indicators. As economic development proceeds, the strength and direction of intersectoral relationships change leading to shifts in the importance, direction and interaction of economic sectors such as: Primary, secondary, Tertiary and other subsectors. On Nov. 1966, Haryana was carved out of Punjab on the basis of language. Haryana was considered a poor cousin of Punjab at that time. But Haryana surged ahead of Punjab on the basis of economic parameters such as average growth rate, per capita income, fiscal discipline and good governance. The present paper aims to compare economic growth of Haryana with Punjab. Keeping in view the broad objective of the study, the relevant secondary data have been obtained from ESO, Punjab and ESO, Haryana from various Statistical abstracts. The selected indicators are: per capita income, GSDP, NSDP, Sectoral shares, Sub sectoral shares. Wherever required, growth rates and percentages have been used for comparison.

Punjab and Haryana share Chandigarh as their common capital. The strength of Punjab lies in its fertile land, good irrigation system and good infrastructure. Haryana can boast of its close proximity to the national capital. Haryana has been in an advantageous position as 13 out of 21 districts of Haryana are covered under the NCR. Moreover, Haryana has enjoyed good governance as compare to Punjab. Punjab is predominantly an agrarian state and adopted an agro centric model of growth. Punjab is contributing almost 40-50 percent in the wheat and 35-40 percent rice in the national grain bowl for the last four decades. The per capita income of Punjab is more than national average but less than Haryana. The process of economic development of Punjab has been halted by social turmoil in the 80s. The process of structural change has been occurring in the economy of Haryana and Punjab. The tertiary sector started dominating the other two sectors. However, the pace of tertiarization remained slow in Punjab as compared to Haryana.