The following point highlight the seven main needs for Balanced Regional Development. The requirements are: 1. Maintaining Political Stability 2. Overcoming Social Evils 3. Smooth Development of the Economy 4. Developing and Conserving Resources 5. Rapid Development of the Economy 6. Minimising Backwash Effects and 7. Expansion of Employment Opportunities.
Balanced Regional Development: Requirement # 1.
Maintaining Political Stability:
In order to attain political stability in a country, balanced regional development is quite essential. Continuation of regional disparities may lead to discontentment in the minds of people, which is a potential source of danger to the national solidarity.
Balanced Regional Development: Requirement # 2.
Overcoming Social Evils:
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In order to overcome social evils related to over-concentration of industries is major essential. Health and efficiency of the people residing in such industrial centres are adversely affected by social evils like overcrowding, noise, congestion, pollution, insanitation etc. All these social evils can be removed by attaining regional development.
Balanced Regional Development: Requirement # 3.
Smooth Development of the Economy:
For attaining smooth development of the economy, balanced regional development is quite essential. Thus all the regions should be developed equally so that they can help each other.
Balanced Regional Development: Requirement # 4.
Developing and Conserving Resources:
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In order to develop and conserve resources to the maximum extent, regional development is quite essential. Establishment of different types of industries in various regions of the country paves the way for fuller utilisation and conservation of mineral, forest, agricultural and human resources of the region.
According to D.R. Balakrishna, “The aim of regional development should be to secure maximum efficiency in the utilisation of available resources.”
Balanced Regional Development: Requirement # 5.
Rapid Development of the Economy:
In order to attain rapid economic development, balanced regional development is considered as an important pre-requisite as the overall progress of the entire economy depends upon the balanced development of all regions of a country.
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Development experts argue that “The progress of the national economy will be reflected in the rate of growth realised by different regions and, in turn, greater development of resources in the regions must contribute towards accelerating the rate of progress for the country as a whole.”
Balanced Regional Development: Requirement # 6.
Minimising Backwash Effects:
Prof. Myrdal, in his thesis on Regional Inequalities observed that the poor countries are subjected to regional difference in income and employment and the main reason behind such regional inequality in the strong backwash effects and weak spread effects prevailing in such economics.
Such regional inequalities are aggravated by factors like migration, capital movements and trade.
Under such a situation, developed regions gain at the cost of backward regions. Regional inequalities are accentuated as the backwash effects become stronger than the spread effects. Thus the underdeveloped countries should try to contain regional inequalities by minimising the backwash effects undertaken by deliberate state actions.
Balanced Regional Development: Requirement # 7.
Expansion of Employment Opportunities:
Balanced regional development is very much important for promoting and securing large employment opportunities in underdeveloped countries. By dispersing the industrial projects into various regions the country helps promote infrastructure and expansion of employment opportunities at a satisfactory rate.
Thus simultaneous development of all regions leads to substantial expansion of employment opportunities in various sectors of different regions of a country.
Aforesaid arguments thus suggest that the regional inequalities in the underdeveloped countries can be removed through the adoption of the strategy of balanced regional development. However, while adopting such a policy, the planners must take sufficient guard against the location of industrial projects into certain backward states or regions for attaining only regional balance.
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While establishing such industrial enterprises into backward regions, economic factors like sufficient availability of inputs, techno-economic feasibility etc. must be satisfied.