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Abstract
The problem of socio economic disparities in the levels of economic development is a universal phenomenon. Both developed and developing countries have witnessed this problem in the path of their socio-economic advancement. India is a large federal nation and it is well known that there are widespread disparities in the levels of socio-economic development among the different regions of the Indian nation. Balanced regional development has always been an essential component of India’s national development strategy in order to ensure the unity and integrity of the nation. Jammu and Kashmir, the northern most state of India, has been divided into three geo-physical regions, viz. Jammu, the Valley of Kashmir and the Ladakh. The Kashmir Valley is the most thickly populated area of the state the overriding characteristic of the economy of the Kashmir Valley is its extreme backwardness which is largely