FYI…
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From: Amit Shukla [mailto:amit@netlink.co.in]
Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2007 6:12 PM
To: c.gandhi@mudra.com
Subject: Fw: Some "not known" facts about Gujarat Development from Hindustan Times articles
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Saturday, December 15, 2007 6:11 PM
Subject: Some "not known" facts about Gujarat Development from Hindustan Times articles
It was widely announced that the BJP and Modi would contest these elections on the ‘plank of development’, i.e., the projection of a ‘vibrant Gujarat’. According to media reports, in the last six months, Rs 750 crore of State money was spent on propaganda. This is equivalent to the annual budget allocation by the Gujarat government on social welfare and nutrition. However, launching his election campaign, Modi fell back on his hardcore Hindutva agenda. He described the ‘double-ruled plus’ sign on the new Rs 2 coin as a cross, alluding to the influence of the UPA Chairperson on the country and, by inference, rousing sentiments of maltreatment of the majority Hindu community through minority appeasement.
This tendency continued to intensify to the extent that as the campaigning ended for the first phase, Modi was thundering that Pota’s withdrawal by the UPA government was celebrated with the bursting of crackers in Pakistan. It is a different matter that while Pota adorned the statute books under the leadership of the then Home Minister and Deputy Prime Minister, L.K. Advani (now anointed to lead the BJP government, that is, if they ever win the next general elections), Parliament, Red Fort, the Raghunath temple in Kashmir and the Akshardham temple in Gujarat were attacked by terrorists.
It is not difficult to understand why the development plank was dropped so unceremoniously. Despite the tom-toming of a vibrant Gujarat (a la the BJP’s ‘Shining India’ campaign), the fact remains that Gujarat is one of the most indebted states in the country. Its public debt to GDP ratio is a whopping 28.5 per cent. According to official figures (widely believed to be a gross understatement), over 500 farmers in the state have committed suicide. This is primarily due to rural indebtedness, which, according to the NSS’ 55th round data, is, at around 40 per cent, widely higher than the national average of 25 per cent. Irrigated area declined by 25 per cent and agricultural production fell by 4.6 per cent during the last five years.
A UN University study reveals that poverty rose to 17 per cent from 12 per cent during this period. Its Human Development Report, 2004, states, “Gujarat has reached only 48 per cent of the goals set for human development.” On the health front, 74.3 per cent of women and 46.3 per cent of children are anaemic. In social sector spending (as a proportion of total expenditure), Gujarat ranks a lowly 19 among 21 major states. On minimum wages, it ranks 8th. Despite the fact that large tracts of the state face a drinking water crisis, the Modi administration diverted $ 255 million to supply water to industries (read: vibrant Gujarat), according to a CAG report. Further, nearly 22,000 of the one-and-a-half lakh people rendered homeless by the communal carnage of 2002 continue to remain internal refugees, unable to return to their homes.
The Union government had transferred Rs 24,464 crore to Gujarat in the past four financial years, yet the state’s debt had increased during this very period from Rs 45,301 crore to Rs 95,000 crore. As much as 23.5 per cent of the total revenue receipts of the state had to be spent paying interest on this huge deficit.
At public rallies, Modi had lately been declaring that Gujarat paid Rs 40,000 crore worth in central taxes, but got only Rs 4,000 crore from the Centre in return. Pranab Mukherjee read the actual figures: Gujarat paid central taxes of Rs 2219 crore in 2003-4, Rs 2270 crore in 2004-05, Rs 4301 crore in 2005-06 and Rs 5091 crore in 2006-07 — a far cry from the amount Modi had cited.
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