| by N.S.Venkataraman
( April 16, 2013, Chennai, Sri Lanka Guardian) After Narendra Modi’s recent strong speeches in Delhi and Kolkata stressing the importance of good governance and appropriate development projects to put India on growth path, there have been sporadic criticisms that Modi’s claim about Gujarat’s progress is exaggerated.
While it is true that all problems in Gujarat have not been solved and still it has a long way to go, the fact is that the quality of governance and achievements made by Gujarat are far better in comparison to all other states in the country. For this, Modi’s leadership has to be given its due.
Gujarat is the only state in the country today which is power surplus and no other state can make this claim in India today. While the cost of power In Gujarat is one of the highest in the country, people do not seem to mind this, since the power is made available adequately. In states like Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and others, the average power cut every day now exceed 6 to 8 hours and the industries have to pay much more for power , as they have to generate power by installing their own facilities to some extent. Several small scale industrial units in these states have collapsed due to severe power shortage, resulting in loss of employment and misery to people belonging to lower income group.
Narendra Modi's initiative in encouraging solar power projects in Gujarat can not but be praised and Gujarat today has the highest solar power generation in India. The canal top solar power plant installed in Gujarat in pilot scale level can be a trend setter for the whole country.
As a consultant chemical Engineer, I know that the only state in the country where significant manufacturing capacities are being planned and implemented in time bound manner is Gujarat State. In most of the other states, capacity build up in manufacturing sector are stagnating or increasing at slow pace with huge delays due to number of reasons. Huge projects involving thousands of crores of rupees of investment are being built and are being planned and implemented in Gujarat by large companies like Reliance, Essar and others , which are unmatched by any other state. Public sector undertakings in Gujarat like Gujarat Alkali, Gujarat Narmada Fertilisers, (GNFC), Gujarat State Fertilisers (GSFC) are all running profitably and are implementing new projects with dynamic outlook. In most of the states, public sector undertakings are running on loss or stagnating. What is particularly striking about Gujarat is that projects are being completed largely as per the schedule.
Gujarat is the only state today where prohibition is enforced. While it is possible that illicit liquor may be available in Gujarat , what is conspicuous is that liquor consumption does not have the sanction of the law in Gujarat, unlike in other states. In state like Tamil Nadu , government itself has taken over the sale of liquor and is making huge profits at the cost of the health and economy of the poor families. Gujarat is not guilty of such condition.
Critics say that several industries in Gujarat are polluting. But, the fact is that the Pollution Control Board in Gujarat is known to be implementing environmental standards in stringent manner and several polluting units particularly in the dyestuff sector have been permanently closed in the last few years. The process of cleansing the industry is still on in Gujarat . In this aspect also ,record of Gujarat is better than several other states and certainly not worse than any other state.
Today, there is severe drought condition in some part of Gujarat which is due to the failure of the monsoon. Similar conditions exist in other states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. It would not be correct to accuse Narendra Modi for such failure of monsoon. While the problem is serious , Gujarat government is trying to minimise the impact just like Tamil Nadu or Maharashtra.
While competition between the states in implementing development projects should be encouraged, the competition should be healthy and not amount to mud slinging.
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