Loo agyi modi Sakar

The 2014 general elections in India have been much about Narendra Modi and little else. Modi appears to have enamoured the voting public in general, the youth, first time voters and the middle class in particular, with promises of high voltage economic growth. His poll propaganda is based on the premise that if it has been accomplished in Gujarat, it can be replicated in the rest of the country. How far it is possible to upscale the Gujarat model to a national level, is a matter of conjecture.

Gujarat has achieved notable success in a number of areas. This has been done by an intense focus on development in agricultural and industrial sector, promoting private investment in health and education, decentralised schemes suited to specific populations and taking urbanisation to rural areas. The government in Gujarat has worked around the need to provide goods roads, water and electricity to everyone and has succeeded in this endeavour to a large extent. The Jyotigram Yojna has ensured eight hours of supply for irrigation, continuous domestic power supply for almost all the villages and good roads that mean easy access to markets, leading to Gujarat having the maximum growth in agriculture. Small measures like one horticulture expert for every taluk and a number of check dams have yielded rich dividends. There is no reason why these measures cannot be copied in the whole of India.

The thrust on urbanisation of villages to stem the migration to cities and to improve the standard of living in the villages is yet to show results, although some villages can boast of improvement in infrastructure. The initiative was announced only in 2011 and the commitment of the government to this effort at urbanisation can already be tangibly felt in Gujarat.

Gujarat has also taken the lead in attracting big businesses to the state with merit based incentives. The extent of incentives is linked to the gains, both tangible and intangible, that can be obtained by the state from setting up these big projects. While this has led to industrial development, there are allegations of misuse of discretion, in favour of influential names. While the corporates deny these allegations, small businesses do complain that the state has not done enough for them.

Gujarat has also worked towards e-governance whereby the interaction between the people and the government is largely restricted to the electronic interface. This has helped to streamline administration and reduce corruption. The E-Zamin scheme has digitised land records. And the Chief Minister of Gujarat himself goes online once a month to redress grievances. This is coupled with the tilt towards self governance schemes that are promoted with a festival like flavour that enhances villager participation. These schemes are directed at improving agricultural practices, and getting children to enrol in schools and reviewing the educational systems. Primary enrolment has increased from 73% to 85.3%. Local self governance has been strengthened. And local officials are closely involved in developing area specific development plans.

In spite of progress in all these areas, healthcare and education are lagging behind other states and require more attention. Experts have opined that cost wise, it would not take an exorbitant amount to upscale the Gujarat model to a national level. The Gujarat model, while not being perfect, does have lot of scope for improvement, but can still be elevated to the national level for the benefit of the nation.