SPOTLIGHT ON GUJARAT

Pramod Kumar

The Development Model evolved in Gujarat during the last decade is now being seen as a model not only for other Indian states but also for the all developing countries. The State has registered not only an overall double digit GDP growth rate, but also has enjoyed it across the sectors. Economically, the State is today a national, if not global, powerhouse. Industries registered 13 per cent growth, while the agriculture grew at 12.8 per cent. The per capita income grew at 13.8 per cent and the state contributes 22 per cent of the exports and 30 per cent of market capitalisation of the country.

Building a greener world

Gujarat has proactively invested extensive resources and commitments to play its role in building a greener world. It has made concerted efforts to reduce carbon emissions in its public and private sector industries, with Gujarat bagging the largest share of carbon credits in India last year, a testament of this drive. To ensure a good quality of urban life, it is very fast switching to CNG based transport – all its public transport like buses and autorickshaws run on CNG today. It has a statewide gas grid which ensures uninterrupted supply of gas for industries thereby reducing damage to the environment. It is developing eco-friendly cities across the state – complete with green buildings, energy conservation, waste recycling and mass transit. Gujarat is one among the four Governments in the world having a separate Department for Climate Change. It has already established 2582 MW of Wind power capacity and 600 MW of Solar power capacity. Gujarat is the first State to develop a 500 MW Solar Park in the country. In the ensuing five years, Wind capacity is planned to be increased to 5000 MW and Solar capacity to 2000 MW thereby promoting clean energy and directly addressing the issue of climate change.

Women Empowerment

The ‘Kanya Kelavani’ scheme has done miracle in the state. Driven by this effort, the female literacy rate in the state has increased from 57.8 per cent in 2001 to 70.73 per cent in 2011 – an increase of 13 per cent. Under this scheme the Chief Minister, along with his cabinet colleagues, senior bureaucrats, other government officials and thousands of dedicated workers, travel to remote villages to encourage parents to enroll their children in schools in the month of June every year. Moreover, the Chief Minister donates all gifts received by him for the cause of girl child education. They are auctioned and the proceeds are donated to a dedicated fund created for this purpose.

Gujarat was the first State to devise a policy for Gender Equity in 2006. Apart from it for the first time in India, the state started providing supplementary food as micronutrient fortified extruded blended food as Take Home Ration to all the children under 6 years, adolescent girls, pregnant and lactating mothers. Further, for the first time in India, Gujarat is providing energy dense fortified supplementary nutrition to adolescent girls. The State has set up 15 dedicated ITIs for women having more than 2120 seats. Besides more than 10,500 women are also taking training in general ITIs. 50 per cent seats are also reserved for women in craftsmen skill development programmes. Village Panchayats are encouraged to select their body through unanimity to avoid conflicts. Such samras panchayats are given a special funding ranging from Rs 3 to 5 lakh. Of this, 251 are Mahila Samras Panchayats – the Panchayats headed by women. ‘Nari Adalats’ are operational in over 19 districts. Women jurists dispense justice in cases related to women. A total of 51 Nari Adalats are operational. To save the girl child, Gujarat has adopted a two pronged strategy of addressing the issue: making it a social movement of community leaders, religious leaders, judges etc and effectively enforcing the PNDT Act. Apart from it if a property is registered in the name of woman, the State Government waives the registration fees applicable on the stamp duty. Till now 9.60 lakh sale deeds have been registered in favour of women.

100 per cent enrolment in schools

Gujarat has achieved 100 per cent enrolment in every locality, for every child in every family – and the dropout ratio has fallen from 20.5 per cent in 2001-02 to 2.09 per cent in 2010-11. The state is now focusing on the quality of education in government schools. In the last decade, it opened around 30 new universities – of which many are specialised ones, unprecedented in India: Forensic Science University, Raksha Shakti University (for training youth in internal security), Petroleum University, National Law University, Children’s University, Indian Institute of Teacher’s Education, etc.

Water conservation becomes a mass movement

Since Gujarat had been a perennially water scarce region with recurrent droughts and a vast semi-arid areas, the Government undertook major irrigation projects like the Sardar Sarovar Dam and its canal network; state-wide Water Grid, interlinking of rivers and so on. These were complemented by the conservation and judicious use of ground-water in agriculture, ensured after the implementation of the Jyotigram Yojna. The game-changer however was, the massive water harvesting and conservation campaign undertaken by involving people. Powered by this jan-bhagidari, over 550,000 water management structures have been built in the last 10 years. The building of these simple, local and low cost water harvesting structures in the form of check dams, village ponds and boribandhs has ensured the conservation of water in every nook and corner of the state. A paradigm shift has been brought about to ensure safe drinking water to the entire population of Gujarat for the years to come – moving from using 75 per cent groundwater previously to using 85 per cent surface-water now. The distribution of the same is being done by people’s participation with 14,000 water committees formed to operate and maintain in village water facilities through Water and Sanitation Management Organisation. Its success has been acclaimed internationally, winning the likes of the UN Public Service Award for Best Participatory Practice (2009), Commonwealth Association for Public Administration & Management Award for Innovative Citizen Engagement (2010), etc. Gujarat is also the first state in India to have a Water Grid – comprising 1,900 kilometres of bulk pipelines and 1 lakh kilometres of distribution pipelines with filtration plants covering almost 10,000 villages in the State.

Revolution in energy sector: 24×7 three phase uninterrupted power supply

Gujarat has revolutionised its energy sector. Through Jyoti Gram Yojana – a feeder bifurcation scheme – 3 phase power on 24×7 basis, is supplied to all domestic, commercial and industrial consumers in the villages/rural areas. All the 18,000 villages and 9700 hamlets have been covered under the scheme. This stands out in sharp contrast in a country where even the national capital New Delhi suffers from power-cuts. This model has shown how electricity can be managed intelligently to give a dramatic multiplier effect on the rural economy and quality of life. Targeting 10 per cent of its total power generation to come through non-conventional energy resources, the state has put in place policies and incentives to promote such energy sources, with wind and solar power generation in particular getting a lot of attention.
More important is the multiplier effect that spans many other dimensions in rural Gujarat – improved medical, communication and consumer facilities; boost to commercial and educational activities; expansion in ancillary employment and so on. All this finally leads to reduction in rural to urban migration.

Sustainable Agriculture

To ensure that the benefits of water management are translated into agriculture growth, Gujarat launched an intensive statewide agriculture extension campaign Krishi Mahotsav (Agrifest). All the 18,000 villages of the state are covered in the drive involving not only the agriculture extension machinery and agri-scientists but also about 100,000 government personnel of all levels from related Departments, NGOs and representatives of various agencies connected to agri production, marketing and finance. Gujarat’s farmer has got a new perspective and broader vision owing to these interactions. The Government issues Soil Health Cards to its farmers – another unique initiative. These cards give farmers a detailed analysis of the composition and texture of their soil, on the basis of which they are guided regarding the type of crops to be sown and agri inputs to be used. Area under cultivation has increased from 105 lakh hectares 113 lakh hectares.

Next generation infrastructure

Gujarat has given a major thrust on creating robust, sustainable and next generation infrastructure. Its road network of about 74,500 km is the highest in terms of network density per sq km in India. Placing as much emphasis on quality as on quantity, approximately 92 per cent of Gujarat’s roads are paved – significantly higher than India’s average of 58 per cent as well as those of other advanced states. In one of its study in 2010, World Bank (WB) said that exemplary reforms in Gujarat’s highway sector should be replicated by Indian states to establish an “enabling framework” for creating “efficient governance”. Again in 2011, in a study for Planning Commission of India, the World Bank said Gujarat offers an example of international best practice in roads management.

Going beyond the conventional infrastructure domains of roads, ports, airports, etc, Gujarat has focused considerable attention on thinking a step ahead and developing the next generation of infrastructure. The Gujarat State Wide Area Network is the largest optical fiber network in Asia – connecting all government offices at every level, right up to our 18,000 villages. This strong network and state-of-the-art infrastructure for ICT providing broadband connectivity to all the villages–ensures that public services can be delivered right at the doorstep of the common man in the village.

Flagship Schemes and Projects

Powering unprecedented change in Gujarat

Gujarat began with an integrated strategy for inclusive growth called panchamrit addressing energy security, conservation and management of water, education particularly for girls, development of human resources and security. This approach led the state to today’s quantum jump in development. Following are some of the flagship schemes and projects that have powered unprecendented change in the State.

108 Emergency Service is a comprehensive 24×7 emergency service that attends to not only medical emergencies but the police and fire emergencies as well.

Chiranjeevi Yojana ensures availability of the best obstetricians of the private sector for women. This takes into account a case mix of normal and complicated deliveries. The service package includes a service fee for pre-delivery consultation, ultra-sonography, transportation for the pregnant woman and incentive to the accompanying attendant. The success of Chiranjeevi Yojna has been extended to infants through the Bal Sakha Yojana where the Government of Gujarat partners with the private pediatricians to provide healthcare to new-borns and infants.

Mission Mangalam is a scheme to take women to a different level of sustainability and earnings by linking them with banks, building capacities and nurturing them through public private partnership.

Garib Kalyan Mela is an innovative way to distribute assistance to BPL families. Such Melas are held in all districts and sub-districts. The aim is to ensure that 100 per cent funds reach 100 per cent beneficiaries.

Speedy Justice is ensured through Evening Courts using the existing infrastructure. It enables the common man to seek justice without wasting his working hours during the day. On the other hand, since petty cases are taken up in the evening courts, it leads to lessening the burden of the State judiciary allowing it to concentrate on more important legal issues pending before it. In addition to this, more than 3.6 lakh cases have been disposed off during the year 2010 through Lok Adalats. Another innovative approach is Female Court.

SWAGAT Online enables direct interaction between the citizens and the Chief Minister. In Gandhinagar, the fourth Thursday of every month is a SWAGAT day – wherein. The highest officer in administration attends to the grievances of the common man. The Secretaries of respective Departments remain present in person while the district officials like the Collector, District Development Officer, Superintendent of Police etc are available online on video conferencing. It’s a real-time interaction of all stakeholders, leaving no room for manipulation of facts.

Vibrant Gujarat Global Summit invites investment in the state. Out of the MoUs signed during Vibrant 2009, 45.5 per cent of large projects and 76.16 per cent of SME projects have been either commissioned or are under implementation. This is far above the average rate of implementation on the national level.

Special Investment Regions (SIRs) instead of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are being set up. These SIRs are going to become one of the biggest planned urban developments of the world. They are envisioned to be ‘a new Gujarat within Gujarat’. These developments are going to change the economic profile of the entire country, and will make a tremendous impact on the global economy.

Next News

Guruji: A drishta not a Prophet-III History validates Guruji: The endorsement of Guruji’s views on ‘Hinduism’ and ‘Hindutva’ by the Fundamentalism Project and Hindutva case are just two illustrations that whet appetite of the readers for the highly interesting and informative fare that this series unfolds on how history has repeatedly validated Guruji. The two examples establish how Guruji’s thoughts dismissed by the establishment in his times became accepted later by the course and force of history. Fundamentalism Project and Hindutva judgements are not literary works. They are the outcome of historical developments after Guruji. Here is the background of how these two historical developments had occurred, which will show that Guruji’s thoughts were validated by what history unfolded after him. Historic drive behind Fundamentalism project Even though “fundamentalism” – where religion overrides science – has been in public discourse for decades, it was only in 1987 that a study on fundamentalism by global scholars was instituted by the American Academy of Social Sciences. The fundamentalism project was the response of the Western – read Christian – scholarship to the movement of history and the outcome of the West-driven global historical process. This study was no accident. It was compulsion of history. The rise of militant Islam and a resurgent church, both contrived by the West to counter communism, had weakened the “secularisation theory” that evolved in the West in 1950s and 1960s. The theory had prophesied that the more westernised a traditional society became, the less religious it would become, and modernity would have the last laugh and tradition, its last breath. The modernisation process opened before the US the possibility of drawing the Middle East Islamic nations into its orbit and away from the Soviet’s. But the secularisation theory received a huge setback in 1979, six years after Guruji had passed away. Three historic developments took place in the same year – the Iranian Revolution, the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and a Cardinal from Communist Poland becoming the Pope, John Paul II. The Soviet occupation of Afghanistan forced the US to legitimise, promote and weaponise Jihadi forces, the likes of Taliban. The Iranian Revolution triggered robust bottom-upward Islamisation campaign all over world. Pope John Paul II criss-crossed the world tirelessly, drew large crowds of young people everywhere, particularly Europe. In this historic process, the Pope dynamited the communist rule in Poland which eventually brought down communism; the Islamisation tsunami initiated by Iranian Revolution swept across the Muslims world; the Jihadis’ victory over the Soviets in Afghanistan legitimised the concept and forces of Jihad; and political Islam began rising with the support of the West. These historic developments forced the West study the meaning of, and respond to, these historic developments which challenged the secularisation theory. The core thesis of the study was that reaction among adherents of different religions to globalisation of Western modernity constituted “fundamentalism”, thus substituting ‘modernity’ for ‘science’ as conflicting with religion. It was while analysing Hinduism and the ideology of RSS as part of their work, that the project scholars concurred with the views of Guruji, but in their own words thus: terms like “militant Hinduism”, “Hindu fundamentalism”, “religious revivalism”, or “reactionary Hinduism” used to describe the ideology of the (RSS) movement ‘seem inappropriate’ for ‘Hindu religious phenomena.’ And being ‘without foundation texts, defined dogmas, and institutional structures’ like in most varieties of fundamentalism in other belief systems, according to modern Hindu scholars, the Hindu view of life is grounded in ‘spiritual experience that is essentially rational and humanistic.’ Undeniably, it was the historic developments studied by the fundamentalism project, not anyone’s opinion, that validated Guruji’s view that Hinduism was different from other religions. But, decades ahead of the fundamentalism study, Guruji had distinguished Hinduism from the dogmatic faiths. The fundamentalism project, after studying the features of the monotheistic faiths and their conflict within and with secularism, had to distinguish Hinduism from them, which Guruji had done decades earlier. More on Fundamentalism Project, Guruji and RSS later. Historic background to the Hindutva case The Hindutva case was not a bipartite litigation between two parties as litigations normally are. It represented an ideological clash between two conflicting thoughts. One was the establishment view articulated by Pandit Nehru, which regarded Hinduism as just a religion like the monotheistic faiths which clashed with one another and also with secular rule. The other was the RSS view articulated by Guruji that the inclusive Hinduism was never, and would never be, in conflict with any religion or with secularism as it was superior to secularism, since it accepted all faiths and not negated any. But, how did this case of clashing ideologies land in the Supreme Court? The Hindutva case was the product of Ayodhya movement, which had originally targeted to build a temple for Sri Ram at his Janmasthan on which a mosque that was dysfunctional for decades stood. But gradually, the Ayodhya movement evolved as the response of the people and the forces of history to minority appeasement and other pseudo-secular distortions in Indian polity. The hitherto unchallenged idea of minorityism as equal to secularism was challenged by the movement. Hindutva or Hindu cultural nationalism emerged as the antidote for pseudo-secularism. The Bharatiya Janata Party and Shiv Sena, which had adopted Hindutva as their ideology were targeted as fundamentalist, communal and unsecular. Therefore, the election of some of their candidates was challenged on the ground that the concept of Hindutva was anti-secular and therefore constituted communal appeal for votes. The establishment view had contended that Hindutva was just a religion and communal idea and that was countered by the other view, articulated for decades and decades ago by Guruji, that Hindutva was an all inclusive concept and way of life of Indians, not a narrow religion, nor opposed to other religions, or to secularism. The Supreme Court accepted the latter view, that of Guruji, by an appraisal of the concepts of Hinduism and Hindutva. So it is again the course and force of history, which have established the truth of views of Guruji on Hindu cultural nationalism represented by Hindutva. Series unfolds the historic forces that validated Guruji’s thoughts Beginning with the two illustrations of Fundamentalism project and the Hindutva ruling, the series discovers several such illustrations and unfolds how Guruji’s views on different subjects have been vindicated by historic forces and how Guruji was ahead of time. Based on research and analysis, the series presents how Guruji’s thoughts were validated by time and brings out: p How historical accounts always proved, and as the Supreme Court of India later affirmed, Guruji’s view that minorities of India were always part of the mother Hindu society and culture; p How Guruji’s perception that all people of Bharatavarsha and Bharatakhanda have common culture and traditions have been accepted and endorsed even by Pakistan government later; p How precisely as Guruji had warned against disregarding and weakening the core culture in the name of composite culture or multiculturalism there is growing realisation in the West that shift to multiculturalism has weakened the core societies and core cultures in US-West; p How Guruji’s views on cultural nationalism objected to by Westernised thinkers as illiberal in his times are re-appearing in the West as the corrective to multiculturalism; p How Guruji’s enunciation of the concept of assimilation of minorities into the mainstream or core society is now viewed by Western thinkers positively as being inevitable to avoid societal and national disintegration and violence; p How, as Guruji had warned against, the ambivalence in cultural nationalism confuses the West promotes multiculturalism which is destabilising societies; p How Samuel Huntington’s “No” to multiculturalism echoes that what Guruji had said decades earlier; p How Guruji’s insistence on cultural nationalism as the bulwark against cultural decline and national chaos, is now proved by Western experience; p How Guruji’s warning that minority appeasement would promote minority separatism has now become a national and also global concern; p How Guruji’s emphasis on the inevitability of culture and civilisation as essential identities for a people and nation is being validated by the emerging perception that unless such diverse identities are recognised, the world would slip into violence and disorder; p How Guruji battled to save the nation, Hindu society and minorities by his formulation of majority-minority relations that transcended the contextual compulsions; p How contrary to the popular notion, Guruji and Pandit Nehru had actually broadly agreed on cultural unity and minority assimilation, but differed only on applying the terminology ‘Hindu’ nation; p How contrary to the popular view, there was complete convergence of views between Guruji and Gandhiji on cultural and civilisational unity and continuity of India and on assimilation of minorities; p How Guruji’s untiring efforts to establish that “Dharma” was different from “religion” is now being accepted in public discourse; p How Guruji views on “Dharma” as a trans-religious concept expressed decades years ago have been gradually accepted by the judiciary and in politics; p How Guruji’s appeal to align the Anglo-Saxon structure of the Indian Constitution insensitive to the age-old culture of India with inclusive Hindu view of life is now becoming broadly accepted in judicial and public discourse; p How Guruji adumbration of “the other mind of contemporary Indian leadership” is now the mainstream view according to the Fundamentalism Project; p How Guruji has been proved right on the character of Islamists and of Pakistan as a state and on the situation prevailing in Pakistan; p How Guruji was on the dot on the nature and emergence of China which was to happen a decade after his lifetime; p How Guruji’s dissent against the establishment thinking of his time was an appeal to the brooding conscience of India and its validity is being recognised after him; and p How, therefore, Guruji was a drishta, who saw and spoke ahead of his times and was validated by history after him. Yet, Guruji, whose views were validated after his lifetime, was criticised in his times, maliciously, as anti-secular and communal! And now in the weeks ahead follows detailed expositions on how the course of history, not just in India but all over the world, has validated Guruji’s thoughts (The writer can be contacted at [email protected])

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