DISCLOSURE: This article is not for or against any political party but the information given here is either my personal experience of working(as a doctor) in various part of Gujarat or it is based on information from authentic sources or persons. I have not given much data as it can be generated in favor or against in any one, rather I have given more practical information and described notion prevailing at grassroots level.
For someone who has not visited Gujarat or done in depth study of its condition in last decade, it’s extremely difficult to judge whether so called Gujarat model has some reality as talked by BJP or is mere a propaganda to gain political milage as described by Mr Kejariwal and AAP. Most of us know that truth lies some where in between, but truth is closure to whom? I will give some facts and some logic based on my personal experience and interaction with people and will be as neutral as possible.
From my experience what I can is that there is definitely some development in Gujarat esp. in infrastructure, agriculture and governance but the negative side is corruption at small scale, and that is prevailing in most sectors, but it has reduced to great extend in last decade.
I think the first and the most important thing that needs to be discussed is corruption. I will touch both side with real incidences. The areas with corruption that I know well are construction, drug retailing license, income tax and custom department(both under central government), police so on, but it has definitely reduced. You can compromise to some extend in construction, if you pay to some officers but recently, norms are very strictly followed in some areas. I asked about subsidy in agriculture. One farmer told that he bought a tractor with help of government subsidy, but he has not received money from government after one year due to some issues raised by officer. But those who have implemented drip irrigation or green house are very happy with simplified process of government subsidy. In fact penetration of drip irrigation was very high (up to 60-80%) in the villages that I have travelled in Sourastra. I personally visited many farms and confirmed that. One pleasant experience was in getting new power connection, officer told that the process is online and it is software based, so even MLA can not jump the queue. I confirmed this from a very prominent person of BJP who also had to wait for same days(same as common man) to get power connection for his factory. As far as pharma industry concerned, norms are very strict and many small production unit are closed as they were disqualified on bases of green Gujarat norms. Still Gujarat accounts for more than 40 per cent of medicines manufactured in India(2011 data). There was allegations of poor quality material in construction of check dams and that was probably true, but recently government is very strict and those who had done so has not been given payments, even if some of them was close to some BJP workers. Distribution of grain and kerosine has seen significant reduction in corruption and improvement in efficacy. It is due to system of scanning finger print of a receiver at time of distribution. This initiative was appreciated awarded by UN also. But this is implemented in small area and is not operational in rest of Gujarat. Another good initiative is online information of all land of Gujarat with name of their owner, pending dues etc. So fraud or scams by property dealer has reduced.
Gujarat has been a relatively safe state for all and woman as particular. But there is definite improvement in safety. In Surat or Ahmedabad, woman can travel any where in city even in midnight. Also Gujarat is the only state where police stations are equipped with modern technology. If you launch an FIR of your missing bike, all police station in Gujarat will get that information simultaneously . Earlier, there was no co-ordination in various police statins. This project was launched recently and was appreciated by most experts in this field. (Even in programs covering crime story, like crime patrol, when they show police station of Gujarat, police are shown working with computer!, this is personal observation), In Surat, there is a novel initiative by public-private partnership. High definition CCTV cameras system is being implemented in area with high public movement. Those who do not follow traffic rules are identified at control room and a penalty notice is sent to the address registered with that vehicle number. I have checked some notices myself. It also help to reduce crime and catch criminals. But still there are quite a few incidents of theft or burglary in major city. Negative side is that even there is ban on alcohol, it is sold in most of the city and if someone try he can easily get alcohol.
What about agriculture? There is significant increase in total agriculture production. Agriculture growth rate is high but less than that of some other states. In country dependent on rainfall, it is not wise to compare agriculture production of two time point, rather change over a period is more important, Actually more significant change in Gujarat is modernization of agriculture. As I have mentioned earlier, there is very good progress in irrigation sector. Farmers get SMS about rates of agriculture products various markets in near by area( circle of 150-200 km) so that he can go to place with best rates, it also controls rates in one market due to low supply. I have personally checked theses messages, This facility is under utilized due to lack of knowledge. Subsidy in agriculture is distributed in better way, esp. for modern farming.
Now, let us talk about infrastructure. Today I talked to a farmer from village Khopala (Taluka: Gadhada, District: Bhavnagar/Botad). He told that most part of the village has RCC road and it is connected to near by town with good quality road. I asked a person working as driver in Surat and in south Gujarat, again there was same answer. I personally visited Surat, Baroda, Ahmedabad, Bhavnagar, Junagadh and rajkot district in last 6 month and there was little scope to complaint about roads. Even most media persons who travels in Gujarat and other part of India would not differ in this regard, if they are neutral. Now How it fares when compare to other states? I have no answer but I can say it it is better than most part of UP and some area of Maharastra that I have visited.
Energy sector as a whole, has done very well in Gujarat. Urban development and town planning is also doing good.
About electricity, when I asked to villagers, they say there is 24x7 electricity in most of villages, But in that also there is some difference. In area served by torrent power(where I live currently), there is hardly any blink except once in a year for maintenance, and that also after due notice. In area served by Gujarat Electric Board, there may be power cut for 1-2 hour in a week in some parts. Three phase electricity connection is also available in most village and all city. For farming 8 hrs/day electricity supply is there(24 hr power not given for farming, as a part of policy to prevent misuse of subsidized electricity)
In education, Gujarat still lags at grassroots level, but skill development and higher education has definitely improved. Still there is lots of corruption in education. Many private colleges collects huge amount of black money for admission and exam. But on another side, admission in most government institutes is centralized and much more transparent.
Same can be told for most other areas. Apart form state government, all municipal corporation has BJP government(with more than two third majority), and they are doing exceedingly well. And if elections are held today for these municipal corporations then verdict will go in favor of BJP. Remember, pro incumbency is very difficult to generate then anti incumbency.
So, overall there is definitely good work has been done and lot more is still to be done esp. for corruption. Many government projects are completed before their deadline and quality of work is also much better. Metro train coach manufacturing factory in Vadodara was functional in 18 month against deadline of 24 month and this was acknowledged by Elattuvalapil Sreedharan, the mastermind behind Delhi metro. BRTS in Ahmedabad and Surat are also success story of government. To summaries this information in political context. BJP - good governance, some corruption. AAP-poor governance but with lesser corruption. Congress - poor governance and florid corruption but label of secular party. Now it is choice of voters of this country. What do they want form future government?
(If some media wants to cover Gujarat story, I can personally help, can travel with them and show real picture - both side of story. This is small piece of information and there is lot more to be covered. Aim is that no political party should fool voters by hype of unrealistic things or baseless allegations. If someone do that, then it will be great piece of journalism and will be much more helpful to indian democracy then useless news that covers the political drama. You may contact me here: drindia2014@yahoo.in / 09157106557)
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