Monday, January 19, 2009

The TRUTH about gujarat's "development"

There's more to it than meets the eye. Heard of this one before?
Or of, scratch the surface, digging deeper for the truth etc.?

Apparently, we're all content to believe what suits us. I'm not. And therefore here's my little expose of truth about gujarat's so called good governance & development.

What comprises good governance? I've heard terms like corruption free state etc. being thrown about. I quote here from a random search on the web:
“Good governance” is a relatively new term that is often used to describe the desired objective of a nation-state’s political development. The principles of good governance, however, are not new. Good governance is, in short, anti-corruption whereas authority and its institutions are accountable, effective and efficient, participatory, transparent, responsive, consensus-oriented, and equitable. These are the major characteristics of good governance as outlined by the United Nations.
The World Leaders at the 2005 World Summit concluded that good governance is integral to economic growth, the eradication of poverty and hunger, and sustainable development. The views of all oppressed groups, including women, youth and the poor, must be heard and considered by governing bodies because they will be the ones most negatively affected if good governance is not achieved.

Or you could refer to Wiki. Says almost the same thing.

NOW tell me whether the state of gujarat qualifies for the good governance that it is touted to provide?
  • Bootlegging (the illegal liquour trade) is rampant despite Prohibition being in force. There's one example of Corruption!
  • Transparency too seems to have become a victim, pointing towards a dishonest, corrupt Gujarat administration.
  • And there goes Equitable!
  • 6 years after the 2002 riots in the state, we're still wondering whether the perpetrators will be brought to book. There go all claims of an effective & efficient, accountable, transparent, Executive & Judiciary in the state!
Is THIS what Good Governance stands for???

Development:
I will present whatever facts & figures I have here:
  • I grew up in Rajasthan & we regularly drove into Gujarat to visit Ambaji or Palanpur or en route to Bombay. On my first trip as a 9 year old, being excited about driving into a "new State", I remember asking one of the local uncles in the minibus, "Uncle, Gujarat kab aayega?". And Uncle replied, "Jab iss bus ki khidkiyaan khad-khad bajne band ho jayengi toh samajh lena Gujarat aa gaya!", in an obvious reference to the condition of roads in Gujarat. That was 1984. modi or the bjp weren't in power then. How then is this modi responsible for the excellent roads in Gujarat?
  • Reliance set up Petro in Gujarat. Half the Pharma companies are in Gujarat. And this too has been happening for as long as any of us can remember. Gujarat has always been a prosperous state. It's been among the top contributors to India's GDP for longer than this man has been in power. HOW then does he get credit for developing Gujarat???
  • And I'm not the only one pointing this out! If you don't want to take my word for it, I'm fairly certain that you will take Dr. Manmohan Singh's word for it. Even if you're not a fan of his (which makes you very, very strange!), you can't deny that the man isn't given to lying in public! Read the 4th para from top here! And onwards of course. :-)
  • Do you know of the 489 farmers who committed suicide in Gujarat over a 4 year period? Is this the development that we are celebrating in Gujarat??? vilasrao deshmukh deservedly drew flak for farmer suicides in Maharashtra. Why not narendra modi???
  • Take a look at the per capita income gross state domestic product figures in this table that I obtained from the planning commission website. A smaller state like Goa has TWICE the per capita GDSP income of Gujarat!!! Goa registered an improvement of 21% in 2004-2005! Jharkhand was at 35%! When then is only the Gujarat CM in the news & not Goa's CM??? Or Haryana's which is also close in the averages? There has to be a reason! Essentially PR. Presumably to cloud the 2002 sentiment? Good job on the PR though! Have to hand them that! Mooh mein Raam/development, bagal mein churi!
That's all I have for tonight! Will be back with more later if the readers want to know.

Here are a few more links that you may want to browse through in order to decide on what really gets the bjp it's vote in gujarat. These are from around the time of the last assembly elections in gujarat.
http://www.rediff.com/news/2007/dec/14sheela.htm
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7132034.stm (last section, last few paras)

So was their unfortunate 2007 victory:
a) Due to the immense polarization of the electorate (of which 89% are Hindus)?
OR
b) Was the election closer than we think?

Oh! And if it's possible to tag someone on a post of this nature, I'd like to tag Sagarone, Trailblazer, Kislay and Vinod Sharma.

16 comments:

  1. Brilliant Post!!!!
    I always thought that good governance should not come at such a horrible price and now you are saying there isn't even any (or much) good governance?!


    Good to read such truly iconoclastic posts :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks IHM.

    Err... I'm not saying it. I am merely linking to news article after news article from well established news sources! I'm only blowing the lid off the lie!

    I suspected it was brilliant even before I hit "Publish"! ;-)

    Thanks for confirming!

    Now spread the good word please. :-)

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  3. This is like Laloo Prasad taking credit for turning around a behemoth like the Railways in one year...

    ReplyDelete
  4. :-D

    Bones, only a little like it...

    Gujarat has taken bullshitting to a whole new level altogether!!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are right in pointing that Gujarat was also always a developed state. But perhaps you might want to take into account some other developments that have happened since Modi took over.

    - Electricity to every village (http://in.news.yahoo.com/32/20090118/1049/top-who-wants-to-be-a-hugger.html , see comment from Mahasweta Devi)

    - Water harvest dams and joining of rivers providing water to even dry areas of Kutch

    - Infant mortality (http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Unicef_pat_for_Gujarat_women_welfare/articleshow/4012031.cms)

    There are more such projects that can be cited, such as girl child education, narmada drinking water project, boradband to every village etc. From the reports I read, they dont seem to be a myth
    And all these projects cater to some of the basic needs that governments are expected to provide. Projects which will have a long term impact in uplifitng the people.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Rajat,

    Thanks for the visit.

    THANK YOU for finally admitting that Gujarat was ALWAYS a prosperous, ahead state!!!

    I saw her comment, yes.
    But I also saw the comments in the BBC & rediff links that I presented towards the end of my post.
    In them, Village Headmen clearly state that road conditions & electricity are poor. I hope you saw them too?
    (Maybe Mahashweta Devi visited only two "showcase" villages...?)

    Kapil Sibal said in 2007 that not a single megawatt for power had been added during modi's tenure.

    Dr. Singh too commented upon the poor power situation. I've provided a link.

    Do you remember what happened to Chandrababu Naidu? He was the longest serving, very popular CEO of Andhra Pradesh. Until people found out the truth that he had focused only on a few sectors & a few towns. When the truth came out, he was gone!

    Based on the dishonesty link that I've provided above & one from Indian Express today, I'm convinced that most of it is a lie!!!

    Don't get me wrong please. I am not saying that he's done nothing. I'm sure he has. But to exaggerate the truth? To ignore the achievements of other CM's, such as Goa's?? To call for him to be PM??? I'd rather have a Laloo if I have to have someone corrupt na????

    If you're living in Gujarat, maybe you can help us find out the real truth, help us get proof. Would you be interested?

    ReplyDelete
  7. The Indian Express link above says that:

    "A state government document accessed by 'The Indian Express' says that out of the proposed total investment of Rs 633,829.9 crore during the VGGIS melas of 2003, 2005 and 2007, only Rs 130,354.36 crore materialised. This works out to 20.5 per cent, as against the 61 per cent Modi announced. But for even this rate, all of some Rs 1,030 crore worth of projects, which the document says are still at a “planning stage”, have to fructify."

    jhoot ka parda faash!!!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Blog Bharti has an article today that also talks about the price paid for Ahmedabad's development.

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  9. Link!!! Link please!!!

    The TRUTH needs to be seen & read by more & more of the electorate!!!

    Remind me to talk to you about the "development" in Pune & Bombay (as pointed out by Slumdog's screenwriter?...)!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thanks for this post. Modi's false claims need to be countered effectively and vigorously. The strength in your article lies in the definition and dissection of good governance. Expecting more posts like this.

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  11. Thanks Pearl!

    My intention is not only to write, but more importantly, humbly inspire other seekers of the truth to also write!! Would love it if you would join the fight against lies & for the truth! :-)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Great post.Wanted to write something like this for some time now. May come up with more such facts.
    One another thing.It is said that in an autocratic rule where everyone is afraid of the dictator initially there will be a economic growth spurt.But with time the growth will come crashing down.

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  13. Your post surely inspires to seek the other side of hyped stories. Now what is happening is an organized propaganda through the web. It is the duty of all patriotic citizens to resist such propaganda.

    ReplyDelete
  14. Real Gujarat:
    http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/BIMARU-Gujarat/articleshow/4157934.cms

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  15. I have linked this one to a post of mine...

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  16. hmm.. sick mentality I would say..

    ReplyDelete

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