 "Did you know that Modi has a '5F' formula for integrating agriculture with industry?")
With Bharatiya Janta Party leader Narendra Modi catapulting into the national – and global – spotlight as a potential prime ministerial candidate, there’s heightening interest in the economic policies of Modi, the chief minister of Gujarat.
The book, titled “Modinomics: Inclusive Economics, Inclusive Governance”, is written by Sameer Kocchar and published by Skoch Media in New Delhi.Price: Rs 1,095.
Here are some extracts from the book, which highlight the main economic policies under Modi’s administration.
The three pillars of Modinomics:
Modi’s vision of business development has three simple pillars. One, higher investment leads to higher growth. Second, progressive policies lead to greater investments. Third, all stakeholders should be encouraged for state and national good without the baggage of ‘isms’.
One of the interesting facets that Modi has sought to leverage in making Gujarat an industrial paradise is its geo-strategic location. Given the advantage in terms of 1,600 km of coastline, in the west coast of India, which is nearer to the markets in the developed countries, he has sought to exploit the considerable interest shown by foreign investors to have their presence in Gujarat. It’s a mutually beneficial strategy that he has drawn up.
Given the possible scope for continuing this trend of high growth in the next five years as well, the State government is trying to promote it as one of the prominent regions of South Asia. It has audacious ambitions. For Modi, given this prominent position of the State, he would like the state__to benchmark itself among the developed nations of the world and attain infrastructure and performance standards comparable to the developed nations. The focus of the state is, therefore, to emerge as the most natural destination for investment.
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On agriculture:
How did Narendra Modi achieve a virtual agricultural revolution in Gujarat that has aided inclusive growth at the same time?
The state has formulated Gujarat Agro Vision 2010 for agricultural development for the current decade. The main programmes included in this Vision are land reforms, watershed development, increase in irrigation potential, use of drip irrigation systems, special emphasis on horticultural__development, use of biotechnology, improved seeds, bio-fertilisers, strong marketing structure and proper preservation and storage of agricultural produce.
_The state was also quick to realise that it was losing 35 to 40 per cent of food-grains, fruits and vegetables due to lack of quick agro-processing facilities and shortage of warehousing and cold-storage facilities. To remove this deficiency, Gujarat has planned to create warehousing, cold chains,_agro-processing complexes and marketing facilities under the programme of Post Harvest Technology.
Gujarat also focused on increased production, improved yields, sustainable practices and stable income growth for farmers. The state lays emphasis on improving water resource management both by bringing in__more and more area under conventional irrigation and at the same time giving a big thrust to rainwater harvesting and micro irrigation. With this, the gross irrigated area increased from 33-lakh hectares in 2000-01 to 56-lakh hectares by the end of 2007-08. In addition, it also brought an area of__6.80 lakh hectares under micro irrigation in 2012-13.
The ambitious programme for farm mechanisation and agri-machinery service providers in the state has contributed to increased production.
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On the importance of integrating agriculture and industry:
A crucial strategy of ModiNomics for agriculture includes integration between agriculture and industry and ensuring that both the sectors get a level-playing field. For example, as Gujarat is a cotton-growing state, it focused on increasing cotton production. When Modi became Chief Minister of Gujarat for the first time, in 2001-02, the state’s total cotton production was 23 lakh bales. Now, it is about 103,75,000 bales. But Modi did not stop at this. To ensure value addition, it has introduced a new textile policy. The motivation behind introducing this textile policy was to reduce the efforts, which cotton growers have to put in to sell their produce.
Modi has a personal 5-F formula: Farm to Fibre; Fibre to Fabric; Fabric to Fashion; and, Fashion to Foreign. Cotton growing, cloth and garment manufacturing and export of readymade garments will all be done from the same place.This will increase the farmer’s income. Modi believes that this industrial enhancement for the textile sector will also make farmers financially strong. That’s inclusivity Modi style.
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