Narendra Modi's invincible Gujarat model: Where vision meets inclusion

People who know nothing about Gujarat, the great land of Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel, have spent reams of paper criticising the Gujarat model. Three generations of the Congress party have repeatedly undermined Gujaratis. Nehru was unfair to Sardar Patel, Indira Gandhi was unfair to Morarji Desai while Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi have repeatedly tried to undermine Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s credibility, albeit unsuccessfully.

Numbers never lie and that being the case, the undeniable truth is, Gujarat today, with a Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) of over Rs 19.4 lakh crore, contributes over 20 per cent to India’s industrial production, accounts for 22 per cent of the country’s merchandise exports, accounts for over 40 per cent of India’s ocean cargo operations, has the lowest unemployment rate of 1.2 per cent, with 4.7 million people employed in the MSME sector alone and has a debt to GSDP ratio of just 15.8 per cent.

While comparisons can be odious, don’t forget, Punjab ruled by the incompetent Arvind Kejriwal’s equally incompetent party, with a GSDP of 5.4 lakh crore, has a debt of 3 lakh crore, translating into debt to GSDP ratio of a dangerously high 55 per cent. Gujarat is the only state in India which did not impose a complete lockdown and still did a brilliant job in controlling the second wave of the deadly COVID pandemic in a classic show of living up to Prime Minister Modi’s clarion call of “Jaan bhi Jahaan bhi”.

Over 15,000 COVID isolation centres and over 1.35 lakh temporary beds were established on a war footing for isolation and treatment, to break the chain of transmission through a unique model of community engagement and via community-centric COVID committees. Thanks to the Gujarat model of development, Bhavnagar in Gujarat has an infant mortality rate (IMR) of less than 8 per cent, amongst the lowest in India.

For decades together, Congress never supported the Sardar Sarovar Project, as in, the Narmada dam project. Both Congress and AAP have been promoting Leftist, urban Naxal, Medha Patkar, who opposed Narmada dam project for decades. When Congress was in power, out of 365 days, there was a curfew for 250 days in a year. When there was a flood in Banaskantha a few years back, Congress leaders were busy celebrating in 5-star hotels in Karnataka. As for the Aam Aadmi Party, in the last seven years, Kejriwal has not built a single hospital, a single school, a single road or a single flyover for people of Delhi.

Kejriwal model has only benefitted the liquor mafia. More than 800 schools in Delhi either do not have a principal or a vice-principal. More than 700 schools either do not teach science or math. Suffice to say, with Kejriwal’s minister, Satyendar Jain, accused of money laundering, enjoying routine massages at the hands of a rapist inside Tihar jail, Arvind Kejriwal’s facade of being an honest politician has come crumbling down. The less said about Kejriwal’s deputy, Manish Sisodia, accused number 1 in the liquor scam case, the better.

Now look at Narendra Modi’s Gujarat model, where transparency and good governance are the overriding themes. Today Vadodara is emerging as a big pharma and medical hub, Ahmedabad is an education hub, Sanand is India’s biggest automobile hub, Surat is a textile hub, Sabarkantha is a hub for wooden toys, Bharuch is famous for cotton cultivation, Anand is India’s milk capital, Mehsana is the new milk producing hub, while Rajkot, Amreli, Bhavnagar and Junagadh are emerging as diamond polishing hubs. Under Modi’s Gujarat model, be it the beautiful Sabarmati waterfront or the massive statue of Sardar Patel at Kevadia, be it 24/7 electricity, wide roads and highways, or the excellent law and order situation, where girls are not scared to travel alone even at night, Gujarat and Gujaratis have always led from the front.

Nothing describes aspirational India better than the Gujarat model of Narendra Modi, steeped in equity, inclusivity, accessibility, entrepreneurship and above all honesty. The honesty of intent, honesty of purpose and honesty of vision have been the hallmarks of the famous Gujarat model, making Gujarat a vibrant economy with a per capita income of over Rs 2.41 lakh. Gujarat saw a 279 per cent jump and accounted for  37 per cent of India’s overall FDI flows into India, last year. Gujarat achieved 100 per cent household tap water connections under Jal Jeevan Mission this year, with 91.73 lakh houses connected to tap-water. Gujarat is ranked number one in the pharmaceutical industry in India, with a 33 per cent share in drug manufacturing and 28 per cent share in drug exports. The state has 130 US FDA-certified drug manufacturing facilities.

Narendra Modi was the Chief Minister of Gujarat for 12 consecutive years and known for the Gujarat model of development before he took over as the Prime Minister of India. True to his slogan of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas, Sabka Vishwas, Sabka Prayas’, the Gujarat model does not discriminate.

Reforms in Indian bureaucracy by allowing lateral entry at the post of joint secretary in some ministries for interested people from the private sector, doing away with the need for attestation of documents from gazetted officers, bringing in the system of self-attestation of documents, doing away with the interview requirement of “class 3” and “class 4” jobs in the government space and making these appointments solely on the basis of marks of written examination, have been excellent steps by Modi after he became prime minister. But even when he was the chief minister of Gujarat, zero tolerance for corruption, eradicating irrelevant paperwork and ease of living including ease of applying for government jobs, were the highlights of the Gujarat model.

From health to business to the environment, Gujarat is known for a policy-driven system that perpetually keeps the state on the path of growth. It is to Modi’s credit that when he was the chief minister, Gujarat adopted digital technology to simplify public service delivery by integrating various units of government framework, making the entire process more effective. When Modi became prime minister, he implemented “Digital India”, on a national scale with equal finesse.

In the last five years, development works worth over Rs 10 lakh crore were done by the BJP-led government. Be it online RTO service, e-auction portal for mining, ‘citizen first’ mobile application, digital ‘seva setu’ to enable citizens to avail necessary documents such as income certificate or ration card, Modi’s biggest achievement as chief minister of Gujarat was putting in place a flawless system that works seamlessly even today, long after he moved onto bigger things as India’s prime minister and a global statesman in his own right.

The BJP government in Gujarat launched “Gyan Kunj” project in 2017 to produce world-class students, became the first State to implement the National Education Policy (NEP) and launched the Command Control Centre (CCC) for real-time monitoring of attendance and working of teachers and other staff in government.There are around 16,000 smart classes in government schools where the State government has created digital classes to modernise education. More than 30,500 primary, higher and secondary government schools have been connected with the internet. The State, in a unique initiative, also launched ‘School on Wheels’ in 2018 to impart education to children of salt pan workers. Moreover, the state intends to encourage research by launching ‘Scheme of Developing High-Quality Research.’

As for healthcare,as many as 2465 hospitals, including 68 NABH accredited hospitals, have been empanelled, almost 38 lakh claims amounting to over 5600 crore have been settled and approximately 80 lakh families have been covered under various health schemes like the MA Vatsalya Yojna.

MA Vatsalya Yojana provides tertiary medical coverage up to Rs 3 lakh for a family of five on a floater basis. The Below Poverty Line (BPL) population is especially vulnerable to catastrophic health risks. To address this key vulnerability faced by the BPL population in Gujarat, the State Government in 2019, launched a medical care scheme called Mukhyamantri Amrutum (MA) Yojana. The objective of the scheme is to improve access of BPL families to quality medical and surgical care for the treatment of identified diseases involving hospitalization, surgeries and therapies,including neurosurgery, cardiovascular, neonatal,renal,burns and cancer related surgeries.

Making amendments to enhance the law and order situation, the state introduced the Gujarat Gunda and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act 2020, Gujarat Land Grabbing Prohibition Act 2020, Freedom of Religion Act, 2003 Amendment and several measures for women and child safety. Some notable figures speak of the success of the amendments such as 61 per cent decrease in communal crimes and 95.2 per cent of missing children being found under operation ‘Muskan’.

In the past 20 plus years under the BJP, the number of engineering colleges in Gujarat have increased from 26 to over 130 now, MCA colleges have increased from 9 to 65, MBA colleges have risen from 30 to over 100, ITIs have increased from 300 to 600, pharmacy colleges have risen from 13 to over 75 and the number of medical colleges have increased from 11 with 2200 seats, to 36 colleges with over 8000 seats. Policy changes to enable Gujarat’s rural youth to pursue their dream of medicine with education in their mother tongue,has been made possible.On the healthcare front, Gujarat has made remarkable progress in reaching out to the remotest places to provide complex care requirements such as chemotherapy and dialysis in villages,with the number of hospital beds in government hospitals up from 15,000 to over 60,000 in the past two decades.

In 2020, Gujarat topped the states and Union Territories in filing of chargesheets, with a superb strike rate of 97.1 per cent, according to National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB). According to the NCRB’s 2021 report, “Gujarat’s crime rate has dropped to 11.9, much lower than the national average of 30.2. In 2021, the murder crime rate in Gujarat stood at 1.4 (National Avg: 2.1). The rate of kidnapping in the state has been constantly dipping with a crime rate of 2.3 in 2021 (2.7 in 2019 and 3.0 in 2018) against the national crime rate of 7.4.”

The national average for crimes against women stands at 64.5 per cent while Gujarat has a much lower rate of 22.1 per cent. States such as Telangana (119.7 per cent), Rajasthan (105.4 per cent), West Bengal (74.6 per cent), Kerala (73.3 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (67.2 per cent), all have very high rates of crime against women, as per the NCRB. In fact, at 6,000 rapes a year, Rajasthan ruled by the corrupt Congress, is a clear example of how without law and order nothing really matters.

Agri-growth under a competent government stood at 11 per cent between 2001 and 2013 and this despite the fact that since its inception in 1960, Gujarat has suffered a drought virtually once in every three years. The district of Kheda is a role model in terms of how farm-led growth and modern technology can co-exist in perfect harmony. With an irrigation coverage of 96% that allows farmers to sow three crops in a year, state-of-the-art cold storage chains that have boosted potato cultivation by 20 per cent, Kheda’s contribution to Gujarat  is as sterling as the white dairy revolution led by Amul. Speaking of Amul, what rarely gets mentioned is that the success of the milk cooperative is largely due to the Patidars,who have flourished under the progressive BJP rule.

Coming back to development, from transforming Ahmedabad, a former textile hub to the new knowledge hub, setting up the Mundra port and developing the salt marsh of Rann of Kutch into the now famous tourist hub, the Gujarat model has been inclusive in both its intent and execution. This is borne out by the proliferation of over 27 schools cum hostels set up by the State government in Kutch. Again, Rajkot is fast emerging as an education hub given the over 18 engineering colleges that have been set up in the last few years. Also, Valsad, famous for its Alphonso mangoes with a predominantly tribal population, boasts of a gender equality ratio of 96 per cent when it comes to education.

In terms of infrastructure, Panchmahal has all the 600 villages connected by metalled roads and over 80% of them have all-weather proof roads. Panchmahal stands out as a beacon of good governance and comprehensive development. Ditto with Ahmedabad, with perhaps the best bus, rapid transit system in the country. Be it the Sarkhej–Gandhinagar highway, the industrial clusters around Sanand and Vithalapur-Mandal-Viramgam or the slum redevelopment programme, Ahmedabad is the fulcrum of the Gujarat model of development, and for good reasons.

A testimony to Gujarat’s industrial development can be gauged from the fact that while Ankleshwar and Vapi are hubs for chemical units,Halol near Vadodara is an automobile hub and Alang, 50 km from Bhavnagar, is home to the largest ship-breaking yard in the world.Also, while Jambusagar in Bharuch will be home to the C-295 aircraft manufacturing facility,Rajkot has a spanking new AIIMS and an upcoming greenfield airport,while Jamnagar is host to WHO’s upcoming Global Centre for Traditional Medicine (GCTM).

Again, Kutch, which is home to the Kandla and Mundra ports, a 10,000 MW power plant and two commercial airports, is also the largest cement producing region in India. It is not surprising, therefore, that industry accounts for almost 40 per cent of Gujarat’s GSDP.  From being India’s seventh richest State in per capita GSDP in 1981 to being the third richest today, the much written about ‘Gujarat Model of Development’, is an ode to the extraordinary leadership of Narendra Modi, both as a consummate Chief Minister of Gujarat and now as a towering visionary who is the prime minister of the world’s largest democracy.

There are some who praise the Kerala model, saying it has delivered on social parameters. Well, the best way of measuring inclusive development is the ‘Gini Index’, which tracks the rich-poor wealth divide. A score of zero on the Gini Index reflects complete equality and a score of one complete inequality.

Ignorant critics of the Gujarat model would do well to note that the Kerala model is a highly inequitable one, with a Gini Index reading of 0.37 and 0.44 for rural and urban Kerala, respectively, as per available estimates from NSSO. On the contrary, the Gini Index reading for rural and urban Gujarat stands at 0.26 and 0.29 respectively, reflecting greater equality. The Gujarat Model of development works, while the Kerala model is nothing but a contrived fairytale, woven by large sections of the Indian and global media with Leftist leanings. What the media folk will not tell you is that as per NCRB data, Kerala has the worst track record when it comes to violent crimes against women. In sharp contrast, Gujarat boasts of districts like Sabarkantha, Valsad, Junagadh and Kheda, which are virtually crime free.

Gujarat is a microcosm of what best explains the diversity that is India. For example, Jamnagar, which houses the largest oil refinery in the world, has also witnessed a farming revolution. The Sabarmati waterfront, from being nothing more than a glorified gutter, is now ranked amongst the 100 most innovative projects in the world by KPMG. Unarguably, it is the Sardar Sarovar Project that is a glowing tribute to the foresight of Modi’s model of development. Within 17 days of becoming the prime minister, he cleared all pending files related to the Narmada dam that had been deliberately kept in abeyance for 10 years by the erstwhile UPA regime.

On 17 June,2017, the dam became operational and with that, the multi-purpose SSP became all set to herald India’s second green revolution and transform agriculture in Gujarat, from being rain-fed to being canal based. SSP,popularly called the Narmada dam project,is today,a symbol of ‘Gujarati Asmita’. Gujarat, which accounts for 6 per cent of India’s land mass and barely 5 per cent of the population, accounts for a solid 8.5 per cent of the country’s GDP. Do not forget that when Narendra Modi took over as the Chief Minister of Gujarat in 2001, it was still coming to terms with the devastating earthquake in Bhuj.

Yet, thanks to Modi’s unrelenting efforts, dynamic vision and healthy pragmatism, the state achieved a solid average GSDP growth rate of 10 per cent plus between 2001-2013. GSDP at current prices, in fact, stood at a resounding 20 per cent plus in both 2006 and 2011. Average GSDP growth between 2006 and 2011 stood at a robust 17 per cent. Again GSDP growth rate between 2012 and 2016 stood at 13.6%. The moot point here is that across different time pockets, Gujarat’s GSDP has consistently been higher than the national average. The Gujarat model of development which has Narendra Modi’s inimitable stamp written all over it, has withstood the test of time and is a classic textbook case that shows how one man’s relentless pursuit of an aspirational India, is an idea that has spearheaded India into the league of economic superpowers.

The author is an Economist, National Spokesperson of the BJP and the Bestselling Author of The Modi Gambit’. Views expressed are personal.

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