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Showing posts from February, 2014

Core of Ahmedabad economy, poor street vendors don't enjoy economic freedom

By Rajiv Shah  A recent study, “Street Vendors in Ahmedabad: Status, Contribution and Challenges”, scholars of the Centre for Urban Equity of the CEPT University, Ahmedabad — Darshini Mahadevia, Alison Brown, Michal Lyons, Suchita Vyas, Kaushal Jajoo, and Aseem Mishra – points towards deep vulnerabilities suffered by the street vendors of Ahmedabad. Carried out by interviewing 20-30 venders in several areas of Ahmedabad where street vending is common – Bhadra, Delhi Darwaja, Kankaria Lake, Jamalpur, Parasnagar, Khodiyarnagar, Nehrunagar, CEPT University, IIM-Ahmedabad and Vastrapur Lake — he study focuses on “harassment, coercion, bribery and eviction” suffered by them in these localities.  Seeking to examine whether economic freedom if enjoyed by the poor sections of the trading community against the backdrop of economists like Bibek Debroy, who have called Gujarat “a model state in India from the perspective of economic development and economic freedom”, the study points towards how

Industrial investment, economic growth fail to improve Gujarat social sector indicators

By Rajiv Shah  Has Gujarat’s high growth trajectory helped overcome its lag in the social sector? Inter-state comparisons, culled out from different studies, suggest that this not happened.  Gujarat is being widely projected as the “model state” which others must follow. The state’s economy, it is argued, has been growing at the rate of around 10 per cent per annum. Expanding wings of industrialization is considered the key to this growth. The state rulers’ “model” stems from the view of neoliberal economists such as Bibek Debroy and Jagdish Bhagwati, who believe that economic growth would automatically take care of improvement in the social sector. However, facts suggest that, despite high growth, the social sector in Gujarat has suffered. Its coastline, forming 20 per cent of India, has become more vulnerable to environmental destruction. Fishermen in areas where industrialization has taken shape have lost livelihood. The SEZ and port at Mundra, Kutch district, developed by the Adani

Higher incidence of child labour in Gujarat than rest of India: NSSO report

By Rajiv Shah  The National Sample Survey Organisation (NSSO), in a report put out in January 2014, “Employment and Unemployment Situation in India, 2011-12”, has found that both in rural areas and urban areas, Gujarat has one of the highest percentage of child workers. The report should be a big blow to the state’s powerful policy makers who have claiming that Gujarat has negligible incidence of child labour. The latest National Sample Survey (NSS) data, put out in January 2014, have revealed a stark reality: The proportion of child labour in Gujarat in both urban and rural areas is one of the highest in India. Calculated on the basis of usual status of employment, taking principal and subsidiary activities together, the NSS has found that, in urban Gujarat 2.2 per cent of children in the age-group 5-14 are in the workforce, which is higher than most Indian states, except West Bengal (12.6 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (4.4 per cent). Things are worse in rural areas, where Gujarat’s 4.3

Social sector spending continues to take back seat in Gujarat budget: RBI report

By Rajiv Shah  The Reserve Bank of India’s annual report on the state of state finances has been released. Providing inter-state comparison on a large number of indicators, the report suggests that Gujarat continues to spend less on the social sector, despite state government claims. A counterview.org analysis: The latest Reserve Bank of India (RBI) report, “State Finances: A Study of Budgets of 2013-14”, has once again demonstrated that the Gujarat government has not been spending enough on social sector, despite its poor human development indicators. Brought out in January 2014, the report – an annual exercise – says that in India as a whole “the expenditure pattern revealed an improvement in quality, as reflected in sharp increases in development expenditure, particularly social sector expenditure.” Projected expenditure on education 2013-14 (% budgetary allocation) However, the data the RBI report has put out go to show that Gujarat has failed to improve upon its social sector e