Fresh data in the National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) report, ‘Household Consumer Expenditure across Socio-Economic Groups,’ make an important revelation. Released in February 2015, the figures provided in the report suggest that the purchasing power of the three socially disadvantaged groups in Gujarat – scheduled tribes (STs), scheduled castes (SCs) and other backward classes (OBCs) – is considerably less than in most of the Indian states, especially in the rural areas. But this is not the case with the dominant sections in the rural areas, identified as ‘Others’. Calculated as monthly per capita expenditure (MPCE), the purchasing power figures are based on NSSO’s survey in 2011-12. The data speak for themselves, and need little comment. In Gujarat’s rural areas, the STs’ average MPCE is Rs 1,155, which is less than 12 out of 20 major Indian states (Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Kerala, Jammu & Kashmir, Haryana, Uttarakhand, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Assam, Tamil ...

Navsarjan School A decade-long experiment, taking shape 100 kilometres from Ahmedabad, halfway to Rajkot, the business hub of Saurashtra region of Gujarat, appears have largely gone unnoticed. Just next to the National Highway 8A, not very far from the sleepy Katariya village, the premier Dalit rights NGO of Gujarat, Navsarjan Trust, is running a higher primary school, for classes 5 to 8, seeking to turn it into a “model” for other schools to follow. It is one of the three schools run by Navsarjan — the other two being near the Rayka village in Ahmedabad district and Sami village in Patan district. As we entered the campus the other day, nobody seemed to be around. An eerie quiet prevailed, as if. Suddenly, a child spotted us, and declared “Martinbhai!” And, all of a sudden, a horde of children began peeping through a window, and many of them came out, welcoming us, smiling, eager to shake hands with their Martinbhai — and me. What a striking contrast it was from other primary schools,...

 Taking a stance similar to one of Centre's staunchest opponents, Medha Patkar-led Narmada Bachao Andolan, the Narendra Modi government's water resources adviser BN Navalawala has taken strong exception to excessive dependence on big dams for solving India's water problems. Instead, he has called for adopting a mix of "efficient methods" in the use of water and laws to ensure that this becomes a reality.

Despite triggering a major turnaround of the top state public sector undertaking, Gujarat State Fertilizers and Chemicals (GSFC), during his stint as GSFC managing-director during 2003-06, ex-IAS bureaucrat Alexander K Luke was given “adverse remarks” in his Annual Confidential Report (ACR), which was written by his minister, Saurabh Patel (energy and petrochemicals), and approved by chief minister Narendra Modi for two years, 2004-05 and 2005-06, when he was with GSFC.

A Gujarat cadre IAS bureaucrat with impeccable reputation, Alexander K Luke -- termed “turnaround man” by captains of industry across India in mid-2000s for pushing top public sector undertaking (PSU) Gujarat State Fertlizers and Chemicals (GSFC) from the red -- has held the state’s “top administrative level” responsible for failing to act impartially during the “2002 Gujarat bloodbath.” In a just-released book he has authored, Luke has said, had the police and IAS officials “held firm and did what they were required to do by the constitution”, a collapse of the administration “could have been avoided.” Luke headed GSFC from 2003 to 2006.

The Gujarat government appears all set to work out a new scheme for regional transfer of waters, in which farmers from South Gujarat sell waters they are "entitled to use" at market rate to water-scarce areas in the North and Centre of the state. Supposedly a “win-win” scheme for both, under it the water-abundant South Gujarat farmers earn on the “transfer” of Narmada waters to water-scarce Central and North Gujarat, whose farmers would be made to “pay” at a negotiable market rate for the waters they receive.

I have in my hand yet another book on advantages of the Sardar Sarovar Project (SSP). “Supported” by the Gujarat government, and seemingly well researched on a quick scan, what intrigued me after going through it was, it seemed to fail to answer some of contentious questions that remain unanswered ever since the SSP was initiated full-scale in late 1980s. A closer look at the book , which has just been published by Sage, suggests that it fails to address critical issues affecting the project despite its declared aim to have a “well-informed debate” on the project. The term “well-informed”, quoted by the authors, also seemed intriguing — especially because it heavily relies on official sources of information, without referring even once to the sources which have questioned the some of the SSP’s benchmarks. In fact, the reliance on official information is so high that the final manuscript became “ready for publication” only after the managing-director of the Sardar Sarovar Narmada Nigam ...