RajivBuzz

Financial inclusion: Inter-state comparison There is a commonplace view that, as far as finance is concerned, Gujarat is at the very top. Believing this to be a factor not to be ignored, in 2007, Gujarat’s policy makers decided on an international finance city in the state — the Gujarat International Finance Tec-city (GIFT). However, a recent study by India’s foremost corporate rating agency, Crisil, suggests that penetration of finance among Gujarat’s population is below average. Called “Crisil Inclusix: An index to measure India’s progress on Financial Inclusion”, the study indicates that financial inclusion, a “key enabler of economic and social development”, is still relatively poor in Gujarat, which ranks No 18th among Indian states, with a rating of 38.6 on a scale of 100 as against the national average of 40.1. The Crisil study says, “In India, where a large section of the population still lives outside the ambit of formal financial services, the need to focus on inclusion i...

There has been considerable hoopla of late around how Gujarat’s health indicators, as found reflected in infant mortality rate (IMR), have suggested a “sharp improvement” recently. There have been reports which claim that there has been 33 per cent improvement in a decade. Indeed, while government officials, such as PK Taneja, state health commissioner, have pointed towards how Gujarat’s IMR has reduced to 41 in 2011 from 60 in 2001 (see  HERE ), even senior economists such as Prof Bibek Debroy, known to shower praise on the state’s “development model”, have been forced find such claims fake. Prof Debroy admits, “If Gujarat’s benchmark is better performing states, as it should be, and not all-India averages, obviously Gujarat needs to do better” (“Gujarat – The Social Sectors”, October 2012, Indicus White Paper Series). Infant mortality rate is defined as the number of children dying before the age of one. It is counted per thousand. Despite this admission, unfortunately, Prof Debr...

  In its first major decision to take the former state blue-chip public sector undertaking (PSU) out of the red, the Gujarat State Petroleum Corporation (GSPC) has taken a formal decision to withdraw from its most important overseas adventure – Egypt. A well-placed source in the Gujarat government has told Counterview that the GSPC board took the decision to withdraw from Egypt after dilly-dallying on the matter for above a year. “The board met recently. It decided to withdraw following a discussion, in which GSPC managing-director Tapan Ray insisted that withdrawal was essential to bring the GSPC out of the red and also in view of unstable political atmosphere in Egypt”, the source said.

A new documentary, “Dreadlocks Story”, produced and directed by Dr Linda Aïnouche, French freelance research anthropologist with an expertise in cultural heritage and intercultural relationships, has highlighted the little known fact that descendants of people from Indian origin in Jamaica, a Caribbean country, were part of the social movement against slavery, discrimination and colonialism, called Rastafari, which has African roots. It shows how nearly 40,000 Indians became part of forced labour in the sugar plantations in Jamaica carried out by British colonialists between late 19th century and early 20th century. At the same time, it traces the influence of Indian culture, especially “Hindu and Sadhu way of life”, to quote Dr Ainouche, on the Rastafari movement.

  Fresh facts have come to light suggesting that the compound annual growth rate (CAGR) for agriculture and allied sectors in Gujarat during 1998-99 to 2012-13 has been 0.82 per cent, and not “around 10 per cent”, as claimed by the state government. A top note, prepared by a senior state bureaucrat who retired as additional chief secretary, Gujarat government, has said in a note that the analysis is based on taking 1998-99 as the base year for calculating CARG. This was contrary to the “wrongful” practice of the Gujarat government to calculate CARG by taking 2000-01, a drought year, as the base year. The note, prepared by CJ Jose, says, even if the CARG is taken by making 2001-02 as the base year, when Narendra Modi came to power, the CARG till 2012-13 comes to 2.93 per cent!

  Amidst fresh controversy over the Gujarat government’s decision to go ahead with the construction of Garudeshwar weir across the Narmada river, allegedly without environmental clearance, a top official in Gandhinagar Sachivalaya has confided to Counterview that the “real purpose of the weir is to supply Narmada water to the industrial complexes in the nearby regions, especially in Bharuch district.” The official, who did not want to be named, said, “The state-owned Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) has been asked to work out final details of the industrial areas that would need the water.”

  Even as Gujarat’s powerful babudom is gearing up for the high-profile stone laying ceremony on October 31, birth anniversary of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, for the so-called Statue of Unity, proposed as the tallest statue of the world, insiders close to chief minister Narendra Modi doubted if his idea of getting iron from farmers from all over the country in order to build its structure would ever succeed. A senior official, refusing to be named, suggested, even Modi believes that even the most ideal scenario it would not be possible to collect more than 700 tonnes of iron.