I was told some growth rates and Gujarat’s growth rate was - TopicsExpress

I was told some growth rates and Gujarat’s growth rate was compared to others in terms of percentage of growth rates by the economist. However, Gujarat has been consistently progressing at 10 odd percentage since 10 years. Also, comparing percentages in growth rates is little absurd by logic. US expanded 1.9% in their first quarter of 2012 while India had 5.3% growth. That does not make India better that US. Also, Gujarat’s per capita GDP is above the national average. Talking about bank deposits for 2012, per capita deposit for Gujarat stood at Rs 52541 which is 25 times more than Rs 2061 – the national average registered during 2000-2010. As on March 2001, total depostis in Gujarat was Rs 55049 crores which increased to Rs 2,72,071 crores at the end of March 2011. Per capita credit had also increased. Average per capita credit was Rs 1,503 for 2000-2010 which rose to Rs 37,563 at the end of March 2012. Total credit in state at end of March 2001 was Rs 26,701 crores which increased to Rs 1,87,803 crores as of March 2011. During last 5 years, deposits have registered a growth of 104% jumping from Rs 1,54,832 crores to Rs 3,17,264 crores. Since, 2007-08, growth of deposits in banks increased at the healthy rate of 17.5% to 24%. Only in 2011-12, due to high inflation, growth rate of deposits fell below 17%. Inflation was caused by external factors and Modi cannot be blamed for it. Rather, policy paralysis by UPA-II is responsible for inflaton. We may deposit low as the economist stated to me in our lecture, but we spend in infrastructure. That is the actual development. In Gujarat, we have 18,000 villages. Neary 100% of Gujarat’s villages have 24 hours of uninterrupted power supply. No state other than Gujarat can boast of surplus electricity. Gujarat has 87.9% of asphalt surfaced roads. 98.86 of villages are connected with all-weather roads. It is one of the highest percentage in India. Gujarat has the highest optical fibre cable network of more than 50,000 kms. State owned WAN is the largest IP based ICT network in Asia Pacific region (beating China) and second largest in the world. All villages have broadband connectivity and regular water supply. Which state in India can boast of such facilities? I remember staying in some “metro” and “developed” cities and suffering from power cuts. In Gujarat, we did not have a single power cut this summer. Gujarat primarily produces milk, milk products, cement, sugarcane, cotton (33-36% of national production) and oil seeds (32-41%). The cotton for the white shirt my economist was wearing while criticizing Gujarat had a high probability of being produced in Gujarat. The economist stated that Gujarat’s agricultural output has decreased and the people are facing a shortage of grains. This is the fact. Over the years, food grains production has been decreasing in Uttar Pradesh. Cultivable land has decreased by 30% due to rampant development in UP. The cement and concrete leaves the land uncultivable. UP barely manages to feed itself despite having bumper crops last year. Every state is feeling the pressure of this shortage. So, people not getting grains is a matter of concern not just for the state but for centre also. This shared responsibility is stated in the concurrent list of constitution. So, Modi cannot be blamed for it. Also, in Gujarat, unlike other states, the agricultural growth is more than 9% for last 5 years. This is the highest in India. Gujarat came in for praise by Washington based International Institute for Food Policy research for the same. The economist said that there are CAG reports pending against Modi. CBI, the premier prosecuting wing in India, comes directly under the PMO. I fail to understand why congress or UPA wouldn’t act if they have evidence against Modi. The economist said that CAG estimates for Coalgate and 2G scam were rough estimates. But the fact is that CAG auditors we have are the best auditors in the world. UN had chosen Indian CAg auditors to audit their accounts though British auditors cost less. This was stated by CAG Vinod Rai. For life expectancy and other human factors which were again questioned by the economist, following is the data from Economic Survey of last year. Life expectancy in Gujarat is 64.1 against the national average of 63.5. Infant mortality rate is 44 against 47. Birth rate (per 1000) is 21.8 against 22.8. Death rate is 6.7 against 7.2. Gross enrollment ratio is higher than national average. Literacy rate is 79.31% against 74.04% (national average). 84.1% of population in Gujarat has access to safe drinking water against 77.9% people in India. We are under 5% of the population, but we give 16% of the industrial output and 22% of exports. We in Gujarat have the youngest police force and lowest crime ratio in India. We haven’t had a curfew since past 10 years. A woman is safe to talk on roads at night in Gujarat. Ahmedabad has lowest crime ratio of 35 Indian cities with a population of more than 10 million. We do not have naxalites or Maoists issues. In 2009, the PM increased the budget allocation of solar energy and research to