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SPOTLIGHT AGENCIES
Lessons from another BJP govt
Written By murali772 - 20 January, 2011
Bangalore governance Corruption Media Reports
Excerpts from the column by Swapan Dasgupta in the Sunday TOI (for the full text, click here)
It is a commentary on the bizarre priorities of our information order that investment commitments totalling $450 billion, equalling nearly onethird of India’s GDP, are either ignored or put on par with anodyne political statements. This, however, is not the occasion to lament the lack of even-handedness in the treatment of anything remotely connected to Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. It is the time to celebrate something that is fast becoming undeniable: the emergence of Gujarat as the economic powerhouse of India.
The reason Gujarat has registered the highest, double-digit GDP growth in the past decade owes much to the targeted, business-friendly approach of its government. Four features stand out. The first is quick decision-making.
The second feature is the curious phenomenon of the near-absence of political corruption at the top. Even Modi’s worst enemies will not deny that the chief minister’s fanatical personal integrity has had a salutary trickle-down effect. Irritated by politically inspired extortion, industry has identified Gujarat as a place where it is possible to do ethical business.
Third, Gujarat since 2002 has been marked by social peace. Particularly important for industry is the absence of rural unrest, which unseated Tata Motors from West Bengal and is now so marked in Maharashtra and Karnataka . This is because Gujarat has bucked a national trend and is witnessing high growth in agriculture—last year the sector grew by 9.9%. This means that farmers now have a stake in the larger prosperity of the state and aren’t swayed by populists and Maoists.
Finally, the growth of Gujarat has been spurred by a philosophy of “minimum government and maximum governance”. In plain language , this means that the state government has concentrated on creating the infrastructure for growth and left it to the private sector to get on with the job of actual wealth creation.
Gujarat has shown that accelerated and sustained growth is possible when the state plays the role of an honest facilitator, rather than a controller. Modi didn’t create the Gujarati character; he was moulded by it. He merely gave it a contemporary thrust and an ethical dimension. If politicians focused on these, India will be a much better place.
When namma Yeddi government took charge, there was regular talk of modelling after Gujarat, at least initially. If only it had! However, nothing of the kind happened. And, today, most people have written it off as a sad case, like in this line from a column by Chetan Bhagat in the same Sunday TOI (full text may be accessed here)
There is no diplomatic way around this so will just say this upfront —the BJP has a disaster in the making if it doesn't do something about the Karnataka situation. CM B S Yeddyurappa, has to resign. Yep, he's got to go. Someone needs to give Yeddy a teddy and kiss him goodbye.
Muralidhar Rao
COMMENTS
dvsquare - 20 January, 2011 - 08:09
If you see Bihar's situation a few years ago before Nitish has done some improvements, karnataka has more or less become like that Bihar's old situations, its just that, the city is being under the cover of sophisticated professionals, but that doesn't help hide governments bad deeds.
Yeddy has been doing all the wrong things, that too in very open, all the land scams and other wrong doings are all in front of people, still he has again won the Zilla panchayat elections. Moreover, BJP is disturbing the Parliament on the corruption issue very much and they are not able to do anything about their own most corrupt Yeddy.
How can one take him as our CM, who is doing all kind of black -magic, changing the doors of Vidhan-Sudha to make it more vastu-like so that government can be saved.
Everytime, when the government was being looked at for improving the problems in the state, they had been seen busy in saving themselves, be it at the time of karnataka-andhra floods time or any other problems common people are facing.
Deepak
Transportation Agenda for CM candidates/parties
idontspam - 20 January, 2011 - 09:02
Here is the Transportation Agenda for the CM, whosoever it may be. Lets see if they will put it in their manifesto/agenda & deliver on it.
- Zoning laws to encouring clustering around train based mass transit and not road based ones. (every induatrial area has to have metro/mono/commuter train lines or it will not be approved)
- Commuter Rail System to nearby towns/cities and BMR region
- Namma Metro for BBMP area connectivity
- BRTS/BPS on direction based trunk routes (G routes & big circle) with feeder to intermediate areas
- Bicycle lanes linking all Trunk Bus/Train transit locations to other localities for last mile
- Perimeter congestion pricing inside ORR area
- Paid offstreet/onstreet parking inside ORR area
- Uninterrupted pedestrian pathways of minimum 6 ft on atleast one sidealong every inch of road with over/under/atgrade crossovers every 250 meters (local/collector/sub arterial streets) in the BMR region
- Road engineering will be mandatorily per IRC rules & DULT road standards guidelines else the contract will not be awarded.
Vote on a clear list like this not on superlatives like world class etc
murali772 - 24 April, 2011 - 06:37
However, there is a lot more to Gujarat, the Gujarati people and their CM than Godhra. It is one of the few Indian cultures that celebrates entrepreneurship. That is the need of the hour for the entire nation. It is a state whose now proven development model, if replicated, can dramatically change the country's fortunes. To ignore that would be harmful for the nation. Many rights do not cover up a wrong. But should a wrong be constantly used to cover up many rights?
For the full text of the column by Chetan Bhagat in the ToI, click here
Indeed a valid question.
kbsyed61 - 26 April, 2011 - 04:40
Once can understand the patting by Swapan Das - "...The second feature is the curious phenomenon of the near-absence of political corruption at the top...". Swapan had to say this given his association with party with difference.
But the ground reality seems to be otherwise. An acquaintance of mine who happens to be a member of commerce chambers and very close to BJP, revealed to me that how the 'corruption' for govt largesse has been institutionalized in Gujarat. In India, problem for Industry is that even after greasing the palms of govt babus there is no guarantee of results. According my acquaintance, in Gujarat it is kind of "Money Back Guarantee". No wonder why India Inc has fascination for Gujarat Govt. We all know how honest is India Inc.
yes, that should have been the way
murali772 - 26 April, 2011 - 06:48
The compromise formula was, the ruling party and the administration to make an Official apology to Muslims and they in turn would withdraw the cases against the majority community.
Yes, indeed this should have been the way. And, however good a government, it can also commit wrongs, quite like any individual too. The important question is can it admit the wrongs, atone for them, and, in the process, gain more acceptability and even respect for itself?
Well, there are examples - check this.
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