Blower chal raha hai, bhai!!!

ब्लोअर चल रहा है, भाई. आप लोग समझ रहे हैं ये कुदरती हवा है, लेकिन हवा ब्लोअर से दी जा रही है!!!   (There is a blower at work. You might think this wind is real, but it’s coming from a blower.) — This is how Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar dismissed Modi blitz sweeping social and main media as hype, while delivering the annual lecture of the National Commission for Minorities on Sept 20.

An impartial analysis of facts proves Nitish Kumar right and also underlines people's, particularly the youth's, ignorance of Gujarat's 'real development' story. That's why in an Urban Youth Poll, aired recently by NDTV, majority of youth termed Gujarat as the best administered state and Bihar as the worst administered state. 34% youth voted for Gujarat and 23% voted against Bihar. However, an impartial review of the development of resource-poor Bihar over the last 4-5 years won't find the state as worst administered.

Human development index (HDI) is a measure to judge how beneficial is a development model to the masses. In India, on the HDI parameter, Kerala ranks No. 1 while Gujarat is at No. 9. Here are some facts which pick holes in Gujarat's 'development' model, taken from an article in the Indian Express by Christophe Jaffrelot, professor of Indian Politics and Sociology at King's India Institute, London:

Gujarat in debt trap?

• The state's debt increased from Rs45,301 cr in 2002 to Rs1,38,978 cr in 2013. In debt, Gujarat gives company to UP (Rs1,58,400 cr) and West Bengal (Rs1,92,100 cr).
• In the current fiscal, the Gujarat government plans to raise loans of Rs26,009 cr. Of this amount, 76 per cent will be used for debt servicing. If this figure reaches 100 per cent, then Gujarat would fall into the debt trap.

Business friendliness bleeding exchequer: The price the Gujarat exchequer paid to get Tata's Nano to Sanand: 

• 1,100 acres of land sold to Tata Motors at Rs900 per sq.m against the market rate of Rs 10,000 per sq.m 
• Rs20 crore exemption on stamp duty levied on the sale of land
• 20-year deferral in the payment of value added tax on the sale
• Loans amounting to Rs9,570 cr against an investment of Rs2,900 cr (330% of the investment) at 0.1% interest over 20 years.

Filling the Adanis' coffers: gulail.com, an investigative journalism website, reports a loss of Rs 23,625 cr over the next 25 years to Gujarat due to the Modi government’s unfair power purchase agreements (PPAs) with the Gautam Adani power companies. See how discriminatory are the PPAs signed with the Tatas and the Adani group, both producing power using the imported coal:

• First, a PPA was signed with the Tata Group company Coastal Gujarat Power Project at the rate of Rs 2.26 per unit.
• Then a PPA was signed with the Adani group at the rate of Rs 2.89 per unit. So, the Adani group has been paid 63 paise more per unit.
• Smaller producers are ready to supply electricity at the rate of Rs2.30 per unit.

Don't the above facts remind you of the Haryana govt allegedly helping Robert Vadra make money? I think it is described by letter 'd' in Modi's English primer. 

'Benefits' to common man:

• Gujarat has among the lowest average daily wages (Rs144.52) for casual labour in urban areas. The national average is Rs 170.10.
• Only about 43% Gujarat children under ICDS are the normal weight.
• In 1993-94, the average MPCE (monthly per capita expenditure) was 49% higher in towns and cities in comparison to villages. In 2011-12, this gap rose to 68.1%, that is, the urban MPCE was  68.1%, higher than the rural MPCE. So, the rural Gujarat is still looking to Modi to get purchasing power. 

As the above figures show, the benefits of the tall claims of the infrastructure and industrial development of Gujarat have not reached the poor in the state. On the contrary, they seemed to have depleted the state exchequer. But Modi's social media army has succeeded in making the people, particularly urban  Indians, believe that Modi's Gujarat 'development' model is something very very very... great great great...

Christophe Jaffrelot  article is available at: http://www.indianexpress.com/news/no-model-state/1165249/

The gulail.com article is available at: http://gulail.com/adani-modi-nexus-to-result-in-loss-of-rs-23625-crore-to-gujarat-in-one-deal-alone/