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Nearly nine years after the carnage
of Gujarat (Feb 2011), a perception has been created that Gujarat
is developing with rapid strides, there is all peace and harmony
and minorities are happy. Like ‘Shining India’ a word has been
coined, ‘Vibrant Gujarat’.
Nothing can be farther from truth. In the aftermath of the
violence, the death of over two thousand Muslims, the rapes, the
humiliation at the hands of instigated mobs, are still fresh in
the air as the state has totally been unjust to the victims of the
violence. There was no rehabilitation worth its name, the ‘refugee
camps’ were closed too soon. State totally washed its hands off
the rehabilitation process.
Today while the few amongst the Muslim minorities, especially a
section of traders, have been won over by the BJP and dominant
social forces, the majority of Muslim community has been forced to
live the life of severe social and economic deprivation. The trend
of ghettotization is increasing in major cities and expanding.
Juhapura is the showpiece of the fear and insecurity which has
gripped the Muslim community. Many a traders are trying to
continue with their businesses in old localities while settling
their families in the Muslim ghettoes like Juhapura. Most of the
Muslim establishments have changed their names and patterns to
sound like being the Hindu establishments, with the hope that this
will prevent their religion being identified in the future
pogroms, protect their property, and this move will overcome the
economic boycott from the majority community. Incidentally this
call of economic boycott of Muslims has been given by VHP. The
domination of Modi/BJP in the social and political arena is
leading to the situation where a large section of Muslims is
forced to hide their pain and anger and carry on with the
ignominies of their situations. Remarkably many a social groups
from amongst Muslim communities are concentrating their work in
the area of education; preparing the youth to take up jobs in the
fields that are free from discrimination, and to prepare them to
traditional and newer avenues of self employment.
A major study by Abdul Saleh Sharif (Relative Development of
Gujarat and Socio-Religious Differentials, 2011) is very revealing
about the condition of Muslims. This shows that Muslims fare very
badly on the parameters of poverty, hunger, education and
vulnerability on security issues. The study shows that levels of
hunger are high in Gujarat alongside Orissa and Bihar. Muslims are
educationally deprived. Muslim community which at one time was
dominating in diamond and textile trade has been pushed behind.
Poverty of Gujarat Muslims is 8 times more than high caste Hindus
and 50% more than OBCs. Twelve per cent Muslims have bank accounts
but only 2.6% of them get bank loans. This study concludes that
Muslims in Gujarat face high levels of discrimination, even on the
roll out of NREGA, Gujarat is at the bottom of the pile. (TOI, Feb
18, 2011, Mumbai)
As per the report of Pratham, an NGO devoted to the issues of
education (Annual Status of Education Report), Gujarat is worse
than Bihar when it comes to educational standards. Gujarat has
been doing miserably in Social development indices and its
budgetary allotment in this sector is low compared to other large
states, being 17th amongst the 18 large states. While all this is
happening, the mental ghettoes, the emotional partitions have
become fairly strong and physical ghettoes tell the real truth of
Gujarat, the ‘Hindu Rashtra in One State’. Those displaced due to
carnage are living with no civic facilities reaching them. The
banks and telephone companies are shunning these areas and
children’s education is one of the major problems for the victims.
Through conclaves like Guarvi Gujarat, and the annual meetings of
NRIs; Industrialists, investment is being solicited and more than
the forthcoming investment, projections are being made of the flow
of dollars, creating the image that it is during Modi regime that
Guajarat has begun to progress. The fact is that there are some
investments; there is some industrialization; but it is far from
what is being projected. In previous Vibrant Summits claims of big
capital investments have been made. For example in 2005 claim for
Rs.106161 crores had been made. Out of that investment of Rs.74019
crores (63%) was made as stated by Chief Minister but in reality
as per the information availed under R.T.I. only Rs.24998 crores
(23.52%) projects were under implementation.
As per Teesta Setalvad, “…Likewise, in 2007, 363 MoU (Memorandum
of Understanding) were made in which Modi Government claimed to
have mobilized capital investments of Rs.461835 crores. Factually
this amount was Rs.451835 crores and not Rs.461835 crores so an
excess investment of Rs.10000 crores was claimed. Out of this
State Government claimed to have made an investment of Rs.264575
crores but as per the figures by Industry Commissioner of Gujarat
projects worth Rs.122400.66 crores (27.08%) were under
implementation. Actually out of the investments in 2003, 2005 and
2007 only 20.28% of projects were under implementation in
Gujarat.”
While Gujarat was already amongst the most industrialized states,
it has been able to invite good deal of investment. Still it
remains next to Maharashtra which leads the pack. While one does
not hear much about the Maharashtra progress, through different
types of media hypes the image of Gujarat phenomenon has been
built up. The industrialization in Gujarat has a pattern. Two
decades back, the growth rate of Gujarat was something between 12
and 13 per cent. The national average was six to seven per cent
then. Today, Gujarat has the growth rate of 11 per cent while
National growth rate is 10 per cent. This fact should make the
matters clear to us.
As such Gujarat state has opened its coffers to subsidize the
industrialists. Land, water and soft loans are the order of the
day; they have been given to the industrialists at extremely cheap
rates. It was one of the reasons because of which Tata shifted his
Nano project to Gujarat. The subsidy, which this small car gets,
is huge. Industrialists are having a free run and the social
concerns like job creation are very poor in the Gujarat pattern.
Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra are far ahead of Gujarat in the Job
creation ratio on the investment. The investment figures which are
flashed are not all actualized. One of the major victims of the
reckless industrialization is the ecology, which has been ignored
totally far as Gujarat is concerned.
The growth differentials in Gujarat are very appalling. On one
hand, there is the growth, on other there is a serious decline in
the social indicators of like sex ratio. According to ‘India State
Hunger Index 2008’, Gujarat is shockingly ranked worse than Orissa.
Gujarat is ranked 13th in the 17 big states which were calculated
in this list. Gujarat is only above Jharkhand, Bihar and Madhya
Pradesh, which are globally equal to the hunger situation in
Ethiopia. Poverty levels are rising; employment and agriculture
are not in good shape. The agricultural production has been
declining, e.g. from 65.71 lakh tones in 2003-2004 to 51.53 in
2004-2005. A survey conducted by NSS in 2005 reveals that
approximately 40% farmers of state said that given the option they
would like to shift away from agriculture. Recent studies show
that during the last decade agriculture and labor both have
suffered extensively.
Modi, in a reply given in state assembly stated that in one year
up to Jan 2007, 148 farmers had committed suicide and the
condition is worsening on that score. While on one side the state
exports electricity, its villages are having a power deficit.
Indian Express 8th April 2007 reported that state is reeling under
the shortfall of 900 mega Watt of power, the victims of this are
mainly in the villages. One of the indices of poverty, prevalence
of anemia, is very revealing on this count. The percentage of
women suffering from anemia has risen from 46.3% in 1999 to 55.5%
in 2004 (Third round of National Family Health survey report 2006)
among women. Amongst children it rose from 74.5% to 80.1%. Some of
the reports point out the conditions of dalits and women has
deteriorated during last decade. For women, one of the indices is
the declining sex ratio in Gujarat during last decade. The plight
of Adivasis is no better.
Gujarat is facing problems at the level of living conditions more
of poor, women and minorities. The media hype is meant to change
the image of Narendra Modi from the one who led the carnage to a
development man. But deeper look at the economic and social
situation tell us another story.
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