Is Narendra Modi's Gujarat Really Vibrant?
By siliconindia   |   Tuesday, 11 October 2011, 23:14 IST   |    15 Comments
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The vibrancy rhetoric might have moved on from "investment drive" to "inclusive growth", but the reality is otherwise. The Survey of Industries data shows workers' share as wages in Gujarat fell from 23 to 8percent in 2010. The gap between incomes of the rich and the poor has also widened beyond the national average, states a 2010 research by Rajesh Shukla of the National Council of Applied Economics. Coming to educational standard, Gujarat fares worse than Bihar. The Annual Status of Education Report by Pratham, a NGO, puts Gujarat's students behind their Bihar counterparts. The report sponsored by the likes of Google, Oxfam and UNICEF states that the percentage of students reading textbooks, doing basic mathematical operations, telling time are far lower in Gujarat compared to Bihar. Gujarat fares poorly on hunger index as well. A 2010 report by IFPRI, a U.S. based organization, favoured by 64 governments, had listed Gujarat among the five worst performing states of India in hunger levels, along with Jharkhand, Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh. Gujarat was shockingly ranked 13th in the 18 states list.

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