What Works in Narendra Modi's Gujarat?

Sebastian Morris of IIM Ahmedabad says “industrial growth in Gujarat has taken place in capital-intensive and labour-intensive industries where the usual considerations of safety and environment have been kept to a manageable level."

As per Morris, the main reasons for the agricultural revival are two-fold. Gujarat has profited from a major shift in rainfall in the past 10 years. He says the Sardar Sarovar Dam project across the Narmada has helped out farmers in the state. "But there would be a bigger impact if the canals were finished - they are nowhere near completion. The output [in agriculture] we see is because of water being stolen... pumped through plastic pumps."

It is also seen that on the job front too, the statistics of the unemployed contradict the government's claims. Earlier data from the institution revealed that the total number of people who have applied for jobs at the employment exchanges for three years to end December 2010 was nearly 9 lakh compared with more than 8 lakh in 2009.

Beneath the surface of prosperity, a raft of problems lurks in Gujarat. The state fares poorly in many social indicators. Nearly 4 percent children below the age of five suffer from malnutrition and 70 percent of children suffer from anaemia. Not surprisingly, Gujarat ranks eleventh among all states in the Human Development Index, according to the India Human Development Report 2011 published by Planning Commission.