A dozen scholars discussed the state’s performance in areas like education, health, employment and poverty elimination. They concluded that Gujarat growth story was not worth emulating without taking appropriate care These and many more startling observations bust the myth of ‘vibrant’ Gujarat. The compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of employment for 1993-94 to 2004-05, using NSSO data, suggests that employment grew at 2.69 per cent per annum, whereas for 2004-05 to 2009- 10 it came down to almost zero. Employment has fallen in the manufacturing and primary sectors between 2005 and 10. Whatever marginal growth has happened in employment, it has occurred mainly in services sector, especially, in the urban areas and mostly this job creation is casual in nature. Nidhi Mittal’s study reveals that Gujarat has lagged behind its competing states in terms of consumption growth, poverty reduction as well as decrease in inequality. The average monthly consumption expenditure in the rural areas was equal to the national average between 1993 and 2005. In the last five years, the rural monthly consumption expenditure grew at 2.05 per cent per annum, which is much lower than what was achieved by states like Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Gujarat has 23.22 per cent of its population living below the poverty line as per NSSO 2009-10. This is much higher than Haryana (19.88), Tamil Nadu (17.42), etc. In the urban areas, the growth in average monthly consumption expenditure in the state of Gujarat was marginally less than the national average between 2005-10 (2.13 per cent per annum compared to average of 2.4% and the advantage that the state had between 1993-05 was lost during 2005-10. The papers bySourindra Ghosh and Sandeep Sharma reinforce the perception that Gujarat is a rich state with poor education and health outcomes. The comparative position of the state in literacy rates and percentage of children currently in school, both six years and above and six to 14, has deteriorated between 1999-2000 and 2007-08. For instance, the fall in the rank of the state for percentage of school enrolment six years and above was from 23 to 30, among all states of India. The story is no different if one looks at the caste and gender gap in outcomes of education in the state. Things have worsened, instead of improving, in relation to the national average. The fact that Economic Survey of 2011 lists state as worst labour unrest state in the country does not add up with the ‘confidence’ story. ahmedabadmirror/index.aspx?page=article§id=2&contentid=2012100920121009024623763b2534810
Posted on: Wed, 16 Apr 2014 17:39:15 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015