When Narendra Modi moved to New Delhi to take charge of his new role as a Prime Minister after serving the state of Gujarat for over a decade, most predicted that the state’s growth would now be in the doldrums. Little did the citizens know that the state will continue to ascend on a path of growth even after a leadership change.
The steadfast growth of Gujarat is once again in the news with the current Chief Minister Vijay Rupani completing five years in office. Gujarat, apart from being one of the highest growth states in the country is also the leading industrialized state of India. The latest IBEF (India Brand Equity Foundation) report also predicts a 7% year-on-year increase in Gujarat’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in FY22.
Here are some of the noteworthy projects undertaken by the government to lead Gujarat on the path of growth.
Preferred destination for investment
In a commendable feat, Gujarat attracted 37% of the total FDI in the year 2020-21 which led to a 279% increase as compared to the previous year. Exponential growth in investment was seen in the computer software-hardware and infrastructure sectors.
This was enabled by a special focus on the start-up ecosystem and the MSME sector. Several investment and ease of doing business schemes have been launched by the state to provide a business-friendly environment.
The state also has the lowest unemployment rate in the country with over 47 lakh people employed just in the MSME sector.
Policy-driven state
From health to business to environment, Gujarat is known for a policy-driven system that perpetually keeps the state on the path of growth.
“Narendrabhai (Prime Minister Narendra Modi) has put a system in place in Gujarat where development happens automatically,” remarked Union Home Minister Amit Shah, while virtually addressing the seventh day of celebrations to mark the completion of five years of Rupani government in the state on Saturday.
E-governance in Gujarat
Furthering the Digital India campaign, the state of Gujarat has adopted digital technology to simplify public service delivery by integrating various units of government framework, making the entire process more effective.
Talking about the track records from the much successful CM Dashboard, Rupani shared, “Today, we have a budget of Rs 2.25 lakh crore. In the last five years, works worth over Rs 10 lakh crore were done by our government. Even today as per my CM Dashboard, works worth Rs 2 lakh crore are underway in Gujarat, and this keeps increasing every year.”
The RTO services have been made online with launching e-auction portal for mining, ‘citizen first’ mobile application, digital ‘seva setu’ to enable citizens to avail necessary documents such as income certificate, ration card, a certificate for people of unreserved category and more.
A hub for quality education
The Gujarat Chief Minister in a recent event had taken pride in the improving educational set-up of the state. “Quality of education in government schools in the state is improving and more than three lakh students from private schools have taken admissions in the state-run educational institutions in five years,” shared Rupani.
The state government launched Gyan Kunj Project to produce world-class students, became the first state to implement the National Education Policy, and launched the Command Control Centre for real-time monitoring of attendance and working of teachers and other staff in government.
“There are around 16,000 smart classes in government schools where the state government has created digital classes to modernise education. More than 30,500 government primary, higher and secondary schools have been connected with the internet. We are making arrangements to bring global knowledge to the remotest village in Gujarat through broadband connectivity in schools,” the CM informed at an event on Sunday.
The state, in a unique initiative also launched ‘School on Wheels’ in 2018 to impart education to children of salt pan workers. Moreover, the state intends to encourage research by launching ‘Scheme of Developing High-Quality Research.’
Noteworthy Schemes
As many as 2465 hospitals, including 68 NABH accredited hospitals, have been empanelled, almost 38 lakh claims amounting to over 5600 crores have been settled and approximately 80 lakh families have been covered under various health schemes like the MA Vatsalya Yojna.
Making amendments to enhance the law and order situation, the state introduced the Gujarat Gunda and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act 2020, Gujarat Land Grabbing Prohibition Act 2020, Freedom of Religion Act, 2003 Amendment and several measures for women and child safety. Some notable figures speak of the success of the amendments such as 61% decrease in communal crimes and 95.2% of missing children are found under operation ‘Muskan’.
Covid-19 management
By involving the people and establishing public-private partnership the state successfully managed both the waves of the Chinese virus pandemic.
At the district and city level, planning & implementation were carried out under the supervision of a committee, consisting of the District Collector, Municipal Commissioner, District Development Officers; under the aegis of senior nodal IAS officer. Additionally, private specialists were roped into public hospitals, especially during the first phase. In an attempt to normalize lives, several multi-pronged strategies were adopted for behavior change communication (BCC).
Maru Gaam Campaign:
The state in May 2021 began setting up Community COVID isolation centres through community participation (15,000+ centres with 1,35,000+ beds established) for isolation and treatment to break the chain of transmission. Community engagement was also encouraged for the promotion of COVID appropriate behavior and vaccination through community COVID committees.
Speaking on the successful management of the pandemic, Rupani said, “Gujarat is the only state which did not impose complete lockdown and still we have controlled the second wave and are preparing for the third wave while continuing the process of development.”
1800 people-centric decision
Exhibiting the ‘decisiveness’ and ‘sensitivity’ of his government in the past five years, Rupani said that his government has taken more than 1,700-1,800 people-centric decisions upfront and that people did not have to do agitation for fulfilling their expectations from the government.
અમારી સરકાર SENSITIVE સરકાર છે અને SENSITIVE સરકાર હોવાને કારણે જનતાની અપેક્ષાઓ, લોકોની જરૂરિયાતો, લોકોની ડિમાન્ડ એને અમે સમજીએ છીએ. અમારા વિકાસની કૂચને છેવાડાના માનવી સુધી પહોંચાડી છે. દશે દિશાઓમાં પહોંચાડી છે. સર્વાંગી વિકાસ કર્યો છે. સસ્ટેનેબલ ડેવલપમેન્ટ કર્યું છે. pic.twitter.com/d0jsQkR5IA
— Vijay Rupani (@vijayrupanibjp) August 8, 2021
Commenting on the various schemes and initiatives launched by the state government, Rupani said, “Various projects on development of cities have been dedicated today. As talked earlier… the cities of Gujarat are giving good attention to cleanliness… Apart from ease of living and ease of doing business, we also want to promote the concept of happiness. The cities of Gujarat are enjoyable and worth living in. While strengthening the belief (of people) to settle in Gujarat after retirement, we should go ahead by ensuring a good environment, no pollution, clean water, maximum use of renewable energy. We will have to increase the use of electric buses.”
The event to mark the completion of five years of Vijay Rupani as the state Chief Minister witnessed several inaugurations.
CM Shri @vijayrupanibjp inaugurated 224 works of ₹ 1161-cr and laid foundation of 247 works of ₹ 3840-cr, totalling to 471 devl works worth ₹ 5001 crore across the State from Ahmedabad during ‘Shaheri Jan Sukhakari Divas’ program today observed to mark #5YearsOfGoodGovernance pic.twitter.com/rB2RZsZ0TM
— CMO Gujarat (@CMOGuj) August 8, 2021
In the presence of Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari, Home Minister Amit Shah virtually inaugurated and laid foundation stones for various projects worth Rs 5,300 crore, belonging to nine different state departments.
