Communicating Gujarat !!
By Sanjeev Kumar
11 May, 2014
Countercurrents.org
Gujarat claims exceptional improvement in communication infrastructure development which included road, ports etc. There is no doubt that Gujarat is one of the best state in india in terms of availability of infrastructural facilities such as roads and ports, but there are number of states which are well ahead of Gujarat in this field. Modi Ji should be credited for what he did in Gujarat during his own tenure and not for what Gujarat is. When we look at the comparative study of improvement in these sectors during pre-Modi rule and Modi’s rule, we find a different narrative to be told. The narrative becomes further pathetic when turn into data related to disparity in providing these facilities to different sections of the society.
In 2011 the road length per 100 sq. km of area in Gujarat is 79.7 kms while the national average is 115.3 kms. The average road length on every one lakh of population in Gujarat is 258.7 kms while national average is 313.2 kms. During 1990s a total length of 6554 kms new roads have been built in Gujarat while in next decade, that is 2000s only 3646 kms new road was built. In Gujarat during 1990-91 to 2000-01 the total length of road increased by 9.77% while during 2000-01 to 2009-10 the increase in total Road was only 4.95%.1 As par an estimate, 87.5% of roads in Gujarat were already asphaltized.2 The total length of Road throughout Gujarat was 137617 kms in March 2002, which constitutes 5.60% of total roads in India. In 2011-12 the total length of roads increased to 156188 kms which constitute only 4.12% of total roads in India. Similarly, in March 2002 Gujarat had 8.75% of India’s total surfaced road length while in 2011 the proportion came down to 6.05%.3 This indicates that Gujarat contribution in total road facility in India has decreased between 2002 and 2012. Modi ji might claim that situation is so because of discriminatory policies of Congress led government at centre against BJP led Government in Gujarat in terms of allocating funds to the State Government. But he cannot do so, because CAG has reported that Central govt allocated Rs 957.95 crore to the roads and buildings department of Gujarat Government but not even half the amount spent.4 Above this, most of the new road that has been constructed in Gujarat was constructed under Pradhanmantri Gramin Sadak Yojna which is a program of Central Government of India.
The all claims of Gujarat Government about their sincerity for the improvement in road facilities in Gujarat, becomes a matter of laugh when one looks into the areas where State government has exclusive right and authority to contribute. Road and transport, as per Indian constitution, comes under concurrent list but construction and maintenance of National Highway comes under exclusive authority of Union Government and State highway comes under exclusive authority of State Government while responsibility of maintaining road facility in rural areas is responsibility of both State and Union Government. The share of Gujarat’s State Highway in total state highways in India was 13.92% in March 2002 which came down to 11.24% in 2011.5 This clearly indicates that Gujarat government’s contribution in the maintenance of road facility is declining. The working of the Gujarat State Road Transport Corporation was on 858000 kms in 1990-91 which increased to 1205000 kms in 2000-01 but by 2010-11 in reduced to 112100 kms. Average number of government’s vehicles on the road of Gujarat for transport farcicalities increased from 6733 in 1990-91 to 8573 in 2000-01 but in 2010-11 it reduced to 6327.6 This does not mean that public transport facilities has declined in the state, instead what has been happening in Gujarat is that public transport facilities are being sold in the private hand who extract much higher amount from common people for the same facility.
In 1996 out of 18028, 16932 revenue villages in Gujarat were connected with pucca (concert) road which increased up to 17822 in 2006. This means that road connectivity in revenue villages of Gujarat has increased from 94% to 98.86% during 1996 and 2006. Revenue villages are those villages where people pay land revenue to the state government. That means most of the people living in revenue villages must be financially strong because they have huge property in form of land in their name. Revenue villages constitute not more than half of the total human habitation in Gujarat. Unlike revenue villages, the non-revenue village don’t pay any revenue to the government because most of the inhabitants of the village are landless and property less and thus most belong to dalit and labour community. Out of total 34187 human habitations in Gujarat, only 26767 human habitations are connected with road till the end of year 2000. In the last decade 4040 habitations have been connected under the central government flagship program of PGSY (Pradhanmantri Gramin Sadak Yojna). This means that still around 4000 human habitation in Gujarat don’t have road facility. Among these 4000 human habitation, more than 95% are non-revenue villages which is largely inhabited by lowest section of society. Gujarat Government ignored road connectivity to the smaller habitations. More than 22% of smaller habitations, which has population less than 500, are still not connected with roads.7
The above mentioned facts and figures proves that at least in field of improving transport facilities, Gujarat of 1990s was better than Gujarat of 2000s and especially if the talk is of connecting the marginalised locality of state, society and sector of economy. This does not mean nothing have been done during the last ten years in field of transport. The recent government of Gujarat has given primary importance to improving the quality of existing roads and especially of those roads which has more immediate commercial and industrial importance while ignoring the improvement in transportation facilities for those regions of state which has poor or no transportation facilities. When we look at the condition of road facilities in these non-revenue villages, it becomes clear that Gujarat government’s priority is not to improve facility for the people instead it is interest of the corporate which has been driving force behind the policy making of state government. The corporate sector don’t has immediate interest in improving transport facilities to small and distant human habitation consisted mostly of weakest section of society because the poor and dalits cannot be a good consumer for them. The cost of reaching to these small and distant habitations is also costlier then reaching to people living in large urban and semi-urban habitation and revenue paying villages. On the other hand the economic condition of inhabitants living in revenue paying villages far better and thus has every potential for a vibrant market for the capitalist and that is why communication and transport facility to them was given utmost importance by the Gujarat government.
As we say, there are two India: one is shining at the cost of another. Similarly there are two Gujarat: one is shining at the cost of another. Even if we take shining Gujarat as the only Gujarat, as Modi ji is trying to make us believe, the Golden period of that shining Gujarat lies not in Modi’s chief-ministership. Instead Gujarat had a better past in terms of not only road transportation but also in case of port and other form of communication. For example port traffic in Gujarat jumped from a mere 3.18 million tonnes in 1981 to 86.17 million tonnes in 2001. In the same period, Gujarat's share of national port traffic increased from 45.36% to above 76% and has stayed there ever since. Modi's decade of rule in Gujarat has not made that percentage grow.8 Gujarat share’s in total traffic handling at Non-major ports in 2001-02 was 83.3% of total traffic in India but in 2009-10 it get down to 71.2%. During the same period Andhra Pradesh increased its share from 5.9% to 15.1%.9 Total cargo handled during 1990-91 to 2000-01 increased by more than 4 times but during 2000-01 to 2010-11 it increased by less than 3 times.10 There were reduction of 108 post offices between 2003 and 2011. In 2005, 7.53% of cellular connections users in India were from Gujarat which came down to 5.71%.11
(This is part of a report on Gujarat’s model of development, written by me for Jagriti Natya Manch. I am the script writer, director and founding member of the Manch. This theatre group consists of students from JNU, DU and IIMC)
1 Socio-Economic Review, Gujarat State 2012-13, p S-63
2 Times of India, 5 Oct 2011
3 Socio-Economic Review, Gujarat State 2012-13, p 94; Socio-Economic Review, Gujarat State 2005-06, p 94
4 Economic Times; “8 holes CAG picked in Narendra Modi’s Gujarat development plan”
5 Socio-Economic Review, Gujarat State 2012-13, p 94; Socio-Economic Review, Gujarat State 2005-06, p 94
6 Socio-Economic Review, Gujarat State 2012-13, p S-68
7 Pankaj Vashisht and Gaurav Arya, ‘Public-private Partnership: Insights from Infrastructure Development’, edt. By Atul Sood, Delhi, 2012, table 4.5, pp. 70-71 or 226; http://www.rnbgujarat/panchayat1.htm
8 Times of India, 5 Oct 2011
9 http://shipping.gov.in/index1.php?lang=1&level=0&lnked=12&lid=55
10 Socio-Economic Review, Gujarat State 2012-13, p S-69
11 Socio-Economic Review, Gujarat State 2012-13, p 95; Socio-Economic Review, Gujarat State 2005-06, p 94
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