Ahmedabad, 13 June 2012

P.Chidambaram

He refrained from attacking the Gujarat government on any issue. He accepted Gujarat’s growth story and expressed pleasure, but gave long answer on how central government resources too were responsible for that. He talked about the progressive figures of plan outley of Gujarat and made his point that there was no injustice to Gujarat. He said it’s obvious that NDA states would complain about injustice to them from UPA govt in centre. He said when NDA was ruling in centre, non-NDA ruled states were complaining about injustice from centre.

Ambika Soni

She had only one point to raise throughout the press conference, and that about the “highest rate” of malnutrition among women and children in Gujarat. At one point Soni told journalists what questions they should ask to the ministers. A journalist followed Soni’s advise and asked the question that Soni had suggested. Soni was repeatedly saying one thing that centre gives fund, but it is to be checked that whether Gujarat uses it properly or not. Soni questioned the vibrancy in Gujarat in light of the figures of malnutrition among women and children.

Salman Khurshid

He was obsessed with two things. One was the sub-quota to Muslims, and the other was one particular minority scholarship scheme that Gujarat govt doesn’t accept, and doesn’t contribute its 25% as per the provision in the scheme. When asked about the objection of the Supreme Court in the issue of religious quota, Khurshid said the vacation bench tends to be conservative, and showed optimism that full bench will okay the quota.

PIB release

Gujarat : Some facts and figures

·Annual Plan size of Gujarat for 2012-13 is Rs 51,000 crores. (one of the highest in the country, and even ahead of larger states like Maharashtra – Rs 45,000 crores).

Central Assistance to Gujarat during 2011-12 for various development schemes. – Rs 4,077 crores.

·NABARD credit plan for Gujarat for 2012 -13 is Rs 47,431 crores to re-finance priority sectors .

·Gujarat has 72 JNNURM projects, second only in the country to Maharashtra’s 80. To its credit it also has the highest number of completed projects – 36. (source : M/o Urban Development)

·The Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor project is likely to benefit Gujarat the most in terms of industrial development.

Planning Commission observations : Social Sector Issues

Gujarat has been registering a robust growth but human development indicators are not matching the pace of economic growth.

Child Sex Ratio (0-6 years) though improved marginally i.e. by 3 points in Census 2011 but it is still low at 886 against the all-India average of 914.

There is a shortage of health human resource particularly the Health Workers (51.1%), Specialists at CHC (28.1%), and Laboratory Technicians (21.5%), etc.

44.6% children under 5 suffer from malnutrition. (UP and Bihar fare better)