Thread by @Cow__Momma

What is the Gujarat Model of ‘development’? Thread.

1. Gujarat spends less than 2% of its income on education (the norm is 5-6%) with the result that 45% workers in Gujarat are illiterate or studied up to the fifth standard with the quality of education very poor. (The Wire)

2. Public expenditure on health is 0.8% of the state income, well below the norm of 4-6%. Gujarat is decelerating very fast in almost all health indicators.

3. Forty-five percent children in the state are undernourished and the decline of maternal mortality rate has decelerated.

4. Close to 93-94% workers are in informal and traditional sectors with low incomes and low social security.

One of the reasons it attracts businesses is because of the low wage rates, which are comparable to that of Uttar Pradesh.

5. The Gujarat government's cumulative public debt has shot up to an astronomical ₹2,40,651 crore in 2018-19 and estimated to rise to ₹2,66,990 crore in the current financial year, which is ₹62,000 crore more than the total budget of ₹2,04,815 crore.

6. During the Vibrant Gujarat investors’ summits held between 2003 and 2011, MoUs were signed pledging investment totalling ₹40 lakh crore. However, only 8 per cent of the promised investment, amounting to just ₹3 lakh crore actually came.

7. Drought-hit Gujarat has water for factories, but no water for Kutch farmers

business-standard.com/article/curren…

8. Alang, the graveyard of world’s shipping:
Workers working with bare hand and feet, often without safety gear handling even hazardous substances like asbestos.
Many have died from gas explosions, accidents.
Their deaths often go unreported or underreported.

(TheEconomicTimes)

9. MSME (which are labour intensive) crisis:

According to the Union ministry of MSMEs, the number of sick units jumped from 4,321 in 2011 to 20,615 in 2013 and 49,382 in 2015.
Between 2004 and 2014, 60,000 MSMEs shut down in Gujarat.

(The LiveMint)

10. In terms of sex ratio, ranking states from the most balanced to least, Gujarat is 15th out of the 20 states, with 919 women per 1,000 men. This is well below the national average of 943 females per 1,000 of males. (The Scroll.in)

11. Sabarmati Riverfront Beautification project at the cost of 242 mn$ where 10,000 slum households who were relocated to the periphery of the city amid deep community opposition as their land was sold off to private developers.

- Overseas Development Institute (ODI) Report.

12. For several years, Sikh farmers have been facing the threat of being uprooted under a law enacted by the Gujarat government that bars non-Gujaratis from buying land in the state.

Why? There's limestone beneath the fertile lands that industries want. timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/hounded-…

13. This is what happens to farmers who don’t bow before the government’s wishes and surrender their lands for industries.
(Down to Earth)

Since a few of you have been asking for source of data, here:
The data and analysis in first few tweets is from Indira Hirway Director and Professor of Economics, Centre for Development Alternatives (CFDA), Ahmedabad.
thewire.in/economy/the-tr…
livemint.com/Politics/RllLe…