The Gujarat Model

My esteemed colleague on INI Dr. V Ananth Nageshwaran in this blog post on India Banao poses this question on BJP Leader Narendra Modi’s Gujarat Model

I think on the economic management of Gujarat, it will be useful to argue on the basis of some facts. Opinions have been based on emotions and hence polarized. I will be useful to know what exactly Mr. Narendra Modi’s (NM) government has done to improve governance, lessen corruption.

It will also be useful to know how much of it is due to institutional reforms and how much of it is driven by his personality with concentration of decision-making authority. If it is the latter, then some one else coming after him can exploit it for further personal and narrow interests, even if the concentration of power in his hands or in the CM’s office was for altruistic reasons and ends.

Dr. VAN’s questions come in response to this op-ed by Dr. Pratap Mehta in the Indian Express which also saw this exchange between Offstumped and Dr. Mehta.

Dr. Mehta’s complaint of a lack of ideological basis for the Gujarat Model is lame in a post global meltdown era where strict ideological labels of Capitalism and Socialism have lost their meaning.

It is important however to have an open public debate on Narendra Modi’s Gujarat Model on the other questions raised by Dr. VAN.

So how must we judge the Gujarat Model for its Replicability, and Institutionalization of  Change  ?

Dr. Manmohan Singh recently said the proof of the pudding is in eating it, so here goes.

ON 13th March 2006 Geeta Pandey of the BBC had this story on Surat being voted the cleanest city in India ahead of Delhi, Mumbai and Bangalore.

The story stands out for its complete silence on any mention of Narendra Modi or his BJP Government in Gandhinagar. 

For someone who has been accused of excessive centralisation of power in his hands, there could not have been a better tribute than this that the entire credit for local governance in one of Gujarat’s most prominent city is to the local government.

Some may say a one off example of Surat is no proof of Institutionalized Change. 

Well then there was this famous report by Bibek Debroy on economic freedom in different states of India released in 2005 that saw him having to resign from a Nehru-Gandhi affiliated organization.  The indices used in this report are interesting for they are not measuring swift decision making by the Chief Minister but they are actually measuring the effectiveness of Justice Delivery by the Courts, the degree of Regulation by the Government and the Size of Government.

Let us dig further this time in to 2006 when an incident of demolition of unauthorized structures by the local government of the City of Vadodara made national headlines for all the wrong reasons. The facts surrounding this 2006 incident are important for they highlight the degree of autonomy to Local Government and the investment made by the Local Government in question here the Vadodara Municipal Corporation, VMC.

In fact the most shameful aspect of this incident in 2006 was the Union Government in violation of all norms of Federalism moving the Supreme Court to interfere with the affairs of a Local Government in a City in utter disregard of the local needs of the Citizens of Vadodara.

So much so for accusations of Centralization of Power and Authoritarianism.

Recently Dr. VAN himself was interviewed by Bloomberg on the abysmal state of Sanitation in India. The project charter  for Nirmal Gujarat is a must read for the clear dileneation of roles between a department that is charged with the Mission to champion change and the responsibilities of the various arms of Government to embrace change.

The proof of pudding once again is in eating it. Beyond the Nirmal Gujarat website a simple google search throws up individual district panchayat websites like this one from Patan listing out work done under Nirmal Gujarat to achieve the sanitation goals.

Institutional Change anyone ?

While some insinuations made on how land was acquired for the Nano Project do the rounds in the Gujarat High Court, the reality is Acquisition of Land for Non Agricultural purposes was simplified well before the Nano came into the picture. This story from July 2007 explains how decision making was simplified and delgated to District Collectors. The process was further simplified in 2008. To put these reforms into perspective refer to this report on Gujarat from 2002 by IIM Ahmedabad.

One can go on other areas, the intention of this Offstumped post is to not reduce this to a Vibrant Gujarat commercial but provoke this fundamental question.

Do we want to tolerate weak Executives that are at the mercy of fragmented Legislatures and make them an excuse for a slaw and tardy process of change ?

OR

Do we want to democratically elect a Strong Executive that functions within the ambit of Constitution with a missionary zeal and a visionary toughness to deliver results ?

Barkha Dutt writing today in the Hindustan Times exemplifies the juvenile manner in which Narendra Modi’s Gujarat Model has been evaluated, by reducing it to a debate on style over substance and emotions over actions.

The so called Progressive Liberals primary problem with Narendra Modi is not that he has subverted democracy or is operating outside the ambit of the Indian Constitution. Their core problem is he is in their face with his political incorrectness and they dont feel one bit good about it.

The cold reality however for these so called Progressive Liberals in the years to come is that, there is a large part of India which doesnt care much about what makes them feel good.  This India wants results and Narendra Modi has demonstrated how a democratically elected Strong Executive operating within the ambit of the Constitution can deliver results.

In that sense Narendra Modi’s performance  is no different from a United States Governor who can leverage the wide Executive Privilege available to them constitutionally to deliver results. Its a tragedy that India after sixty years of Independence has forgotten that the founding fathers originally intended the Chief Executive in the States to be directly elected like a U.S. Governor.

Coming back to Dr. VAN’s core question on whether Narendra Modi’s Gujarat Model is Instutional and is Replicable, this blogger thinks the answers is an emphatic yes provided we have a Strong Executive in the States that is not at the mercy of a fragmented legislature and is a victim to the vagaries of factional politics.

Nitish Kumar in Bihar, Raman Singh in Chattisgarh and Shivraj Chauhan in Madhya Pradesh in that sense are no different from Narendra Modi. One has not heard of any of them conducting opinion polls and referendum to make executive decisions.

In fact there are enough anecdotes about the progressive liberals new found poster boy Nitish Kumar’s direct interventions from villages on the performance of low level bureaucrats to raise questions on centralization of power. The real difference in the progressive liberals attitude towards Narendra Modi over Nitish Kumar is on account of the “feel good factor”.

In closing it must be said that Narendra Modi is under no obligation to make the Delhi based progressive liberal intellectual elite feel good about him.

Those intellectual elite sitting in Delhi who have the arrogance to describe a democratically elected Strong Executive operating within the ambit of the Constitution as Authoritarian must do something about their Queen’s English.

Filed under: Chattisgarh Polls 2008, Chhattisgarh Polls 2008, Delhi Polls 2008, DesiPundit, Dharmayudh-2009, Gujarat Polls 2007, India Elections 2009, Karnataka Polls 2008, Lok Sabha Polls 2008-2009, Madhya Pradesh Polls 2008, Rajasthan Polls 2008, betrayal of aam admi, jeetega-bharat