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Gujarat Model
Narendra Modi’s recent rise as the new icon of “development” is really alarming. The big media is projecting him as the future Prime Minister of India and praising his so-called Gujarat model as the ideal model of “development”. It reminds us of Ashis Nandy’s warning: “…dramatic development almost always has an authoritarian tail”.
Narendra Modi’s recent rise as the new icon of “development” is really alarming. The big media is projecting him as the future Prime Minister of India and praising his so-called Gujarat model as the ideal model of “development”. It reminds us of Ashis Nandy’s warning: “…dramatic development almost always has an authoritarian tail”.
Atul Sood and his team’s recent research on Gujarat substantiates Nandy’s hypothesis. Let me summarise their major findings: In Gujarat, large tracts of government land, which were under the commons or were meant for fishing and grazing, have been acquired for industrial ventures. The Economic Survey, published by the Government of India, noted in 2011 that Gujarat witnessed the highest number of strikes and other forms of “labour unrest” in recent years. It should be mentioned here that job creation in the urban areas of Gujarat has been mostly casual in nature. The performance of the MGNREGS in the state is dismal both in terms of participation and average wage paid under the scheme.
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