As 17.6 million voters get a chance tomorrow to seal the fate of 1,078 candidates contesting for the 117-seat Punjab legislative Assembly election, people and industrialists are hoping the winner may reverse the slide of India’s once prosperous state.
After emerging as a leading state after the Green Revolution in the 1960s, the state seems to have lost the development in the decades following the years of liberalisation. In this scenario, the lack of development has dominated the agenda in this poll.
In 2010-11, the state recorded lower growth than any of its neighbours. While Punjab’s gross domestic product (GDP) grew at 13.4 per cent, Haryana’s grew at 19.2 per cent, Himachal Pradesh at 21.1 per cent and Rajasthan at 18.8 per cent. The state of the economy has also been under stress, with a high fiscal deficit of 3.6 per cent and a debt-to-GDP ratio of 34 per cent.
Industry cries
In 1965, S P Oswal started a small textile company from Ludhiana. Today, his Vardhman Group has become a leader, with valuation close to Rs 4,000 crore. However, two-thirds of its revenues come from outside Punjab. Oswal said there was no merit in investing at home, as other states provided much better investment prospects. “There is no proper infrastructure policy in Punjab,” he explains, on why he has increasingly invested out of Punjab. “Land is expensive and power is costly as compared to Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat, and there is absence of basic infrastructure.”
The years following liberalisation have witnessed an increased number of industries based out of Punjab, expanding to other states. They cite successive governments’ inability in creating an investment climate. Industrialists say high land prices, erratic power supply, bureaucratic hassles, high raw material cost and shortage of skilled labour have been major stumbling blocks.
Power, essential to any industry, is in short supply. Against a 10,000 Mw demand, the installed capacity is 6,500 Mw. In an earlier study, the Confederation of Indian Industry had identified major priorities with relevance for Punjab. The study had asked for abolition of multiple tax structures, free movement of goods and sharing of best practices across various states, and strong focus on policy, with a special thrust on fiscal reforms, enhanced physical connectivity, privatisation of power distribution, urban reforms and the development of a citizen-oriented, networked society
With elections on their mind, all political parties have promised to create a perfect investment environment. The Shiromani Akali Dal-Bharatiya Janata Party alliance has promised to make Punjab a power-surplus state, with ‘24x7 electricity’, by running five power projects. The Congress is promising to remove ‘inspector raj’, by providing single-window clearances to businesses. It also promises assistance in rehabilitation and revival of units which suffered due to the special tax relief package extended by the central government to Himachal and Jammu & Kashmir.
Both the SAD-BJP and the Congress, which have alternatively ruled the state over the last two decades, have lost no opportunity in blaming each other for the lack of development. While the ruling coalition has projected infrastructure development as its main achievement in the past five years, the Congress has attacked it for the lack of industrialisation, growing unemployment and allegedly increased corruption. The new People’s Party of Punjab is projecting itself as an alternative to both the SAD-BJP and Congress.
People await delivery
Sukhraj Singh, 40, in the chief minister’s constituency, still awaits the arrival of the bicycle that the government promised as part of the ‘Mai Bhago Vidya’ scheme to girls studying in classes XI and XII. “Let the cycle come first,” he says, when asked about the chief minister’s much more ambitious scheme of providing free laptops and data cards for all class XI and XII students. Most people in rural Punjab complained of corruption and lack of delivery on the ground. Pointing to half-complete projects, people said delivery on the ground was little and determined by favouritism and caste.
The Congress has used this to attack the Badal government. “Badal is a thief and a cheat; they (Akalis) know how to steal government money,” former CM and Congress’ top candidate, Amarinder Singh, was reported to have said yesterday.
The Akalis have been more personal in their attack.
“Amarinder only roams around with women, those who live across the border,” Deputy CM Sukhbir Singh Badal was reported to have said.
Tempers during the political rallies have been high, with accusations and counter-accusations taking the lead. Sensing the high stakes involved, the Election Commission has implemented a strict code of conduct. It has deployed about 200 companies of central para-military forces at the 19,841 polling stations, of which five have been identified as “hyper sensitive” and 32 as “sensitive”.
Prominent campaigners included PM Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and party general secretary Rahul Gandhi, the BJP’s L K Advani and party president Nitin Gadkari. Campaigning ended yesterday, by EC rule. Polling will start at eight in the morning tomorrow and end at five in the evening.
The counting of votes will take place on March 6, after completion of elections in the other four states going for polls.
