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The development model that has evolved in Gujarat over the past decade is being seen as a model to be studied and emulated. As Gujarat's chief minister, Narendra Modi had said inclusive and comprehensive development was the state government's guiding principle. "In the last ten years, we have particularly encouraged the harnessing of new technologies and systems in government to ensure that the benefits of this growth are translated into improved quality of life of the people," Modi had told the Planning Commission early in 2013.
Modi is now prime minister, and Gujarat has as its chief minister the seasoned woman politician Anandiben Patel, who brings with her a wide range of experience in governance.
The leadership change has also brought change in the state's likely future development path. Without losing sight of industrial development targets, the state government is now increasingly focusing on social sector issues such as women's empowerment, the education of girls, job creation, agriculture and skill-building.
This is reflected in the modified budget for 2014-15, which focuses on women's empowerment in a big way, as well as reflects Patel's approach to women's empowerment and social sector development through education, nutrition and health. Apart from stressing the need for creating employment opportunities for the young, the state budget has focused on irrigation, agriculture and rural development. Of the annual Plan size of Rs 71,330.44 crore, the social sector got the highest allocation (Rs 34,781.50 crore), followed by irrigation and flood control (Rs 13,035.32 crore), transportation (Rs 5,638 crore), agriculture and allied activities (Rs 4,358.20 crore), and rural development (Rs 2,311.30 crore).
The Gujarat government also announced a slew of women-centric schemes in July. It has decided to reserve 33 per cent of posts for women in police recruitment, double the number of milk producers' cooperatives operated by women, and provide an interest subvention on loans from the National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development to purchase milch animals. On the health care front, Rs 2,436 crore has been allotted for the health, development, protection and empowerment of women and children.
The government has allocated Rs 160 crore for free treatment of women and children up to age 21 in families that have an annual income of less than Rs 1.2 lakh.
Gender budgeting has also been introduced for the first time, with a separate statement showing the allocation under each scheme for women beneficiaries. The government's commitment to the schemes announced in the budget can be gauged from their quick launch. Eleven schemes announced in the budget were launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on September 17.
Indira Hirway, economist and director of the Centre of Development Alternatives, Ahmedabad, welcomed the state government's increased focus on the social sector. "This is a positive move by the state government for social development. With the political will being shown, this is a step forward," she said.
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But wider consultations with academics and women's organisations working at the grass roots levels would yield a different perspective on social development, she felt. "The budgetary announcement is good. It will aide women's empowerment, but a lot more needs to be done. There are other dimensions of social development that need to be looked into by the state government," Hirway opined.
The schemes were launched under "Swavalamban Abhiyan". It includes support for tribal women engaged in cattle rearing for milch animals and dairy equipment, financial assistance to women-run milk cooperatives for purchasing milking machines and chaff cutters, financial support for building grain storage facilities in farmers' fields, tablet computers for ITI students enrolled in computer courses, initial support for ITI pass-outs for starting their own businesses, health care and housing support for construction workers and their families, and setting up employment-related services through employment exchanges.
The chief minister has affirmed the state government's commitment to women's empowerment and social sector development a number of times on her official blog. "We need to change the way women are looked at, we need to change the mindset of the people such that women are seen as an equal partner in growth with respect and dignity!" Patel said in a blog posted on August 1.
"The empowerment of women is a step by step process which needs a radical and holistic approach. Let us envision a society where every aspect of a woman's life is taken care of with people's participation and effective implementation of schemes, be it in health care, education or safety. Any educated woman would neither let her child be a victim of malnutrition nor will she allow her child to tread on the path of immorality and vice. As a result of this, a large chunk of human resource that gets wasted in unproductive activities will work towards developing the state and the country," the chief minister further wrote.
Patel feels that there are still grave issues that are holding India back as a nation, such as crimes against women, women's literacy and education, and the ratio of men to women in influential positions.
Ghanshyam Shah, former professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru University, believes that greater integration is needed between physical infrastructure and human resources for social sector development to take place. Welcoming higher budgetary allocations for the social sector, Shah said, "The Gujarat government needs to allocate more to health and education. Secondly, if the government is sincere about the social sector, it should evolve a strategy to develop infrastructure for health and education - not in terms of erecting buildings, but by filling up vacant posts of doctors, nurses, teachers and other staff." States with good human resource infrastructure in these sectors had lower infant mortality and literacy rates than Gujarat, he explained.
"Despite all the funds, there is lack of proper infrastructure in the health and education sectors of Gujarat. The state government needs to put these sectors on priority; only then will we see the desired results," Shah said.
He gave the example of the Nirmal Gujarat programme launched by then chief minister and now Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2010. "Under the programme the government had pledged to eliminate open defecation in the state in two years. Now it is 2014 and the present chief minister is still saying that they will have toilets for each household in the next three to five years," Shah said, giving the example of how the social sector was given due priority by the state government.
A senior state government official said that the gender budgeting introduced this year shows the Gujarat government's commitment. "There were talks on gender budgeting since 2007 but it was not introduced for some reason or the other. This year the state government has introduced it, showing that there is political will on women's empowerment. The government has affirmed its commitment to social and women's development with introduction of gender budgeting," the official, who was involved in the gender budgeting process, said.
For Sebastian Morris of the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A), while the new leadership has maintained continuity in terms of efforts towards women's empowerment and strengthening social indicators, it has been able to build strongly on the legacy.
"One of the biggest efforts among these is creation of a drinking water grid which is by far the largest in the country, especially providing water to dry land areas like Saurashtra, North Gujarat and Kutch. This is crucial to the health of women, who have to travel a lot to fetch water. A great way to improve life for women and improve on overall social indicators is the effort to increase the water availability in terms of litres per capita per day (lpcd) to over 250," said Morris, adding that the government's awareness campaign on the rights of the female unborn child is also commendable.
However, Morris rues the fact that the state has yet to build on its excellent road network by improving state transport.
"Gujarat has excellent roads and offers reach for every villager to urban centres but the benefit has not gone to rural people. This is because the state transport is pathetic and they have also not allowed private buses to ply on this network. It does not require much investment and if they allow private buses, it can lead to good value addition such as health access and trade, among other things, for rural people," Morris added.
