[Reader-list] Study disputes Gujarat's miracle in agriculture growth

Wed Nov 10 22:49:02 IST 2010

Dear Rakesh,

I have never said earlier that what today Gujarat is only due to Narendra
Modi. Please see bellow one para of my reply to you only earlier.

In the field of infrastructural development, Gujarat is way ahead than many
ways than the other state. Gujarat roads were much better even before
reforms started and it was agreed by tourist come over here, in power sector
Gujarat is always ahead and almost having today uninterrupted power
including villages. For this Gujarat is paying highest tariff for power and
lowest power theft than rest of the India and this is the reason they get
uninterrupted supply. Similarly it has highest no. of ports and this is due
to their long seashore and highest no. domestic airports than any other
states. Reason is, since their establishments, Gujarat has not given any
subsidies by any means. No free electricity to farmers and they are paying
as per norms only, never given any subsidize rice or such other thing but
still Gujarat is ahead of all the state in many criteria. It gives highest
income to central govt. highest investment in share market, post office
saving, banks. Prosperity of Gujarat was there and Narendra Modi has just
speeded this up by improving govt. efficiency by having total control over
IAS cadre, minimize corruption, made govt. PSU profitable. This is not small
things. Gujarat has shown progress without subsidy is the proof of my
argument.

More than enough discussion made earlier on narmada dam topic. 

Thanks
Bipin Trivedi

From: Rakesh Iyer [mailto:rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 8:06 PM
To: Bipin Trivedi
Cc: sarai-list
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Study disputes Gujarat's miracle in agriculture
growth

Hi Bipin

I am completely stunned, considering that when anything good comes, Narendra
Modi's name is the first to be taken by you. It seems Gujarat was some sort
of a hell before Modi came in and performed the actions which only the Genie
could have done when Alladin rubbed the lamp. 

Anyways, regarding Narmada dam project, let me state you two things which
the presenters of the paper haven't put and you can also know:

a) Firstly, Medha Patkar, in her first 10 years of activism, was not at all
asking for the dam not to be built. She was only interested in
rehabilitation in a proper way for the displaced. That, I hope you will
agree, is not a wrong thing to be done. She turned against the dam because
in those 10 years, neither the Maharashtra nor the Madhya Pradesh state
governments did anything to really rehabilitate the tribals. That the
Central Government also contributed to it was a bigger sham. 

Moreover, there were alternate routes to making the dam, but this route was
particularly chosen. 

b) The dam was being built mainly to provide water to the parched areas of
Gujarat like Kutch and Saurashtra, while electricity was to be generated for
Madhya Pradesh. Today, water has not reached most parts of Saurashtra and
Kutch even after so many years of this project, and as for the status of
electricity generation, the less said the better. 

The water has been obtained only for regions which had planned to use it
anyways: Ahmedabad, Baroda and other urban centers which anyways have more
rainfall in a year compared to regions in Kutch and Saurashtra. 

I have nothing against irrigation as such, but Sardar Sarovar Dam project
was a project which should not have been taken up. In fact, the World Bank
itself withdrew its funds to the project after realizing not even proper
assessments of water supply and irrigation based on the scheme have been
undertaken. 

Now you may not trust me. What about the World Bank?

Rakesh

On Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 7:36 PM, Bipin Trivedi <aliens at dataone.in> wrote:

Why you are seeking answer from me for this. What I have earlier mentioned
is Gujarat growth is healthy in agriculture and I have never mentioned that
this turn around done by Narendra Modi only. 

The 2 reports, 1 from International Water management Institute, Sri Lanka
and other from Institute of Resource Analysis and Policy, Hyderabad. I am
not the authority to judge about these reports. Some expert panel can decide
about both the report status. Gujarat govt. authority must have read this
let us wait for their reaction. But, I can see major difference by way of
increased in happiness of the farmers in this decade. This practical
difference can be experience in these days while roaming in the villages of
Gujarat compared to previous days. Also, those opposing Narmada dam must
notice this report that narmada dam water benefited the farmers and gave
positive results. Check dam benefits during monsoon only while narmada dam
water benefits whole year and for ever.

Thanks
Bipin Trivedi

From: Rakesh Iyer [mailto:rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com] 
Sent: Wednesday, November 10, 2010 1:51 PM
To: anupam chakravartty
Cc: sarai list; bipin
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Study disputes Gujarat's miracle in agriculture
growth

Dear all

The link for the report:

http://irapindia.org/gujarat_s%20agricultural_april_2010.pdf

Rakesh
On Wed, Nov 10, 2010 at 11:06 AM, anupam chakravartty <c.anupam at gmail.com>
wrote:
Hi Bipin,

I would like to know your views on the following news item that appeared
this morning.

Thanks

"The study says that the "miracle" argument fails to take into account a
crucial figure - fall of agricultural output by 30 per cent during two
drought years, 1999 and 2000.

Then, there is yet another distortion - the 9.6 per cent growth rate is on
current prices, which means that the "figures are not corrected for
inflation".

It underlines, "The 'growth' observed in the recent past (2002 onwards) is
nothing but a good recovery from a major dip in production occurred during
the drought years of 1999 and 2000." The state officials are examining the
study.

The study also disputes the argument that dependence on rainfall went down
in Gujarat due to a large number of check dams built in the state in
1999-2000.

The highest growth, 22 per cent, during 1980-2006, was on account of milk
production. As for crops like cotton and groundnut, "with good monsoons,
production grew substantially with steady expansion in cropped area or yield
growth", but in drought years "production suffered with shrinkage in area
under irrigated winter crops, and sharp reduction in yield of crops sown in
kharif, including cotton and groundnut".

Read more: Study disputes Gujarat's miracle in agriculture growth - The
Times of
India<http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Study-disputes-Gujar
ats-miracle-in-agriculture-growth/articleshow/6897547.cms#ixzz14r5xAFat>
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/Study-disputes-Gujarats-mi
racle-in-agriculture-growth/articleshow/6897547.cms#ixzz14r5xAFat

Thanks
Anupam
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