Ahmedabad, 28 November 2013

Kapil Sibal today addressed a press conference and made allegations against the Gujarat growth model. On scrutiny, his claims were found to be factually incorrect and far from the truth. Here is a comprehensive note on the same:

Kapil Sabil’s lies punctured



-Kapil Sibal turns a blind eye to the most exemplary growth model i.e. Gujarat in order to score political brownie points.

-He resorts to half baked facts and selective reportage of data to distort the truth.

-Kapil Sibal while asking questions to Gujarat on a plethora of fields has a lot to answer as his governments record in the same fileds has been dismal.

-Kapil Sibal questions employment record of Gujarat while Central Government has time and again noted that unemployment in Gujarat is the least in India.

-While Kapil Sibal tries to debunk Gujarat’s Agricultural record, the Agricultural growth rate in Gujarat has been three times that of the national average.

The Congress party has yet again demonstrated their excellence in spreading canards and misinformation in order to hide their misdeeds and their misgovernance in the past nine years. Rather than answering the people of India on the wrongs they have committed, the Congress leadership is busy targetting one individual, thus showing how scared they are of Shri Narendra Modi.

On 28th November 2013 Union Minister Shri Kapil Sibal addressed a press conference where he shared what he called were facts of Gujarat’s development. Considering Shri Kapil Sibal prides himself as being one of the more educated people in the Government, one would have expected better from him. Thus, we feel it is appropriate to correct the learned Minister on some of the ‘facts’ he shared.

Gujarat’s Debt:

According to Planning Commission data, when Shri Narendra Modi took over as the CM of Gujarat in 2001, the public debt of Gujarat was a whopping 38.78% of GSDP. Due to sound policies of the Government, public debt has been steadily decreasing the debt over the years and the public debt in 2011-12 shows remarkable improvement and stands at 23.07% of GSDP. It is amply clear that the Gujarat Government has been phenomenal in reducing the load of debt. Also a major chunk of this debt is due to the Narmada project which is very important for the water needs of Gujarat.

It should also be noted that the ratio of Development Plan Expenditure to Non-Development Plan Expenditure is very High in Gujarat – More than 66% which means that Debt in Gujarat is used for Development and not for payment of Salaries etc. or incurring some wasteful revenue expenditure.

While on the topic of debt, it is imperative to discuss the interest on the debt repayment. The Interest payment on the debt as a percentage of revenue receipts also has been on a constant decline, from 26.82% in 2004-05 to 14.52% in 2012-13.

Gujarat ranks 19th in debt to GSDP today, making it one of the least indebted states.

The ratio of total public debt as a percentage of total revenue receipts is considered to be one of the parameters for evaluating the sustainability of debt. As per the review of Fiscal Reform Facility by Ministry of Finance (MoF), a benchmark of 3 for this ratio indicates that the State is highly stressed in terms of debt and debt servicing. In case of Gujarat the total debt to total revenue receipts is showing a declining trend indicating an improved debt sustainability of the State, This ratio dropped from 2.86 in 2004-05 to 1.83 in 2012-13 emphasising that Gujarat’s debt is well sustainable.

It would be interesting to examine the situation at the centre. According to the Economic Review 2012-13, the Public debt of the Central Government was an astronomical Rs 44,68,714 crore, or 49.8% of the GDP(Page 73 of Economic Review 2012-13 published by Central Government). In contrast Gujarat’s public debt was only Rs 1,38,978 crore or 23.07% of GDP.

Investment:

Narendra Modi has never bragged about Gujarat attracting the highest FDI. The obvious reasons being that Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore being the headquarters of a lot of MNCs in India, the FDI inflows of these cities would be high by virtue of their headquarters being located there. But yes, Narendra Modi has always stressed on the need to attract investment per se. The results are quite visible. Gujarat stands number one when it comes to attracting investments. According to data from industry chamber ASSOCHAM and Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Gujarat gets maximum share of private and industrial investment in the country.

Industry Or Manufacturing contributes over25% to the GDP in Gujarat. In the case of India this contribution is around 15% of National GDP. That is why it is said that India is witnessing Jobless Growth. The fact needs to be highlighted that manufacturing can grow only if investment takes place. Gujarat constitutes less than 6% of India’s population while contributing more than 17% of value of output for the country and more than 20% of exports. Running down Gujarat for political reasons is unfortunate and it is almost as if Kapil Sibal feels that Gujarat is an enemy state.

Industries:

Ignorance of Kapil Sibal can also be gauged by the fact that he remarks that no big project has been set up in Gujarat in the last 12 years. It will be pertinent to remind Kapil Sibal here that as many as 275 projects valuing above 1000 crores have been set up in Gujarat in the previous editions of Vibrant Gujarat.

Gujarat State has been in the fore front in the Oil and Natural Gas Sector across the entire value chain. In the upstream side exploration has been carried out within the State involving an investing of Rs. 3400 crores. In addition, through the Government of Gujarat promoted company GSPC, investment in the oil & gas section is to the tune of Rs. 13600 crores.

In the transmission sector, the State has promoted Gujarat Gas Grid of 2200 kms in the last decade. Through this transmission network, distribution to households has been possible.

Additional refining capacities set up in the private sector in the State include 33 MMTPA at Jamnagar, 27 MMTPA at SEZ Jamnagar and 20 MMTPA at Vadinar in addition to the PSU refinery at Koyali of 13.7 MMTPA. Out of the country’s total 215 MMTPA Capacity, 45% is located in Gujarat. Bulk of this has been added in the last decade.

It is imperative to draw Kapil Sibal’s attention to the fact that according to the Economic Survey of India 2012-13 projects with investments worth Rs 7500 billion have been stalled in the country under the UPA Government.

Gujarat State Fertilizers & Chemicals Co. (GSFC) was set up in February 1962 to manufacture Urea Fertilizer and was the country’s first joint sector company.

While GSFC has consistent profitability record, however, it touched its highest profits during the period 2001-02 to 2012-13. Its net profit touched ever highest level of Rs.759 Crores during 2011-12 and the total profit after tax during 2001-02 to 2012-13 was Rs.3594Crores, as compared to total profit after tax of Rs. 1166 Crores earned during the period 1988-89 to 1999-2000. This gives comparison of high profitability of the company during the tenure of present Chief Minister.

Significantly, GSFC, which as under loss in the year 2001-02 and 2002-03 on account of various factors, not only turned around but also earned its highest ever profit. Turn-over per share increased from Rs.255/- to Rs.665/- per share.

It can be observed clearly that under Shri Modi’s tenure, profit and efficiency of PSU’s has increased tremendously and additional investments have taken place and GSFC is an example of this pattern.



Vibrant Gujarat:

Rather than being proud of an initiative like Vibrant Gujarat and emulating it nationally, Kapil Sibal chooses to debunk Vibrant Gujarat through chicanery. He says that only 1% of projects under Vibrant Gujarat have been implemented, the truth is that 54.55% of projects have either been commissioned or under implementation.

Sanitation:

According to the 2011 Census, 57.4 per cent households in Gujarat have toilets within the premises. This figure is 53.1 per cent in Maharashtra, 49.6 per cent in Andhra Pradesh, 48.3 per cent in Tamil Nadu, 35 per cent in Rajasthan, 23.1 per cent in Bihar and 22 per cent in Odisha. The all India average is 46.9 per cent. This is clearly a testimony to the fact that Gujarat scores ahead of the national average and equivalent States when it comes to sanitation.

According to a recent report by UNICEF and WHO, 62.6 crore people in India defecate in the open. This figure is not only huge but also accounts for 60 per cent of the total number of people in the world who defecate in the open. The impact of this figure can be realised if the number of people in India without access to toilet is compared other countries. The number of people defecating in the open in India is 10 times that of Indonesia, 30 times that of Sudan, 45 times that of China and 90 times that of Brazil. Shouldn’t Kapil Sibal be worried about these figures?

Employment:

How can Kapil Sibal miss out seeing the most illustrious state when it comes to states in terms of providing employment.

As per “Report on Second Annual Employment & Unemployment Survey (2011-12)” published by Government of India, Labour Bureau, Chandigarh (Ministry of Labour & Employment) on 29th May 2012, the unemployment rate is estimated to be 38 (per 1000 persons) at All India level. But the unemployment is least in Gujarat with only 10 (per 1000 persons) being unemployed.

As per NSS 68th Round All India Survey on Employment and Unemployment in India, published in June 2013 , unemployment rate is least in Gujarat with 7 persons(per 1000) being unemployed while the All India average was 29.

Agricultural Growth:

Kapil Sibal has quoted that when Chabildas Mehta was the Chief Minister, the Growth Rate was 18.02 in one year. This relates to a good monsoon but one has to see the Growth Rate on the trend-line extending over 10 years to make an evaluation of the agricultural growth. During Shri Modi’s 12 years, there has not been many sharp fluctuations. Shri Modi has brought Gujarat growth rate on sustainable path.

Kapil Sibal resorts to chicanery while showing Agriculture Growth data by only showing data from 2005-06 to 2011-12 while Shri Modi was CM from 2001-02.

If we take Agriculture growth rate from 2001-02 to 2011-12, Gujarat’s agricultural growth rate was among the highest in the country at 11.1%, while the national average was 3.4%.



Power Sector:

It seems Shri Kapil Sibal is literally in the dark about the energy sector in Gujarat before and after Shri Narendra Modi took office. The power sector was in complete shambles before Shri Modi assumed office and it was due to his farsighted approach that there was an impressive turnaround that has been lauded both nationally and internationally.

In this year itself, the power ministry adopted a system to grade state utilities for their credit worthiness and all 4 distribution companies of Gujarat have been rated A+ in that. This is unprecedented and historic. And this is not the BJP saying it but the Union Power Ministry.

The House hold load has gone up from 3534 MW in 2000-01 to 8882 MW as of 2012-13.No of substations has gone up from 690 in 2000 to 1350 in 2013.

Ports:

Before Shri Modi took over, the Port traffic was 86 Million Tonnes. Today, it is 288 Million Tonnes. Traffic in the Kandla has grown from 37 Million Tonnes to 97 Million Tonnes The Port handling capacity of Kandla is 6 Million Tonnes whereas that of Gujarat State Ports is 366 Million Tonnes. 32000 Crores investment have gone to Ports Sector during Shri Modi’s period. Gujarat Port development is port-based development, which means 10 time more industrial investments take place around our ports. This gives growth momentum.

As for Shri Sibal saying that Narendra Modi does not remember any BJP leader it was today in Rajasthan that he remembered Atal ji, Shri Bhairon Singh Shekhawat and talked about the good work of Shri Shivraj Singh Chouhan and Smt. Vasundhara Raje ji. Shri Modi has time and again taken the name of every party elder. But, when was the last time we heard Shri Kapil Sibal talk about Sitaram Kesri, Jagjivan Ram or any other Congress leader who did not belong to the Gandhi family.