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Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi almost hates the media. His complaint: today’s media does not play a constructive role; it is only out to look for ‘stories’ that sell rather than the ones that help build a society.
Small wonder it came as a surprise when he invited ET home, and spent almost two hours discussing issues related to the state’s development — its industry, investment climate and Irfan Pathan. Excerpts from the interview with Partha Ghosh:
Q.: Critics say you are fond of
organising investors’ summits...that you love mega celebrations. Do these
summits help enhance the image of Gujarat?
A.: You are aware that Gujarat
has a big Diaspora. The Gujaratis have the temperament to go global. They
are well aware of the developments in other countries, and they know the
meaning of development. Gujarat is a state where commerce and culture go
together.
Keeping this in mind, it has remained the intent of the government to make Gujarat a global player. Usually, our leaders go abroad to woo investors. But we decided that we will evolve a new strategy where investors will come in to Gujarat, see and feel the place and then decide whether they want to be a part of this development.
Q.: Do you believe you have succeeded
in wooing investors?
A.: FDI data tell a different story.
No, I do not agree. Both the Vibrant Gujarat events were a great success.
In fact, it was beyond our expectation, both in the number of participants
and the number of countries that were involved, and the various streams
that they came from. In the first event, for instance, MoUs were signed
for investments worth Rs 1,70,000 crore.
I have never promised incentives to attract investments. My pitch was that I am committed to providing a development-friendly environment. In Gujarat, there will be no red tape, there will be a red carpet. My focus is on development of infrastructure. There must be a proper chain from raw material source to the market and this is what we have done so far.
Whatever we do, it will be done according to policy. For instance, we have an industry policy, a tourism policy, a port privatisation policy, a mineral policy. Because things are in black and white, it’s very easy for any person to take a decision on investments. When policies are clear, the risk element is minimum. In a way, it is a guarantee to the investment.
Q.: What would you consider your
major achievements? Can you list them?
A.: As far as achievements are
concerned, I request others to decide whether certain things are counted
as achievements or not. But I can talk about the initiatives I have taken.
In India, now the whole corporate world is talking about the rural market.
My government took the initiative well in advance. The scheme is called Jyotigram where we provide 24 hours 3-phase uninterrupted power to villages. In India even in Delhi, Chennai, Kolkata, Bangalore, Hyderabad, or any city, you name it, it is very difficult to get 24-hour electricity. In Gujarat the story is quite different. We have 18,000 villages in the state.
Out of that, we have covered 9,000 villages under the scheme. In these 9,000 villages, it’s not a story about availability of electricity, it is about how this has created a vibrant economy in the villages. The small-scale industry has started growing.
Q.: The diamond cutting and polishing
business is now already shifting from Surat to the villages. Why should
these people live in Surat, when they can go with their small cutting and
polishing machines to the village and set up their own cottage industry?
A.: On similar lines, Gujarat is
a state with water scarcity. This is the biggest challenge for human society
as well as for governments. My government has accepted this challenge.
And the answer is water conservation. In India from telepathy to Rashtrapati
everyone is talking about the river grid.
But do you know that Gujarat is the first state where we have successfully linked rivers. Today, water from Narmada river flows into Sabarmati. In fact, Narmada water is flowing into as many as 11 rivers nowadays.
Fifty years after Independence, there were only 12,000 check dams in the state. During the tenure of this government, we have completed 1 lakh check dams. We have evolved a new concept with the use of local technology. We call it bori-bandh. We fill empty bags of fertilisers and cement with stones and cement to create a bori-bandh.
Also, after Independence, Gujarat had some 8,000 kheth-talawadis (farm ponds). Last year, we took the initiative and in 100 days, created 1,37,000 farm ponds. Before these initiatives (of water conservation) were taken, Gujarat had a maximum agro-income of Rs 9,000 crore, even after a good monsoon.
But last year, we crossed Rs 21,000 crore in agro-income. This year, my focus is not only on water conservation (jal sanchay), but also on irrigation (or jal sinchal). We will now start a movement for the drip irrigation, focusing on the minimum use of water and a new crop pattern. I think India is now ready for the second green revolution. Gujarat will lead that second green revolution.
The first green revolution happened because water was aplenty in Punjab because of the Bhakra Nangal dam. The second green revolution will happen through minimal use of water. That is why we have launched a company called Green Revolution Company.
This is a state government company, a special purpose vehicle, with a corpus of Rs 1,500 crore. We are entering into micro irrigation systems, that is, sprinklers and drip irrigation systems.
Q.: What will you do exactly?
A.: We will lay down these drip
irrigation systems in farms. The farmers will get a 50% subsidy and a 45%
loan. They will have to pay only 5% as advance. So, if the cost of the
system is Rs 1 lakh, they will have to pay only Rs 5,000, and as per our
calculations the payback period will be hardly three crops.
You see, the central government has allotted only Rs 400 crore for the entire nation for drip irrigation. Gujarat, at the same time, as a state has decided to spend Rs 1,500 crore for this project.
Q.: What about basic infrastructure...
roads, transportation?
A.: As far as roads are concerned,
if you travel through Gujarat, you will find all our major roads run north
to south. They come from Rajasthan and go to Maharashtra. Basically, infrastructure
is vertical. We have now decided to create a horizontal road infrastructure.
We call this initiative pragati path. It will connect east to west points, from the port in the west to the tribal areas in the east. Then, we have also planned 70 kisan paths. Each and every village will get a pucca modern road connected with the APMC (agro-products) markets.
Yet, India knows little about Gujarat’s achievements, more about the problems it has faced in the past few years. People know Irfan Pathan, but people do not know about Jyotigram.
Q.: If India does not know about
Gujarat, we have to try harder to change that image. Let me add that in
the Indian cricket team, we not only have Irfan, but also Parthiv Patel
and that fast bowler from Baroda. What’s his name?
A.: One of our national selectors,
Kiran More, is also from Gujarat. In swimming, all over India, the maximum
number of gold medalists are Gujaratis. Gujarat is also dominating in skating.
In the area of business and investments, especially in the share market,
Gujaratis are dominating. In the film industry, Sanjay Leela Bhansali is
knocking on the doors of the Oscars.
Q.: Yet when people think about
Gujarat, they think about Narendra Modi. Are you the sole icon of Gujarat?
A.: Well, I don’t consider myself
an icon. Our most visible icons are Amul, the Reliance refinery, our ports.
Nowadays, our most visible icon is our Garbha dance.
Q.: Where do you see Gujarat going
from here?
A.: Gujarat is the country’s fastest
growing state. It has a GDP of 15%, which is much higher than the national
GDP growth rate.
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