New Delhi : In India Today Conclave held today to recognise and award India’s Most Improved States : The State of States–2011 Award, Gujarat adjudged the ‘Most Overall Improved State’ (large State category) along with Maharashtra and also ‘Most Improved State for Investment’ (large State) in the country. The award was organised by the India Today Group and given by Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherji.
For selection of the award, the jury used objective criteria relying solely on data from Central sources so that non-comparability of the data across States does not become an issue. Further, the jury has also taken the data which is publicly available and has been sourced from the Government and related organizations. For deciding the most improved State, they have taken ‘not the base level’ but ‘increment emphasizing the changes in improvement’. As is well known, the base level depends on various historical factors. However, the ‘incremental improvements’ provide lot of impetus to growth. The Committee using increment in scores and has ranked the states for each head on the basis of their improvement.
Using this methodology, Gujarat has been adjudged Overall Best Improved State (large State) along with Maharashtra and also adjudged the Overall Most Improved State in Investment (large State). They have also mentioned about the work done in the State under the inspirational leadership provided by Shri Narendra Modi, Chief Minister. It also mentions that under his leadership, the state has become an ‘integration model of long-term development at the grass roots’. They have also emphasized that this has been achieved by inspiring the bureaucracy and giving them secured tenure to implement policies on the ground. The award emphasizes the gains made as the grassroots.
Under the leadership of Chief Minister Narendra Modi, Gujarat has emerged as the Growth Engine of India not only because it contributes immensely in its economic growth but has been showing encouraging results in overall governance leading to outstanding performance among all the States. Actually, the bigger success is that it has an amazing mix of the big and small; robust and inclusive; fast and yet sustainable. It has done wonderfully well on both the macro and the micro indicators. The growth rate of GDP has been in double digits for a decade. At the same time, the per capita income of the people has also grown at the fastest rate of 13.8%. Not only the multinationals and big companies have done well, but a large number of SMEs have also prospered. Not only the industry has grown at 13% but agriculture has also grown at more than 10 percent annually during the last decade.
Beyond its industrial and infrastructural prowess, the state has taken huge strides in women’s welfare, girls’ education, poverty alleviation and water conservation and quality.
Gujarat is a place where rural development has kept pace with urban Growth Gujarat is a place where agriculture has kept pace with industry. Gujarat is a place where wellbeing of workers has kept pace with industrialization
In his speech, Mr Aroon Purie, editor-in-chief of India Today, applauded the state achievements saying that Gujarat has been growing at double digits, comfortably higher than the Indian average of 8-9 percent for almost a decade. On behalf of the Gujarat Government, both the awards were received by Shri Bharat Lal, Resident Commissioner, Gujarat from Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee at the India Today Conclave: State of States – 2011, here.
