By Vivian Fernandes
Apr 23: In an email to students of St Xavier’s College, Mumbai, its principal Fr Frazer Mascarenhas has questioned the Gujarat model with its emphasis on private enterprise and growth, while favouring a rights and entitlements approach to development, which is the hallmark of the present government at the Centre (see Times of India, 23 April edition). ‘All the human development index indicators and the cultural polarization of the population show that Gujarat has had a terrible experience in the last ten years,’ says Fr Mascarenhas.
Fr Frazer Mascarenhas
Since I have written a book called 'Modi: Leadership, Governance and Performance' (available on amazon.in), I feel compelled to dissect the assertions of Fr Mascarenhas (Fr FM), though I am by no means an apologist for Modi, but see myself as an journalist prejudiced towards Constitutional values and free markets. So here goes:
Fr FM: ‘The prospect of an alliance of corporate capital and communal forces coming to power constitutes a real threat to the future of our secular democracy.’
My response: The Gujarat model, since the BJP came to power in 1995, has been to combine economic development with Hindu cultural nationalism. In this sense, it is like the Chinese model which welds Han nationalism and economic development.
The rise of communal forces (Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, Christian), because they are socially conservative, poses a threat to civil liberties in general. This includes, the freedom to practice the religion of one’s choice (secularism), the freedom to pursue one’s lifestyle (going to a discotheque, socializing in a bar, choosing a life partner), freedom of expression (including the right to offend, so long as it is not hate speech), the freedom of sexual orientation, and equality between the sexes. The difference between Mulayam Singh’s so called secular Samajwadi Party, the communal Bharatiya Janata Party and, to give an example nearer home, the Christian Secular Forum (an oxymoron) is one of degrees, not substance.
Big business and politics joining hands is a threat to democracy. Often, the two do not need to join hands, because they are one. Many of our politicians are big businessmen themselves. In fact, entry into politics makes their businesses grow. Crony capitalism poses a threat to democracy and it is not just confined to Gujarat. Why are Mumbai’s real estate prices so high? It is because of the cozy nexus between builders and politicians. Businessmen joining politics by themselves do not pose a threat to democracy. New York’s former mayor Michael Bloomberg (he did an excellent job), is a billionaire himself. It is when they use their political access to aggrandize themselves that the problem occurs. We need to reform campaign finance, have vigilant regulators of integrity (a tall order) and a justice system where punishment for corporate malfeasance is quick and certain.
Fr FM: Schools of the ordinary populace (in Gujarat) show abject neglect with a very high dropout rate in the last ten years. Higher education has not been allowed to move forward.
My response: Gujarat’s literacy rate according to the last census was 79 percent, a ten percentage point gain over the previous census. (Literacy among women has moved up by 13 percentage points to 71 percent over ten years). This places Gujarat 18th on the list among Indian states and union territories. But rankings give a false impression. Tamil Nadu’s literacy rate is 80 percent and it is hailed for combining welfare with economic development. Karnataka’s is 76 percent.
In the past ten years, the number of schools in Gujarat has more than doubled to 34,000. Most of these (80 percent) are government schools, unlike in Kerala, where sixty percent of schools are private.
In terms of learning ability, Gujarati students are as worse off as students elsewhere, but that is poor consolation. According to the benchmark, Annual Survey of Education Report (ASER), after eight years of schooling, only 35 percent of rural Gujarat students could do division, the same as in Maharashtra. Tamil Nadu students did somewhat better.
The net enrolment rate (right aged students in a class) is 84 percent in Gujarat’s primary schools, compared to 90 percent in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, and 88 percent in Karnataka. This drops to 67 percent in upper primary in Gujarat, 76 percent in Tamil Nadu, 71.5 percent in Maharashtra and 74.6 percent in Karnataka. This is independent data obtained from the state report cards compiled by the Delhi-based National University for Education Planning and Administration (NEUPA).
Gujarati society traditionally placed less emphasis on education and more on business or getting on in life. That is changing. The government itself has taken a number of steps to ensure that no child is left behind and I have detailed this in my book.
But Gujarat has neglected Muslim education. Hanif Lakdawala, a psychiatrist, who does social work among Ahmedabad’s slum dwellers, says there is a ghettoisation of schools. Muslims therefore prefer to set up their own. The number of Muslim education trusts, he says, has increased from 30 before the 2002 riots to 800 now. This is bad for children as they do not mix, get to know each other and shed their prejudices. Muslims schools also do not want government recognition, so they can tailor their curriculum for religious instruction.
Fr Mascarenhas is wrong in saying that Gujarat has neglected higher education. This was the case. It is no longer so. According to the latest report prepared by the Confederation of Indian Industry for the Planning Commission, Gujarat ranked eighth in number of colleges (1815). It has a gross enrolment rate of 21, compared to the national average of 19. Tamil Nadu ranks first with a GER of 33. Earlier this year, Modi held a National Education Summit in Gandhinagar. He wants to make the Vadodara-Gandhinagar belt a higher education hub.
Father Mascarenhas' statement that ‘Gujarat has had a terrible cultural experience’ is perhaps true. Lakdawala says Muslims have accepted they are second class citizens. Gujarati society itself is communally divided, as evident from Hindu neighbours holding ‘Ram Darbars’ every evening outside Bohra Muslim businessman Ali Asghar Zaveri’s bungalow in Bhavnagar’s posh Hindu-dominated Krishan Nagar, to force him to leave.
Fr FM: The Food Security bill driven by Sonia Gandhi is a game changer, as billed by the Congress. It has been supported by some of our best social scientists like Amartya Sen and Jean Dreze.
My response: Jean Dreze will support the FSB because it is his brainchild. I do not think it is a game changer. In fact, it can harm Indian agriculture. That is because huge amounts of rice and wheat will have to be procured for rationing. Farmers in Punjab and Haryana will be encouraged to grow more wheat and rice for this purpose. They will do so, because there is assured purchase by the government at high minimum support prices. These two states must grow less of rice, because they cannot afford to draw down their groundwater, which has been depleted to an alarming extent. They must move to high-value fruits and vegetables, and animal products, where Indian consumption habits are shifting. Economists have said that it is better to provide direct income support (put money in the bank accounts of the poor so that they can buy whatever they want) instead of supplying grain at enormous cost and wastage. To meet rationing requirement and cut down its gain procurement bill, the government does not allow exports, which depresses farm incomes. So farmers indirectly subsidize the poor, when we should be rewarding them.
(Vivian Fernandes is a Delhi-based journalist with 30 years of practice, most of them with television and in CNBC-TV18 business news channel).
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