BJP election image flag on a hut wall in Devrajiya Village in Saurashtra area, Gujarat
| Photo Credit: Vijay Soneji
With the Gujarat Assembly elections scheduled to happen in two phases on December 1 and 5, an evaluation of financial, social and environmental indicators brings forth contrasting outcomes. While Gujarat is economically one in all the most superior States in India, it fares poorly on social indicators, even that includes at the backside of the checklist on a few of them. The State tops the checklist on manufacturing-related indicators. But this has come at a value as Gujarat options at the backside of the checklist on a number of environmental measures.
Table 1 exhibits Gujarat’s rank on social indicators and its precise rating in a parameter in 2019-20, 2015-16 and 2005-06. The desk additionally lists the change in Gujarat’s rank in 2019-20 in comparison with 2015-16. The high three States in a parameter are additionally given for comparability. For occasion, Gujarat had 39% of stunted kids (low height-for-age) in 2019-20 and ranked 26 out of 30 States. The three greatest States that yr had been Kerala (23.4% of stunted kids), Punjab (24.5%) and Tamil Nadu (25%). On this indicator, Gujarat’s rating fell two spots in 2019-20 from 2015-16, the yr when the State was positioned twenty fourth out of the 30 States.
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Notably, throughout most social indicators, there was no appreciable enchancment in the last few years. For occasion, the inhabitants of females who attended faculty was 72% in 2015-16 and elevated to 72.9% in 2019-20. Only females aged six and above had been thought of.
The share of wasted kids (low weight-for-height) improved marginally from 26.4% to 25.1%, whereas the share of underweight (low weight-for-age) kids recorded a small rise from 39.3% to 39.7%. On each these indicators the State ranked 29 of 30 States analysed in 2019-20.
What is putting is that the State’s relative efficiency worsened in 2019-20 in comparison with 2005-06 on most social indicators. In the share of the feminine inhabitants who ever attended faculty, the State ranked 15 of 28 States in 2005-06; in 2019-20, it ranked 19 of 30. In the share of wasted kids, the State’s rank worsened from 16 out of 28 States to 29 out of 30 States. In reality, on all the social indicators analysed, the State’s rating worsened in the 15-year interval.
However, Gujarat’s financial efficiency was among the greatest in the nation. In each 1993-94 and 2020-21, the State ranked 6 of 27 States in Per Capita Net State Domestic Product (present costs) as proven in Table 3.
Also, its financial may is majorly supported by the manufacturing sector, which employs 20.8% of the State’s workforce. This is the second highest share among the 30 States thought of ( Table 4).
While the State leads the nation in phrases of financial efficiency, it lags behind on environment-related indicators ( Table 5). The State generated the highest quantities of hazardous waste and fourth-highest plastic waste in the nation. The fossil fuels consumed per capita are additionally the third highest. Only 80% of industries adjust to wastewater remedy norms.
Among academic indicators, Gujarat is among the worst-performing States ( Table 6). In 2018-19, it ranked above 20 of the 30 States on indicators akin to enrolment in elementary, greater secondary and college-level training. It additionally had a better dropout fee at the secondary stage.
Given the superior financial efficiency and inferior social and environmental rankings, Gujarat’s place on the Human Development Index was middling in 2019 and 1990 (16 and 17 out of 30 States, respectively). This is seen in Table 2.
Source: NFHS, MOSPI, Global Data Lab, NITI Aayog
Also learn: High stakes: On the 2022 Gujarat Assembly Elections and the BJP
