RK MISRA - Modi Model: Fancy Myths and Hard Facts
Offices of power are often breeding grounds of
indestructible myths. And if the flavor of the current Indian season is Gujarat , focus turns to this ‘model’ laboratory where
Prime Minister Narendra Modi perfected the alchemy of success. Like the
legendary King Midas whose touch turned everything into gold, Modi
possesses the uncanny ability of turning anything he propounds into a national
crusade whether it is Sardar Patel’s statue or the nation’s state of
sanitation.
With the Gujarat model elevated to the status of a
‘Bible’ for administrators after BJP came to power in the country, the
performance audit carried out by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India
(CAG) on implementation of the sanitation campaign in Gujarat during the
period 2008-13 (Modi rule) provides proof of how reality is clouded to forge
myths and then build castles on it. The CAG report was tabled during a
truncated two day session of the Gujarat Vidhan Sabha last week on November 11
this year.
Interestingly the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) was
launched by the Atal Bihari Vajpayee-headed NDA government in 1999 for
sustainable reforms in the rural sector through a time bound campaign mode.
Subsequently in 2012 it was renamed as ‘Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan’ by the Manmohan
Singh led UPA government. While the Prime Minister is now exhorting the
nation to set new standards in sanitation, his own record in Gujarat
leaves much to be desired. According to the CAG, 5000 ‘anganwadi’ centres and
4000 schools do not have toilet facility. This despite the Supreme Court
having asked for separate toilets for all schools by 2012!
No baseline surveys were carried out as mandated for
preparation of project implementation plans and though there was no dearth of
funds, the expenditure against it ranged between 43 and 60 per cent during
2008-13.The award money received from the Centre under the Nirmal Gram Puruskar
Scheme was not distributed to award -winning gram panchayats. Fudging was also
noticed as the sanitation coverage in the state was only 46 per cent
which was much lower than the progress reported by the department. Toilets
constructed at the cost of Rs. 2.80 crores could not be put to use due to
inferior quality of structure and even lack of a soak pit”, it noted.
The report also provides an insight into how funds were
sought to be diverted for Modi government jamborees and the amount
budgeted in sanitation awareness creation. “The government stated that buses
were hired for transportation of public for krishi mahotsav and as
awareness of sanitation and waste management was provided here so the
expenditure was booked under IEC activities. The reply was not acceptable”,
it pointed out adding that “the individual household latrine targets had
been inflated as the progress reports were generated on funds released
instead of on actual construction”.
The Report also busted an oft- propogated Gujarat
government myth that manual scavenging has been totally eradicated. “As per the
census 2011 report, manual scavenging is still continuing and 1408 cases
exist where nightsoil is being removed by human beings and 2593 cases by
animals in various rural areas of Gujarat ”,
says the CAG report on rural bodies for the year ending March 31, 2013.
Rural Housing. “Construction of Houses under the Indira Awas
Yojna (IAY) were to be completed within the maximum time- limit of two years.
In test- checked talukas against a target of 85,063 houses 16,722 during
2008-11 remained incomplete. The achievement did not represent a true picture
as figures were not mentioned and incomplete houses were shown as complete”,
the report said.
The sad part is that the state’s share of funds under the
Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) was curtailed because the Gujarat Elementary
Education Council did not use the allocated funds. This was the
period ending March 2013 when Modi had gone to town against the Centre
alleging injustice and choking of funds. Records state that Gujarat incurred a loss of Rs 296.34 crores as central
assistance for development as it forfeited the general performance grant for
failure to comply with rules under the 13th Finance
Commission. “The state government needs to investigate it’s educational system
as many students are still deprived of their rights to education in Gujarat ”, it said while pointing out that the data
available in government records was ‘not reliable and inflated”.
According to the CAG report, the model state did not have a
single teacher in 57 government primary schools and only one teacher each
in 383 schools. Similarly, in 223 upper primary schools, there was no teacher
and 678 ones had only one teacher each. In every school with a student strength
exceeding 150, a head teacher is needed and in the period under review
there were 4262 vacancies against a total requirement of 9262 head
teachers. Chronic shortage of amenities in government schools has seen parents
shifting their children to private schools which is seen by an increase of
55.87 per cent in the number of unaided private schools between 2008 to 2013.
How much importance the state government gives to the CAG is evident from
the fact that though the report was sent to the state government with
it’s observations and suggestions in August 2013, no reply was forthcoming till
march 2014. This is not an isolated case, for, almost the entire period of Modi
rule in Gujarat was replete with instances
of inordinate delay in response which led to the entire exercise
becoming redundant.
This, incidentally is the same lineage of authority,
which had busted the numerous scams of the previous government in Delhi Gujarat is
concerned, this is just one among a mountain of myths-buried in
government records- that has seen the light of reality. Many more await an
opportune time for exposure. After all, the memories of men are too frail a
thread to hang history from!
