R K Misra - Gujarat Model Disrobed, CAG Flicks Fig Leaf
Time discovers truth. In India, the Comptroller and
Auditor General (CAG) does this job. No wonder the Gujarat model,assiduously
used by erstwhile chief minister Narendra Modi to catapult himself to the prime
ministerial calling , lies in tatters after the CAG placed it’s report for the
period ending March 31, 2014 on the table of the Gujarat Assembly on March 31,
2015.
The report provides a classic example of how marketing savvy
politicians-in- power use all the elements of brand building – good
advertising, repeat messaging, catchlines and chest thumping-to go places. The
CAG has taken the government apart for financial indiscipline and poor
spending. ” The fiscal deficit increased from Rs 15,513 crores in 2009-10 to Rs
18,422 crores in 20013-14. It also pointed out the non-submission of
utilization certificates of Rs 7420.40 crores bringing out the lack of
monitoring by the respective departments. Modi ruled Gujarat from 2001 to
mid-2014 before taking over as Prime Minister. One of the governance claims
trumpeted from rooftops was the revenue surplus. See how.
The CAG has brought out that the Gujarat government
‘willfully’ showed revenue expenditure of more than Rs 1600 crores as revenue
surplus in 2013-14.”The Gujarat government wrongfully budgeted and booked
expenditure of Rs 1,462.75 crores on account of grants-in-aid and
expenditure of Rs 170.75 crores on account of subsidy under the capital section
instead of the revenue section.This resulted in understatement of revenue
expenditure and overstatement of revenue surplus to the tune of Rs1,633.50
crores’, the report states pointing out an increase in primary deficit
from Rs 4331 crores in 2012-13 to Rs 5,090 crores in 2013-14.
The report also throws light on the performance of the
Gujarat state government- run public sector undertakings.Twenty of the total
72 working PSUs have incurred losses to the tune of Rs 1,111.85
crores while remaining have earned profits totaling 3,363.96 crores. ”A review
of the latest three CAG audit reports shows that the losses were controllable
with better management”. It also points out that the returns on the government
investment in the PSUs has been negligible. ”In the period of the last five
years,the state government invested Rs 24007 crores.the average return by way
of dividend on the investment in government companies and statutory
corporations was 0.31 per cent only”, it noted.
The CAG has taken the government to task for serious lapses
in land revenue management and for giving away grazing land for industrial
purposes ignoring the local requirements.A performance audit on
lease of government land showed that in the case of eight districts the
data in the software did not match with the data as per records.Even when the
area of grazing land was not sufficient with reference to number of cattle of
the area,even then grazing land was irregularly granted on lease for industrial
purposes, it states.
The CAG report also points out that the state
government favoured Adani group owned Mundra Port and Special Economic
Zone(SEZ) in land allotment in kutch to the detriment of the environment.
Land measuring 1,840 hectares and 168.42 hectares meant for solar salt
and salt washery projects respectively had been provisioned for. However the
government submitted a fresh proposal seeking approval from the ministry
of environment and forests (MOEF) as a diversionary measure.No sooner was the
in-principle approval granted that a recovery of Rs 87.97 crore was
made from the user by the forest department and the land was gone!
The Modi government of the time in Gujarat has also
been singled out for the rough end of the stick for it’s inability to stem the
decline in the child sex ratio in the state. In a lucid observation it says
”the state government has failed to investigate where there were 13.29 lakh
less deliveries despite 70.95 lakh pregnancies registered between 2009 and
2014.Deliveries registered through e-mamta portal were only 57.66 lakhs.Of the
181 cases registered under the PCPNDT Act (diagnosing the sex of the foetus)
only 48 cases were charge-sheeted with a mere six convictions.Despite Supreme
Court orders that such cases should be finalized within six months,there are
cases pending since the last 12 years. According to the 2011 census there
has been a decline in sex ratio at birth in 15 of the 26 districts of the
state, it observed adding that the state has failed to formulate a child
protection policy.
Education comes out as another sad story.The
implementation of RTE as well as other educational schemes,particularly in the
tribal areas has been rated as poor by the CAG in it’s social sector
audit.”The expenditure against available funds was only 12.67 per cent in
2011-12,14.09 per cent in 2012-13 and 22.42 per cent in 2013-14. Cases of
diversion of Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) funds, a central to state sponsored
ashram shaala and eklavya model schools, both state sponsored schemes was also
noticed.
Rs 89.55 crores allotted under the Rashtriya madhyamik
shiksha abhiyan as advance was wrongly shown as expenditure and incorrect
figures reported to the Centre.Against a student-teacher ratio of 40:1 in
primary schools there were cases of the ratio being 156:1 and in upper primary
schools where the ratio should be 35:1 there were places where it
was found to be 363:1. Sixty four schools with a total strength of 5,698
students had no teachers while 874 schools had only one teacher each.
And so it goes on…. This is the CAG certified ‘Gujarat Model’ in a
nutshell.
