NITI Aayog launched its ambitious programme earlier this year, but when the districts were named for their low score on development parameters, Vidisha and Rajnandgaon's mention surprised many.
Do key development statistics (or rather lack of it) help tilt the scales — positively or adversely — for the incumbent government? At a time when caste, religion and other issues are playing a visibly dominant role in electoral politics, dry data of international agencies or even the NITI Aayog may not shape the voters' minds and be an election issue in Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh as they go to polls this month.
Consider this: Vidisha, near MP's capital Bhopal, is one of the most laggard districts of Madhya Pradesh, as enlisted by NITI Aayog. From Chhattisgarh, the title is held by Rajnandgaon, among nine others.
The common thread between these two 'backward' districts is that they are represented — in one way or the other — by chief ministers of the states. While Vidisha is closely connected with Shivraj Singh, Raman Singh has been getting elected from Rajnandgaon, a Lok Sabha constituency for many years.
NITI Aayog launched its ambitious programme earlier this year, but when the districts were named for their low score on development parameters, Vidisha and Rajnandgaon's mention surprised many. "How come Vidisha remain backwards when Shivraj Singh has been representing it for years?" asked a sociology professor, on condition on anonymity.
Not only has Shivraj contested the 2013 Vidhan Sabha election from Vidisha, it was also his first Lok Sabha election way back in 1991 when Atal Bihari Vajpayee resigned from there in favour of Lucknow. The Lok Sabha seat is now represented by Sushma Swaraj, the External Affairs Minister, for over nine years.
So, despite heavy weight leaders winning the seat (or district), NITI Aayog has equated the state of Vidisha to Chatarpur in backward Bundelkhand region. Same is the case with Rajnandgaon, which is at the same level in the Niti Aayog list as the Naxal-infested cluster of Bastar region.
"It's all about providing the right leadership and not just providing lip service," observed Lalit Shastri, a former journalist and Founder President of SAPAKS party in MP. He also pointed out that Alirajpur was adjudged the poorest district in the country after 15 years of BJP rule in MP. "I blame Congress and BJP both for Alirajpur's pitiable condition. During his 10-year rule, Digvijay also did not do much," said Shastri.
Multi-dimensional Poverty Index (MDPI), part of UNDP's human development report has kept MP as the fourth poor state in the country after Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. Alirajpur is the poorest district among all 640 districts, but the BJP keeps winning there and it is the bastion of the Singh family.
"While BJP leaders are talking of development works done by their governments in these two states with 'sabka saath, sabka vikas', it has deliberately overlooked development of the tribal area. It's a shame that despite years of single party rule, an MP district remains the poorest," says AAP state chief Alok Agarwal.
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