Gujarat's planning department has described the media reports concerning the planning commission's letter to the state government as misleading.
Gujarat's planning department has described the media reports concerning the planning commission's letter to the state government as misleading. A spokesperson of the state government said in a statement released on Sunday that the commission has praised the Modi government for growth and development. He also added that it's unfortunate that the media failed to report that the planning commission had approved the revised investment plan for the Narmada Project.
Speaking about Planning Commission's deputy chairman, Montek Singh Ahluwalia's letter dated May 18, 2010, the spokesperson said that it was a regular communication sent to the states before the meeting with the chief ministers. Moreover, the issues mentioned in the letter has been resolved before the meeting with the CM, said the statement.
The spokesperson said there is no substance in asking Gujarat to mobilise additional resources to plug the resource gap of Rs1,622.44 crore. Rather, the Planning Commission estimated the state's resources at Rs29,937 crore and yet agreed to a plan size of Rs30,000 crore instead of state's own proposal of Rs29,500 crore. And, for the small resource gap of Rs63 crore, he agreed to provide onetime additional assistance of Rs.63-crore.
The spokesperson took a strong note of media's highly misleading observation on Gujarat's Human Development Index (HDI). As per a recent independent study by the Sardar Patel Institute of Economic and Social Research, Gujarat has improved its ranking from 6th to 5th. The state government's presentation before the planning commission was prepared on the basis of latest statistics, with an advanced estimation of the economic growth at 10.5% in 2009-10. As to Gujarat Tax-GDP ratio, the spokesperson said, it is 7.02% as to national average of 7.1%, and it is not 6.4% as the news reports claims.
Referring to allocation for tribal sub-plan, the spokesperson said, it remained around 14%, and in case of schedule castes the state's average might appear below the national average because the formula adopted by the Planning Commission does not include the benefits of electricity, drinking water, irrigation projects, roads and the Narmada project going to them.
The planning commission also expressed satisfaction on the issue of development of tribal areas such as Dang, said the statement.
The state government has spent around Rs95 crore in dairy development and farm project making around 8,500 tribal families financially self-reliant in four years, said the statement.
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