Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The excerpts from the 2002 CII report on ‘‘How the States are Doing’’ which were distributed by Law Minister Arun Jaitley have finally provoked the debate on the issue of development, which is mentioned in the context of Madhya Pradesh but rarely discussed.
Today, CM Digvijay Singh held a press conference where he took up the BJP’s challenge and defended his record on development. As he easily brushed aside the BJP charges with evidence of his own, it became clear why the BJP campaign is threatening to run aground in the state. It is not that there is no evidence on the Digvijay government’s failure on some critical fronts, it just seems the BJP is incapable of marshalling it.
Consider the record, the two most potent issues in the BJP campaign should have been the power situation and the condition of health facilities.
Instead, Jaitley had chosen to distribute the CII report which subsumes power under the category of ‘‘Infrastructure Penetration’’ where the state gets a grade of C well above the BIMARU states of UP and Bihar. The government answers the charge by stating that ‘‘Irrigated area has increased and drinking water facility has been provided to over 99 per cent habitations in the state. Measures have been taken to improve power supply.’’
On health, he said: ‘‘In 1991, the Infant Mortality Rate was 133 (census 1991), which came down to 88 in 2000 (S.R.S Registrar General of India). Thus, the state registered a 33 per cent fall in the IMR, whereas the average rate of fall was 12 per cent from 77 to 68.’’
