In 10 years, govt wants to overhaul social services sector

The document recognises that Gujarat may be riding the high horse of economic progress, but is ironically more backward in several socio-economic aspects than states like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar or West Bengal. The state may be hovering around the numero uno position in industrial investment, but this hasn’t given the people a vibrant, liveable environment. Be it education, health, water supply and sanitation or environment, Gujarat has a long way to go. For the first time, a government document admits that people in Gujarat have never been at the centre of development.

Now, in 10 years flat, the government promises to change all that. Tall order, given the fact that Gujarat would have anyway earmarked the Rs 48,000 crore it wishes to spend by 2010, since the five-year State plan size usually doubles up every time. The resources are the same, the government red-tape still exists, the staff is the same, the work culture is lazy as ever. How then will the ambitious plan be implemented?

“The convergence of resources, inter-sectoral linkages and a paradigm policy shift from lop-sided industrial growth to integrated and focussed human development strategy, they will do the trick,” avers S K Shelat, Economic Adviser to Chief Minister Keshubhai Patel.

With a focussed and targetted approach, with a separate high-level monitoring agency in Gujarat Social Infrastructure Development Board headed by the CM, it will work, he says.

The document succinctly explains this: “While there is a need to take the government to the people, there is an equal need to ensure that different arms of the government focus attention on the issue jointly. The correlation between the core issues makes a strong case for integrated government intervention, rather than different schemes and programmes by different departments.”

Having said this, the government has identified “Stakeholder Departments” with every sector under the social infrastructure agenda. Social justice and empowerment department, for instance, has to be related with education, explains A.W.P. David, ACS (General Administration), who also handles rural development in the Chief Minister’s Office.

“Women empowerment can’t be achieved by the Social Welfare Department alone, as it happens now, but it has to be linked with education and health also,” David says.

The vision document has marked out the inter-departmental linkages of Education, Health, Housing, Social Welfare, Water Supply and Sanitation, Environment and Employment and training sectors, with different departments. “The moment you have different departments working towards a common target, the implementation is bound to improve qualitatively,” reasons PK Laheri, Principal Secretary to the Chief Minister.

The document states, “The present segmented approach, which treats health, education, housing and water supply as separate initiatives without inter-linkages, would need to be discarded. It is, therefore, important that while drawing up the departmental micro plans to implement the Vision-2010, inter-sectoral linkages must be taken into account.”

Once this happens, the overlapping of efforts will be avoided while ensuring that the money actually reaches the targetted section, adds Shelat. How will all this intellect be injected in the moribund government apparatus at the grassroots, which will actually implement the Vision? Laheri says a massive three-month long district-wise re-orientation programme will be launched soon for the departmental officials to sensitise them to the areas of concern marked out under the human development index. This would be coupled with a general awareness campaign.

Vision-2010 — problems and targets

Sector……………..Current Status…………………..Vision 2010

Education

Net enrolment rate………90.30 %……………………..100 %

Drop-out rate…………..48.1 %…………………….. 0 %

Literacy rate (Male)…….73 %……………………..100 %

Literacy rate (Female)…..48.6 %……………………..100 %

Literacy rate (SC)………61.07 %……………………..100 %

Literacy rate (ST)………36.45 %……………………..100 %

Health

Life expectancy rate(Male) 61.5 years…………………..71 years

Life expectancy rate(Female) 62.8 years………………….75 years

Infant mortality rate……64/1,000…………………….16/1,000

Maternal mortality rate….3.89/1,000…………………..1/1,000

Water Supply and Sanitation

Access to water supply(urban)…60 %……………………100 %

Access to water supply(rural)…87.20 %…………………100 %

Access to sanitation(urban)…..10.90 %…………………100 %

Access to sanitation(rural)…..66 %…………………… 80 %

Environment

Air quality…………………………………………WHO standards

Vehicular emission…………………………………..Euro II norms

Solid waste management………………..100% collection in urban areas

Housing

Urban housing shortage………5.9 %…………………… 0 %

Rural housing shortage………5.52 %………………….. 0 %