annual report1-final.qxd - Overseas Indian

Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
Pravasi Bharatiya Divas
2006 as Tourism Year of the State. The short film
showcased coastlines, deserts, hill stations, sanctuaries,
green forests, waterfalls, holy places, temples,
forts, and festivals of the State with details.
Chief Minister Narendra Modi then addressed
the gathering. He spoke in Hindi and introduced
Mahendra Chaudhury, former prime minister of
Fiji, to the audience. Modi started with the statement
that PBD had become an investment summit
now. When A. B. Vajpayee started it, his vision was
to invite the NRIs to share their experiences so that
everybody together could become an invincible
power, he said. He then stated that the main force
behind the success story of Gujarat was people’s
participation in developmental work.
According to him, people’s participation was the
mantra in present day Gujarat. For example, after
the devastating 2002 earthquake, the World Bank
expressed its view that Gujarat could stand on its
feet only by 2007. But Modi claimed that Gujarat
was “running” right now, i.e., much before 2007.
He also stated that Gujarat had a Disaster
Management Programme, which had been accepted
by the Government of India. Sri Lanka also had
accepted this model after the tsunami devastated
the island. He mentioned that Gujarat had been
assisting Afghanistan in its rebuilding programme
as also Iran after the recent earthquake over there.
He talked about the tribal development programme,
which was called Gujarat Pattern. Under
this programme, the Government formed committees
in tribal villages and gave funds to them for
executing developmental schemes. Tribals themselves
decided what should be done with the
money, he said.
The Modi Government had spent Rs. 1,000 crore
to complete 40,000 projects in the tribal areas, and
there was remarkable transparency in all these.
Another important milestone of his Government,
according to Modi, was girl child education. He
emphatically stated that every year, between June
13 and 15, when VVIPs of other States went to
Switzerland, Shimla, or Kullu and Manali, the CM
and all other ministers, bureaucrats and forest officers
of Gujarat went to those villages where the
population of the educated girl children was less
than 10 percent. With the help of this programme,
the Gujarat Government had been able to improve
the enrollment to 100 percent.
Again, in comparison to the earlier dropout rate
of 49 percent for girls, now it had been reduced to
11 percent. Regarding the health of girl children
below the poverty line, Modi mentioned the
‘Chiranjivi Scheme’, under which, on the 9th of
every month, all gynecologists in the State freely
treated women going to them for health check-up.
Then he talked about growth in the education sector
in Gujarat, especially about the integrated
courses spanning over five years in different disciplines.
After that, he discussed tourism in Gujarat, saying
the State believed in the motto “Atithi Devo
Bhava”. He reiterated that 2006 had been declared
as the Tourism Year in Gujarat. His claim was that,
very soon Kutch would be like Singapore. He also
discussed the potential for medical tourism in the
State and invited the NRIs to help the Government
in this project.
Finally, he outlined developmental schemes in
textile industry and jewellery.
Q&A
! Gujaratis and Punjabis form the major chunk
of the NRIs, so why not hold the PBD in one of
these states
! Bangle industry should be encouraged to
grow fast in Gujarat.
! Why don’t Indian embassies abroad give
detailed information to interested NRIs about
employment, trade and commerce opportunities in
various States in India
! Elaborate the e-governance projects in
Gujarat.
! When earlier Rs. 50,000 to Rs. 1,00,000 was
paid as bribe for a teacher’s job in Gujarat, your
education minister has appointed 100,000 teachers
and there is no complaint of corruption. It implies
that corruption has been reduced to a minimum in
your State.
! When even soil survey could not be in done
in Maharashtra in a year, I have been able to start
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