The three-member Central Group of Ministers' on Wednesday
took Chief Minister Narendra Modi head-on on his claim of rapid development
in Gujarat and its being “ahead of all other States in the country.”
Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram, who was leading
the GoM, not only refuted the State government's charges of discrimination
and injustices against the Centre, he also saw nothing new in Mr. Modi's
“story of development.” Union Information, Broadcasting and Women's
Welfare Minister, Ambika Soni claimed that malnourishment among women
and children in Gujarat was higher than the national average, while
Law, Justice and Minority Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid dismissed
as “mere myth” Mr. Modi's claims that the minorities in Gujarat
were better off than their counterparts in other parts of the country.
'Lagging'
Ms. Soni claimed that while the percentage of malnourished women in
the country was 51 per cent, in Gujarat it was 55 per cent. The malnutrition
among the children, which was 70 per cent in Gujarat in 2000, had risen
to 80 per cent now which was much higher than the national average of
56 per cent, she claimed.
“This government claims to be vibrant but vibrancy depends on how
women and children stand up with self-respect. How can 55 per cent of
malnourished women and 80 per cent malnourished children can stand up
with dignity?” she asked.
Ms. Soni's claims, however, were immediately contradicted by the Gujarat
Health Minister Jaynarayan Vyas, who called it “manipulation of figures.”
Quoting from the Central government department statistics, Mr. Vyas
claimed that in both the cases of women and children, Gujarat was lower
than the national average on the malnourishment front. While 55 per
cent of the women in the State were malnourished, the national average
was 56 per cent and among the children, the figure was 46 per cent for
Gujarat as against 51 per cent for the national average, he claimed.
Minorities
better off?
“There is nothing to indicate that the minorities in Gujarat were
better off than their counterparts in other parts of the country,”
Mr. Khurshid said. He said Gujarat was the only State where the pre-matriculation
scholarships for the minority students were not being implemented because
the State government did not accept the scheme. “We have received
complaints, but we cannot force the State to accept it as it required
25 per cent contributions from the State government. Gujarat is not
ready as it claimed to have better scholarship schemes existing in the
State than accept the Central scheme,” he said.
Mr. Chidambaram agreed that Gujarat was among the developed states,
but that was nothing unique nor had it achieved the feat all by itself.
He said it was good that the States compete with each other as it would
lead to national development. “There is no doubt Gujarat's own resources
have increased, but tremendous amount of Central assistance was also
being pumped into the State to contribute to its development,” he
said.
'No
discrimination'
The Home Minister refuted the allegations that Gujarat was being discriminated
against and that the Centre was meting out any injustice to the State
on political grounds. “Do not take such allegations seriously,”
he said.
About the alleged harassment of some Indian Police Service cadre officers
in the State, Mr. Chidambaram said the Centre would not like to interfere
unless there was a specific complaint. He said he had received some
complaints in this respect and had taken up the matter with the State
but said generally he would expect all the State governments to treat
their IPS officers “fairly and with dignity.”