Gujarat's "total debts" reach to Rs 1.85 lakh crore, a rise of nearly 13 per cent in a year: Sustainable?

Counterview Desk
Gujarat’s total debts are set to touch Rs 1.85 lakh crore by March-end 2014, highest ever. The latest “State Finances: A Study of Budgets of 2013-14”, released last month end, has said that the state’s total debts – which include internal debt taken from the market and other funding sources as also different types of liabilities – has said that the state’s total debts would rise by about Rs 21,000 crore in a year, from Rs 1.64 lakh crore last year as of March 2013. A rise of 12.87 per cent in a year, this is the highest increase in the debts in the last three years.
Gujarat’ debts, which were Rs 1.43 lakh in March 2011, rose by 5.79 per cent to reach Rs 1.51 lakh crore in March 2012, and further to Rs 1.64 lakh crore in March 2013, a rise of 8.50 per cent. Debts have been a major reason for the Gujarat government to avoid budget deficit in the recent past. They go to fund nearly 20 per cent of the state’s budget.
Significantly, if the RBI report is any indication, the state’s debts formed 24.6 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) between 2010 and 2014, which is higher than the national average – 22.2 per cent. Debt-GSDP ratio signifies how deep a particular economy is in debt. Of the total Rs 1.85 lakh crore, Rs 1.45 lakh crore is internal debt.
Of the 17 major states, which the RBI report identifies as being under the “non-specific category”, the states with a higher amount of total debts as of March 2014 than Gujarat are – Andhra Pradesh (Rs 1.94 lakh crore), Maharashtra (Rs 2.94 lakh crore), Uttar Pradesh (Rs 2.85 lakh crore), and West Bengal (Rs 2.45 lakh crore).

The issue of debt sustainability of Gujarat has been a reason for major debate, especially among public figures. While politicians oppose to the BJP government in Gujarat argue that high debts are a reason of major concern, leading to great financial stress on the coffers, state officials say Gujarat’s debts are “perfectly sustainable”, as the state has paid all of them on dot.
State officials believe that a high rate of growth of the state economy is one reason why the Gujarat government is able to withstand any debt trap, in which states like West Bengal have got into. Critics, however, say that the state has been able to sustain high debts mainly because it has not been spending “enough” on the social sector, particularly education.
Thus, the Gujarat government’s projected expenditure on education in 2013-14 as percentage of total budgetary allocation is 13.9 per cent, which is one of the lowest in the country (click HERE to read). As many as 15 of the 17 major states spend a higher proportion on education. More, as for the social sector as a whole, the expenditure has got stagnated for the last several years.

Comments

Impact of state repression? Kashmir's 65% people prefer independence: Cambridge study

By Rajiv Shah
Even as the Government of India’s controversial move to abrogate Article 370 of the Constitution and bifurcate Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) into two union territories is not only refusing to down die but has acquired international dimensions, a recent study, published by the Cambridge University Press, has claimed “pro-independence attitudes” among that 65% of Kashmiris, warning, this sentiment worsens when the state machinery resorts “repressive violence”.

Hindus to be 'sent' to Kashmir? Despite Israeli settlements, peace eludes the region

By Anand K Sahay*
Curfew, news and communications blackout, transportation shut-down... News reports from Kashmir are worrying. So are the views relayed through the media, especially television. Old-fashioned repression seems to be consorting comfortably with expressions of concern “for our Kashmiri brethren”. We are looking at Orwell’s 1984 in the making.

Dholera 'inundated': Gujarat govt tries selling low lying area as top smart city site

Counterview Desk
Even as the Dholera Special Investment Region Regional Development Authority (DSIRDA) of the Gujarat government was busy organising a junket for Gujarat-based journalists for the area sought to be sold as an ideal special investment region (SIR) for industrialists, well-known farmers' activist Sagar Rabari has wondered why no investor has so far agreed to put in money in an area situated in Ahmedabad district along the Gulf of Khambhat.

Congress' anti-democratic laws led to Modi govt's 'Constitutional' changes: Scholars

Counterview Desk
A large number of academics* said to be belonging to several Indian and international institutions, even as taking strong exception to the Narendra Modi government's alleged move to amend the Constitution through "illegitimate" means, have taken strong exception to their colleagues in academia who we have become "all too accustomed to adopting a calculated silence in the face of such indignities."

Kashmir normal? Schoolboys, teenagers being arbitrarily picked up, detained: Report

Counterview Desk
A four-person team, consisting of Jean Drèze, well-known development economist; Kavita Krishnan, who is with the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist); Maimoona Mollah of the All India Democratic Women's Association (AIDWA); and Vimal Bhai of the National Alliance of People's Movements (NAPM), back from a five-day fact-finding mission (August 9-13) from Kashmir, has said that people they spoke to “expressed their pain, anger, and sense of betrayal against the Government of India.”
In a report, “Kashmir Caged”, released along with a short eight-minute film, they said, the abrogation of Articles 370 and 35A, dissolution of the state of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), and bifurcating it into two Union Territories, is not being supported by anyone they met, except for BJP spokesperson on Kashmir affairs Ashwani Kumar Chrungoo, who claimed 46% vote share in J&K.
Excerpts from the report: When our flight landed, and the airlines staff announced that passeng…

Modi's Gujarati mind? Why govt move to 'sell-off' defence PSUs isn't in national interest

By Sandeep Pandey*
The Standing Committee on Defence, 2017-18, of the 16th Lok Sabha highlights the idea of Buy Indian-IDDM (Indigenously Designed Developed and Manufactured). The Committee expressed concern over the import content of equipments produced and developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO), Ordnance Factories (OFs) and defence Public Sector Undertakings (PSUs) because of the dependence it creates for military hardware on foreign suppliers.

Central Gujarat effluent channel 'releasing' highly polluted industrial wastewater: PM told

Counterview Desk
Senior environmentalists of the Paryavaran Suraksha Samiti (PSS), Vadodara, Rohit Prajapati and Krishnakant, in an open letter to the Prime Minister, the Gujarat chief minister, the Gujarat chief secretary, and senior Government of India and Gujarat government officials dealing with environment, pollution and climate change have said that the authorities’ response their pleas to take action against the leakages and flow of polluted wastewater from the effluent channels of Central Gujarat industrial areas has met with complete inertia.

Can't go to court with RTI information, rule Ahmedabad authorities: Kankaria accident

By Pankti Jog*
In a shocking reply to an application filed by me, the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) authorities have said that the information provided under the Right to Information (RT) Act should be used in court or in a judicial process. The Act is known to be a major tool that enables citizens to seek certified copies of documents, records from any public authority of state and Central government within 30 days, as per provisions of the Act.

Quit India Movement 'betrayal' and dubious role of Hindu Mahasabha, RSS leaders

By Shamsul Islam*
After the recent guillotine of Article 370, Hindutva ideologue Ram Madhav, while celebrating the occasion stated that it was honouring of the sacrifices of Dr Shyam Prasad Mukherjee and thousands others who laid down their lives for its removal. It is to be noted that Dr Mukherjee was a cadre of RSS and was groomed into a Hindutva leader by another Hindutva icon, VD Savarkar.

Strategy for united struggle against Hindutva 'fascism': Ideological silence is 'no option'

By Dr Bhabani Shankar Nayak*
Electoral alliance and opportunism of national and regional political parties, neoliberal economic marginalisation and soft secular Hindutva line pandering to Hindu majoritarianism laid the foundation of Hindutva fascism in post-colonial India.

Counterview

Search This Blog