The development journey of Gujarat should continue under Prime Minister Narendra Nodi's guidance and new leadership, said Vijay Rupani, while resigning as the Chief Minister of Gujarat. "I have decided to resign because the development journey of Gujarat should continue under Prime Minister Narendra Nodi's guidance and new leadership. BJP is an ideology-driven party and the roles of workers keep changing there," Rupani added.Rupani's resignation comes a year before the scheduled assembly elections in the state.
Vijay Rupani after taking over as Chief Minister of Gujarat on 7th August 2016 had established four pillars of good governance - Transparent, Sensitive, Decisive and Progressive Government.
When Narendra Modi moved to New Delhi to take charge of his new role as a Prime Minister after serving the state of Gujarat for over a decade, most predicted that the state’s growth would now be in the doldrums. However, CM Vijay Rupani ahead took the state on the path of development. Gujarat, apart from being one of the highest growth states in the country is also the leading industrialized state of India. The latest IBEF (India Brand Equity Foundation) report also predicts a 7% year-on-year increase in Gujarat’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) in FY22.
In his six-year tenure, the Chief Minister had taken certain key decisions on social grounds, economical grounds which helped in progression and development of the state. Here's a look at some of the noteworthy decisions undertaken by Vijay Rupani to lead Gujarat on the path of growth.
Policy-driven state
From health to business to environment, Gujarat is known for a policy-driven system that perpetually keeps the state on the path of growth. Major policies related to education, inductry sector, water management, business sectors were released by the government under Vijay Rupani. To promote tourism in the state, the government had also passed Heritage Tourism Policy.
E-governance in Gujarat:
Furthering the Digital India campaign, the state of Gujarat adopted digital technology to simplify public service delivery by integrating various units of government framework, making the entire process more effective. Talking about the track records from the much successful CM Dashboard, Vijay Rupani had said, “Today, we have a budget of Rs 2.25 lakh crore. In the last five years, works worth over Rs 10 lakh crore were done by our government. Even today as per my CM Dashboard, works worth Rs 2 lakh crore are underway in Gujarat, and this keeps increasing every year.”
The RTO services have been made online with launching e-auction portal for mining, ‘citizen first’ mobile application, digital ‘seva setu’ to enable citizens to avail necessary documents such as income certificate, ration card, a certificate for people of unreserved category and more.
Farmers got enhanced MSP, crop insurance, other benefits
Farmers have benefitted the most in Rupani’s tenure as chief minister. Rupani led government paid Rs17,000 crore as support price to farmers in the last 3 years which gave them much needed relief and a platform to reenergize farm activities. Gujarat Government has taken a series of steps to uplift the economic status of state’s farmers. It has brought in a new system for crop insurance, giving loans to farmers at zero per cent interest.
At 3.4%, Gujarat has the lowest unemployment rate
Rupani led government has been successful in creating jobs and employment at a mass scale. As many as 1.6 lakh people have got government jobs in Gujarat and this is a matter of record. Lakhs of people were extended financial assistance under state govt schemes to set up businesses. The data are self explanatory. In Gujarat, unemployment rate is 3.4 per cent, one of the lowest in the country.
On development front, Vijay Rupani has many feathers in his cap. Recently Gujarat government, have launched developmental works to the tune of Rs 27,000 crore, which includes the 30,000 MW hybrid renewable energy project in Kutch, the world’s largest such initiative.
Noteworthy Schemes
As many as 2465 hospitals, including 68 NABH accredited hospitals, have been empanelled, almost 38 lakh claims amounting to over 5600 crores have been settled and approximately 80 lakh families have been covered under various health schemes like the MA Vatsalya Yojna.
Making amendments to enhance the law and order situation, the state introduced the Gujarat Gunda and Anti-Social Activities (Prevention) Act 2020, Gujarat Land Grabbing Prohibition Act 2020, Freedom of Religion Act, 2003 Amendment and several measures for women and child safety. Some notable figures speak of the success of the amendments such as 61% decrease in communal crimes and 95.2% of missing children are found under operation ‘Muskan’.
COVID-19 management
By involving the people and establishing public-private partnership the state successfully managed both the waves of the Chinese virus pandemic.
At the district and city level, planning & implementation were carried out under the supervision of a committee, consisting of the District Collector, Municipal Commissioner, District Development Officers; under the aegis of senior nodal IAS officer. Additionally, private specialists were roped into public hospitals, especially during the first phase. In an attempt to normalize lives, several multi-pronged strategies were adopted for behavior change communication (BCC).
Bill against 'Love Jihad' passed:
In April this year, Gujarat became the third state after Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh to pass a bill proposing amendments to the Freedom of Religion Act, 2002 to ensure stringent punishment for forced religious conversions. The bill provides for imprisonment of three to five years and a fine of up to Rs 2 lakh fine for marriage by forced or lured religious conversion.
If the alleged victim is a minor, a woman, a Dalit or tribal, the punishment ranges from four to seven years in jail and a fine of not less than Rs 3 lakh. In case there is an organisation involved, the person heading the same could face imprisonment from three to 10 years and a fine of up to Rs 5 lakh.
Mr Rupani is the fourth BJP chief minister to step down in recent months; in July BS Yediyurappa resigned as Chief Minister of Karnataka in July, following Uttarakhand, where Tirath Singh Rawat quit barely four months after replacing Trivendra Rawat.
