Comments by "M Shastri" (@libshastra) on "How ‘poor’ Bengal has beaten ‘rich’ Gujarat: Niti Aayog report and grasping what’s counterintuitive" video.

  1. What we are seeing in NITI Aayog is simply a headstart advantage that West Bengal always enjoyed. It is an advantage that West Bengal is squandering away. Gujarat grew up from the bottom. 80s and 90s Gujarat was a drought prone backwater like UP or Rajasthan today. Beset with political instability, lack of state institutions, obstructionism spearheaded by India's leftists and Andolanjeevis stunted it's growth. Things changed since the late 90s, political stability that BJP majorities brought, focused that State's resources to economic development. Much of the State is still Work in Progress and that's what we are seeing. And with more tax revenues and resources, I am confident that Gujarat will focus on those lagging indicators. Contrast that with West Bengal, it was a rich state endowed with resources and infrastructure and blessed with educated urbanites and industrialists, created in 1947 - far earlier than some of our rich Southern states. But West Bengal's growth has stalled, political stability it enjoyed turned into autocratic violence. Any advantage West Bengal had was let to rot and atrophy. West Bengal is not beating Gujarat in MPDM indicators because it did something new or brilliant, but it is beating Gujarat because of institutions that were established prior generations ago are still somewhat functional. Odissa is ahead of West Bengal, soon UP will surpass it as well. IMO, Odissa and Gujarat would be a better comparison but comparing Gujarat with WB is an editorial decision. Side note: Besides, no State has made headway in it's poverty intensity indicators but I suspect it is still early days. MPDM is still a fairly new index. However, with such marginal decline across states, I doubt State Govts have anything to do with reduction in Poverty Intensity. Any reduction probably came from Centrally Sponsored Programs. (And Yes, I spent 3 days reading through every detail in NITI Aayog report.)
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  2.  @Bengalifirst  I spend a better part of my weekend reading through it. That's why I say, Orissa for is a better comparison for Gujarat than West Bengal. Orissa's indicators are have outperformed West Bengal. Besides, no State has made headway in it's poverty intensity indicators but I suspect it is still early days. MPDM is still a fairly new index. With such marginal secular decline across states, I doubt State Govts have anything to do with reduction in Poverty Intensity. Any reduction probably came from Centrally Sponsored Programs.
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  3. Ya, I don't think reduction in Poverty Intensity in any State has anything do with the State Govt Policy. So any gains from reduction in intensity cannot be attributed as a success of Mamta Banarjee or any State Politician.
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  4. You are posting the same thing under 3 different account.
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  5.  @Bengalifirst  Bengal should have been like Maharashtra however, it is getting surpassed by Odisha. That's the take away. If it were not for Bengali institutions setup during the British and shortly after independence, Bengal would be more like Bihar.
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