Understanding Panchamrut - Modi's Governance Philosophy

Shamed by a series of corruption scandals of monumental proportions, UPA is facing a severe credibility crisis. Consequently a policy paralysis has now hit the venal dispensation and UPA2 now appears to be a lameduck government whose continuance in office would mean catastrophic consequences for this country. All vital institutions,  including judiciary & media, are facing huge question mark on their integrity and credibility with slew of corruption allegations involving their leading players coming to light. The fact that a celebrated army chief himself is a witness to a brazen bribing attempt speaks volumes about the cancerous rot that is eating the core of every institution in this country.

The common man is increasingly becoming helpless and despondent with the state of affairs. An average Indian can’t be wronged for his despondency.But as they say “Every Cloud Has A Silver Lining“. Not everything in lost. In the western corner of India, some pathbreaking ideas, that have tremendous potential to ignite a true Indian renaissance  and transform the socioeconomic landscape of this country, is being fashioned and executed by an inspirational Chief  Minister. The much acclaimed development model in Gujarat is based on a solid foundation build on  five key aspects  of “Panchamrut” philosophy. The man behind this “Panchamrut” vision is none other than the popular chief minister of Gujarat Shri Narendra Modi(http://www.narendramodi.in/panchamrut-philosophy/).

 Modi’s visioning  is not some kind of an esoteric, academic exercise. He has tirelessly worked for the last ten years to build executional capabilities around his ideas. He has managed to achive all this despite being the victim of possibly the most virulent and vicious vilification campaign launched against any politican in the history of independent India .

Five “shaktis” or strengths of Modi model centers around 1) Jal shakthi -water power) 2) Urja Shakthi-Energy 3) Jan Shakthi -Human resource 4) Gyan Shakthi-Knowledge power 5) Raksha Shakthi – Defense Power.

Jal Shakthi – Water Power 

“Water is Life” – this is the fundamental reality, and development is far cry without water. India is dotted with rivers that criss-cross almost all major states in India. Unfortunately, a visionless, arbitrary approach to development polluted most of the rivers and other water bodies. With increase in population and lack of localised water conservation approaches, these rivers are facing ever increasing pressure to supply water for irrigation and drinking. India with its huge population has to treat each and every drop of water preciously.

In Gujarat, Modi supported local water conservation by enabling construction of lakhs of check dams while at the same time creating a water grid by interlinking small rivers and streams. Water from Sardar Sarovar project now flows through Sabarmathi in Ahmedabad. His integrated approach resulted in the rise of ground water level in a dry state like Gujarat. Modi did not stop there. He aggressively promotes drip irrigation to save each drop of water. As of now more than five lakh hectares are under drip irrigation.

Gujarat government efforts on water and soil resulted in consistent 10% percent growth in agriculture, against national average of 3%, besides providing drinking water to towns and villages. Water supply through mobile tanks to majority population and people walking miles to fetch water is now history in the state.

Not only for agriculture & drinking, water is also required for industrial use and with limited water resources industry can’t be given priority over agriculture & drinking. Modi’s solution for this conflict is desalinated sea water for industrial use from solar powered desalination plants. Recently a Japaneese company signed MOU for such state of art desalination plant to supply water for Dahej SEZ.

Urja Shakthi – Energy
Gujarat is the only major state in india where towns and villages receive 24/7 electricity. This has resulted in booming rural economy with growth in agriculture, agro processing and small manufacturing in country side. Rural migration to urban areas has been witnessing a downward trend. Availability of surplus energy also made Gujarat attractive destination for Industry

Gujarat has developed a gas grid to supply gas to industries and homes. Gujarat’s GSPC is involved in hydro carbon exploration in India and overseas and a conscious attempt is being made to develop Gujarat into a gas based economy. Gujarat comprehensive energy policy focuses not only on abundant energy but also to make it clean. Steps have been initiated to encourage wind, solar and other renewable energy generation. Gujarat has build a 2800MW capacity from wind based energy sources.

Recently Modi inaugurated Asia’s biggest solar park in Charanka and has plans to cover Narmada canals with solar panels. India strategically needs self-reliance in energy and harnessing renewal energy is the way out to compensate for the lack of hydrocarbon reserves besides keeping environment clean. So, Gujarat’s renewable energy focus can go long way in achieving self-reliance with clean energy.

Some valid questions have been raised  on costs of solar power by even true wellwishers of Modi. However in the last few years solar costs have come down to the level of gas based power and irrespective of costs the solar path is inevitable for future. Costs could eventually come down with widespread usage and improved technology.

Jan Shakthi – Human Resource
Development cannot be achieved with weak and ignorant population. Though Gujarat is ahead in industrialization it hasn’t achieved much in terms of human development indices compared to southern states. Unlike the leadership of the state in the past, Modi clearly recognized this and in the last ten years he has made conscious attempts to correct the anomaly in social sector. He has launched campaigns to prevent drop-out from schools, encourage girl child education for which he personally contributes money from his auctioned gifts, placed emphasis on quality education through “Gunotsav” campaign and designed “Vanche Gujarat” campaign to improve reading habits among school going and general population.

On the public health front initiatives like “Chiranjeevi Yojana” ,“108” emergency services to decrease infant mortality rate and provide emergency medical help were taken. Cleanliness and tree plantation drives under “Nirmal Gujarat” have achieved good success. Gujarat has big anemic population and a program to supply fortified flour with micro nutrients through PDS and mid-day meal scheme was started to check mal-nutrition among BPL families and school going children. “Khel mahakumbh” was initiated to encourage physical activity and sports.

Gujarat has huge neglected tribal population, a special “vana bandhu kalyan yojana” to achieve all round development in tribal areas has achieved spectacular results in the last five years. “Mission mangalam” was initiated to provide livelihoods through credit linkages for women groups.

 Modi has initiated all round efforts to improve the quality of human resources across the social spectrum and Gujarat is well on the road to achieve higher benchmarks in human development and social sector.

Gyan and Raksha Shakthi
Knowledge and security are key to success in a competitive world. Gujarat under Modi has shown remarkable vision to enhance the knowledge and skills of population. Pandit Deendayal Petroleum university for research in energy including nuclear and solar, specialized universities like childrens university, Indian Institute of Teacher training, Forensic Science university, Rakshashakthi university, kamdhenu university, Law university were started under Modi’s regime. Technical education was a neglected area in Gujarat, In the last decade Modi focused heavily on quality technical education to cater to the needs of growing manufacturing sector starting from upgradation and increase in number of ITIs , Polytechnics and Engineering colleges. There is a clear attempt to achieve synergy between Industry and technical education in the state. Gujarat govt also initiated skill development programmes to train manpower in different skills separate from conventional education route. There is ”karmayogi” program to train bureaucracy.

 Almost all villages in Gujarat are connected with broadband network, Information technology is being effectively used in Governance and state has received many awards for initiatives in E-Governance. Though national defense doesn’t come under Modi’s jurisdiction he took measures to secure Gujarat coast to avoid any unwarranted infiltration. His stand on terrorism is well known and with his actions made it clear that he has zero tolerance policy towards terrorism. On several occasions he expressed his enthusiasm to make Gujarat a hub in defense related manufacturing for india’s overall self-reliance in defense readiness.

India badly needs a vision – we have spent too long of our precious time fighting on different “isms”. We went full circles with communism, socialism, casteism, communalism, capitalism but still clueless about where we stand. This confusion costed us dearly; it’s a shame that half the population of india still live in state of despair. We have world’s biggest malnourished population bigger than poverty stricken sub-saharan countries. Shouldn’t our malnourished population atleast deserve clean water and good food?. If dry Gujarat can achieve 10% agriculture growth consistently for ten years, why can’t many water rich states do even better?

This man Modi was maligned by vested interest groups day in and day out, yet like Shiva he kept the poison at his throat but helped people to achieve “amrut” with integrity. Each and every corner of India desperately needs this nectar of “panchamrut”, India can’t survive this poisonous indifference and corruption of ruling classes any longer.