Author: PTI
Publication: Firstpost.com
Date: September 14, 2011
URL: http://www.firstpost.com/politics/modi-is-king-of-governance-says-us-congress-report-83406.html
A report drawn up by the US Congressional
Research Service has identified Gujarat under chief minister Narendra Modi
as offering perhaps the best example of effective governance and impressive
development in India, and observed that under his watch the State had become
a key driver of national economic growth.
Gujarat is followed by Bihar, whose chief
minister Nitish Kumar too comes in for praise for his governance and administrative
skills.
"Perhaps India's best example of effective
governance and impressive development is found in Gujarat, where controversial
Chief Minister Narendra Modi has streamlined economic processes, removing
red tape and curtailing corruption in ways that have made the state a key
driver of national economic growth," the CRS report noted.
A Congressional Research Service report has
high praise for Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi's record of governance.
AFP
The CRS is an independent and bipartisan wing
of the US Congress, and prepares periodic reports on issues of interest to
the US lawmakers. The 94-page report on India was released by the CRS for
US lawmakers on 1 September.
"Seeking to overcome the taint of his
alleged complicity in the 2002 riots, Modi has overseen heavy investment in
modern roads and power infrastructure, and annual growth of more than 11 per
cent in recent years," the CRS report noted.
Gujarat, the report added, has attracted major
international investors such as General Motors and Mitsubishi. The State,
which has only 5 percent of India's population, now accounts for more than
one-fifth of India's exports, it said.
Next in line for high praise was Bihar under
Nitish Kumar. "Another positive example in 2011 has been Bihar, one of
India's poorest states, where Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has won national
attention through his considerable success in emphasising good governance
over caste-based politics.
"He is credited with restoring law and
order across much of the state, as well as overseeing infrastructure and educational
improvements of direct benefit to common citizens projects," the report
said.
"Kumar's Janata Dal (United) party, in
alliance with the main national opposition BJP, won an overwhelming reelection
majority in November 2010 state elections," the report said.
The report claims that the governance examples
set in by Chief Ministers Modi and Kumar may have inspired Uttar Pradesh chief
minister Mayawati.
"Chief Minister Mayawati, who is widely
believed to maintain national political ambitions and was at the forefront
of a nascent "Third Front" in 2009, has shifted her own focus much
more toward infrastructure projects such as road-building and improving the
state's poor energy grid," the report said.
The CRS report also addresses the ongoing
Telangana movement in Andhra Pradesh, and the new Trinamool-Congress rule
in West Bengal. It noted that chief minister Mamata Banerjee faces a huge
task in repairing "one of India's poorest states".
