Unheralded Chhattisgarh unveils a new development model
It is not often that the chief minister of a small state gets a chance to speak to an elite audience in the national capital, especially when that state has neither political heft, like say Uttar Pradesh or West Bengal, or is economically influential, like say Maharashtra or Karnataka. So when Chhattisgarh Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel, a political lightweight in his own Congress party, commanded a packed hall at New Delhi’s India International Centre, it made people sit up and take notice.
In fact, the alternative development vision that Baghel presented before his audience, that consisted of foreign diplomats, former bureaucrats and intellectuals, gave one an insight into a state that few know about in the rest of India and, which, unfortunately suffers from a poor image problem - a state blighted by its decades-long association with the long-festering insurgency, or leftwing extremism (LWE), as known in official jargon.
The truth, however, is quite different from that seen through the prism of negative media headlines. Of the state’s 27 districts, Maoists/ Naxalites are active only in three or four of them that border Telangana (Chhattisgarh, in fact, shares its borders with seven states, providing access to 40% of India’s population). For the rest, Chhattisgarh is largely peaceful, naturally endowed, demographically diverse and on a growth path. It is the tenth-largest state in India, with 41.33% of its area under forests, rich in bio-diversity with an array of herbs and medicinal plants. A resource-rich state, rich in minerals, it has the highest output of coal in the country, with secondhighest reserves, is second in iron ore production and first in tin. It is one of the few states of India where the power sector is effectively developed; Chhattisgarh provides electricity to several other states because of surplus production. The state has a potential of 61,000 MW of additional thermal power in terms of availability of coal for more than 100 years and more than 2,500 MW hydel capacity.
A land of visual surprises, the virgin hinterlands of Chhattisgarh offers some of the best eco-tourism destinations in the country. Right from over a thousand varieties of flora and fauna, to wildlife which is not seen anywhere across the country, its low-key tourism promotion promises visitors an unforgettable experience. The Chitrakote Falls is the country’s widest waterfall and is often called the Niagara Falls of India, because of its visual 300-metre drop roaring spectacle, particularly during the monsoon season when the river Indravati is in spate. But how many people again know about it or visit it? Niagara Falls, by comparison, is visited by 30 million people each year.
However, the image of Chhattisgarh unfortunately remains of a state that is perennially caught up in fighting the LWE challenge - fortified by its newly set up College of Counter Insurgency and Jungle Warfare - with its occasional headline grabbing news of IED explosions and security personnel deaths. However, Chief Minister Baghel seeks to minimise the extremist challenge, asserting, “today malnutrition is a bigger threat than Maoism in the state.” He says over 37% of the state’s children - mostly from tribal communities - are malnourished and, to meet the nutritional challenge, his government was launching a mass nutrition scheme across the state, beginning with what have been identified as the most backward and insurgency afflicted districts.
Asserting that the system had lost the trust of the tribal people, the Chief Minister insisted at his New Delhi interaction organised by the Society for Policy Studies (SPS) and the Group of Thinkers (Raipur) that for his state to prosper it must win the “trust of the Adivasis” (tribals who were a third of state’s population of 26 million) and come up with a model of development, which did not threaten them but was sensitive to their age-old lifestyle. He said previous generations of tribals had limited awareness and few needs, which were largely met from within their forest environment. “But today the younger generation across the state and the country has bigger aspirations and we have to fulfil those in a democracy,” he said. Otherwise,
Asserting that the system had lost the trust of the tribal people, the Chief Minister insisted at his New Delhi interaction organised by the Society for Policy Studies (SPS) and the Group of Thinkers (Raipur) that for his state to prosper it must win the “trust of the Adivasis” (tribals who were a third of state’s population of 26 million) and come up with a model of development, which did not threaten them but was sensitive to their age-old lifestyle. He said previous generations of tribals had limited awareness and few needs, which were largely met from within their forest environment
insurgency becomes an attractive option for them.
He dwelt on ways of resurrecting the rural economy centred around animal husbandry, water conservation and sustainable farming and said his government was ready to look at alternate models of development with environmentfriendly industrialisation built around jobs, skill development and regeneration of rural economies. Baghel was reflecting on the change in popular mood due to unmet aspirations that led to the Congress winning the 2018 Assembly elections by a convincing majority and unseating the 15year-old Raman Singh government. About 45% of Chhattisgarh’s population is classified as poor. Cow vigilantism, he said, had resulted in the collapse of the rural bovine economy and bovine wealth had been squandered at the altar of shortsighted religious politics.
Baghel is against big industry and unrestricted mining. He sought investment for Chhattisgarh, promising both land and power, but he preferred small and medium industries that were eco-friendly and catered to the local population rather than mega industries that did not make use of local employment and ignored their interests.
“I prefer investments in agro-processing and small and medium industries based on locally available raw materials. Because this will boost local incomes,” he said.
Baghel has called for a new and integrated development strategy that blends judicious industrialisation with sustainable development sensitive to the lifestyles of the tribal community, whose needs and aspirations, he maintains, have been ignored by successive administrations who reduced their issues to a law and order and insurgency problem.
The country has already been sold the story of the “Gujarat model” - a carefully tailored narrative that propelled its Chief Minister to the Prime Minister’s chair in New Delhi in a matter of a few years. Who knows if an unheralded Chief Minister, propounding a new grassroots policy paradigm - perhaps the “Chhattisgarh model of development” - can in future become the talking point of development economists and the media in a way that not only builds up the image of a visionary leader but also elevates Chhattisgarh’s image in the eyes of the country and the world!