Chidambaram

While, I dispute many of the claims from both Congress & BJP, I like the tone of discussion emerging from Chidambaram. This kind of political discourse is what takes the country to the step-up into the next level of economic realm.

“I know there are alternative narratives in politics and that is how politics should be,” he said. Citing the examples of Gujarat and Maharashtra, Chidambaram said, “When we look at the growth rates under the 11th Five Year Plan, Maharashtra was at 8.5 per cent and Gujarat at 9.5 per cent, not a big difference. “If you look at agricultural growth, then Maharashtra was at 2 per cent and Gujarat at 6.65 per cent. If we look at agri and allied sectors then Maharashtra was at 1.93 per cent and Gujarat at 5.63 per cent,” he said. “Clearly we see Gujarat has an edge over Maharashtra in growth. In growth, we can say Gujarat scores over Maharashtra in GDP, agricultural growth,” Chidambaram said. But, if we look at infant mortality rate (IMR), Gujarat has IMR of 44 per 1,000 in 2010-11, while Maharashtra was 28. Look at the Maternal Mortality Rate(MMR) figures of 2007-09 - 148 in Gujarat and 104 in Maharashtra, he said. In case of total fertility rate, it was 2.5 per cent in Gujarat and 1.9 in Maharashtra. “If we take immunisation coverage then 94.7 per cent coverage in Gujarat and 99.45 per cent in Maharashtra,” he said.