Nirmal Gujarat Narrative: Myths and Realities

Can a sea-plane ride of a Prime Minister during the election campaign in his native state be enough indicative of development? The question demands an answer acceptable to all. Similarly, did Narendra Modi bring development in Gujarat for the first time? If so, then why the development model was missing from BJP’s election campaign in the politically crucial state of Gujarat? 

The hollowness of Gujarat Model, which was projected earlier as the ‘vision that India waits’ and the model which was mesmerizing people across India since 2014 Lok Sabha elections, has already been exposed by the experts and commentators. Its rhetoric may further be explained with one example – Nirmal Gujarat Campaign (NGC).

On December 30, 2007 Narendra Modi as the Chief Minister of Gujarat launched Nirmal Gujarat Campaign or the cleanliness campaign amidst much fanfare and pomposity and, the campaign was portrayed as one of the flagship projects of the state government as well as an integral part of the state’s development. On its decennium, therefore, NGC is brought under scanner as the state of Gujarat is facing its toughest electoral battle since last fifteen years.

It has been broadly campaigned that the concept of cleanliness was envisaged by Modi since his chief ministerial days and he has been the pioneer in his vision. However, the history reveals the truth quite contrary to such campaign. During the World Water Decade of 1980s, rural sanitation came into focus in India. The Central Rural Sanitation Programme (CRSP) was started in 1986 to provide sanitation facilities in rural areas. Subsequently, the government of India introduced the Total Sanitation Campaign (TSC) in 1999 to accelerate sanitation coverage throughout the country. It focused on public awareness campaign for sanitation facilities, particularly in schools. The main objective of the TSC was to improve upon the general quality of life in the rural areas through accelerated sanitation coverage. It is, therefore, evident that the utility of cleanliness was envisaged in India much before Modi became Gujarat’s Chief Minister. TSC was later renamed as Nirmal Bharat Abhiyan (NBA) on 1 April, 2012 by the then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. After assuming power at the centre, Narendra Modi Cabinet just renamed NBA as Swachh Bharat Abhiyan on 24 September, 2014.

Now, let us understand as to how Gujarat was positioned among other Indian states on certain parameters of cleanliness when Modi became the chief minister in 2001. The Census of India published in the same year suggests that in terms of access to toilets, urban Gujarat was well placed among many Indian States. 76 per cent of the state’s urban population had access to toilets while it was 66 per cent in case of Andhra Pradesh, 53 per cent for Maharashtra and 72 per cent for Karnataka. The national average remained as 63 per cent. (See Table:1)

Table: 1

Access to Toilets in Indian States (% Urban Population), 2001

State	Access to toilets
	within premises
Andhra Pradesh	66.0
Gujarat	76.0
Karnataka	72.0
Maharashtra	53.0
Tamil Nadu	77.0
All India	63.0

Source: Census of India, 2001

However, the state could not retain its supremacy while considering the trends in access to toilets among urban households during the first seven years rule of Modi in Gujarat. Reports suggest that between 2002 to 2007-08, the average access to toilet facility among urban households in India was improved from 66 per cent to 76 per cent whereas in case of Gujarat it was from 79 per cent to 82 per cent only. (See Table:2)

Table: 2

Trends in Access to Toilets, Urban (% of Total Households)

State	Access to improved
	toilet facility
	(% of total households)
	2002		2007-08
Andhra Pradesh	77.0		82.1
Gujarat	79.2		82.4
Karnataka	67.8		59.3
Maharashtra	58.3		80.8
Tamil Nadu	62.4		67.5
All India	66.2		75.9

Source: Analysis based on District Level Household Survey (DLHS-2), 2002-04 and

            District Level Households and Facility Survey (DLHS-3), 2007-08

(Courtesy: Mehta; Meera and Dinesh)

Further, according to a study by the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA)-2005, conducted in the year 2000 among 300 cities across 13 states in India, nearly 56 per cent urban population of Gujarat had access to sewerage facilities which was much higher than the national average of just 45 per cent. In case of Andhra Pradesh it was only 24 per cent and for Tamil Nadu around 48 per cent. (See Table:3)

Table: 3

Access to Sewerage Facilities in Indian States, 2000

State	Access to sewerage
	facilities
Andhra Pradesh	24.0
Gujarat	56.0
Karnataka	57.0
Maharashtra	64.0
Tamil Nadu	48.0
All India	45.0

Source: Computed from the National Institute of Urban Affairs (NIUA), 2005

            (Courtesy: Mehta; Meera and Dinesh)

In case of solid waste management (availability of garbage disposal arrangements in slums as well as non-slum areas) Gujarat was doing fairly well, according to a report published in 2002 (NSS Report 488: Housing Conditions in India, 2002: Housing Stock and Constructions). The lack of garbage disposal arrangements was just around 8 per cent for non-slum households in urban Gujarat, as against more than double national average of 19.2 per cent. Similarly, the proportion of slum households was also lower at about 22.7 per cent in Gujarat than the all India average of 26 per cent.

A project paper namely Performance Assessment System (PAS) Project on “Financing and Monitoring Urban Water Supply and Sanitation in Gujarat” published by the CEPT University, Ahmedabad in June, 2011. (by Meera Mehta; Dinesh Mehta and others) noted: “By 2001, about 91 per cent of urban population in Gujarat had access to piped water supply, exceeding the national average by almost 20 per cent, thus putting Gujarat among the first three states in India in terms of access to the service.”

Between 1981 and 1991, access to piped water in urban Gujarat had improved by about 18 per cent. By 2001, about 92 per cent of the state’s urban population had access to piped water supply. (See Table: 4)

Table: 4

Access to Piped Water Supply in Indian States (% of urban population), 2001

State	Access to improved
	water supply
Andhra Pradesh	78.0
Gujarat	92.0
Karnataka	89.0
Maharashtra	92.0
Tamil Nadu	83.0
All India	68.0

Source: Census of India, 2001

However, on analyzing the trend in access to the improved source of drinking water supply in the urban areas of different Indian states we may conclude that Gujarat under Narendra Modi during 2002-07 actually did not show much progress in terms of access to the improved source of drinking water supply. During the period, the conditions of Andhra Pradesh improved from 56.8 per cent to 98.2 per cent, Tamil Nadu from 40.5 per cent to 97.6 per cent and Karnataka from 58.1 per cent to 93.9 per cent. While the national average jumped from 56.7 per cent to 94.9 per cent; the state of Gujarat could reach only up to 97.8 per cent from a much healthy situation of earlier 80.1 per cent.  (See Table: 5)

Table: 5

Trends in Access to Improved Source of Drinking Water Supply, Urban

State	Access to improved source of
	drinking water supply
	(% of total households)
	2002		2007
Andhra Pradesh	56.8		98.2
Gujarat	80.1		97.8
Karnataka	58.1		93.9
Maharashtra	77.8		97.7
Tamil Nadu	40.5		97.6
All India	56.7		94.9

Source: Analysis based on District Level Household Survey (DLHS-2), 2002-04 and

District Level Household and Facility Survey (DLHS-3), 2007-08

(Courtesy: Mehta; Meera and Dinesh)

The above analysis shows that Gujarat was poised well in terms of cleanliness even before Narendra Modi sworn in as the state’s chief minister. However, Modi government in Gujarat celebrated the year 2005 as the ‘Urban Year’ as a part of “Vibrant Gujarat” programme focusing on ‘a comprehensive and holistic urban governance vision’. Though the attention on Urban Gujarat was strengthened with assistance from the Government of India’s (UPA-I) Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) programme under which four cities of the state namely Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot received funding from the centre. Thus, Narendra Modi’s startling on-camera celebration, claiming the success of Gujarat Model ‘only because of his good governance’, hides many facts and suppresses many truths.

Subsequently, what was the outcome of Nirmal Gujarat Campaign in terms of its impact on sanitation standards in slums, on eradicating open defecation and on the level of cleanliness in urban areas? A report namely “Nirmal Gujarat Rapid Impact Assessment”, published in June, 2009, highlights that more than 74 per cent of slum dwellers did not have immediate access to toilet because of their unavailability in the immediate areas around the slums; more than 41 per cent chose open defecation; just a little over 10 per cent in slums use toilets. Further, in absence of waste collection service, citizens disposed off their garbage on streets and such phenomenon was common within lower income groups. Generally, richer people were more satisfied with the campaign than the poor ones.

During 2010, three years after the launch of Nirmal Gujarat campaign, six areas of the state namely Ankleshwar, Vapi, Ahmedabad, Vatva, Bhavnagar and Junagadh were declared as the critically polluted by the Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF), Government of India, based on the Comprehensive Environment Pollution Index (CEPI). While CEPI scores of 70 and above were considered as critically polluted industrial clusters, Vapi was found to have a score of 88.09 in the year 2010. Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB), in its report “Comprehensive Environmental Pollution Abatement Action Plan, Vapi Industrial Cluster– Gujarat” published from Gandhinagar during 2010 acknowledged the fact and assured the MoEF that it would implement its action plan to improve environment quality of the region. This action plan is known as the Vapi Action Plan.

Vapi Action Plan had various management and mitigation measures like safe disposal of industrial waste and treated water; strengthening air quality monitoring etc. The plan also recognized that the non-compliance by industries mainly caused environmental pollution in the region. Earlier in 1989, Vapi was declared as critically polluted. Therefore, in 2010, a moratorium was imposed on the expansion of industries and the setting up of new ones at Vapi. Despite its entire action plan, CEPI score in 2013 showed that Vapi still topped the pollution charts with a score of 85.31. Considering the impact on human health and very high level of exposure of humans to the pollution, MoEF re-imposed the ban on any permission to any new or expansion of project in Vapi.

Despite hazardous pollution issues, the plutocracy of Gujarat was continuously pushing to lift the moratorium. In 2016, Modi-government at the centre revised the CEPI to do away with the parameters like the impact on human health and environmental degradation. The new CEPI ensured that the areas like Vapi would no longer be classified as critically polluted and, hence, an inflow of industrial activities would be allowed. As a result, in November 2016 MoEF lifted the moratorium on expansions and new investments in three industrial clusters in Gujarat namely Ankleshwar; Vapi and Vatva. Thus, corporate profit was cared over environment’s safety and people’s health by the Modi government at the centre.

The failure of Nirmal Gujarat Campaign is just one among many claims of BJP’s development model. Hence, the reason for dumping the model, during election campaign in the state from where it was originated, is easily understandable. But, discussion on the subject should not end there since the tax payers’ money was involved in its large scale advertisement. Should one conclude that the Nirmal Gujarat was a failed campaign which only benefited Narendra Modi to build his image at the cost of state’s exchequer?

In 2002, out of 182 seats in Gujarat assembly, the BJP won 127 seats with a vote share of nearly 50 per cent. This fell to 117 seats and a vote share of 49.12 per cent in 2007 which was further reduced to 115 seats and 48.30 per cent vote share in 2012. After the first round of polling is over, the outcome of the election in 2017 is anybody’s guess. However, the ‘saga’ of Nirmal Gujarat Campaign is narrated – its myths and realities are expounded.

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