The Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) report for the year ended March 31, 2014, that was tabled in the Gujarat Assembly on Tuesday, slams the so-called ‘Gujarat model’ which has seen a decline in sex ratio at birth in 15 out of 26 states in 2013 compared to 2012. The CAG has also observed several deficiencies in the schemes implemented by the Gujarat government in the agriculture sector and noted that the state had registered a negative growth in this sector in 2012-13.
The report observed that the state’s average annual agriculture growth rate in the 11th Five-Year Plan (2007-12) was 5.49% which was better than the all-India average of 4.06%. However, GDP in agriculture clocked a negative growth of -6.96% in 2012-13, the first year of 12th Plan compared to the previous 21.64% in 2010-11 and 5.02% in 2011-12.
While conducting the performance audit of Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojna (RKVY) implemented in Gujarat, CAG observed several deficiencies and non-achievement of targets. The CAG stated that the Gujarat government has missed the seed production target by a great margin even after spending more than R3.5 crore between 2008 and 2012 on the project of providing quality seeds to farmers.
The CAG noted that “against the targeted production of 19,000 quintals of quality seed of groundnut, wheat and pearl millet, the actual production was only 5,524 quintals, and the same was sold to farmers. Thus, notwithstanding the expenditure of R3.54 crore, seed production remained at 29.07% only.”
The CAG also criticised the state government for not conducting any evaluation of results after distributing these seeds among farmers. “No evaluation was done to ascertain the extent of improved productivity by providing quality seeds to the farmers,” said the report.
The report also highlighted the government’s failure in the social sector in schemes like State Child Protection Policy. On decreasing ratio of girl child in the state, the CAG recorded a decline from 920 to 919 even as sex ratio in India has increased from 933 to 943. The report also says that while the state registered 70.95 lakh pregnancies between years 2009 and 2014, the number of registered deliveries was only 57.66 lakh, leaving a difference of 13.29 lakh that “the district authorities had not properly investigated the reasons for difference”.
Similarly, in case of child marriages, the report said, “Out of 659 complaints of child marriages received in 2009-14, court cases were filed in only 15 cases and not a single person was convicted in the state during the review period.”
The CAG has also expressed concern and dissatisfaction at the Gujarat government for the high level of financial indiscipline and poor spending. “The fiscal deficit increased from R15,513 crore in 2009-10 to R18,422 crore in 2013-14.” It also highlighted the non-submission of utilisation certificates of R7,420.40 crore indicating the lack of proper monitoring by departments. CAG observed lapses in tax collection and noted more than R300 crore of non-recovery of value added tax (VAT).
Gujarat’s public sector undertakings, too, posted an unimpressive return on investment according to the report. “In the last five years, the state government invested R24,007 crore, the average return by way of dividend on the investments in government companies and statutory corporations, etc, was 0.31% only,” the report noted.