|
|
The increasing growth of knowledge based Industries and increase in the need of technical man power, the State focus on a strong Academic foundation.
The state leads in labour productivity in the country and the highest proportion of the state’s populace is engaged in running owned businesses.
The state’s literacy rate stands at 69.1 per cent, which is higher than the national average of 65.38 per cent. Gujarat is home to India’s leading business school, the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad (IIM-A) and other important institutions such as National Institute of Design (NID), National Institute of Fashion Technology (NIFT), the Entrepreneurship Development Institute of India (EDI), among others. The state also has 25 engineering colleges, 26 management institutions and 300 technical institutes.
The State Government plans to establish a Shipbuilding University, a first of its kind in the country in the district of Kutch. A Children’s University ‘Bal Gokulam’ is also in the pipeline.
The Government has also charted out plans to enroll 525,000 girls in the state in Kanya Kelavani drive. It foresees a vision 2010 that, when Gujarat celebrates its golden Jubilee, there should be a zero – ‘0’ percent drop out rate in Gujarat (Literally No Drop Outs).
The Industrial Development in the state provides vast potential for setting up of new Educational Institutes in areas of : |
 | Marine Engineering | | Port Management |
| Gems and Jewellery design | | Fishery and Fish processing |
| Urban Planning | | Disaster Management |
| Biotechnology | | |
|
|
| The state has high life expectancy levels, low birth and death rates and a low infant mortality rate. 72.3 per cent of Gujarat’s population is below the age of 45. The state has 1,637 government hospitals and 1,070 primary health centres. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Gujarat has a 1,600 km indented coastline with I I intermediate, I major and 29 minor ports, which handle over 80 per cent of the port traffic in the country.
Gujarat was the first state to announce a separate Port Policy, which integrates the development of ports with Industrial Development, Power generation and Infrastructure Development. It was also the first state to privatize the construction of ports in the country.
Gujarat’s ports handle 20 per cent of the total cargo of the country. Kandla, India’s largest port handled 41.5 million reen of cargo in 2003-04. Other ports in the state, the Gujarat Pipavav Port at Pipavav (Saurashtra) and the recently commissioned Gujarat Adani Port at Mundra (Kutch) were the country’s first reenfield ports to be developed on a Build-Own-Operate-Transfer (BOOT) basis. Mundra is a state-of-the-art port that facilitates berthing of large vessels while Dahej in Gujarat is the country’s only chemical handling port. It is estimated that by 2015, Gujarat’s ports will handle 39 per cent of the country’s total cargo.
Gujarat also has a road network spanning across 74,000 km. It is also well connected by rail with 5,310 km of rail lines.
Though Gujarat is self sufficient in its needs for domestic and commercial water consumption, it has initiated plans for the maximum development and utilization of water resources in the state.
The Sardar Sarovar project will provide assured irrigation to 1.8 million hectares in Gujarat with water for domestic and industrial use in about 8,215 villages and 135 townships.
The state has undertaken extensive canal construction to supply water to the arid regions of Kutch. Also underway is Kalpasar, a multipurpose project that aims to build a dam across the Gulf of Khambhat with a tidal reservoir of 872 sq km. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Power is key to industry and Gujarat has a good record of consistent power supply for commercial use. The state has planned several initiatives to build adequate capacity in generation, transmission and distribution of power supply. These include rationalizing the power tariff structure, encouraging power generation from non-conventional sources, focusing on energy conservation and improving the quality of services to consumers. As the largest producer of natural gas in India, Gujarat intends to set up an extensive state-wide gas grid to augment its existing power capacity. The grid will use gas supplied by the recently commissioned LNG terminals at Dahej.
In fact, by 2010, 20 per cent of the country’s energy needs will be met by natural gas and Gujarat would play a crucial role in fulfilling these requirements. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
The government is planning to cover 75 per cent population through the Water grid by 2010. The existing method of water conservation include: 87,179 check dams (Small weir constructed across rivulet having minimum discharge of 1 cusec after monsoon)
35,379 bori bandhs (Dams made of sand bags)
1,30,262 khet talavadi (Farm ponds) and
5,551 deepened ponds.
In regard to this, the government passed the Gujarat Water Users’ Participatory Irrigation Management Bill in the year 2007 authorizing the farmers to constitute Water Users’ Associations (WUA) for management of canals handed over, after rehabilitation by the Government. |
|
|
|
|
Industrial infrastructure
|
|
|
The Gujarat Industrial Development Corporation (GIDC) has set up 168 industrial estates and another 106 are being developed in different parts of the state. The State Government has Special Economic Zones at Kandla and Surat and a software technology park at Gandhinagar. GIDC plans to set up an apparel park in Surat. Additionally, GIDC has developed an industrial park in Dahej, which includes a petrochemical complex with facilities like a private airstrip, effluent collection and disposal, a liquid chemical port and railway lines.
To encourage investment in the state, Gujarat also gives autonomy and funds to industrial estates to implement maintenance and modernization measures. It is also encouraging organizations to set up units in these zones by giving them tax holidays and subsidies like exemption from stamp duty and registration fees. |
|
|
|
|
Rural and Urban Development
|
|
|
Rural and Urban Development is a continuous Project of the Gujarat State Government.
Gujarat is accelerating towards the process of urbanization and modernization due the fast growing economy of the State. State Government has merged 17 newly formed Nagarpalikas with municipal corporations of Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Jamnagar. The aim of this merger is to bring uniformity and rationalization in urban development of these four cities, which ultimately generates the potentials of development of various urban infrastructure like water supply, sewerage, roads, metro rails and other social amenities within the city.
The Government also has sought for World Bank Aid for its Projects. The Government envisages upgrading infrastructure in the towns like Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh and Veraval so that these areas could attract more industrial investments.
Government has planned two mega urban projects for the city –“Ahmedabad Bus Rapid Transit System” is planned to cater to the local transportation needs; and “Metro Rail Ahmedabad” is being planned to meet the transportation requirements of Ahmedabad and Gandhinagar. Both these projects are to be implemented in a phased manner in order to make them financially feasible. These projects would ease traffic congestion.
Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) has been jointly implemented by the government, Development Board (GIDB), Ahmadabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) and Ahmadabad Urban Development Authority (AUDA). The total network of BRTS is 380 Km out of which 20 percent work was completed by August 2007 and it is envisaged that the project will complete by the year 2010.
For the diamond city of Surat, the Government has a dream project in order to provide better public transport facilities for the people. “Canal based transit corridor”, which is proposed to be developed on canal of about 30 kms in length, which connects the city form one end to another end. This will provide a thorough and uninterrupted traffic corridor to the commuters. It consists of development of road and rail corridor over the canal with the integrated development of surrounding areas also.
Conventional fuels such as diesel and petrol are being gradually replaced by Compressed Natural Gas (CNG), which aims to ensure better reliability, safety and security to consumers. As a part of the commitment of a ‘Cleaner-Greaner’ Environment, the government has initiated the process of converting all buses and auto rickshaws into CNG vehicles. The Government, through public and private bodies, is creating necessary CNG infrastructure for auto gas supply. |
|
|
|
|
Tele Communications and IT
|
|
|
Telecommunications and IT have played a key role in increasing work efficiency and enhancing public accessibility through e-governance. Gujarat Government focuses on growth and development of new & emerging technology areas. It has been increasingly using the ICT (Information and Communication Technologies) to offer citizen based service as per convenient location with an initiative to improve the reach, make services more transparent and reduce response time with reducing costs. The Government is also pro active in its Initiatives and ranks first state in the country to have made e-Governance functional in all its Municipalities and Municipal Corporations.
State Govt. has adopted Innovative, constructive and result oriented progressive policies for the promotion of e-governance in the State. Through the Nodal Agency, the Government’s Science and Technology Department positions Gujarat, as a Key State in the Knowledge Economy sector and acts as a medium to make Government-Citizen Interface more effective, transparent and efficient.
Gujarat is an aspiring leader with e-readiness Initiatives with the IT Policy 2006-2011. Independent agencies have ranked Gujarat amongst the top five States in terms of e-readiness.for its Network Policy and E-governance, Network Learning, Network Access and Network Society. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
