India in Numbers: It’s a Close Fight Between Congress and INLD on Development Indicators

India in Numbers: It’s a Close Fight Between Congress and INLD on Development Indicators

Swaniti Initiative | September 30, 2014 | The Swaniti Blog

Date of Release: September 30th, 2014

Published in: Indian Express

In this edition of our fortnightly data series, Indian in Numbers, we take a look at the performance of the Haryana State government.

On October 15, 16.51 million voters in Haryana will go out to vote in the 90 Assembly constituencies. And Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda will be seeking a third term for his Congress government.

After a disappointing performance in the Lok Sabha elections, the state Congress led by Hooda seems encouraged by the recent bypoll results, which saw the Bharatiya Janata Party lose its sheen. Compared to Om Prakash Chautala’s INLD government which was in power till 2004, Hooda has fared well in a few important segments like Health and Economic growth.

Here is what the numbers say

Haryana’s economic growth has always been robust since the Green Revolution of the 60s. Under the Chautala government, the Net Domestic Product per-capita of the State saw an increase of 5.4%. Hooda’s government posted better figures of 6.5% in 10 years, but, coinciding with the slowdown in Indian Economy, there was a dip in their second term. It remains to be seen whether the growth has been inclusive enough for voters to give their approval to the ruling party.

Infant Mortality Rates saw a sharp decline under the Hooda rule. There has been a 30% decrease in IMR that saw Haryana break into the top Indian states with the least IMRs.  This is a major achievement considering that under the INLD government Haryana was ranked 15 all over India.

In Haryana, the agriculture sector has been diminishing in respect to growth rates in other states despite it being an important sector for the State. The Congress governmentbettered INLD’s growth rate in this sector by 1%, but, in their second term, the figures paled in comparison to the All-India growth rate. During the INLD rule, Haryana surged ahead of most of India with a 2.6% growth – 0.71% more than All-India growth.

At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is drumming up support for ‘Make in India’, Hooda faces a tough task of catching up with other states in the manufacturing sector. Between 2000 and 2005, the annual increase in organized manufacturing jobs in Haryana was 4.5%. This number was 7.2% in the next seven years under the Congress.  But the state has fallen from 2 to 10 in rank during the last 10 years.

In the run up to the elections, the INLD party is projecting jailed former chief minister Om Prakash Chautala as the party’s CM candidate even though the Representation of the People Act disqualifies him for contesting in elections for six years. On the otherside of the fence, Hooda has been aggressive in allotting party tickets to candidates and might have rubbed a few the wrong way. Despite Hooda improving Haryana in a few sectors, it remains to be seen whether the voters will give him a third term.