enterprising lot. They save 40 per cent of their earnings and invest 28
per cent back for growth. As noted social scientist and IRMA Chairman Y
K Alagh sums it: “The State is a development leader. Our industrial
growth is backed by our own savings and there is still a margin of
increasing it by 3 per cent. However, Professor Ravindra Dholakia of
IIM-A says, “Higher education and neglect of our eastern tribal belt
remains a disgrace for such a progressive state though.” The State of
Singapore employs 2 million. Surat in Gujarat alone has 1.2 million
jobs in its industry! The Ahmedabad-Gandhinagar region is becoming a
veritable knowledge corridor with the NID, NIFT, DAAICT University,
IIAR, Petroleum University already there, as an IIT and a bunch of IT
parks by the time the State turns 50 in 2010.
1. 1947
A bunch of farmers sets up Amul at Anand, laying seeds of India’s White revolution.
2. 1961
India’s
second IIM set up at Ahmedabad; also the National Institute of Design.
Nehru lays foundation stone for Narmada dam. The 1960’s saw first push
towards industrialization with the setting up of Gujarat Refinery at
Vadodara and the golden corridor along the Delhi-Mumbai railway line.
3. 1962
The
Balwantrai Mehta Committee recommendations heralded grassroot democracy
and the panchayat movement in the country and Gujarat took the lead.
Mehta was the then Chief Minister of the State.
4. 1965
Kandla
Port comes up in Kutch, putting Gujarat on the maritime road with the
State cornering over 25 per cent of total port traffic of the country
in the present.
5. 1970’s and 1980’s
See
consolidation of industrialization and home-grown enterprise. Nirma,
Rasna, Cadilla, Paras and even Reliance are set up as small and medium
units in and around Ahmedabad.
6. 1990’s
Genetically modified Bt cotton is sown extensively in the State, making Gujarat produce over one-third of country’s cotton.
7. 1997
AMC
comes out with country’s first non-sovereign guarantee bonds worth Rs
10 crore, escrowing its octroi and property tax collections. Now,
Ahmedabad is on the road to becoming a mega city.
8. December 2000
Narmada waters flow into villages for drinking purposes.
9. 2004
Country’s first restricted entry expressway between Ahmedabad and Vadodara set open for public.
10. And on…
Gujarat
gets 33 SEZs, largest in terms of area occupied in the country. At over
Rs 6,00,000 crore (US dollars 150 billion), Gujarat has half of India’s
industrial and infrastructure investment pipeline for the next few
years.
Source by cities.expressindia.com
Indian Rupee Converter
