In my capacity as a US Congressional Fellow in the late 1960s, attached to Congresspersons and Congressional Committees of the US Congress, I had, on numerous occasions, come into close touch with the Congressional Research Service (CRS).
It is peopled with some of the best experts and analysts in every field, enabling it to place before the House of Representatives and the Senate, critical and authoritative analyses of policy issues bearing on domestic and foreign affairs.
I have known, at close quarters, the high quality of the services it renders to legislators, including the drafting of Bills, assistance during Committee hearings and debates in the Congress, and watching over the implementation of the laws enacted. Drawing on my experience then and since, I can personally vouch for its independence, thoroughness, accuracy, objectivity, balance, and non-partisanship.
Indeed, CRS reports are counted among the “10 most wanted Government documents” in the US.
Sections of the political class in India have been rattled by the laudatory references in the latest CRS report of September 1, titled “India: Domestic Issues, Strategic Dynamics, and US Relations” to the achievements of Gujarat under the leadership of the Chief Minister, Mr Narendra Modi, in respect of both development and governance.
SOLE PURPOSE
Mr Manish Tewari of the Congress has brusquely dismissed the report as of no consequence, dubbing it as just one of the many that US think-tanks keep producing, often coming to diametrically opposite conclusions.
And, another Congress leader, Mr Digvijay Singh, has churlishly implied in a public statement, that it is possible to have such reports fabricated in the US for a consideration. No doubt, he could not shed the complex engendered in him by the state of affairs he sees around him!
Remember, the sole purpose of the reports of the CRS is to make available to the US Congresspersons the best possible inputs and insights for framing legislative proposals, embodying sound and practicable policies and therefore, there is simply no question of its being forced to indulge in any hanky-panky.
Whatever Mr Modi's detractors may say, they cannot fool the people who are close to the ground. It is not just the people.
Seasoned and worldly-wise foreign observers, with an in-depth and comparative knowledge of performance records of governments in development and governance-related fields, as also India's Planning Commission, have highly commended the Gujarat model of growth, which had been consistently double-digit, and is expected to touch 11.2 per cent in 2011-12.
For instance, on June 1, Ms Karin Hulshof, Representative of the UNICEF in India, was unstinted in her praise of the outstanding progress Gujarat has made in the education, health, nutrition and human development sectors, adding that it has almost achieved the UNICEF target of Human Development Index set for 2015.
UNWARRANTED
A World Bank-supported study, based on an analysis of 40,000 km-long state roads, including 16,000 km of state highways and 20,000 km of district main roads, has said that Gujarat has adhered to international best practices in roads management, and “excelled” in bringing about a very close collaboration between the government and private sector.
At the time of discussions on the Plan allocations for Gujarat for both 2010-11 and 2011-12, the Vice-Chairman of the Planning Commission, Dr Montek Singh Ahluwalia, paid glowing tributes to the Gujarat model of development, its mobilisation and deployment of resources, financial discipline, growth rates of GDP and per capita investment and income, and many innovative projects such as a 3000-acre solar park, expansion of underground sewerage and skills development schemes.
The CRS report has only confirmed these findings when it talks of Gujarat being “India's best example of impressive development successes (and) effective governance” where “… Modi has streamlined economic processes, removing red tape and curtailing corruption in ways that have made the State a key driver of national economic growth”.
Rubbishing it is both unwarranted and self-defeating. Instead, the Governments at the States and the Centre should make a case study of the Gujarat's growth model so that it can be replicated all over the country.