Politics of Governance: A Study of Gujarat

This article is a study of political economy of Gujarat in the context of the issues pertaining to ‘good governance’. The article reviews Gujarat’s socio-economic development with respect to key indicators of environment, health, education and welfare programmes. It presents an argument that overall economic growth alone is not the adequate criterion for assessing good governance. Rather, broader issues of human development, reach and depth of welfare programmes and the approach informing the economic policy constitute the core bases for the assessment of a state’s claims to good governance. Gujarat, one of the states of the Indian union, is seen as a developed state that has made considerable progress in more recent times in the direction of good governance. This article seeks to critically examine this impression.