PUNJAB vs GUJRAT

GUJARAT and Punjab are poles apart. Gujaratis are basically entrepreneurs, Punjabi NRIs largely hail from families engaged in government service, agriculture and small businesses like transportation, hospitality and real estate. Investors put their money where returns are maximum. They avoid risky, low-return destinations. Today investors have a wide range of choices. Love for the birthplace or nostalgia does not much influence investment decisions. Canadian MP Sukh Dhaliwal is right when he says Punjab lacks the right environment. Rail, road blockages are common. Religious faction-fights can erupt any time.

Gujarat has a dynamic chief minister in Narendra Modi. None, not even his political opponents, have ever accused him of corruption or financial wrong-doing. This has a trickle-down effect on the bureaucracy. Can one say the same about any of the top political leaders in Punjab? Almost all of them face, or have faced, corruption cases. Punjab’s bureaucracy and police are politicised and serve politicians’ interests. Unlike Punjab, Gujarat offers a red carpet, not red tape, to investors. NRIs from the West are used to a clean and responsive administration. In Punjab they are engaged in endless property disputes. An interaction with the police or officialdom can be nightmarish.
In Gujarat there is “minimum government and maximum governance”. The state focusses on infrastructure and ensures social peace, and leaves much else to the private sector. Modi is known for taking quick decisions. After Ratan Tata quit West Bengal, he got land for the Nano project in three days. No wonder, the Tatas alone have invested Rs 30,000 crore in Gujarat. Gujarat has overcome the setbacks caused by the earthquake in 2001 and communal riots in 2002. It aggressively holds a biennial global investors’ summit and hires top lobbyists to reach out to investors across the globe. Punjab leaders make a feeble, lazy attempt to woo Punjabi NRIs, back home for a vacation. A few days ago Gujarat secured investment commitments of $450 billion. Punjab’s NRI show has yielded zero investment.