A decade on, Shivraj Chouhan’s Madhya Pradesh stares financial crisis in the face

Weekend newspapers in Madhya Pradesh were full of pull-outs singing paeans for Shivraj Singh Chouhan who just completed a decade in office. The print media made substantial cash — while Chouhan made handsome goodwill capital — on the occasion. The government could not loosen its purse strings due to a severe financial crisis. But many who have benefited from the ruling party’s benevolence willingly bore the cost.

Some party members insisted on a grand celebration of the party’s 13th year in power. Saner counsel prevailed and celebrations were scaled down against the backdrop of looming drought, a severe financial crisis and the BJP’s recent humiliation in the Jhabua-Ratlam Lok Sabha by-election.

Chouhan is the second successive ruler after Digvijaya Singh to complete ten years in office. Unlike his predecessor, Chouhan has earned his popularity through direct connect with the entire state through regular mass contact. With the path paved and an election at every step, it was obligatory. But there is no other leader who has state-wide acceptability. Although the BJP owes its long rein to Digvijaya’s failures, some stark realities are staring the party and government in the face now. Questions are now being asked on whether populist schemes like subsidised pilgrimages, and free laptops and cellphones to students were good for the health of the government.

In 2003, when Digvijaya was voted out, the state’s debt stood at Rs 3,300 crore. It touched Rs 91,000 crore in 2013 when Chouhan earned a third term for the party. Today, it stands at a whopping Rs 1,17,000 crore. While the government claims to have removed the ‘Bimaru’ tag that Madhya Pradesh carried since its formation in 1956, the state has financially landed in the ICU. In 2001, when Chhattisgarh was carved out of the state, the per capita income was Rs 18,000. This year it stands at Rs 59,000 while Chhattisgarh’s has risen to Rs 69,000.

The Chouhan government kept blaming the UPA government for its woes. Now with a “friendly NDA” government at the Centre, it has to grin and bear its stoic unsympathetic attitude. Debate continues on whether the indifference is due to administrative reasons or political ones. Chouhan had cast his weight behind party patriarch LK Advani, who had resisted Narendra Modi’s elevation as prime ministerial candidate.

The recent borrowing of Rs 3,500 crore was on the eve of Diwali against its securities for 10 years. This was meant to be disbursed as relief to farmers in distress, hit by severe drought conditions in parts of state. Government had recently called a special session of assembly and cleared allocation of Rs 8,000 crore from the budget to tide over the agriculture sector crisis. The Central leaders have not tired of offering platitudes to Chouhan, but no one seems in a position to bail him out. Teams of Central observers have visited the state, but the incumbent government at the Centre can’t match the UPA government’s munificence. Neither Finance Minister Arun Jaitley nor Modi have offered to walk an extra mile to help the state.

National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (Nabard) reduced its share of loans to farmers to 40 percent from earlier 50 percent despite the state government’s memorandum to the Centre to raise the Nabard share. Earlier the state government took a loan of Rs 5,000 crore to meet its financial requirements in last four months. The precarious situation has forced the state to cut allocations to various departments by up to 15 per cent. This has stalled infrastructure development in rural areas. Most affected is the rural road network scheme where work is affected due to non-payments to contractors and significant projects pending in education, health, panchayat and rural development sectors. The development plank that has helped Chouhan sail through many electoral battles has turned creaky.

Cost-cutting has affected the public works department (PWD) most with Rs 1,300 crore being slashed from its budget, which will affect the construction of roads, buildings and even highways that are so vital to lure investors.

The state has declared 35 out of 51 districts drought-affected and has sought initial Central assistance of Rs 2,400 crore. The state wants another Rs 300 crore for drinking water supply and Rs 750 crore for waiving interest payments on loans. The deficient monsoon has affected over 4.8 million farmers spread across 33,283 villages with an area of 4.4 million hectare hit by drought.

The Vyapam scam sullied the government’s image considerably. The government’s overdependence on excise revenue from liquor has also come under criticism. The Vyapam scam has gone to the back-burner after the CBI took over the inquiry. After the Bihar government announced its decision to enforce prohibition from April 2016, the state government has been facing derisive comments for turning the state into “Madya Pradesh” (liquor state).