Narendra Modi – The Lion of Gujarat

Narendra Modi was born on 17th September 1950 in a small town of Vadnagar in Mehsana district in North Gujarat in India.

Narendra Modi completed his schooling in Vadnagar and did his masters degree in Political Science from Gujarat University. Even as a boy he was interested in social services. During the Indo-Pak war in early sixties, he went to help the soldiers in transit in railway stations. In 1967 he offered voluntary services to the people affected in Narmada Tapti floods. He continued serving the victims of major disasters in various parts of the country in his student and adult life.

Narendra Modi's abilities and leadership qualities were seen in the early days of his student life when he became the student leader of Akhil Bhartiya Vidhyarthi Parishad (All India Students Council). He played a prominent role in the anticorruption movement in 1974 in Gujarat.

He entered politics in 1987 by joining the Bharatiya Janata Party. Within a year, he was elevated to the level of General Secretary of the Gujarat unit of the party. In 1995 he was made the National Secretary of the party in-charge of five major states in India – a rare distinction. He traveled extensively through out the world, which helped him to develop a global perspective.

After carving a niche for himself in the national politics as a master strategist, he took over as the Chief Minister of Gujarat on 7th October 2001.

Narendra , who is ever capable of turning an adversity into an opportunity made use of his inexperience to start afresh, on a clean slate without the burden of the past. His beginner mind was a blessing in disguise for him to learn things without any bias and without the need to unlearn the dead past. Though he was a wandering type of Sangh Pracharak he had a wealth of national and international exposure with him. Immediately after the swearing in ceremony he swung into action. His administrative acumen, clear vision and integrity brought him a landslide victory in the general elections held in December 2002 and he was sworn in as the Chief Minister for the second term on 22nd December 2002.

The biggest challenge which Narendra Modi had to face when he took over as the Chief Minster was the reconstruction of the earthquake affected areas. Bhuj was a city of rubble. People were living in temporary shelters without basic infrastructure. Earthquake recovery became his first priority. His dynamic vision and quick decisions have put Gujarat Reconstruction Programme as one of the best reconstruction programmes on the global map and set a benchmark for reconstruction and disaster recovery, not only in India, but also in the entire Asia. Earthquake reconstruction and rehabilitation in Gujarat achieved global recognition.

Narendra Modi as soon as he took over as the Chief Minister focused quickly on integrated overall development. Along with industrial growth and economic development, he also focused on rural development, improvement in education, education of girl child, development of the deprived, agricultural development, science and technology and disaster management. Gujarat had always focused on industrial growth, but Narendra Modi made an attempt to correct the imbalance in development by focusing appropriately on social sectors, integrating social and economic growth. He put Gujarat on the road to integrated development with a special focus on five sectors namely – education, water, energy, human resources and safety & security.

Narendra Modi quickly shifted the gear from government centered administration to people centered administration. People's participation became the foundation of all development programs. Efficient application of information technology for governance, focus on agriculture, human resources development, and delivery of health services, rural development and thrust on post disaster recovery has made Gujarat emerge as the leader among the Indian states in spite of a series of disasters.

Attention and priority given by Narendra Modi to education as compared to any other past Chief Minister of the state is also noteworthy. His realization that no amount of economic, industrial or commercial resurgence can be sustained on a long-term basis without the foundation of proper academic and professional education has made him re-work the whole system of education in Gujarat state. Successive annual campaigns for enrolment of all children in schools, with a special focus on enrolment of the girl child have brought lakhs of children back to school, which otherwise would have been left out. The concern of the Narendra Modi for education of the girl child is reflected in the fact that he has specially created a fund called “Kanya Kelavani Nidhi”. Now it is a well-known fact that all the gifts received by Narendra Modi are auctioned and the funds are credited to this account.

Narendra Modi has been constantly innovating for improving the efficiency and productivity in various sectors. One such innovative step is the decision to involve private sector for development of huge wastelands. Another innovative step is celebration of traditional festivals, and covert them into events of major tourist attraction. In a mobile world in order to make citizens really mobile, roaming ration cards and roaming school cards have been introduced. Provision of soil health cards to the farmers is another innovation to help farmers improve the land quality and ultimately agricultural productivity. “Sujalam Sufalam” scheme launched to create a grid of water resources in Gujarat is another innovative step towards water conservation and its appropriate utilization.

Vibrant Gujarat Global Investor's meet is an innovative bi-annual submit organized by Narendra Modi to attract investment from rest of the country and abroad. Narendra Modi in his five years of rule has ensured all round development of Gujarat in all areas including agriculture, rural development, education and industrial development. His vision is to make Gujarat emerge as the leader, not only in the Indian sub-continent, but also in the entire Asia to compete with Japan, Taiwan, and China.

Narendra Modi looks beyond the immediate gratification for the purpose of getting votes. The programmes such as Krushi Mahotsav, River Grid, Chiranjeevi & Matru Vandana schemes, schemes for reduction in infant mortality rate, Beti Bachavo campaign (save the girl child), Jyotigram, Karmayogi Abhiyan etc. aim at multi-dimensional development of Gujarat in the long-term. The vision, concept and implementation of such programmes make Narendra Modi rise as a statesman, who thinks of the next generation in the backdrop of politicians who think about the next elections.

UN Sasakawa Award for disaster reduction, CAPAM award for innovation in governance, UNESCO award, CSI award for e-governance, No.1 state in industrial investment (MOUs), No.1 among major health care services, availability and utility of infrastructure, Indiatech award in power sector etc. is an indicative list of what Gujarat achieved under the able Chief Ministership of Narendra Modi. The very fact that Narendra Modi has been ranked as the number one Chief Minister by the public for the second consecutive year speaks volumes about his achievements.

Narendra Modi is a powerful orator – avid reader and an original thinker. Apart from numerous articles and Essays, he also has authored three books.