Recently, Chandrababu Naidu, the Chief Minister of the Southeast Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, announced that he would seek to make his state follow the economic model of Gujarat, a West Indian state known for its investor-friendly policies and explosive economic growth. While it is possible that this may just be lip service to appease his coalition partners in the BJP, I'm inclined to believe that there is some sincerity to his words given his precedent of business-friendly policies, sometimes to the detriment of his low-income constituents (who rightfully feel neglected). And I personally object to his plans and believe that they are not in the long-term interests of the state.
I'm not one to blindly hate Gujarat so I'll give credit where credit is due: Gujarat has seen impressive economic growth and industrialization over the past few decades. In fact, it has the highest real (inflation-adjusted) compound annual GDP growth rate of any Indian state since 1990. This is great!
However, the issue arises when politicians--such as Chandrababu Naidu--lose sight of the effect that GDP is merely a means to an end rather than the end itself. They prioritize GDP growth at the expense of their constituents rather than seeing GDP as an instrument to enrich their constituents, including (and especially) the poor.
Gujarat is a stark example of this: While GDP may have skyrocketed, quality of life and human capital have not risen in tandem with GDP. For instance, although Gujarat had the highest per capita income in constant 2011-2012 prices of any Indian state during the 2022-2023 financial year, it also has the second highest rates of under-5 childhood malnutrition of ANY Indian state. The state also suffers from high dropout rates and low gross enrollment rates at the secondary and tertiary levels.
In contrast, while Andhra Pradesh may be far less industrialized (55-60% of the labor force is employed in agriculture and allied sectors) and poorer on paper, Andhra Pradesh boasts above-average secondary and tertiary enrollment rates and has some of the lowest rates of under-5 childhood malnutrition of any state in the country. Andhra Pradesh's life expectancy is also roughly the same as Gujarat even though the average Andhra earns two-thirds of what the average Gujarati earns.
