It's electricity, stupid.

Gujarat is probably the only state which has no power cuts. Even in Delhi, which prides itself as the capital city, blackouts come suddenly and last for hours. These are especially frequent when it is very hot, when air conditioners are in use, or very cold when people use electric heaters. To guard against being in the total dark everyone has an inverter, which uses a battery to power a couple of lights and fans, or buys a portable generator, which uses diesel, causing enormous noise and chemical pollution. Around 60% of telecom towers use diesel generators because of lack of electricity using 2 billion liters of diesel and producing 5.3 million tons of CO2. In Gujarat no one has any alternative domestic source of electricity saving a lot of money and the headache of maintenance. Chief Minister, Modi boasted that in 2 years Gujarat will be producing 7000 MW of electricity, up from 4000 MW today, and will supply power to the rest of the country. So what? It is expensive to set up a power plant so a few hours of inconvenience should be tolerated in a poor country like India. The answer also lies in Gujarat. With plentiful power supply Gujarat attracts the highest investment of any state. Already a total of Rs 120.34 trillion have been invested here and another Rs 16.28 trillion have been promised till the end of 2011. TOI, February 15. Thousands of industries have come up and more are planned bringing jobs and prosperity. Increasing tax collections mean that Gujarat has built clean wide roads and highways improving transport which, in turn, helps business. Although frugal by nature Gujaratis are spending more so large numbers of restaurants, shopping malls and car retails have come up. Of course, there are still a lot of poor people but with an enormous hunger for labor anyone is guaranteed to find work. It will take time for increased prosperity to translate to better education which will raise earning potential of everyone and reduce poverty. Chief Minister, Modi has already won 2 terms and will surely win a third in the next elections. This is causing enormous heartburn to the Congress which never ceases attack Mr Modi through its control of the press. The Congress is relying on throwing taxpayer money on social programs most of which will be stolen, cause inflation and increase deficit. Electricity and roads help the poor more than handouts but the Congress is a party of creepy crawlies devoid of any patriotism willing to win elections by any means because power provides the way to loot. Traitors.