The prosperity of a state is measured by the ownership of four durable Items in a Household: television, computer/laptop, telephone/mobile phone and two-wheeler/car/jeep.
Most of the state level success we see – Punjab, Gujarat, Maharashtra, Kerala- happened due to people finding alternatives and opportunities themselves, when the CMs/leaders were looking other way busy playing power games and filling their own bags. Examples: Green Revolution and Expats for Punjab, Expat hotel owners and the great businessmen for Gujarat, Location of Mumbai and it becoming gateway to pre-independence India for Maharashtra, and Expats again (mainly in Middle East) for Kerala. These states have been (relatively) prosperous for far longer than what any of the current debate indicates and certainly longer than the political careers of current national candidates.
Rag-tag policy assembly, one-off decisions, and rhetorical populist “statement of intent” doesn’t count for a model. Anyone who has ever dealt with models will know that the fundamental requirement for a model is Vision. A Vision, that not only addresses current problems, but targets future needs.
The most consistent Model-like decision states have followed are “Tax breaks” which unfortunately are effective only for already Multi-billion dollar businesses. The other consistent policy is nepotism and Crony Capitalism. This Jugaad style leadership makes for great read in magazines, but its not sustainable for the country. If there were any Models in a state, all business set ups will have an opportunity in that particular state.
Calling any of the states economies as based on a “Model” is naive. Believing and promoting that any of these models will make “India” socially, economically and technologically prosperous is illogical and dishonest posturing.
And here’s the link to the Insight Report at CRISIL.
http://crisil.com/pdf/economy/CRISIL-Research%20Insight-Prosperity-and-Equality_111113.pdf