Ahmedabad, May 21: Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi on Sunday claimed that his state has overtaken China in the manufacture of clay pottery around the world.
In a video-conferencing watched by nearly 10,000 Gujaratis in the United States, Modi said: “There was a time when Chinese clay pottery was famous around the world.
Today, Morbi's ceramic industry is competing with China in exports.
“ Many businessmen from Morbi were upset with the BJP for collecting funds under the Dhansangrah scheme for the upcoming elections.
”Gujarat is becoming the automobile hub of Asia. Today, I want to proudly say that there is no single vehicle in the country of which the parts are not manufactured in the state and exported and used to make vehicles,” he asserted.
“If Gujarat and China are being compared today, it is because of the success of the manufacturing sector, in which the state has taken a lead,” Modi said.
Modi said: “The milk production (in Gujarat) has been increased by 68% in the state in the last decade. I can proudly say today that the government in Delhi won't get tea unless Gujarat provides milk to it,” Modi gushed.
PTI adds: Modi, while addressing NRIs across 12 cities in USA asserted that agriculture and industry were thriving in the state side by side.
“At a time when India's agriculture is not growing beyond 3 per cent, Gujarat's agriculture is growing at 11 per cent, despite the fact that unlike the rest of the country, the state is not blessed with perennial rivers,” Modi said.
The Chief Minister said that Gujarat has achieved “balanced growth” in sectors like agriculture, industry and services.
Modi said agricultural income in Gujarat has shot up to Rs 96,000 crore as compared to Rs 14,700 crore a decade ago, with farmers being the major beneficiaries.
“From 108 lakh hectares of agriculture land in 2001, Gujarat now has 135 lakh hectares,” Modi said.
In 2001, Gujarat produced 23 lakh bales of cotton, but today the figure stands at 1.23 crore bales (one bale equals 170 kg).
He said Gujarat was surging ahead in the manufacturing sector as well and was all set to turn Asia's auto-hub.
Even American auto giant Ford is coming to Gujarat, Modi said.
Modi said, American companies had invested Rs 15,000 crore in Gujarat and Canada had been working with the state in close coordination for quite some time.
Modi invited the audience to visit the state during the upcoming 2013 ‘Vibrant Gujarat' Summit and the Uttarayan festivities.
Modi also spoke about Gujarat's advancement in the field of solar energy. He claimed that the state has dedicated 600 MW to the national grid, while the rest of the country is producing only 120 MW of solar energy.
The solar park set up at Charanka will be the Asia's largest, Modi said.
He also claimed that the innovative canal-top solar power project was beneficial in saving about one crore litres of water per kilometer from evaporation annually and would save 16 per cent of electricity and land for farmers.
