A year of more misses than hits
JAIPUR: To its admirers, the Vasundhara Raje government has had a good year – sound governance, strong growth and some tentative steps towards economic reforms.
Those are among the achievements the government will showcase when Raje holds a special event to mark the first year of her government on Saturday. HT has a copy an official pamphlet detailing the achievements of the government.
But to her critics, the government has floundered on creating new jobs, struggled with infrastructure and managed a flagship financial empowerment scheme so badly that it dented the administration’s credibility in delivering complicated social projects.
In her most striking move since winning a second term, Raje took her government to the doorstep of villagers under the ‘Sarkar Aapke Dwar’ offsite, raising hopes of running an administration sensitive to the needs of the poorest.
Even so, some of the government’s most controversial achievements involved painful structural reforms — shaking up land, labour and welfare policies that have been hailed by free-market flag-bearers as necessary for employing a fastgrowing workforce and a benchmark for the rest of the country.
Using its four-fifths majority, As chief minister Vasundhara Raje completes one year in office on December 13, HT takes a look at how the government has fared on vital parameters. Beginning tomorrow, in a three-part series, we will focus on areas such as industry, infrastructure, health, jobs, skill development etc.
the government amended the Industrial Disputes Act, in July to allow companies to lay off up to 300 workers without government permission, up from 100 before.
“It was long overdue,” said Anand Singhal, chairman of the Confederation of Indian Industry’s Rajasthan chapter, arguing such moves alone could fire growth and create jobs.
Next, a bill to expedite land acquisition was approved, tackling a chronic obstacle to investments sorely needed for the state to achieve its target of 12 percent growth and creating 1.5 million jobs.
This is still to become a law.
But such moves, hailed even by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, have also come in for sharp criticism for being antipeople. >>P16
CONTINUED ON P5