 "Rajasthan is much more than forts and palaces: Raje")
Rajasthan was much more than historic fortresses and palaces, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje said on Wednesday, outlining her government’s key priorities as job creation, boosting agriculture, skill training and promoting start-ups.
“Beyond fortresses and palaces, Rajasthan is also a very modern and upward-mobile state, which is constantly rediscovering itself,” she said at the Business Standard Round Table conference in the state capital.
The chief minister said tourism has been the strength of the state, and she expected around 50 million tourists by 2020. But, tourism was not the only focus of the government.
Raje said her government was working in two ways: The first, to make better policies, so that the state could compete with others; the second, to transform people’s lives in districts and villages through outreach programmes, such as “justice at your doorsteps”.
“The Rajasthan model of development is based on a triad of social justice, effective governance and job creation for continued growth and progress,” Raje said, addressing industrialists and policy makers.
One major area of focus was start-ups.
“We ask ourselves: Why should only Bengaluru be the Mecca of start-ups?” said Raje. “The youth of Rajasthan are talented.
“We formulated our start-up policy and set up incubators that shall help transform Jaipur, Udaipur, Kota, and Ajmer into start-up destinations.”
In the past two-and-a-half years, she said, her government had made efforts to improve ease of doing business and repealing archaic laws.
“With over 500 laws, there was a crying need to do away with outdated, irrelevant and ineffective laws that made little sense in a modern, business-friendly economy. Rajasthan has been one of the first states to rationalise archaic laws and has already repealed 61 principal Acts and 187 amending Acts out of 592,” the chief minister said.
She also said that she and her ministers, along with bureaucrats, were reaching out to the people and their efforts have led to 522 gram panchayats becoming litigation free. This had benefited nearly seven million families in the state.
Raje, buoyed with the success of the recently held Resurgent Rajasthan summit, announced the state would hold another summit in next year. She said though her government’s aim was not on achieving numbers yet, they signed investment proposals worth Rs 3.7 lakh crore.
“A large proportion of the proposed projects are in various stages of implementation. The recently inaugurated, Rs 450-crore textile unit of Shri Vallabh Pittie Group came up in a record nine months. It will provide jobs to 500 people and support more than 30,000 farmers. This is just one example of how things work in Rajasthan.”
When asked about the difference between her previous stint as chief minister (between 2003 and 2008), Raje candidly said in the first term, one might make mistakes and learn from them. In this term, she had hit the ground running from day one.
“Beyond fortresses and palaces, Rajasthan is also a very modern and upward-mobile state, which is constantly rediscovering itself,” she said at the Business Standard Round Table conference in the state capital.
The chief minister said tourism has been the strength of the state, and she expected around 50 million tourists by 2020. But, tourism was not the only focus of the government.
Raje said her government was working in two ways: The first, to make better policies, so that the state could compete with others; the second, to transform people’s lives in districts and villages through outreach programmes, such as “justice at your doorsteps”.
“The Rajasthan model of development is based on a triad of social justice, effective governance and job creation for continued growth and progress,” Raje said, addressing industrialists and policy makers.
One major area of focus was start-ups.
“We ask ourselves: Why should only Bengaluru be the Mecca of start-ups?” said Raje. “The youth of Rajasthan are talented.
“We formulated our start-up policy and set up incubators that shall help transform Jaipur, Udaipur, Kota, and Ajmer into start-up destinations.”
In the past two-and-a-half years, she said, her government had made efforts to improve ease of doing business and repealing archaic laws.
“With over 500 laws, there was a crying need to do away with outdated, irrelevant and ineffective laws that made little sense in a modern, business-friendly economy. Rajasthan has been one of the first states to rationalise archaic laws and has already repealed 61 principal Acts and 187 amending Acts out of 592,” the chief minister said.
She also said that she and her ministers, along with bureaucrats, were reaching out to the people and their efforts have led to 522 gram panchayats becoming litigation free. This had benefited nearly seven million families in the state.
Raje, buoyed with the success of the recently held Resurgent Rajasthan summit, announced the state would hold another summit in next year. She said though her government’s aim was not on achieving numbers yet, they signed investment proposals worth Rs 3.7 lakh crore.
“A large proportion of the proposed projects are in various stages of implementation. The recently inaugurated, Rs 450-crore textile unit of Shri Vallabh Pittie Group came up in a record nine months. It will provide jobs to 500 people and support more than 30,000 farmers. This is just one example of how things work in Rajasthan.”
When asked about the difference between her previous stint as chief minister (between 2003 and 2008), Raje candidly said in the first term, one might make mistakes and learn from them. In this term, she had hit the ground running from day one.