First meeting of CM advisory council “VISION 2020 – WAY AHEAD” to be foundation of development

Jaipur, 10 August. Chief Minister Smt. Vasundhara Raje presented the ‘Rajasthan Vision 2020 – Way Ahead’ during the inaugural session of the first meeting of the Chief Minister’s Advisory Council at CMO on Sunday.

Highlighting the current status and issues related to development, the CM said that this Vision would be the foundation of progress in the state. She focussed on several areas of concern including water, energy, health, roads, urban development, industry, tourism, education, livelihood and the Bhamashah scheme.

Smt. Raje said that 172 water blocks in Rajasthan are over-exploited where extraction of water was more than recharge. In, 24 blocks were critical with extraction being 90% to 100% of the recharge, she added.

The Chief Minister said the state government was working on Four Waters Concept and linking of river basins so that more clean water could be made available for drinking. While underlining future schemes for energy sector she said that the government was working to reduce distribution loss by 3% per year, developing mega solar parks, PPP-mode in generation and distribution of electricity and establishing new capacity of 6,500 MW in the next five years.

Presenting the model of road development Smt. Raje said that the Rajasthan State Highway Authority had been constituted for construction of 20,000 kilometers of roads on the PPP mode. Another 2,000 kilometers of raod would be  developed as the East-West Corridor. To connect 9,177 gram panchayat headquarters Gramin Gaurav Paths would be constructed. The state government was also working on Road Safety Audit and a Road Safety Action Plan, she added.

On the issues of Urban Development the CM said that a Master Plan had been prepared for 81 villages having population of more than 10,000. There was a dire need for 10 lakh houses in urban areas for various income-groups and efforts would be made to full-fill this, she said. She accepted solid waste management in big cities as a major challenge and said that the plans were being chalked-out for that. She further said that a Slum Development Board would be established for proper development of slums.

Smt. Raje said taht the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor would prove to be a game changer for industrial development of the state as 39% portion of this was passing through Rajasthan. She said that her government was making efforts for focusing on skill development while promoting entrepreneurship. RIICO, with the support from IIM Ahmedabad was working effortlessly for development of industries. To get more investment in the state a long-term plan was being prepared to provide all facilities to the idustries.

The CM underlined the need of world-class amenties for tourists to give a boost to tourism sector in the state along with better and well-managed transport facilities connecting tourist places. The government had a solid plan for conservation of places of heritage, development of tourist-circuits for religious destinations and promotion of handicrafts.

To ensure quality of education, Smt. Raje said that her government would strengthen the infrastructure of schools and establish model schools as well. Girl education and technical education were also the focus areas of the government, she added.

On the skill development of the youth, the CM said the government was working for training and creation of more employment oppurtunities for the young generation. For this, 40 prestigious agencies of the country had signed MoU with the state government through which one lakh young men and women would be imparted skill training. Converting employment exchanges into career centres, opening of the Skill University and proposed labour reforms were some measures taken to increase employability, she added.

On health front said the Chief Minister said that bringing MMR and IMR down was the priority of the government. To make up to the shortage of doctors new medical colleges would be opened in the state, she said.

Mentioning Bhamashah Scheme Smt. Raje said, that targeting empowerment of women, hers was the first Direct Case Transfer Scheme in the country. It was launched during her previous tenure, but it could not progress further due to political reasons. Comparing the Bhamashah Scheme with Aadhaar, she said that several specific features were not available even in Aadhaar scheme.

In the concluding session of the meeting three sub-groups formed on Infrastructure, Investment & Economic Growth: Leveraging CSR Funds; Health & Nutrition; and Education, Skills & Livelihood gave detailed presentation of the discussions they held during brainstorming sessions on specific themes.

The first sub-group highlighted the need for targeting 12% growth, rationalisation of taxes, focus on non-traditional sectors and gems and jewelry, solar equipment and construction industry. Experts also attracted attention towards creation of land banks, land reforms, bio-toilets, drip irrigation and facilitation for the MSME sector,

The sub-group on Health & Education came-up with the ideas of increase in diagnostic facilities at primary health centres, micro health-insurance schemes to be clubbed with Bhamashah Scheme, health coupons for medical services, possibilities of PPP mode for establishing super speciality hospital for cancer treatment and setting-up RO palnts for water treatment in rural areas.

Another sub-group suggested for ammendment in RTE Act, more budget for higher education, setting up of State Research Foundation and vocational university.

Deputy Chairman of Chief Minister Advisory Council Prof, Arvind Panagariya argued to focus on tourism, manufacturing and urbanization. He said that Rajasthan had potential to be on the world toursim map and efforts were needed to achieve this objective.

Energy Minister Shri Gajendra Singh Khinvsar, Eduation Minister Shri Kalicharan Saraf, Medical & Health Minister Shri Rajendra Rathore, PWD Minister Shri Yunus Khan, Chief Secretary Shri Rajiv Mehrishi, Additional Chief Secretaries, Principal Secretaries of various departments participated in the meeting.

These apart, the full-time full-time member of the Advisory Council Smt. Mira Mehrishi, members Shri Ajay S. Shriram, Shri Bibek Debroy, Shri Harshvardhan Neotia, Shri Rajiv Kumar, Smt. Malavika Singh, Shri Manish Sabharwal, Shri Mohan Das Pai, Shri Rajendra S. Pawar, Ms Kiran Mazumdar Shaw, Ms Naina Lal Kidwai, Shri Rajesh Shah, Shri Uday Kotak and specially invitee Shri M. L. Mehta and Chartered Accountant Shri P. P. Pareek participated in the meeting and gave their valuable suggestions.