Mr Ashok Gehlot, a Gandhian by training and a vacation but a new generation Congressman, introspects on the Government he heads in Rajasthan. In an Interview with the Congress Sandesh the Rajasthan Chief Minister, Mr Ashok Gehlot spoke in detail about the issues concerning the state. Excerpts : .

Q: Mr. Gehlot, what are your achievements during the past 20 months in power? Are you happy with the state of affairs in the party and the Congress Government which has come to power in the State after a gap of nine years?.

A: Although I am happy with the overall performance of my Government tin the State, yet with all modesty I would say that we have to cover a lot of ground to take this relatively backward State to the front ranks. Talking about achievements I would like to point out that it is for the first time in the history of the State that any Government has given so much importance to the party manifesto. The process of implementing the party manifesto started soon after the record breaking three fourth majority victory for the party here. After taking over in the first week of December 1998 the first thing I did was to hand over the election manifesto to the Chief Secretary reminding him that it was our eredo,our Gita, the Kuran, the Bible .

Q : There was some criticism over this. Some quarters pointed out that it might lead to politicization of the bureaucracy and division of the people on the lines of party supporters and others.

A : There were apprehensions. But I was clear that any Government which comes to power with certain commitment to the people should implement the promises it had made. There is no party politics in it. Moreover our intentions were clear about providing an accountable, transparent and responsible Government.

Q : Can you mention the high points of your 20 month old Government's achievement vis-à-vis the manifesto?

A: Our thrust areas have been the uplift of the downtrodden and the deprived which made us concentrate on the scheduled castes, the scheduled tribes, the backwards, minorities, women and youth. However, I would like to point out here that no section of society was left out from the welfare programmes. Everyone got something.
Take the case of the youth. Thirty thousand youth got employment. Through the innovative scheme, Rajiv Gandhi Swarna Jayanti Pathshalas, we could not only create over 12,000 additional jobs for unemployed youth but also could take elementary education to the doorsteps of rural people. As many as 12,000 Rajiv Gandhi Pathshalas have been opened in all the 32 districts. All the areas which could offer a minimum of 40 students got a new pathshala. In the tribal areas the pathshalas were opened even when the minimum number of students was 25 only.

Q : What about empowerment of women in the State ? Backwardness of women is an area in which Rajasthan used to draw flak from the planners and policy makers alike in the past.

A: This Government can rightfully take credit for setting up the first State's Women's Commission on the lines of the National Commission for Women. Educated women have been facilitated by according 30 per cent reservation to them in the Government jobs. To take care of the law and order problem and to curb atrocities on women, separate Mahila Police Stations have been introduced in various parts of the State.

Simultaneously, the State Government set up the Human Rights Commission, the Minorities Commission, the Gau Sewa Ayog for cow protection, an OBC and Minority Finance Commission during its 20 months in power. Perhaps for the first time a public person took over recently as the Commissioner for the Disabled with judicial powers to implement the welfare programmes for the handicapped and impaired. In the first annual Budget of the State, the Government enhanced the monthly pensions for the aged, widows and freedom fighters to improve their lives during the times of inflation. It would be pertinent to note at this time of Kargil anniversary that the package offered by Rajasthan to the windows of the Kargil was windows the Government suo moto decided to enhance the monthly pension from Rs 300 to Rs 750 .

Q : Rajasthan is often referred to as a member of the BIMARU club. This has been specially so in the context of the poor medical facilities here and the abysmal level of child mortality, mother mortality and infant survival rates.

A : We have done a lot to remove blot on our State from its categorization as member of BIMARU. After assuming power this Government has initiated various steps to improve the medical and health infrastructure in the State and to bring down the population growth rate. For the poor sections a Chief Mninster's Life Saving Fund has been introduced. The Life Saving Fund provides money for major operations and medical interventions in the case of families below poverty line (BPL). Besides 22 lakh BPL medical cards too have been issued to the BPL families for the medicare.

Q : Do you think that the bureaucracy could imbibe the spirit of the party manifesto?.

A: I think they did. The results are indicative of that. When the party's Election Manifesto Review Committee - appointed by the Congress President, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi, met in the State capital in the second week of July, it had found that out of the 179 points in the manifesto 93 were already fully implemented.Of remaining 33 points were initiated and processed. As many as 48 points were ongoing programmes while five points were related to the policies of the Government of India.

Q : Do you think that the manifesto addresses all the major challenges faced by the State at present?

A : Yes, A lot of exercise had gone into the framing of the manifesto both at the AICC(I) level and at the PCC(I) end. Immediate issues as well as long term plans were debated and discussed to form the manifesto.

The manifesto covers all the basic needs of the people such as drinking water, education, electricity, health care, urban development, agriculture and special problems relating to women, labourers, the aged people. Talking about the working class it may be relevant here to note that the minimum wage in Rajasthan was fixed at Rs 60 last year while the Centre is talking about fixing the minimum wage at Rs 45/.

Q: You could throw some light on the way in which the programme are implemented in the State.

A: We have been closely monitoring the implementation of the manifesto, particularly after the party president, Soniaji, made it clear that top priority should be accorded to implementation of the Party manifesto in all the Congress ruled States.The State Cabinet for the first time in the State's history, held an introspection camp-Chintan Shivir - for two days at the Officers Training School in Jaipur for a critical review of the areas covered and the existing lacunae. The camp identified 15 economic and social priority areas for effective and dynamic administration.

The identified areas include universalization of elementary education, harnessing of traditional water conservation methods, expansion of the public health facilities, employment generation through the Chief Minister's Rozgar Yojna and strengthening of the social security net. The 15-point agenda also includes empowerment of panchayati raj, an area in which our late leader Rajivji had shown lot of interest. With considerable satisfaction I can now say that Rajasthan is one of the State where there is a dynamic and thriving democracy exists in the form of panchayati raj institutions from Zila Parishad toward Sabha levels. The State stands out in the whole country with its unique ward sabhas conceived in the true spirit of the vision of gram swaraj - of the Father of the Nation. The functioning of the ward sabhas are to be viewed in the contest of the State not having even gram sabhas in the past for years together.

Q : When you took over in 1998, you had leveled the charge that the finances of State were in a very bad condition. Is there any improvement in the state since you tookover?

A: My charge was based on facts the State's annual liability on loans was equivalent to the total sales tax earning of Rs 2200 crores a year. Things have improved since but a lot more has to be done on this front. Our initiatives in this connection included austerity measures in the Government including curbs on the expenses of the higher bureaucracy a move I am happy to say, greatly appreciated by the common people.

It may be too early to say that the State is out of the woods yet the efforts we have made so far would surely bring results in future. Rajasthan faced drought conditions for the second consecutive year in 1999-2000 but the resilience of the State's economy and the will power of the people here helped us to overcome this crisis as well. The State Government also could turn a bad situation to its advantage by investing on projects of permanent value under the drought relief operations. Such works were taken up with the help of the Rs 144 crore provided by NABARD.

Despite the non-cooperation of the BJP-lead National Democratic Alliance Government at the Centre which had refused to provide timely Central assistance to combat drought here, the State Government managed to provide jobs, drinking water to the people and fodder to the livestock in the affected areas. In June the State provided jobs a record 18.5 lakh persons under drought relief. The drought period and the callouness of the Centre this time reminded to people of the State of the generous funds.. to the tune of Rs 800 crore provided by Rajivji as Prime Minister 1987-88.

Q : Let us hear on your Government's initiatives on the technical professional and industrial sector. Social sector is the spender while you have generate income as well.

A : I perfectly agree with you on this. For development initiative we kept the industry and agriculture side by side the agriculture sector the Government ensured the supply of electricity for minimum of 6 to 8 hours along with making improvements in the supply of irrigation water. As adequate power is prerequisite for investment, the State Government also went ahead with the power reforms to split the heavily loss making RSEB into five different companies.

In this context I would take this opportunity to thank the 56,000 strong staff and officers of RSEB and the public at large for supporting the Government in this onerous task of restructuring power sector. In the industrial sector a major initiative had been in the form of the introduction of the first "real" Single Window System for starting of industries here. Besides we have been attracting of private investment in areas of technical and professional educational.

Q : Some of the States have done well on the information technology sector. Do you have any claims to make in this regard?

A: It is only a matter of time Rajasthan turns a modern State which can supply lot of IT professionals to the country and outside. To start with the State has vibrant IT policy which was announced recently. The policy allows concessional and incentives to IT based industries and provides training in IT. The State has also introduced computers in schools from the senior secondary level. On the technology advancement front the State is effectively working on the Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission. .