Justifying her move to fix minimum qualification for contesting the Panchayati Raj Institutions elections in Rajasthan, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Friday said the move was a small step to push the State towards growth and development.
Speaking at a special session on the second day of the three-day Partnership Summit organised by the CII here, Ms Raje said the fixing minimum qualification for contesting elections at the grassroots level and making functional toilets as an eligibility criteria for these elections were aimed to prepare Rajasthan as a friendly destination for a long term investment.
She said the High Court had also refused to intervene in staying the Ordinance or postponing the elections.
“Making toilets mandatory has given a fillip to the Prime Minister's ‘Swachh Bharat Campaign’ as over 6 lakh toilets have been constructed in the past 2 months as compared to 2 lakh in the past one year as Panchayati Raj Institutions elections were round the corner,'' she added.
Addressing an international audience, Ms. Raje said to ensure water availability, the State was working on interlinking of river basins so that excess water could be channelled to dry areas. The government was open to “out of the box” ideas for providing safe drinking water in Rajasthan which was the biggest state in India but low on water resources, she added.
Inviting investments
Calling upon the national and international community to invest in Rajasthan, Ms. Raje said her government had taken innovative steps to make it the most ‘employment and investment friendly State.’
These include reforms in the labour laws, skill development, relaxing of land acquisition, and implementation of Solar and Investment Promotion Policy.
The Chief Minister said her target was to ensure 12 per cent growth and create 15 lakh jobs for the youth so that they contribute to the development of Rajasthan.
