Vasundhara Raje: the queen of reforms

Vasundhara Raje has turned out to be the best BJP Chief Minister based on her performance till now. She is turning around Rajasthan in ways which were almost unthinkable few years ago as she lays down foundation of one great initiative after another. The best part is she is not doing half hearted reforms which can be undone by the next crooked Congress government because she is doing real changes which will accelerate the growth not only during her term but in the near future and develop Rajasthan as one of the most industrialized states. While other BJP CMs pay lip service to real reforms and do not take ground breaking initiatives, Raje has taken a completely different approach as she is pushing for big reforms rather than tinkering with small initiative or trying to improve bureaucratic efficiency. On top, the best part is that she is also doing reforms on the cultural side which would make Hindus of Rajasthan proud and instil confidence for the long run.

1) Land titling: A market economy is only as good as the property rights. Rajasthan became the first state to pass Rajasthan Urban Land (Certification of Titles) bill (ULCT). This bill will allow people to claim indisputable guarantee over piece of land. It will ensure full information transparency between buyers and sellers and the latter will know for sure that there are no disputes over the property. This will save all the costs that sellers have to bear to know the disputes on a given property and involve in costly litigation later to secure their rights. One can easily imagine the boost it will give to industrialization after this law as it will make the entire process of acquisition, buying and selling easier for everyone. Read more here.

2) Labor Market reforms: The next important thing after land reforms is labour as it is the second input for any industrialization. The most important changes in the labour laws is to make it easier to fire workers from firms which employ less than 300 workers. Being able to roll back a loss making enterprise is very important for development of new successful firms. Thus allowing firms to shut down operations if things don’t go well, allows them to take more risk and grow bigger as new firms keep emerging to replace the old ones. This allows good churning in the labour markets thus generating more jobs in the long run by making a conducive business environment.

Having taken care of the two most important issues, Rajasthan government has also taken some good initiatives in dismantling power of APMCs and made arrangements for integration of state agricultural markets on the national level. The other ground breaking reform is for delivery of subsidies as cash directly into beneficiaries account through the Bhamashah scheme. Modi is pioneering the same initiative on national level, but Raje was the first one to play with this idea in 2007-08 which was later discontinued by Gehlot government. Raje is also not shy to try PPP route on healthcare reforms to increase health access in areas which have been cut off till now due to government apathy.

3) Textbook reforms: Raje government is also not shy to clamp down on the false history being taught in the schools by the previous traitor Congress governments. While Smriti Irani has done zilch on this issue, Raje has been unapologetic on this issue and have taken decisions to make common Rajasthani proud on his heritage. This is what the report in Indian Express have to say on this issue:

The erstwhile Rajput kingdom of Mewar, with its capital at Chittorgarh, constitutes, along with Udaipur, Bhilwara, Pratapgarh and Rajsamand, the cultural-linguistic region of Mewar in Rajasthan today. Highlighting the Hindu history of Mewar has been an important part of the BJP government’s effort to throw light on the “veer and veerangana” of Rajasthan.

It is good to see that finally one BJP ruled state is showing the grit to challenge the popular leftist narrative and teaching kids the great history of their Hindu ancestors, which means Maharana Pratap and Rana Sanga in case of Rajasthan, while cutting down on the fake history of foreigner Muslim kings. No surprise, it has raged the entire left dominated ecosystem but Raje has not yielded back on these reforms, which only bolsters her credentials as tough Hindu politician.

One can see Raje is taking a holistic approach to reforms and not dragging her feet on important issues as can be seen from the land and labour reforms. After credit market i.e. banking, land and labour are the other two factors markets which are completely strangulated by the Indian states with the result that no one wants to set up any firm. It is good that finally one state is trying to break from the shackles of land mafia and developing a fluid land market. Also, the subsidy reforms will go a long way in plugging the leakages and save wasteful expenditures. And last but not the least, the cultural dimension is equally important and it is good to see that at least one BJP Chief Minister is serious about teaching right history to our kids and not playing “goody two shoes” to get pat on the back from leftist loonies like Smriti Irani is doing by not changing anything in NCERT books and playing silent on RTE.

If Raje keeps doing more bold reforms during her CMship, she will undoubtedly leave lasting legacy not just in Rajasthan but emerge as the most serious contender in national politics after Modi.

Read more about Vasundhara Raje and Rajasthan on below links:

http://swarajyamag.com/magazine/interview-vasundhara-raje-chief-minister-of-rajasthan

http://cmoffice.rajasthan.gov.in/zi1.pdf