A year on, some achievements

Labour
Labour reform was a key feature identified to improve ease of doing business. Barring a few, almost all attempts were stonewalled by resistance from politicians and labour union leaders. However, in one year, the government made a few amendments to the Factories Act, redefining parameters for businesses bound by the legislation, and excluded 14,300 small units from its purview. The state permitted women labourers to work night shifts and scrapped the mandatory clearance required for manufacturing units to make labourers work on night shifts.

Infrastructure
The government revived the concept of an International Finance Centre in Mumbai by drawing up plans for a global financial hub at Bandra Kurla Complex, and appointing a committee with industry experts to submit recommendations in financial and legal framework to facilitate it. Mumbai’s proposed coastal freeway facing uncertainty due to the requirement of reclamation, got a push with the state persuading the Union environment ministry to bring out a draft notification permitting reclamation for roads. Long-pending development plans of municipal corporations such as Kalyan-Dombivali and Bhiwandi got approvals, while the chief minister-led urban development department decided to formulate uniform Development Control Regulation. Among other major changes was setting up a war room under the chief minister to monitor crucial projects, cutting down on procedures for construction permits in Mumbai, and starting construction of a Metro rail line in Nagpur.

Agriculture and drought relief
Besides the much publicised Jalyukta Shivar Yojana, a water conservation scheme, the government took some essential on-ground measures for drought mitigation primarily in Marathwada. The government took these measures before the actual declaration of drought, which is done only after getting indications of the final kharif settlement. The number of water tankers was increased. The divisional commissioner and collectors sent daily reports on water shortage and relief measures. Subsidized food grains – wheat at Rs 2 per kg and rice at Rs 3 per kg – were a significant help in Marathwada, where there was cash crunch after consequent drought years and hailstorms. Works under employment guarantee scheme saw a boost as the state directed district collectors to relax norms.

Finance
The finance department revised government procurement policy by almost doing away with rate contracts and making e-tendering compulsory for every purchase above Rs 3 lakh – BJP ministers Pankaja Munde and Vinod Tawde had battled allegations of corruption in irregularities in orders placed on basis of rate contracts. Raising spending plan on infrastructure when public debt was mounting was a bold decision the finance department took in the first year of government. So was higher allocation for districts in Vidarbha and Marathwada facing infrastructure backlog compared with the rest of the state. However, the state is grappling with a grim financial situation, worsened by populist measures such as scrapping of Local Body Tax and a severe drought, necessitating an increase in taxation.

Education
Capping weight of school bags of students to 10 percent of the child’s weight and setting up a mechanism to regulate fees and admissions in professional courses offered by private unaided institutes were some decisions the government took in a year in the education sector. Besides, the government started work to make information on over 1 lakh schools in Maharashtra available online.