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The new state Cabinets of Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana have got into business over the past month, taking key decisions ahead of the coming Lok Sabha polls. Most announcements have been on the implementation of poll promises.
Since coming to power, the Bhajan Lal Sharma-led BJP government in Rajasthan has held only one Cabinet meeting. In the meeting on January 18, the government announced it would review the decisions taken in the last six months of the previous Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government. The government set up a ministerial committee that will submit a report to the CM in three months.
Additionally, the BJP’s Assembly polls manifesto was also adopted as a policy document. To ensure its execution, an Officer on Special Duty will be appointed to the Chief Minister’s Office.
In another decision, pension for detainees during the Emergency – the payment was discontinued in 2019 – will be resumed. The beneficiaries will get Rs 20,000 as pension and Rs 4,000 in medical aid each month.
In the meeting, a comprehensive presentation was also made on the 100-day action plan of the state government. A separate presentation was made on the achievements of the government in its first 30 days such as the implementation of the policy to provide LPG at a subsidised price of Rs 450 per cylinder, and the creation of a Special Investigation Team and an Anti-Gangster Task Force to check paper leaks and organised crime, respectively. The Cabinet also noted that between December 16 and January 17, Viksit Bharat Sankalp Yatra camps and programmes were held at 10,550 locations across the state, with 2.54 crore citizens and 1.77 lakh public representatives registering their presence.
The Cabinet also noted that under the Annapurna Rasoi Yojana, the quantity of food has been increased from 450 gm to 600 gm per plate (300 gm chapati, 100 gm lentil, 100 gm vegetables, 100 gm rice/millet khichdi, and pickle). With this, the government subsidy has also been increased from Rs 17 per plate to Rs 22 per plate.
Other key decisions include the scrapping of the Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra internship and the Mahatma Gandhi Seva Prerak, as well as pausing the free smartphone scheme for women, saying these schemes need to be examined first.
Immediately after taking over the reins in Madhya Pradesh, the Mohan Yadav government disbursed Rs 1,576 crore as part of its Mukhyamantri Ladli Behana Yojana under which a monthly stipend of Rs 1,250 is paid to women from poor families. Officials, though, have so far remained silent on the government’s promise to hike the stipend to Rs 3,000 per month.
The government also hiked the procurement price of tendu leaf, a poll promise aimed at the tribal communities, to Rs 4,000 per bag. “With this decision, 35 lakh tendu leaf collectors in the state will get an additional remuneration of approximately Rs 165 crore,” said a government official.
Under the Mukhyamantri Ladli Behana Yojana, the BJP has also promised to construct concrete houses for more than 1.3 crore beneficiaries; free education, from kindergarten to post-graduation, for girls from poor families; and a hike in the Ladli Laxmi handout to Rs 2 lakh.
The party had also promised free education for students from poor families from Class 1 to 12; Rs 1,200 annual assistance for school bags, books and uniforms; a hike in stipend of up to Rs 10,000 under the Seekho Kamao Yojana; and LPG cylinders at Rs 450 for beneficiaries of the state’s Ladli Behna and the Centre’s Ujjwala yojanas. When asked about these, government officials said that “different government departments are preparing a 100-day roadmap to fulfil the promises made by the BJP”.
In a push for tribal welfare under the PM Jan Man Yojana, the government on January 17 approved the construction of multipurpose centres — costing Rs 60 lakh per centre — in districts dominated by Special Backward Tribes (officially categorised as Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Groups or PVTGs).
The establishment and operation of 194 new Anganwadi centres in special tribal areas under the “Saksham Anganwadi and Nutrition 2.0” scheme have also been approved.
“New centres will be opened in isolated villages of Special Backward Tribe areas whose population is 100 or more, and where there is no Anganwadi centre. Total expenditure will be Rs 15.70 crore,” said an official.
Furthermore, the Cabinet has also approved the Malhargarh Lift Irrigation Project on the Betwa river in Mungaoli tehsil of Ashoknagar district. The project, a promise made by local politicians during the Assembly polls, will provide irrigation to 7,500 hectares in 26 villages of Mungawali tehsil and will cost Rs 87.25 crore.
The Vishnu Deo Sai government has said it has fulfilled two “Modi guarantees” promised in the BJP’s Assembly election manifesto and is in the process of fulfilling two more.
The first of the two promises already fulfilled is approval for 18.12 lakh families under the Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana. They will be provided with funds for the construction of houses. The second promise the government says it has fulfilled is approving the free annual visit of 20,000 people to Ayodhya, UP, for darshan at the Ram Temple.
Also in the works is the promise to procure 21 quintals of paddy per farmer at Rs 3,100 per quintal as promised in the manifesto, which is over and above the minimum support price (MSP). The balance amount will be funded by the state government even though it hasn’t made clear when and how it plans to pay it.
Similarly, the BJP government is seeking a Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) probe into alleged corruption in the Chhattisgarh Public Service Commission (PSC) examination and selection for 2021. That, along with the promise to conduct the PSC exams on par with the standards set by the UPSC exams, was made in the manifesto.
The government, in relief for educated unemployed youth, has also announced a five-year relaxation in the maximum age limit for local residents looking to apply for government jobs. An official said, “The maximum age limit for local residents of Chhattisgarh state is 35 years. The five-year relaxation period has been increased from January 1, 2024, to December 31, 2028. The relaxation in the maximum age limit for other special categories has been kept unchanged. Including all other relaxations, the maximum age limit will remain fixed at 45 years. This relaxation will not apply to the Home (Police) department.”
The Congress government led by Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy has begun implementing two of its six poll promises and is working on introducing a third guarantee from the second week of February. The Cabinet, in its first meeting on December 7, approved the implementation of all six guarantees in the party’s poll manifesto within 100 days.
The first guarantee launched by the government was the free “Mahalaxmi Scheme” bus service for women. As per orders issued on December 8 by the transport department, women of all ages and transgender people can access state transport services free of cost in the Palle Velugu and Express categories of buses run by the state road transport corporation by producing an ID card proving they are locals. Under the Mahalaxmi Scheme, eligible women have also started receiving monthly financial assistance of Rs 2,500. Eligible families will also receive LPG cylinders for Rs 500, registrations for which have started.
On December 9, the Revanth Reddy government also rolled out the Rajiv Arogyasri Scheme that provides Rs 10 lakh worth of medical and health services to eligible beneficiaries.
On January 23, Roads and Buildings Minister Komatireddy Venkat Reddy said the government would roll out the Gruha Jyothi Scheme to provide up to 200 units of free electricity to eligible consumers from the second week of February. He said the government would have implemented it in January itself but for the losses run up by the previous Bharat Rashtra Samithi government in the Telangana State Transco and Genco, the state-run electricity utilities. The Congress government had to stabilise the situation before planning the scheme’s implementation, the minister said.
The government is also preparing to implement the farm investment support scheme Rythu Bharosa under which Rs 15,000 per acre will be given to each farmer. Sources said the government is drafting rules to restrict the financial assistance to landowners with 10 acres or less and weed out beneficiaries who are not into farming but are just landowners. Gram Sabhas are being held to register beneficiaries and tenant farmers who will receive Rs 12,000 per acre. The promise of a bonus of Rs 500 per quintal of paddy will also be met during paddy procurement in the next few months, the government has said.
The government has also invited applications for its Indiramma Indlu Scheme under which families that do not own a house will be provided a site for one and Rs 5 lakh assistance to build it. The government is also registering beneficiaries under the Cheyutha Scheme to provide a monthly pension of Rs 4,000 to senior citizens, widows, people with disabilities, beedi workers, single women, toddy tappers, weavers, AIDS and filaria patients, and kidney patients undergoing dialysis.
