Rajasthan: State Politics, Local Government and Public Policy · RAS (Rajasthan)

What the official syllabus says

Main Examination, Paper III (General Studies III), Unit I - Indian Polity, Governance, India and International Affairs and Current Affairs, under the heading “State Policies and governance in Rajasthan”:

Patterns of political participation, leadership, and electoral behaviour.
Role of political parties and coalition politics in the state.
Panchayati Raj and Urban local Self-Government - Structure, Issues and Challenges.
New Dynamics and Challenges in Rajasthan's Politics.
Framing of Public Policy in Rajasthan: institutions, processes, stakeholders, and implementation bottlenecks.
Major E-Governance Initiatives: Achievements and Challenges.

Topics in detail

The political set-up

Rajasthan formed in seven stages between 1948 and 1956 (the history is in Paper I); Rajasthan Day, 30 March
A unicameral Legislative Assembly of 200 members; 25 Lok Sabha and 10 Rajya Sabha seats
Seats reserved for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in the Assembly
Rajasthan High Court with its principal seat at Jodhpur and a bench at Jaipur

Political participation, leadership and electoral behaviour

First Assembly election in 1952; the Congress dominant in the early decades; Mohan Lal Sukhadia's long tenure as Chief Minister (1954 to 1971)
Opposition from the Swatantra Party and the Jana Sangh in the 1960s, including members of former ruling families
Janata Party government in 1977
President's rule in the state in 1967, 1977, 1980 and 1992-93
A mainly two-party contest between the Congress and the BJP since the 1990s; the party in power lost each Assembly election from 1998 to 2023
Social bases of voting: caste and community groups, farmers, tribal voters in the south, urban middle classes
Regional patterns across Marwar, Mewar, Dhundhar, Hadoti, Shekhawati, Mewat and Vagad
Turnout trends, and rising turnout of women
Leadership: from princely and jagirdari elites to peasant, caste and tribal leaderships

Political parties and coalition politics

National parties, smaller parties and independents as kingmakers in close results
Coalition experience: the BJP-Janata Dal government after 1990; governments relying on independents and smaller parties
Mergers of a smaller party's legislators into the ruling party (2009, 2019) and anti-defection questions
Caste mobilisation and reservation agitations, such as the Gurjar agitation for reservation (from 2007)

Panchayati Raj in Rajasthan

Rajasthan began Panchayati Raj on 2 October 1959 at Nagaur, on the Balwant Rai Mehta Committee pattern
Rajasthan Panchayati Raj Act, 1994: Gram Panchayat, Panchayat Samiti, Zila Parishad; Gram Sabha and ward sabha
State Election Commission (Article 243K) and State Finance Commission (Article 243-I)
Reservation for SC, ST, OBC and women (half of the seats for women)
Conditions for candidates: the two-child norm; the minimum educational qualification brought in in 2015 and withdrawn in 2019
PESA, 1996 in the Fifth Schedule areas of southern Rajasthan and the state's PESA Rules
Issues: transfer of functions, funds and functionaries for the 29 subjects of the Eleventh Schedule; dependence on grants; proxy representation of women; capacity of elected members; social audit

Urban local self-government

Rajasthan Municipalities Act, 2009: Municipal Corporations, Councils and Boards; the 18 subjects of the Twelfth Schedule
Ward committees, election of mayors and chairpersons, and development authorities working beside municipalities
Urban missions: Smart Cities (Jaipur, Udaipur, Kota, Ajmer), AMRUT, Swachh Bharat (Urban)
Issues: weak own revenue (property tax), urban planning, water supply, solid waste, encroachments, heritage conservation in walled cities

New dynamics and challenges

Reorganisation of districts and divisions (2023) and its partial reversal (2024)
Water as a political issue: the Parbati-Kalisindh-Chambal and Eastern Rajasthan Canal Project; Indira Gandhi Canal
Recruitment examination leaks and the Rajasthan Public Examination (Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) Act, 2022
Youth unemployment, migration, farmers' issues, law and order, cyber crime
Social movements and rights-based laws: the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sangathan (founded 1990), jan sunwai (public hearings) and Rajasthan's own Right to Information Act, 2000

Framing public policy in Rajasthan

Institutions: Governor, Council of Ministers and Cabinet, Secretariat departments, Finance Department and the state budget, Planning Department, Directorate of Economics and Statistics, Assembly committees
Process: problem identification, consultation, drafting, Cabinet approval, legislation or executive order, budgeting, implementation through directorates and district officers, monitoring and evaluation
Stakeholders: legislators, panchayats and municipalities, civil society, media, industry bodies, beneficiaries
Examples of rights-based service laws: Rajasthan Guaranteed Delivery of Public Services Act, 2011; Rajasthan Right to Hearing Act, 2012; Rajasthan Transparency in Public Procurement Act, 2012
Implementation bottlenecks: fiscal limits, poor coordination between departments, staff shortages, data gaps, delays and leakages, long distances and scattered habitations in the desert

E-governance initiatives

Department of Information Technology and Communication; RajCOMP Info Services
Jan Aadhaar (2019, after the earlier Bhamashah scheme): a family identity for benefits and direct transfers
e-Mitra kiosks for citizen services; the Rajasthan Single Sign-On (SSO) portal
Rajasthan Sampark (grievance redressal) and the 181 helpline
Jan Soochna Portal (2019): proactive disclosure of information, in the spirit of section 4 of the RTI Act
Raj-Kaj (e-office), RajNET connectivity, the state data centre; iStart Rajasthan for start-ups
Achievements: wider access, faster delivery, transparency, fewer intermediaries
Challenges: digital divide, connectivity in desert and tribal areas, authentication failures, data privacy and cyber security, staff capacity

Overlaps

The Prelims section “Political and Administrative System of Rajasthan” covers the institutions in short (RAS Prelims). The state's administrative machinery is in State and District Administration.