Jaipur: In the first meeting of its council of ministers held on Thursday, January 18, the Bhajan Lal Sharma-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government in Rajasthan decided to bring back the pension for those who were jailed during the Emergency under the Maintenance of Internal Security Act (MISA), which was stopped by the previous Congress government back in 2019.
A Rajasthan government release stated that now those detained under MISA will get a monthly pension of Rs 20,000 along with monthly health support of Rs 4,000.
It added that during the meeting, a presentation of the achievements during the first 30 days of the BJP government was given, highlighting the government’s decisions in this period, including that to provide LPG cylinders at Rs 450 to Ujjwala and below poverty line (BPL) beneficiaries, formation of a special investigation team to prevent paper leaks and creation of an anti-gangster task force.
The BJP government has also restored the general consent given to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) for probing cases in the state without requiring permission from the state government for each case, according to the release. Back in 2020, during the previous Congress government had withdrawn its general consent to the CBI, which had to take case-by-case consent from the state government.
In the same meeting of the council of ministers, it was also decided that a committee would be formed to review the decisions taken by the Ashok Gehlot-led previous Congress government in the last six months of its tenure.
While it has been just over a month since the Gehlot government was ousted in early December, among the major decisions of the newly-formed BJP government in this month-long period are those on renaming or discontinuing schemes of its predecessor regime.
On December 25, 10 days after chief minister Sharma took oath, the Directorate of Economics and Statistics issued an office order saying that the Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra Internship Programme which was functional since 2021-22, is being ended with an immediate effect.
On the same day, the Peace and Non-Violence Department – a brainchild of former chief minister Ashok Gehlot – issued another order, cancelling the recruitment process of Mahatma Gandhi Seva Prerak with immediate effect and also withdrawing an advertisement dating back to August 2023 in this regard.
The Mahatma Gandhi Seva Prerak scheme was announced by Gehlot during his budget announcement in early 2023.
“It is proposed to engage 50,000 local young men and women as ‘Mahatma Gandhi Seva Prerak’ on honorarium for each village and urban ward. They will help needy families to avail benefit from Government schemes along with delivering Mahatma Gandhi’s message of peace and harmony to every family in the entire State. Mahatma Gandhi Library and Constitution Centres will also be run by these Seva Preraks,” Gehlot had announced in his budget speech on February 10 last year.
The Rajasthan government has also changed the name of Indira Rasoi Yojana, an initiative that offers meals to the public at a concessional rate, to Shree Annapurna Rasoi Yojana. Notably, the Annapurna Rasoi Yojana was originally started in 2016 by the BJP government led by Vasundhara Raje, but after the Congress came to power, the Gehlot administration renamed it as Indira Rasoi Yojana in 2020.
While the recruitment for the Mahatma Gandhi Seva Prerak scheme was still under process when it was cancelled, the Rajasthan government’s decision to end the Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra Internship scheme has resulted in protests from more than 4,000 youngsters who were engaged under the scheme and have lost their monthly income. The BJP has increased the subsidy per plate on the scheme after renaming it.
“As part of the Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra Internship scheme, our job would involve promoting the various welfare schemes of the central and the state government. Every month we got paid around Rs 17,500. After the scheme was suddenly ended, around 4,200 youngsters became unemployed. We would earlier use the money to run our families. For nearly a month we have been protesting but our requests to the government have not resulted in a positive outcome. We want the government to absorb us in the network of contractual employees,” says 25-year-old Dilip Sapera, a protesting Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra.
When it was in opposition, the BJP had raised objections over the Yuva Mitra Internship Scheme after it was announced by former CM Gehlot in his budget speech of 2021-22. The BJP had accused the Congress of using the Yuva Mitras to propagate the party’s ideology.
On Friday, Congress leader and former Rajasthan deputy chief minister Sachin Pilot visited the protest site of the agitating Yuva Mitras in Jaipur and urged the government to reinstate them.
“Five thousand youngsters have been removed from their jobs. I condemn what is happening with these youngsters of Rajasthan and it is my request to the government to reconsider and give them their jobs back,” Pilot told reporters after meeting the protesters.
Congress general secretary and spokesperson Swarnim Chaturvedi accused the BJP of trying to benefit people of its ideology by bringing back the pension for MISA prisoners while neglecting the welfare schemes brought in by the previous Gehlot government.
The BJP continues to maintain its stand that the Yuva Mitras were used by the Congress to promote the party’s ideology.
“Those who were jailed during the Emergency are freedom fighters who stood up for democracy as the Congress party ended it by imposing the Emergency. The Congress government had stopped their pension, which we have revived after coming to power. As for the Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitras, their only task was to retweet the tweets of Ashok Gehlot and promote the Congress party while getting money from the state exchequer. The Congress appointed its own workers and office bearers by the name of Yuva Mitras,” said BJP state spokesperson Laxmikant Bhardwaj.
However, the protesters refute the allegations, even urging the BJP government to change the name of the scheme but continue it.
“We were appointed after due process of screening, written examinations, and interviews. There is no truth to the allegations that we are Congress supporters. Most of the Yuva Mitras are those youngsters who are preparing for competitive examinations. Even before ministerial portfolios were allocated, the new government suddenly ended the schemes, leaving us without income. It is our request that even if you want to change the name of the scheme from Rajiv Gandhi Yuva Mitra to Atal Yuva Mitra, please go ahead but don’t rob us of our livelihood.,” says Sanjay Meena, president of the Yuva Mitra Sangharsh Samiti, who is leading the protests.
