Change of guards in Rajasthan: Morarji Desai was chosen as the leader of the Janata Parliamentary Party and was sworn in as Prime Minister of India on 24 March 1977. Soon after assuming office, the Janata Government put pressure on all congress ruled states to resign, on the plea that the general elections held in March 1977 represented total rejection of the congress by the people. Consequently, fresh elections were held in the states in June 1977 bringing fresh governments. Congress Government in Rajasthan led by Chief Minister Hari Dev Joshi resigned on 29 April 1977 and was replaced by Janata Government led by Bhairon Singh Shekhawat on 22 June 1977.
Bhairon Singh Shekhawat: Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was a seasoned politician. He won elections to First, Second, Third and Fourth Legislative Assemblies of Rajasthan and served as a legislator from 1952 to 1972. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was a popular leader of Jan Sangh and served for most of the time as leader of the opposition during the period. State assembly elections in June 1977 were won by the Janata Party with a thumping majority, grabbing 151 out of 200 seats. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, who was elected from Chabra on Janata party ticket, was elected leader of the Janata Assembly Party and Chief Minister of Rajasthan on 22 June 1977, bringing the first non-congress government to power in Rajasthan. Janata government enjoyed a lot of goodwill and support at that time, from the administration, who geared itself to put in best possible support staff for the newly elected ministers and chief minister, for smooth and hassle free functioning of the government. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat provided a boost to literacy, industrialization and tourism based on heritage, wild life and other themes. Due to his long innings as a leader of the opposition, he had a profound understanding of the working of the government and administrative and security services.
Antyodaya: During the pre-independence period, the total population of the country was of the order of 33 crores. At that time, hardly 1% of the population was affluent and 75 % of the population, which included farmers and landless labour, were subsisting below the poverty line. The process of development was systematically followed after independence, through the implementation of five year plans and there was all round development in almost all sectors of the economy. The markets started booming, the number of affluent people rose considerably and the middle class was strengthened substantially, but the benefits of the development plans did not trickle down to the lowest rungs of the society. Antyodaya was a favourite concept of Bhairon Singh Shekhawat. Antyodaya involves identifying the poorest of the poor and to initiate suitable programmes for their social, educational and economic uplift, to enable them to participate gradually in the process of development. Bhairon Singh Shekhawat initiated the process of antyodaya for the first time, in Rajasthan and pursued it vigorously.
Kota Engineering College: In the pre-independence period, before the formation of Rajasthan, Kota was a progressive state and was always ahead of most of the princely states of Rajasthan, due to its location on the banks of river Chambal. When the tracks of Bombay Baroda & Central India Railway line were laid through the territories of Kota, in the later part of the nineteenth century, there was tremendous boost in the social and economic life of Kota. After the formation of Rajasthan, there was fast development of Kota due to its location and freely available supplies of water and power. JK Synthetics, Sriram Chemicals and Instrumentation initiated the process of industrialization in the region and opened up large opportunities of work for the local people. Kota Engineering College was established sometimes in 1978, along the right bank of river Chambal on the southern side of the city on Rawat Bhata Road. Kota Engineering College is the premier technical institution of Haroti Region and has triggered the establishment of a number of management and professional institutions at Kota for opening up avenues of work and employment for thousands of people.
Food Craft Institute at Jaipur: Institutes of Hotel Management Catering Technology and Nutrition were started by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture of the Government of India at Pusa in Delhi, Guindy in Madras and Bombay and Calcutta in the sixties. All these institutions provided three year courses in hotel management, catering technology and nutrition and provided the initial work force for the development of hospitality services in the country. Sometimes in 1975, the ministry of food had sponsored the development of twenty food craft institutes in the country for the training of craftsmen for providing supporting services for the fast developing hotel management, tourism and other hospitality associated industries. During one of our visits to Delhi, the Ministry of food agreed to sponsor the establishment of one of the food craft institutes at Jaipur. Incidentally, Food Craft Institute at Jaipur was the first institute of food and hospitality services in Rajasthan.
Khasa Kothi on Mirza Ismail Road is one of the prominent land marks of Jaipur. Khasa Kothi had served as the state guest house during the days of Jaipur State. Subsequently, after the formation of Rajasthan, Khasa Kothi had started functioning as a state hotel. Khasa Kothi had a sprawling annexe, butting with it along the Mirza Ismail Road and the spare land and outhouses facing the annexe, outside the Khasa Kothi had been converted into a spacious circuit house. Food Craft Institute had a flying start, when it was registered as an autonomous institution of the Government of Rajasthan under the Directorate of Technical Education and started functioning in the annexe of Khasa Kothi in 1976 with four, one year courses. The courses were: Front Desk Management, House Keeping, Cookery and Food and Beverages. Khasa Kothi and Circuit House had a regular flow of guests from all over the state and were happy to provide on job working facilities to the trainees of the food craft institute. That provided a tremendous boost to the training programmes of the Food Craft Institute. Subsequently, Food Craft Institute was moved to its newly built building at Bani Park sometimes in 1978, where after a few years it was upgraded as an Institute of Hotel Mangement, Catering Technology and Nutrition. Food Craft Institute at Jaipur was the fore runner for the development of hospitality services for hotels and tourism in Rajasthan and has triggered the development of institutes of hotel management and hospitality services all over Rajasthan, thereby opening up avenues of fruitful employment for hundreds of thousands of people of the state.
Jobs and skill development: There was wide spread unemployment and under employmenat in the country in 1977. Morarji Desai had given a call for providing employment to a crore of people in the country every year. It was a tall order and presented a challenge to the states to dig out all types of resources to do something for alleviating the chronic sufferings of the people. Millions of people, skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled were hoping against hope for landing on some sort of opportunities for work, somewhere. Time was running out and therefore, there was immediate need for the development and conduct of a large number of formal and informal short term skill development programmes, for some of the vocations or even operations, which could open up opportunities for fruitful employment or self employment for all types of people. Consequently, a number of job-oriented post diploma courses were introduced in the polytechnics with active participation of government departments and industrial establishments. Production centres were started in selected industrial training institutes of the state to provide a feel to the staff and students about the working conditions and environment in the industries.
Textile dyeing and printing: Dyeing and printing of yarn and fabrics has been in vogue since times immemorial in almost all parts of the world. Dyeing involves washing and bleaching of the yarn and fabrics and then to soak them in desired colours. Printing involves placing different designs or colours on the surface of the raw, bleached or dyed fibres. High quality dyeing and printing on textiles is done by automatic machines in mills. Processing of dyeing and printing manually, is in vogue in almost all parts of the country. It is labour intensive and provides employment to thousands of skilled and semi-skilled people. Barmer, Pachpadra, Balotra, Pali and Jodhpur have emerged as major textile dyeing and printing centres in western Rajasthan.
Life during Janata rule in Rajasthan: There was tremendous goodwill for the Janata Government after its thumping win in the elections in June 1977. People identified janata government as their government and had high expections from the government. Prime Minister Morarji Desai’s call for ‘FREEDOM FROM FEAR’ helped in exploding the expections harboured by the common people. All types of leaders had sprung up, almost everywhere, trumping the cause of people associated with their place of work or establishment. There were no grivences. There were no issues. However, there were all types of demands for the relaxation of norms for work and gradually, almost everybody involved in the administration of public services was involved directly or indirectly in the tangled web of bulging charters of demands. Gradually, governance ceased to have any role and quietly found a cozy place on the back burner. And all roads appeared to be leading to anarchy. The wonder of wonders is that, in spite of all the rallies, demonstrations, strikes and agitations, most of the social services were functioning normally and the life of the people in general was peaceful. The tents of hunger strikers on almost all roads and crossing with blaring calls for their demands, through non-stop electronic media, coupled with all types of rallies and demonstrations running through main streets and throughfares, provided a festive look to the whole show. In the meantime, people looked unconcerned and almost oblivious about all that was going on. Fortunately, there was no violence and the relations between all sections of the people continued to remain cordial.