Administration in Rajasthan
Owing the pride of geographically occupying the largest area in the country. Rajasthan is located in the north-western part of the country. The west and north west borders of the state are surrounded by the boundary of Pakistan, the east and south east are close to the borders of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh respectively, and the south east boundary is close to the state of Gujarat. The total area of state is 132,140 square miles (342,239 square kilometers). Geographically it lies at 23’30 and 30’120 north latitudes, and 69’300 and 78’ 170 at east longitude.
The people of Rajasthan are normally known as ‘Marwaris’ meaning the clever businessmen. The business tycoons of India namely Birla’s, Singhania’s, Goenka’s have their roots rooted in Rajasthan as typical ‘Marwari’s’.
Rajasthan is an exotic and diverse state with a blend of people with different customs, culture, costumes, cuisines, manners and history. Blessed with beautiful forts and palaces, havellies, marking their heritage glimpses on the world map. It is the place where romance and bravery together flow in the air. The history of brave rulers attracts tourists from all over the world to this exotic place.
The merging of erstwhile princely states of Rajputana, after Independence in 1947, took place in different stages. The first stage involved the merging of the princely states of Alwar, Bhratpur, Dholpur and Karauli forming the Matsya Union and came into existence on March 17th, 1948. The second stage of forming the Union of Rajasthan got completed on March 25th, 1948, comprising the merging of princely states of Banswara, Bundi, Dungarpur, Jhalawar, Kishangarh, Pratapgarh, Shahpura, Tonk and Kota. The merging of the larger states of Bikaner, Jaisalmer, Jaipur and Jodhpur finally opened the way of the Union and Formation of Rajasthan. Thus, on March 30, 1949, the state of Rajasthan emerged as a separate state of Union of India.
With the formation of Indian Union the Constitution of India made the provision of general elections within the country and states after every five years for the proper maintenance of law and administration. The major dominant parties in the Indian Politics are National Congress Party and Bhartiya Janta Party.
Unlike other Indian States, the Governor is the head and first citizen of the state. The Rajasthan politics is also influenced by the two major parties of Indian Politics. Indian National Congress and Bhartiya Janta Party. Besides these parties the other parties who have threshold in state politics are Communist Party of India (Marxist),Bahujan Samaj Party, Indian National Lok Dal , Janata Dal (United),Lok Jan Shakti Party, Rajasthan Samajik Nyaya Manch.
The state has its own legislative assembly of 200 members representing the thirty three districts. Rajasthan state also has also its representation in both the houses of Indian Parliament i.e., upper house or Rajya Sabha and lower house or Lok Sabha by 10 and 25 members respectively. Except few exception state is fortunate to have stable governance after every general elections. The head of the majority party is appointed as the chief minister and has a council of ministers to help him in running the administration of state.
At present the Chief Minister of state is Mr. Ashok Gehlot from Indian National Congress. Mr. Gehlot is the politician of national repute and holds strong position at state and national politics. Prior to him Smt. Vasundhara Raje of Bhartiya Janta Party was the Chief-minister of Rajasthan, she was the first lady chief minister of Rajasthan.
The administration of the state is divided into thirty- three districts. For maintaining the law and order in the state, the state administration has huge fleet of nearly 70000 police servicemen ready to render their services for twenty four hours. The police administration includes39 police districts, 711 police stations, 172 circles and 788 out-posts. Twelve women police stations are also serving in the state.