The Rajasthan government has announced it will create 19 new districts and three more divisional headquarters to serve the needs of people who live far away from the divisional headquarters.
Rajasthan Map
“Rajasthan is the biggest state in the country in terms of geographical area. In some cases, the distance to the district headquarters is more than a 100 km. People are unable to reach district headquarters easily and the administration, too, is unable to reach each and every family,” Mr Gehlot, the Chief Minister, said in the Rajasthan assembly. “If the districts are smaller, then it helps in maintaining effective law and order and better administration can be provided,” Mr Gehlot told the assembly.
Rajasthan currently has 33 districts. The three new divisional headquarters are Pali, Sikar and Banswara.
Mr Gehlot proposed a budget of ₹ 2,000 crore for infrastructure development and human resources in the first phase of creating the new districts. Fifteen years ago, Ms Raje when she was the Chief Minister had created Pratapgarh as a district.
New Districts Rajasthan
The new districts are Anoopgarh, which was part of Ganganagar; Balotra (Barmer), Beawar (Ajmer), Kekri (Ajmer), Deeg (Bharatpur), Deedwana-Kuchaman (Nagaur), Dudu (Jaipur), Gangapur City (Sawai Madhopur), Jaipur North, Jaipur South, Jodhpur East, Jodhpur West, Kotputli-Behror (Jaipur-Alwar), Khertal (Alwar), Neem Ka Thana (Sikar), Phalodi (Jodhpur), Salumber (Udaipur), Sanchore (Jalore) and Shahpura (Bhilwara).
Gujjars, who constitute around 9 to 12 per cent of the state population and are significant in 40 to 50 assembly seats in eastern Rajasthan, are a critical vote bank for both the Congress and the BJP.
Rajasthan
Rajasthan is a state in northern India. It covers 342,239 square kilometres (132,139 sq mi) or 10.4 per cent of India’s total geographical area. It is the largest Indian state by area and the seventh largest by population. It is on India’s northwestern side, where it comprises most of the wide and inhospitable Thar Desert (also known as the Great Indian Desert) and shares a border with the Pakistani provinces of Punjab to the northwest and Sindh to the west, along the Sutlej-Indus River valley. It is bordered by five other Indian states: Punjab to the north; Haryana and Uttar Pradesh to the northeast; Madhya Pradesh to the southeast; and Gujarat to the southwest.
- Capital: Jaipur (Executive Branch)
- Founded: 30 March 1949
- Area: 342,239 km²
- Chief minister: Ashok Gehlot
- Governor: Kalraj Mishra