The Mother of All Schemes

A slew of women and child welfare schemes keeps alive memories of a matriarch

- Amarnath K. Menon

A ROYAL RUN-DOWN

The Rajasthan government, in its 2020-21 budget, has earmarked Rs 4 crore to renovate four heritage properties of the Rajasthan Tourism Development Corporation (RTDC)—in Alwar, Sawai Madhopur, Nathdwara, and Pushkar. This, however, looks like a drop in the ocean as the bankrupt RTDC, by one estimate, needs Rs 100 crore for revival. The RTDC’s luxury trains, too, have gone off track. While the ‘Royal Rajasthan on Wheels’ has stopped operations, the ‘Palace on Wheels’ is no longer attracting tourists. Another state entity, the Rajasthan State Hotels Corporation Ltd (RSHCL), is in dire straits, with a part of its heritage property in Jaipur’s Khasa Kothi being rented out to a university. Calls for disinvestment are growing, but will Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot bite the bullet?

Ahead of the assembly election due in May next year, the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) is doling out fistfuls of state largesse in the name of its late lamented leader J. Jayalalithaa. February 24 marked her 72nd birth anniversary, and it will henceforth be observed as Girl Child Protection Day in Tamil Nadu.