Gehlot looks out of his car. Farmers in this part of Rajasthan are busy tending to their mustard fields. He is heading northeast of Jaipur, which is a prosperous, agricultural region with water provided from tubewells. “The high point of the last five years is even though Rajasthan had a drought for three years, we were able to tackle it well,” he claims.
Gehlot copied Maharashtra’s successful EGS (Employment Guarantee Scheme), wherein the government guarantees 100 days of employment in a year, often building roads across this vast state, now India’s largest. “Despite nature going against us, we ensure that literacy levels rose, that water reached the villages," he says.
His biggest concern, he points out, is generating sufficient employment. “We have to make sure our able-bodied youngsters are employed, can earn and fill their stomachs.”
The chief minister strongly believes generating employment is more important than India's defence sector. “A hungry man cannot defend his country,” he says.