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A famous TV advertisement which comes quite frequently shows a bunch of freshers being asked to climb up and create a

human pyramid in a college by apparently a bunch of seniors. Onefresher at the top of the human pyramid points out to a CCTV,saying that the session is being watched by some authority. Themoment he says this, the seniors run for shelter.

There are advertisements on radio as well where citizens areinformed that ragging is banned and that complaints can be made to a particularnumber or website. Ragging has been a healthy tradition in many of our schools andcolleges (remember the film: ‘3 Idiots’), and in so far as it was non-violent it wasgood. Alas, over time and in some cases it became violent and there were fewsuicides as well.

I too underwent and indulged in ragging when in school and college, but it wasalways sporting and never violent. The degeneration took place over the last fewdecades, and thus presently there is a total ban on ragging. This is a tragic knee jerkreaction, like cutting off the head to cure a headache, as many of our responses are.Rather, what could be done is to allow ragging in controlled situations like at aFreshers’ Event in schools/colleges. Such events do take place, but they are limitedto performances, such as dancing, singing, skits and so on, but not impromptumirthful leg pulling which can be really much more enjoyable.

As society, we do like humour, banter, leg pulling, comedies, stand up comics andso on, but are we not becoming more intolerant of the same. For example, a comedymovie called Santa Banta Pvt. Ltd. was made few years ago with the excellentversatile Bollywood actor: Boman Irani in the lead as a Sikh spook working for IndianGovernment. His sidekick was another Sikh and they had to rescue a capturedIndian diplomat in South Pacific country Fiji and underwent the whole mission withfun. But the movie was made badly and flopped. Some Sikh gentlemen moved theBombay High Court to get a stay on the exhibition of the movie stating that it hurtSikh sentiments.

Fortunately, they did not succeed. Furthermore, another writ petition was filedrecently at the apex court asking for a complete ban on all Sardar oriented jokes.The court asked the petitioners to tell them on how such a ban can be enforcedand that what about other leg pullers like calling a Gujarati a gujju who enjoys eating‘snakes’ because they pronounce ‘snacks’ as such. Or calling a Bengali a bong andso on and so forth. Each of the communities in India have their own lingualpeculiarities and people do make fun of them, but no one minds.

Many of the Sikh jokes are in fact narrated by Sikh friends who are sporting andI have never come across a single Sardar who has objected to the same. Mexicansare the butt of American jokes and Norwegians are the butt of Swedish jokes. Thelist is endless but at the same time tolerance is high and people accept them as partof life, to be enjoyed rather than agitate about them.

Increasing Intolerance

Pradeep S Mehta, Secretary General

www.google.com

I N S I D E

‘Powerful’ Indian Bankers

Driving Licence on Mobile

Pollution Costs Economy

Online FIR Facility

Successful in PM’s Campaign

Metro Updates

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Centre for Science of HappinessIIT Kharagpur, one of the premier

institutes in India, is planning to set up a‘centre for science of happiness’ topromote science and practice ofpositivity for fostering meaningful life.

The Minister of State for HRDMahendra Nath Pandey mentioned thatthe proposal wasreceived from IITK h a r a g p u ralumni SatinderSingh Rekhi. Thecentre’s vision isto promotescience andpractice of positivity for fosteringmeaningful life, happiness, well-being andholistic self-development by bringingtogether various disciplines ranging frompsychology, management to engineering.

(BL, 25.07.16)

‘Powerful’ Indian BankersIndia’s top women bankers, State

Bank of India (SBI) Chief ArundhatiBhattacharya, ICICI Head ChandaKochhar and Axis Bank CEO ShikhaSharma are among the 50 mostpowerful women based outside the US,according to a list by ‘Fortune’, which istopped by Eurozone’s largest bank bymarket value, Banco Santander’s HeadAna Botín.

Bhattacharya is ranked second onthe list, while Kochhar comes in on the5th spot and Sharma on the 19th positionin the “Fortune’s 50 Most PowerfulWomen International” list of 2016, whichspans 19 countries. (BL, 13.09.16)

New ‘Splendiferous’ CollectionClicktivism and YOLO are among

more than 1,000 new entries added bythe Oxford English Dictionary to itslatest update. The update also marks thecentenary of the birth of British novelistRoald Dahl with a range of new wordsconnected to his writing. These includeSplendiferous , Human Bean ,Yogalates etc.

Clicktivism describes the use ofsocial media and other online methodsto promote a cause. The acronym‘YOLO’ (1996) is traced back to itsaxiomatic ’you only live once’. HumanBean is a humorous alteration ormispronunciation of human beingwhereas Yogalates refers to the trendof combining pilates exercises with thepostures and breathing techniques ofyoga. (TH, 13.09.16)

Driving Licence on MobileCitizens will now be spared from the

hassle of carrying physical drivinglicences and vehicle registrationcertificates, which can be accessed onlineor on their mobile phones usingDigilocker.

Launching the integration ofDigiLocker with the Driving Licence andVehicle Registration system of theMinistry of Road Transport and Highways, the Union Minister NitinGadkari said citizens can use these asvalid identification at airports too.

The digital driving licence and vehicleregistration documents will be availableon citizens’ cellphones via the DigiLockermobile app. (BS, 08.09.16)

Unique Tree Planting RecordRadhika Anand, CEO of Delhi-based

Plantology, has planted 110,000 fruittrees in a single year across armycantonments in Delhi, Punjab, UttarPradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana,Maharashtra and Rajasthan. Anand hasworked for environment protection sincelast two decades.

In 2015, she wanted to do somethingimpactful and thus tried her hand atwaste management but was unable tomake any breakthrough. That is whenthe idea of planting fruit trees struck her.Tree planting was her life and on July28, 2016 she accomplished her targetof planting 100,000 trees in a year alongwith plantation of 10,000 extra trees.

(BS, 13.08.16)

150-year Life SpanHuman beings may live till the age of

150 years if they do not suffer fromcancer, diabetes and heart diseases, saidDr U S Agarwal,Principal, Sawai ManSingh (SMS) MedicalCollege, Jaipur.

Dr HemantMalhotra of SMS Medical College said for30-35 years after independence,communicable diseases, such astuberculosis, pneumonia etc. were themain killers, but now non-communicablediseases, such as cancer, diabetes andheart diseases have become the numberone killer in India. (HT, 08.09.16)

Refugee Team Makes History at RioThe antipathy many Brazilians feel

towards the Rio Olympics brieflyvanished when onlookers cheered HananDacka, a 12-year-old Syrian (Asian)refugee, as she jogged through thenation’s capital, Brasilia with the Olympicflame in her hand.

History was also created as RoseNathike Lokonyen, a 23 year-old SouthSudanese (African) runner, led the first-ever Refugee Olympic Team into theMaracana Stadium (Brazil) during theOpening Ceremony under the Olympicflag to cries of support from an ecstaticcrowd.

Rose was eight when she fled warand found safety in the remote Kakumarefugee camp in northern Kenya and haslived there ever since, a report on theUnited Nations High Commissioner forRefugees (UNHCR) website stated.

(ToI, 07.08.16)

Feeding the NeedyKhushroo Poacha holds a regular job

with the central railways in itscommercial department in Nagpur,Maharashtra. An idea that he conceivedtwo years back has now come to fruitionand feeds around 2,500 people everyweek in his Seva Kitchen.

“My mother was then hospitalised inNagpur for a surgery. I saw a lot of peoplesitting outside the hospital, cookingchappatis on a brick kiln to make endsmeet”, shares Poacha. He followed hismother’s suggestion that if he was sotouched by their plight then he shoulddo something for them and this madehim launch the initiative of Seva Kitchen.

(DNA, 14.07.16)

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Demand for Purush AyogScores of distressed men who claimed

to be victims of false cases protested atCollectorate Circle in Jaipur as the rainfailed to drench their cause.

Their demonstration in the form ofa protest saw men from

different corners ofthe State narratingtheir personalexperiences of beingharassed by wivesand of being draggedinto false family lawcases, mostly dowry.

They demanded the formation of aPurush Aayog (Men’s Commision) , aMinistry for men and protection againstfalse cases. Anil Rao from Jhunjhunu(Rajasthan) who was the organiser of theprotest had filed a FIR against his wife inMarch 2016 under IPC Section 12-1A.

(DNA, 31.07.16)

‘Rent Men’ to Lend an EarFrom lonely pensioners to Japanese

schoolgirls with shattered dreams,Takanobu Nishimoto and his crew ofmiddle-aged Japanese men will lend anear to clients who would never dreamof spilling their guts to a therapist orworse, their families.

Anyone in need of company can signup to his online service to rent an ‘ossan’– a man aged between 45 and 55 – for¥1,000 (US$10) an hour. “For me, theservice is a hobby more than anything”,said Nishimoto, who first came up withthe concept four years ago and currentlyhas a growing network of some 60 menacross Japan. “The people who rent meare just asking me to keep them companyfor an hour or two, mainly to listen tothem”, he added. (BL, 22.07.16)

Pollution Costs EconomyPremature deaths due to air pollution

cost the global economy US$5.1tnannually, which is roughly twice theeconomic output of the UK, accordingto a World Bank (WB) report.

In a major study of the economiccosts of indoor and outdoorpollution, the WB said airpollution prematurelykills 5.5 million peoplea year, or one in tendeaths worldwide.

According to thesurvey, air pollutionsignificantly hampersthe economic development of China andother growing economies in Asia. WBalso found that in 2013 China lost nearly10 percent of its Gross DomesticProduct (GDP), India over 7 percent, SriLanka and Cambodia roughly 8 percent.

(QM, 20.09.16)

MMMMM10 Coin Still Valid: RBIThe Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said

the M10 coin was very much incirculation and those refusing to acceptit could facelegal action,setting torest rumoursthat the coinwas banned.

Reports have poured in ofshopkeepers, kiosks owners and autorickshaw drivers in and around Delhireturning M10 coins and asking forcurrency notes after a WhatsAppmessage, shared widely, claimed the coinwas declared invalid by the central bank.“People should not hesitate in using thecoins for transactions as these coins arelegal tender”. (HT, 20.09.16)

Quick Cancer DetectionFour years ago, Shantikumar V Nair

and Manzoor Koyakutty of AmritaUniversity’s Kochi-based centre in Keralafor Nanomedicine were using lasers todetect food contaminants using Ramanspectroscopy.

As the contaminants threw updistinct patterns, Nair wondered why not

bounce lasers offhuman tissue to detectcancer cells?

The result is atechnology thatenables cancerdetection in less than

30 minutes without a hospital visit. Theteam is now working on a hand-heldinstrument to detectoral cancer, whichis expected to be ready in two years.

(ToI, 17.09.16)

Dead Outnumber the LivingColma, a quiet town in California

(US) of roughly two square miles is hometo 1,700 living residents and over 1.5million dead ones. Most of the town’sforever-silent population are people wholived and died in San Francisco, but justlike most of today’s living residents, couldnot afford to spend their afterlives in theexpensive metropolis.

In the year 1900, San Francisco, hillycity of California was a city crowded bythe dead. During the gold rush, goldminers, merchants and immigrants fromall around the world flocked here,bringing with them disease, and as thedeath toll rose, the 27 cemeteries filledto the brink of overflowing. (OC, 30.09.16)

Mistress-dispelling BusinessMistress-dispell ing services,

increasingly common in China’s largercities, specialise in ending affairs betweenmarried men and their extramaritallovers. Mistress dispelling typicallybegins with research on the targetedwoman, said Director of Shu Xin,Weiqing’s International MarriageHospital Emotion Clinic Group.

Typically hired by a scorned wife, theycoach women on how to save theirmarriages, while inducing the mistressto disappear. The services have emergedas China’s economy has opened up inrecent decades, and as extramaritalaffairs grew more common. (TH, 31.07.16)

Garbage for HousesFor the past five decades, Nargis Latif

has been actively advocating for therecycling of trash in Pakistan as analternative to simply burning it all andraising pollution levels. She hassuccessfully developed a technique ofbuilding cheap housing for the poor ofKarachi out of blocks of dry waste.

Nargis set up a non-governmentalorganisation called Gul Bahao thatfocussed on using trash instead ofthrowing it away. She paid junk dealersgood money for paper, cardboard,shopping bags, plastic, glass etc.

(OC, 30.09.16)

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Online FIR FacilityThe Rajasthan Police has recently

launched an online First InformationReport (FIR) facility for lost articlesand documents. The facility waslaunched by Rajasthan Home MinisterGulab Chand Kataria.

The Director General of PoliceManoj Bhatt said driving licence, ATM/debit/credit cards, birth certificate,bank pass book, camera, castecertificate, Aadhaar card, PAN card,passport, property documents, tablets,laptops, mobile phones are some ofthe articles, which are covered by thefacility.

All that a person has to do is tolog into the Rajasthan police website(www.police.rajasthan.gov.in), fill up therelevant form with due details, get theautomated copy of it downloaded orprinted in minutes. (HT, 13.07.16)

Rajasthan HRIDAY SchemeOn the lines of Centre’s National

Heritage City Development andAugmentation Yojna (HRIDAY), theGovernment of Rajasthan has startedto develop‘Rajasthan HRIDAY Yojna’.

Under the scheme, theGovernment would develop andconserve the heritage by providingbasic amenties. City heritages ofRajasthan would be conservedindistinctly and distinctly by the StateGovernment. The State capital Jaipurhas been included along with threeother towns in the first phase. InCentre’s first phase scheme, Ajmer hasbeen listed from the State.

(DNA, 25.07.16)

Move to Mark ‘World Car Free Day’Responding to an appeal by a local

Hindi daily, a good number ofJaipurites left their cars at home andused either two-wheelers or threewheelers to travel totheir work placesto mark the ‘WorldCar Free Day’.

A large ofnumbers of two-wheelers were on the roads. Theresidents found lesser pollution onthe roads, could reach faster due tolesser traffic jams, shared cars. In thewalled city, cycles are used to movefrom one place to another. Parking ofcars is becoming another problem inbig cities, which requires popularisingalternative modes of transport.

(merinews, 26.09.16)

Connecting People with WildlifeThe wildlife wing of Forest

Department in Rajasthan has floatedan innovative programme to inviteexperts, entrepreneurs, technicalgraduates and interested persons totake up time-bound assignments aspart of an internship. This will enablethe participants to provide criticalinputs on policy and regulation in thenatural resource management sector.

The engagement of interns in thewildlife and forestry sector will helpdevelop various nuances of plant andanimal behaviour, ecology andbiology in order to demystifycommonly held superstitions andmisconceptions about wildlife.

(TH, 29.08.16)

Bigger Solar PlantJaipur airport will now be able to

cater its electricity needs with thecommissioning of a second solar plantof 1800 KW. “We already have a solarplant of 102 KW running on theairport premises. The second solarplant will be totally independent andwill help generate maximum electricityfor the terminal building”, confirmedB K Tailong, Airport Director.

Continuing with its efforts to gogreen, the Jaipur airport authoritieshave replaced all its lights with LEDlighting with the aim to save energy.Moreover, water harvesting plant aswell as sewerage treatment plant isfunctional for generating conventionalsource of power. (DNA, 05.08.16)

Toy Banks in Aaganwadi CentresPeople’s participation of Jaipur has

led to collection of over 95,000 toysfor anganwadi centres in Jaipur.Aaganwadi centres are part ofIntegrated Child DevelopmentServices programme of the IndianGovernment where children from theage group of 3 to 6 years are benefittedthrough various health schemes.

With the help of Women andChild Development (WCD)Department, the Jaipur districtadministration set up toy banks in all4,200 anganwadi centres in the city.The toy banks were inaugurated onJuly 01, 2016. (ToI, 03.07.16)

Successful in PM’s CampaignRajasthan, infamous for female

foeticide and infanticide and childmarriages, is now saving its girls andtheir numbers are growing. The State, which was in the bottomhalf of India’s child sex ratio rankingsin the 2011 Census, has scripted acomeback and is bringing back itsgirls.

Enhancing Municipal Services“For getting the quality

municipal services people not onlyneed to pay the required minimumuser charges but also participateeffectively in the planning process”,said Professor V S Vyas, formerDeputy Chairman, PlanningCommission (Rajasthan).

He stated this in the fourthMayors’ Conference organised inJaipur on September 14, 2016 byCUTS in collaboration withDirectorate of Local Bodies,Government of Rajasthan, under‘Rajasthan City Mayors’ LearningPlatform’. He said that Local SelfGovernment need to further explorethe possibilities of introducing somemore taxes like professional taxes etc.to ensure maximum revenuecollection.

It is a turnaround that hasimpressed the Centre because it isprobably the most successfulexample so far of Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s Beti Bachao, BetiPadhao campaign. (ET, 09.07.16)

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Metro to Run till 10.25 PMThe Jaipur Metro Rail Corporation (JMRC) will

operate services till 10:25 pm between October 01 toOctober 31, 2016 during the festival month of Diwali.

The extension of the timings will help passengerswho need to travel to the walled city area for shoppingand visiting religious places.

The last train from Chandpole will leave at 10 pmand reach Mansarovar at 10:25 pm. Similarly, last trainfrom Mansarovar station will leave at 9:45 pm and wouldreach Chandpole at 10:10 pm. (ToI, 01.10.16)

Rooftop Solar Panels at Metro StationsGoing green in its second year of operations,

Jaipur Metro has decided to set up rooftop solar panelsat eight elevated Metro stations on its 9.25-km-longcorridor between Mansarovar and Chandpole.

The power generated by 200-kWp ‘Rooftop SolarPower Plant’ will be used to meet the requirements atthe Metro stations and would reduce its dependenceon non-renewable sources. The JMRC has received aproposal from the Centre under its scheme to installthe rooftop solar panels. (ToI, 13.09.16)

Metro Clears Final HurdleThe JMRC has cleared the final hurdle as its second

tunnel has also crossed the State monument Isar Lat inthe walled city without causing any damage.

The entire operation of constructing twounderground tunnels between Chandpole to Badi Chaupar(2.789 km), under Jaipur Metro Rail (phase-1 B) project,was meticulously monitored online and simultaneouslyby the technicians in Jaipur, Delhi and experts at Athens,Greece. (ToI, 10.09.16)

Plans to Review Metro-II DPRThe JMRC is planning to appoint an international

firm to review the detailed project report (DPR) of JaipurMetro phase-II proposed between Ambabari and Sitapura.

For the 24-km-long corridor, six firms were short-listed, which will submit the technical and financial bidsby October 20, 2016.

Ashwani Saxena, Director (project) of JMRC said,“Out of 22 companies, we have short-listed sixinternational firms, which will submit request forproposal”. (ToI, 07.09.16)

Metro Fines Commuters for Violating RulesNearly 100 Metro passengers per month on average

were penalised for violating safety and sanitation rulesset by JMRC in the last 14 months. Several penalisedriders were those who were found spitting and throwinggarbage on metro stations.

This data showing a poor civic sense of Metro ridersand underlining their attempt to put lives at risk wasreleased by Jaipur Metro. It said that 1400 Metro riders

Metro Updates

have been fined under Metro Railway (Operation andSafety) Act 2002 for violation of various rules enforced.

(DNA, 17.08.16)

Centre Scraps Metro AidIn a major setback for the JMRC, the Centre has

cancelled the sanctioned financial assistance of aboutM627 crore after the State Government failed to signthe memorandum of understanding (MoU) for Metrophase I (B).

This has come at a time when the Metro is facinghuge operational losses, expected to reach up to M29crore in current financial year by an optimisticcalculation. The JMRC was expecting financial aid fromthe Centre in the form of equity, but due to ‘delay’ insigning the agreement, the Centre has decided to cancelfunds. (ToI, 01.08.16)

Metro’s Green DriveJaipur Metro planted 1,000 saplings as part of the

Van Mahotsav held recently in Jaipur. To keep the newlyplanted plants alive for a longer time, this plantationdrive was organised in Jaipur.

With an aim of converting the idea of ‘Green MetroClean Metro’ into reality, first time Van Mahotsav wasorganised at Mansarovar Depot, after operations ofMetro. To keep a record of these new plants, variousdepartments were given to name around 1,000 plants.

(DNA, 01.08.16)

Survey Seeking Public ViewsNearly 37 percent of commuters in an online survey

suggested JMRC to take up Sitapura-Ambabari Metro lineproject at the earliest that is struggling to come out ofpapers owing to sluggishness of bureaucracy and lackof will.

The Metro body had started an online survey invitingpublic to open up their views on one year of Metrooperations completed on June 03, 2016. In the survey,nearly 464 persons voted and gave their opinions onfuture expectations from JMRC and their feedback onMetro services on Mansarovar-Chandpole route.

(DNA, 30.06.16)

CityMattersCityMattersCityMattersCityMattersCityMatters is a quarterly newsletter published by Consumer Unity & Trust Society (CUTS), D-217, Bhaskar Marg, Bani Park, Jaipur 302016, India,Phone: 91.141.2282821, Fax: 91.141.2282485 Email: cuts@cuts.org, Web site: www.cuts-international.org, and printed by Jaipur Printers P. Ltd., Jaipur, India.

CUTS offices also at Kolkata, Chittorgarh and New Delhi (India); Lusaka (Zambia); Nairobi (Kenya); Accra (Ghana); Hanoi (Vietnam); and Geneva (Switzerland).

Sources: BS: Business Standard; BL:The Hindu Business Line; DNA: The Daily New & Analysis; ET: The Economic Times;HT: The Hindustan Times; QM: QuestionMore; OC: OddityCentral; TH: The Hindu; ToI: Times of India

OpinionOpinionOpinionOpinionOpinion

In another two and a half years, Rajasthan ChiefMinister Vasundhara Raje will seek a fresh mandate from

voters for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). However,it might be difficult for her to repeat the success of the2013 assembly elections, in which her party had won alandslide victory by winning 163 seats out of a total of 200seats.

Raje will face difficulties on two counts. First, she maynot be able to reap the benefits of the so-called Modi wavethat catapulted Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi topower at the Centre in 2014 and helped the BJP formGovernments in other states, such as Jharkhand andHaryana. Raje’s second challenge will be the anti-incumbencyfactor. Over the past two decades, people have alternatelyvoted the BJP and the Congress to power in Rajasthan;neither party has won two consecutive elections.

Political analysts indicate that Raje is well aware ofthese challenges, and is taking measures to counter them.Among Raje’s major outreach programmes was Sarkar AapkeDwar (government at your doorsteps). She camped inBharatpur, Bikaner and Udaipur cities of Rajasthan ondifferent occasions for two to three days along with herCabinet Ministers and senior bureaucrats, directly hearingthe complaints of the people.

Though the programme had the right intent, it did notyield the desired results. Soon after the programme inBharatpur, Raje’s party lost three of the four assembly by-elections.

People also rejected Raje’s idea of shutting downneighbourhood schools to pool resources at one school.This did not hold back the Raje Government from takingsome tough decisions, which included involving the privatesector in running state-owned primary healthcare centres,

Rajasthan Crosses Policy ChallengesSahil Makkar*

schools and diagnostic centres through public-privatepartnerships (PPPs).

PPPs were also started in tourism, solar power andtransportation. Raje blames it on the financial mismanagementof the previous Ashok Gehlot-led Congress Government.She mentioned that of every M100 earned, M95 is spent inpaying salaries, pensions and debt. The remaining M5 is usedfor development work. This explains the rationale behindher Government’s decision to outsource most services tothe private sector.

At present, the State’s power distribution companies havedebts of M80,000 crore, and Rajasthan’s fiscal deficit is 3.1percent of its gross state domestic product (GSDP).

With limited fiscal space to manouevre in, the RajeGovernment will find it difficult to roll out more socialschemes before the coming assembly elections, unless it cutsback on spending. Some in the State Government feel thatattracting more investment is the only way to fuel economicgrowth.

In the past two and a half years, Rajasthan has announcedlabour, industry and legal reforms that helped the State signinvestment proposals aggregating M3.5 lakh crore duringthe recently-held ‘Resurgent Rajasthan Summit’ in Jaipur.

Raje believes that these investments could help create250,000 jobs. Though she has reached out to industrialistsin China, Singapore, Korea and Russia, the policies announcedby her Government are still taking root in the State. “Wewill not announce anything new. In the following two anda half years, our focus will be on implementing all the reformsand policies announced by us”, said the Chief Minister.

(* Journalist at Business Standard. This has been abridged from anarticle published on August 22, 2016)

Rajasthan hasimplemented a series oflabour, industry and legalreforms, and receivedinvestment proposals worth3.5 lakh crore