The gesture by the UPA Government at the Centre gives the State an opportunity to remove the tag of being a backward desert state.

It is a matter of personal satisfaction for the Chief Minister that the new IIT will be set up in his home district of Jodhpur. But it will now be a challenge for the government to show that it can make a mark in the field of higher technical education.

The youth from Rajasthan have remained behind others in this field, mainly because of lack of facilities, and not due to lack of talent. In school education, the state has a high list of drop-outs. The field of school education too would require a lot of attention and resources in the form of new schools, and better facilities at the existing ones in villages and tribal areas like Bhilwara.

There is yet another area where the state's record has been very poor - in the field of malnutrition leading to high rate of infant mortality. Rajasthan stands number two in the country as far as infant mortality rate is concerned.

But the problem is that high-profile politicians in the state are getting greedy in acquire power in other fields like sport. For instance, Union Minister C P Joshi has recently been elected president of the Rajasthan Cricket Association. Why should these men in power divert to such areas, instead of concentrating on the work to promote public welfare?

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot has rewarded the three MLAs of the Bahujan Samajwadi Party (BSP), who had defected to Congress after the assembly elections last year, by inducting them into the cabinet. The beneficiaries are Murarilal Meena, Rajkumar Sharma and Rajendra Singh Gudda.

But the other three BSP defectors have not been as lucky. They too had deserted their original party to support the Congress Legislature Party, which was a few seats short of majority after the elections to the 200-member assembly. These less fortunate MLAs are Ramesh Chander Meena, Giriraj Singh and Rakesh Meena.

Political observers here say that in one deft stroke, Gehlot has ensured the support of the powerful Meena community in the state. (IPA)