Author: Coomi Kapoor
Publication: The Indian Express
Date: April 1, 2007
URL: http://www.indianexpress.com/story/27205.html
Most chief ministers take the conventional
route for raising funds, by holding road shows abroad for NRIs from their
home state. Rajasthan Chief Minister, Vasundhara Raje, has done one better.
Accompanied by a phalanx of officials, she flew to Seattle to see Bill Gates.
She met the world's richest man, but not to ask for funds but for technical
assistance.
If Chandrababu Naidu was singled out for special
praise by the western media during his years as chief minister of Andhra Pradesh,
Vasundhara Raje is fast emerging as the new favourite with international audiences.
Raje is admired not just for her regal lineage and glamorous looks (she has
shed a lot of weight) but also for the special attention she has paid to the
social sector. Her government has begun to show remarkable improvement in
this sphere.
Literacy for girls in Rajasthan has shot up
from 22 to 44 per cent. The infant mortality rate has dropped from 80 per
1,000 to 65 per 1,000; maternal mortality has dropped from 670 per 100,000
to 445. Complete immunisation has gone up from 17.3 per cent to 26.5 per cent.
