Rajasthan government dissolves nine districts formed under Congress regime | Full list

Rajasthan: The Rajasthan government has dissolved a total of nine districts in the cabinet meeting today (December 28). In the Ashok Gehlot government, 17 new districts and three new divisions were announced, but it was deemed inappropriate to create new districts and divisions before the code of conduct. As a result, the districts were cancelled.

The Bhajanlal government considered some of the newly proposed districts from the previous administration impractical and believed they would place an additional burden on Rajasthan, which was not in the state's interest. 

Three new divisions were also dissolved in a state cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma on Saturday. The state will now only have seven divisions and 41 districts, Parliamentary Affairs Minister and Law Minister Jogaram Patel said.

The following 9 districts are dissolved in the state: 

1. Dudu
2. Kekri
3. Shahpura
4. Neemkathana
5. Gangapur City
6. Jaipur Rural
7. Jodhpur Rural
8. Anupgarh
9. Sanchore

After the changes, there will be 41 districts and 7 divisions in total.

The following districts will remain intact:

1. Balotara
2. Beawar
3. Deeg-Kumher
4. Didwana-Kuchaman
5. Kotputli-Behror
6. Khairthal-Tijara
7. Phalodi
8. Salumber

Out of the 20 new districts announced by the previous Congress government, only eight will remain functional. The new divisions created during the previous administration will not be retained.

Ashok Gehlot reacts on dissolving 9 districts 

Former Chief Minister of Rajasthan and Congress leader Ashok Gehlot said, "The state government took 1 year to take this decision. From this, it can be guessed how much confusion was in their minds regarding this work... Rajasthan is the largest state in the country... If three divisions were created, then they were created after some thought...In many ways, small districts are beneficial for the public. Gujarat is a state with less population than us (Rajasthan) but still, there are 33 districts there... We took this decision for good governance ...".

Other decisions of cabinet meeting:

• Restructuring of Rajasthan's Gram Panchayats.
• Employment will be provided to 1 lakh unemployed individuals in 2025
• New beneficiaries will be added to the Food Security Scheme.
• The score from the Common Eligibility Test (CET) exam will now be valid for three years, instead of the previous one-year validity.

High-level expert committee formed in July 2024

On July 1, the Rajasthan government formed a high-level expert committee tasked with reviewing the essential aspects related to the existence of the newly created districts and divisions. The committee was asked to submit its report by August 31. The report was submitted a day earlier, on August 30, to Dinesh Kumar, the Principal Secretary of Revenue, Rajasthan government. On September 2, 2024, the committee presented its findings to the Cabinet committee, which then made a decision based on the presentation.

To create the report, Dr Lalit K Pawar, the chairman of the high-level expert committee, stated that 10 key points were considered. Additionally, the committee gathered suggestions from the affected public representatives and organisations in the districts.

Key facts:

• The committee was formed on July 1, with a deadline of August 31 to submit the report, which was delivered on August 30.
• On September 2, the committee will give its presentation to the Cabinet Committee.
• Reports were prepared for 17 out of the 19 districts.
• The report includes inputs from more than 45 legislators, over 10 MPs, 5 ministers from both the central and state governments, more than 50 delegations, over 25 village heads, and 5 district heads.
• Administrative-level suggestions were also gathered from district collectors and commissioners.
• The report is based on 10 key points, and over 5,000 kilometres were travelled to understand the ground realities.
• The two districts where the committee could not visit were Salumber, due to law and order issues, and Neemkathana, as the district collector was unavailable.