Governor’s address to the Joint session of the State Legislature at Vidhan Bhavan, Mumbai

HON’BLE CHAIRMAN, HON’BLE SPEAKER AND HON’BLE MEMBERS

1. It gives me great pleasure to welcome all of you to the first Session of State Legislature for the year 2018.

2. My Government is committed to follow the high ideals laid down by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, Bharat Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, Mahatma Jyotiba Phule, Rajarshi Chhatrapati Shahu Maharaj and many other great leaders and social reformers.

3. To honour the shahid jawans who have laid down their lives in protecting the country, my Government is implementing the “Shivsena Pramukh Balasaheb Thackery Shahid Sanman Yojana”. Under this Yojana the wards of the Shahid Jawans will be given jobs in the State Transport Undertaking and their spouses can travel in all types of state transport buses, free of charge, for their entire life.

4. Taking into account the significance and sensitivity of the matter relating to the Karnataka Border Dispute, my Government continues to pursue the matter pending in the Supreme Court. My Government has been liasoning with the Central Government at the highest level requesting Union Home Ministry to take a judicious view in the matter.

5. My Government has undertaken the project of constructing an equestrian statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on an island in the Arabian Sea near Mumbai. Issuing the work order for commencement of construction is at final stage.

6. My Government has a vision to catapult Maharashtra into a one trillion dollar economy by 2025. This will be achieved by increasing growth in sectors like agriculture, textiles, tourism, start-ups and investing in Industry with requisite skill development support. For this purpose polices relating to industries such as defence, agro and food processing, textiles, aerospace, logistics, fin-tech, animation, robotics, artificial intelligence have been launched.

7. Maharashtra’s Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP) grew at 6 per cent during 2012-13, 7.3 per cent in 2013-14 and 5.4 per cent in 2014-15. With the vision of reaching one trillion dollar economy by 2025, my Government has increased investment in infrastructure and agriculture which has resulted in GSDP growing at 8.5 per cent in 2015-16 and 9.4 per cent in 2016-17. To accelerate this high growth rate, my Government continues to back infrastructure led growth policies.

8. I now enlist some policies and programmes that would lead to Maharashtra becoming a one trillion dollar economy in a stipulated time.

9. My Government inherited a crisis laden agriculture sector. From a negative growth rate of minus 0.5 per cent in 2012-13 and minus 11.2 per cent in 2014-15, the growth rate increased to 12.5 per cent in 2016-17. This momentum will be sustained in 2017-18. This growth was achieved by making heavy investments in the agriculture sector. From Rs. 29,000 crore of investment in year 2013-2014, it grew by 280 per cent to Rs. 83,000 crore in 2017-2018.

10. My Government has brought about a paradigm shift in agricultural sector by investing in creation of assets through farm ponds on demand, energization of pumpsets, and Jalyukta Shivar. This is in contrast to the earlier approach of relief payments without adequate investment in asset creation. It is also our endeavour to ensure that the farmers are protected against risks that they face in terms of natural calamities, through near universal coverage under “Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana” and purchase of farm produce under Minimum Support Price Scheme.

11. Farmer’s distress is primarily related to lack of access to institutional credit at affordable interest rates. In 2013-14 only 38 per cent of the farmers could avail farm credit from scheduled and cooperative banks. To ensure that more than 60 per cent farmers who did not have access to farm credit because their accounts had become overdue or Non Performing Asset (NPA), my Government has implemented “Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Shetkari Sanman Yojana.” The Yojana is unprecedented in terms of coverage of beneficiaries, amount of assistance and regional distribution particularly to the farmers in Vidarbha and Marathwada. I am happy to note that, out of 54.72 lakh accounts approved so far, funds have been allotted to the banks for 46.35 lakh accounts for loan waiver or incentives for timely loan repayment. The remaining accounts are under verification. Presently, Rs. 12,381 crore has already been transferred to 31.33 lakh accounts of farmers.

12. To make agriculture resilient to climate change, my Government has begun implementing ‘Nanaji Deshmukh Krishi Sanjivani Project’ in 15 districts of Amravati and Marathwada divisions, Jalgaon and Wardha. An investment of Rs. 4,000 crore will be made with loan from the World Bank. The project will also address the problems of all 932 salinity affected villages.

13. Good soil and irrigation facilities are two critical ingredients for enhancing productivity of land. Towards this, my Government has accelerated the pace of construction of 26 incomplete irrigation projects that are included in “Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana” so as to commission them in the next 2 years. This will create an additional irrigation potential of 5.56 lakh hectares.

14. My Government is also implementing the ‘Baliraja Jalsanjivani Yojana’ in districts facing agrarian crisis. Under this scheme, my Government has decided to complete 83 Minor irrigation and 29 Major and Medium irrigation projects in next 3 years with a total investment of rupees fourteen thousand crore. This will create additional irrigation potential of about three lakh forty two thousand hectares.

15. My Government has energised additional 3 lakh agricultural pumps particularly in Vidarbha and Marathwada regions. It is also the endeavour of my Government to provide 24 X 7 reliable power supply to all by reducing incidences of power outages and drop in voltage. For this purpose, transmission and distribution power infrastructure is being strengthened under “Deen Dayal Upadhyay Gram Jyoti Yojana” and “Integrated Power Development scheme”.

16. To ensure economic use of water, my Government is extensively promoting drip irrigation system for sugarcane production through interest subvention scheme. Under this scheme, the effective rate of interest for the farmers would be as low as 2 per cent.

17. Looking at the increasing need for soil and water conservation, my Government has decided to strengthen and augment the organisational structure of the Soil and Water Conservation Department.

18. Under my Government’s flagship programme “Jalyukta Shivar”, nearly fifteen thousand villages are being made drought proof by May 2018.

19. Over a period of time, storage capacities of reservoirs has come down on account of silt deposit. My Government has launched a new scheme “Galmukta Dharan Galyukta Shivar” through peoples’ participation for desiltation of dams and to use this silt to improve the fertility of farmland. Under this scheme, till date, 94 lakh cubic metre of silt has been excavated from 2,003 reservoirs. In all 31,459 dams have been identified for this purpose.

20. In order to give a direct say to the farmers in the management of Agriculture Produce Market Committees and for getting better remuneration for their produce, my Government has amended the relevant provisions of the APMC Act.

21. With the objective of freeing the farmers from shackles of commission agents and brokers and for better price discovery for their farm produce, my Government has provided e-trading facilities in 30 Market Committees and plans to cover all 145 major Market Committees by e-NAM.

22. Additionally, to support the farmers to get better price for their produce, my Government procured 5.7 lakh quintals of pulses and 2.5 lakh quintals of soybean during the relevant period. This intervention led to an increase in market prices of soybean to Rs. 3,050 per quintal in January, 2018.

23. To strengthen Co-operative Marketing System, my Government has launched a programme “Atal Mahapanan Vikas Abhiyan” since 25th December, 2016. So far, above 800 Co-operative Marketing Institutions have started new businesses and are on the way of their economic empowerment. It has been decided to strengthen at least five thousand institutions by November, 2019.

24. To double farmers’ income, supplementary sources of livelihood are being created through promotion of dairy, poultry and goat farming. Sheep farming is also being encouraged through the implementation of “Raje Yashwantrao Holkar Mahamesh Scheme.”

25. Under ‘Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana’, with the support of National Dairy Development Board, a special Dairy Project is being implemented in 1,100 villages of Vidarbha and Marathwada regions. Milk collection of about 2 lakh litres per day has been achieved within one year of commissioning of milk processing plant at Nagpur.

26. My Government has also approved the Agro Processing Policy which would enable farmers to process vegetables and fruits on a large scale.

27. My Government is focusing on creation of productive assets under the “Samruddha Maharashtra Jankalyan Yojana” in convergence with “Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme.” Under this Yojana, 65 per cent of the works relate to creation of assets connected to agriculture and allied activities. More than 37,000 wells have been constructed in the last two years and 78,000 wells are under construction. Similarly, 10,552 acres have been brought under horticulture crops and work is in progress on 70,300 acres. 549 lakh person days were generated under this scheme and about Rs. 1,600 crore has been spent in the current financial year till January 2018.

28. Under the “Farm Ponds on Demand” Scheme, more than 62,000 farm ponds have been constructed which will provide relief to farmers in the drought prone areas.

29. To reduce malnutrition and infant mortality rates particularly in tribal areas, my Government has initiated various programmes to improve nutritional and health status of tribal children and mothers and enhance livelihood opportunities. This has resulted in substantial reduction in infant mortality rate to 19 per thousand in 2016 from 24 per thousand in 2012-13. Similarly, the number of severely malnourished children has been halved to 2,428 from 4,401 in 2013-14. Village Child Development Centres have been started in the areas with high incidence of malnourishment.

30. An encouraging health outcome was achieved in Palghar district, where implementation of special action plan, prepared by Task Force of Ministers, reduced the incidence of child mortality by 22 per cent during April – September 2017.

31. A new centrally sponsored program, ‘Pradhan Mantri Surakshit Matritva Abhiyan’ that aims to provide quality health services to needy pregnant mothers in their 2nd and 3rd Trimester is getting enthusiastic response in the State with more than 6 lakh women getting benefits under this program.

32. Another Centrally sponsored scheme, “Pantpradhan Matru Vandana Yojana” which gives a cash incentive of rupees five thousand to compensate women for the wage loss during pregnancy and after the delivery of the first child is being implemented in the State. About one lakh women benefitted from the scheme during the year.

33. In the scheduled areas, 1.3 lakh pregnant women and lactating mothers are being provided one square meal per day and 7.6 lakh children between the age group of 7 months to 6 years are being given egg or banana four days a week under “Dr. A. P.J.Abdul Kalam Amrut Aahar Yojana.”

34. More than 8,000 surgeries including 1,050 heart surgeries were performed on children with ailments during health check up under ‘Rashtriya Bal Swasthya Karyakram’.

35. A project to extend health counselling called “Prerna Prakalp” was taken up in all the 14 agrarian distress districts of Maharashtra. More than 3 million households benefitted from this initiative.

36. My Government is providing health insurance cover to 2.24 crore families under the ‘Mahatma Jyotiba Phule Jan Arogya Yojana.’ About 4 lakh surgeries and therapies have been sanctioned till January, 2018.

37. My government has taken concrete steps to ensure menstrual hygiene of women and girls in rural areas. It is proposed to implement “Asmita Yojana” in the state for providing sanitary napkins at affordable rates for the women and girls in the age group of 11-19 in rural areas.

38. Swami Vivekanand said “Educate and raise the masses, and thus alone a nation is possible”. My Government is actively working for the holistic development of Ashram School students and has initiated “Life Skills Education” to fill the critical gaps in the education of adolescent boys and girls. Phases 1 and 2 of the training and capacity building have been implemented in 543 government Ashram Schools, training approximately 3,258 teachers and wardens, covering over 90,000 children.

39. To empower students in Ashram Schools to buy necessary items as per their choice, and to usher transparency, the “Direct Benefits Transfer” scheme has been started wherein the requisite amount for the purchase is directly transferred to the bank accounts of the students.

40. To improve the teaching and learning of science at 400 Government Ashram schools, my Government has initiated a three year partnership with “Eklavya”, an organization that specialises in teaching science. The initiative includes conducting training sessions, providing hands-on science kits, and extending sustained support to teachers.

41. To improve proficiency of English language, ‘Karadi Paths’ magic English programme is being implemented as a pilot project in 118 Government ashram schools and 14 Eklavya public schools.

42. ‘Ashram Shala Kayapalat Abhiyan’ is being implemented for effective implementation of WASH programme. This entails construction of toilets, hand wash stations, water supply schemes and sanitized dining room and kitchen. Ashram Shala staff and students are being trained in behavioural change relating to sanitation and hygiene.

43. My Government has enhanced the allocation of untied funds from Tribal Sub Plan to Gram Panchayats in PESA areas. As a result, every year PESA Gram Panchayats would be getting additional allocation of Rs.337 crore.

44. Accelerated learning has been initiated under “Pragat Shaikshanik Maharashtra” in the State. 45,676 primary and upper primary schools have become Pragat, 61,247 schools have become digital and 3,325 schools have been awarded ISO:9000 certification.

45. My Government has decided to establish 100 schools that will have International Educational Standards. Additionally, for affiliation of international schools in the State, my Government has decided to set up a “Maharashtra International Education Board.”

46. To recognize the contribution of sports persons, my Government has decided to give cash prize to players receiving medals in national games.

47. Family Income limit for eligibility under “Rajarshi Chatrapati Shahu Maharaj Rajya Shikshan Shulk Pratipurti Yojna”, has been enhanced from 1 lakh to 6 lakh. All the 605 courses of Higher, Technical, Agriculture, Animal Husbandry and Medical Education have been covered under this Yojana. This change would benefit additionally around 7 lakh students in the State.

48. My Government is implementing “Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj Kaushalya Va Udyojakata Abhiyan.” Under this scheme, eligible persons will get benefit of reimbursement of interest on individual loans, as well as, reimbursement of interest on group loans. An annual subsistence allowance of Rs. 10,000 in urban areas and, Rs. 8,000 in rural areas, would be given to the economically weaker students residing in hostels, for professional courses.

49. Department of Economics in Mumbai University has been renamed as “Mumbai School of Economics and Public Policy”. The school will take up quality research of global standards. An amount of Rs. 25 crore has been approved for the school for the next five years.

50. Recognizing the need for establishing an academic institution with practical outlook to serve the needs of rural development, my Government has decided to set up “Shri Gopinathrao Munde National Institute of Rural Development” at Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad.

51. Government Medical College and Cancer Hospital, Aurangabad has been designated as “State Cancer Institute”. Considering increasing number of cancer patients, a new Unit for Radiotherapy Treatment has been started.

52. My Government has decided to open new Government Medical College at Jalgaon from Academic Year 2018-19 with intake capacity of 100 M.B.B.S. seats.

53. Under the ongoing ‘Pramod Mahajan Kaushalya va Udyojakta Vikas’ 89 MoUs have been signed with major Industry groups for imparting required skills to youth. As a result 9.8 lakh youth will get skilled and would be employed in next 3 years.

54. MoUs have also been signed between Directorate of Vocational Education and Training and different industrial organizations like Siemens, Bosch, Tata Trust for vocational training. This would enhance employment potential of our students.

55. Considering the increased population, my Government decided to lift the restrictions on permits for autorikshaws and taxis. This has resulted in the employment generation of about fifty thousand unemployed youths.

56. An important requirement for continuing higher education for students from minority communities is availability of hostels and school buildings. The construction work on 9 remaining hostels out of the approved plan for 22 hostels is being expedited with regular follow up.

57. “Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar Swadhar Scheme” has been initiated for Scheduled Caste and Navboudha students of Standard XI and XII as well as for those who get admission for vocational and non-vocational courses at graduation and non-graduation level.

58. Eligibility limit for the income has been increased from Rs. 6 lakh to Rs. 8 Lakh under Freeship scheme for the students belonging to De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Classes studying in unaided and permanently unaided educational institutions of State.

59. Maharashtra is one of the few states to constitute a three member Waqf tribunal to adjudicate disputes in respect of Waqf properties in the State.

60. In order to train the Women from Minority Communities for self employment 3,176 women Self Help Groups have been formed in 11 districts under the “Supplementary funding to SHG scheme”.

61. In order to preserve and propagate the Urdu Language and Culture, “Urdu Ghar” has been established in Nanded. Two more Urdu Ghars are coming up in Malegaon and Solapur city.

62. As promised by my Government last year, a separate Department for implementation of welfare scheme for the De-notified Tribes (Vimukta Jatis), Nomadic Tribes, Other Backward Classes and Special Backward Classes has become functional.

63. For effective functioning of Panchayats, the Maharashtra Village Panchayats Act, 1958 has been amended to provide for direct election of the Sarpanch. This will provide security of tenure commensurate with accountability in the Panchayats.

64. It is a matter of great pride that public distribution system in the State has been computerized end to end. Point of service devices have been installed in all 52,145 Fair Price Shops and details of distribution of food grains are available on the website.

65. 6.1 crore ration card holders have been linked to Aadhar under the National Food Security Act. Through this process roughly 92 lakh people who were earlier not covered under NFSA are now being provided 2 kg rice at Rs. 3 per kilo and 3 kg. wheat at Rs. 2 per kilo, per month. This became possible because nearly 10 lakh ineligible ration cards were eliminated.

66. Aadhaar enabled Public Distribution System model has been successfully implemented in 10 Districts of the State. Planning is afoot for a phased rollout of this system for rest of the State.

67. My Government has made good progress in making Maharashtra Open Defecation Free. Out of 27,670 Gram Panchayats, 22,793 and out of 351 Blocks 212 have been declared Open Defecation Free so far.

68. My Government has approved 470 water supply schemes worth Rs.1,115 crore under the ‘Mukhyamantri Rural Drinking Water Programme’. In addition, revival of 18 regional water supply schemes at a cost of Rs. 24.7 crore have also been approved.

69. My Government is determined to alleviate chronic drought like situation in Marathwada. The survey work of water grid scheme is underway. An MoU has also been signed between Maharashtra Jeevan Pradhikaran and Mekorot, Israel for collaboration in technical knowhow for setting up the water grid system.

70. To usher the one trillion dollar economy, my Government has leveraged international funding and allotted substantial State budgetary resources to give a massive push to augment public infrastructure. According to Deutsche Bank Report 2017, about half of all large infrastructure projects of India are currently in progress in Maharashtra alone.

71. Looking at the effectiveness of Metro Rail as a solution to the burgeoning traffic problem, my Government has decided to accelerate implementation of various projects in Metropolitan Regions at Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur at an envisaged cost of Rs.1 lakh crore.

72. All approvals have been obtained for developing the Navi Mumbai International Airport. Development works in core area of airport has commenced, and one runway is expected to be completed by December, 2019. To develop a direct access to the upcoming Navi Mumbai International Airport, MMRDA is constructing Mumbai Trans Harbour Link between Mumbai and Navi Mumbai at an estimated cost of Rs.17,843 crore.

73. With booming tourism and business activities in different parts of the State, it is important to develop new airports. Out of the 9 Airports notified in Regional Connectivity Scheme, air services have started from Nanded, Jalgaon and Nashik airports. For the remaining airports the services are likely to start soon. Additionally, a developer for the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, Nagpur is being appointed. MoU with Changi Airport Management has been signed into for the development of Pune Airport.

74. My Government has incorporated a special purpose vehicle with Ministry of Railways to ensure speedy implementation of Railway projects in the State and also decided for equity participation in Mumbai –Ahmedabad High Speed Railway project.

75. My State has completed more than 3 lakh km. of roads out of a target of nearly 3.37 lakh km. under the Road Development Plan 2001-21. My State has also succeeded in converting nearly 15,404 km. of State Highways into National Highways. To facilitate faster road travel between Nagpur and Mumbai, construction of Nagpur-Mumbai Super Communication Expressway is being undertaken through a special purpose vehicle. It is gratifying to note that the farmers are willingly contributing their land for speedy development of the express way.

76. My Government has sanctioned the capacity augmentation of the Mumbai-Pune Expressway at a cost of Rs. 4,797 crore.

77. My Government has sanctioned the Versova- Bandra Sea Link project for a concession period up to the year 2052.

78. Under ongoing “Chief Minister Gram Sadak Yojana,” unconnected habitations and up-gradation of existing rural roads is planned in a big way. Out of sanctioned 8,594 kms of road length, nearly 2,550 km have been completed and remaining works are in progress.

79. Government of India has approved 11 projects costing Rs. 222 crore under ‘Sagarmala’ for development of infrastructure facilities at various ports for passenger service. These are likely to be commissioned by December 2019.

80. With a view to decongest road traffic, my Government has decided to start Ro-Ro ferry service from New Ferry Wharf to Mandwa Port and passenger ferry service from New Ferry Wharf to Nerul. The construction of jetty and breakwater at Mandwa Port is in progress and is likely to be ready by end of March-2018.

81. My Government will soon be taking up construction of first “Marina” project on the coast of Maharashtra, in Panvel creek at Belapur. In the first phase of this project, berthing facilities for 30 boats will be created.

82. Policies are being framed by my Government considering urbanization as an opportunity instead of a problem. The centrally sponsored “Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation Scheme”, will be helpful in changing the urban scenario in the State and will cover 44 cities and benefit 76 per cent of urban population. The Central Government has approved annual action plan of Rs.7,750 crore under this scheme.

83. Under Smart Cities Mission of Central Government, funds to the tune of Rs. 2,000 crore have been released.

84. To achieve the targeted growth rate of 15.5 per cent, the manufacturing sector has to grow at 9.5 per cent, per annum. My Government has followed policy of enhancing Ease of Doing Business so that private entrepreneurship is promoted and manufacturing sector grows at a robust pace.

85. To this end, my Government has launched a special policy to promote textile sector by subsidizing power up to Rs. 3 per unit to cooperative spinning mills. Rs. 2 per unit power subsidy will also be provided to textile units other than cooperative spinning mills. Power subsidy is also being extended to knitting and hosiery units. New units will be given capital subsidy up to 25 per cent of project costs. For cotton growing areas of Vidarbha, North Maharashtra and Marathwada subsidy will be up to 45 per cent for composite mills. Textile parks are being promoted in cotton growing areas by providing subsidy up to Rs. 9 crore of the project cost. To promote employment, particularly to the women in the garmenting sector, a skilling programme has been approved.

86. To promote innovative financial services particularly to the poor who are not fully served by the formal banking sector and provide employment to educated youth, my Government has decided to launch an innovative Fintech Policy. This policy provides for setting up Fintech Hub in Mumbai with additional FSI, a capital support for setting up common facilities, and partnership with banks like State Bank of India.

87. To promote young entrepreneurs, my Government has launched a new ‘Maharashtra State Innovative Start-Up Policy-2018’. The policy aims to attract investment of Rs.5,000 crore through Angel funds and Seed funds, and create 5 lakh jobs and self-employment opportunities in next 5 years. Start-up units shall be free from licensing and other regulatory inspections.

88. To reduce the carbon footprint, my Government has launched Electric Vehicle Manufacturing policy. Under the policy, buyers of electric vehicle will be provided direct subsidy. The electric vehicle manufacturers are being extended special package of incentives.

89. Recognizing the important role logistic sector plays in development of the State, Logistics policy was recently announced by my Government. The policy enables establishment of multi-modal Logistic Park and restrictions have been relaxed, additional FSI has been made available at low premium and logistic sector has been declared as an industry.

90. With a view to provide affordable land for industrial units, the Integrated Industrial Area Policy has been amended by reducing area requirement to 20 hectares.

91. To support Government of India’s initiative for indigenization of defence products, my Government has declared a special policy to encourage production of defence related components in Maharashtra through provision of special assistance to mega as well as Micro, Small and Medium Enterprise units by way of setting up of clusters.

92. To provide Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, building space at an affordable cost, my Government has announced a ‘Flatted Gala Scheme’. Under the scheme, 200 per cent additional FSI has been made available for construction of industrial buildings.

93. Government of India has approved 44 Clusters of Micro and Small Enterprises for development in the State, which will give direct employment to more than one lakh persons with expected grant of Rs.100 crore during next 3 years.

94. World Bank surveys and ranks 190 economies in the world on parameters related to Ease of Doing Business (EODB). India’s ranking dramatically improved from 130 in 2017 to 100 in 2018. This improvement was primarily driven by improvement in Ease of Doing Business in Maharashtra as the survey is done for Mumbai and Delhi. In 9 out of 10 EODB indicators Mumbai was ranked much higher than Delhi.

95. With an aim to increase the proportion of woman entrepreneurs from 9 per cent to 20 per cent in the next 5 years, my Government has announced a special policy for Women Entrepreneurs.

96. My Government has also decided to train and employ 30 female tribal students, as drivers of the State Transport Corporation Buses. This is first such initiative in India to employ female drivers in State Transport Corporation Buses.

97. To provide an impetus to telecom infrastructure sector, my Government has announced a policy which provides speedy clearances through a single window system.

98. To render transparent, efficient and timely services to public, Maharashtra Right to Public Services Act is being implemented in the state since 28th April, 2015. Till 31st December, 2017, 438 public services have been notified out of which 399 public services are available on “Aaple Sarkar” portal.

99. My Government has launched an end-to-end online “Mahapariksha” portal for organizing computer based examinations in the State. In a short span of around 4 months, examinations covering nearly 2 lakh job applicants have been conducted.

100. To facilitate access of Government Departments to hosting infrastructure, my Government has come out with a cloud computing policy. This will create a conducive ecosystem for investment by cloud service providers in the State.

101. Central Government sponsored “Digital India Land Records Modernization Program” is being implemented successfully in the State. Under this program, 34.3 crore old land records have been scanned and are soon going to be made available to the citizens on online e-Search Portal. Also, under the same program, record rooms are being modernized. Cadastral maps of 6 Districts viz. Raigad, Aurangabad, Pune, Nashik, Amravati and Nagpur are being digitized in the first phase.

102. My Government is fully committed to provide housing for all and is implementing the ‘Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana’. The Central Sanctioning and Monitoring Committee has given “in principle” approval to 76 projects that include 2,15,930 dwelling units and necessary funds have also been provided for the same.

103. It has been noticed that non-protected occupiers are evicted from the Slum Rehabilitation Area without any rehabilitation arrangement. Most of them shift to the slum area again, which defeats the goal of “Slum Free City” and “Housing for All” mission. My Government has proposed Amendments in the Act to accommodate such non-protected occupiers that are rendered homeless after eviction, by providing them affordable housing through various innovative measures.

104. The Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016 has had a salutary effect on entire sector by increasing transparency and empowering the consumers. Till mid February 2018, 15,339 real estate project certificate and 12,702 real estate agent registration certificates have been issued and more than 800 complaints have been addressed. MahaRERA is the first authority in the country to have a completely online system.

105. Climate change is one of the most serious threats to sustainable development. Thus, increasing the tree cover is one of the important alternatives to counter climate change. My Government is aiming to plant 50 crore seedlings in 3 years from 2017 to 2019. Accordingly, between the 1st and 7th July 2017 a total of 5.43 crore seedlings were planted with the involvement of people. Planting seedlings is of course only the first step and the main aim should be to see that they survive. To achieve this it is necessary that each one of us makes an effort so that we can ensure a better living environment.

106. Maharashtra in partnership with “Energy Efficiency Services Limited” is the first state in India to take up the energy efficiency programme in non-residential Government buildings with a capital investment of Rs. 370 crore.

107. For attaining high growth rate it is critical to maintain law and order and crime free society. My Government has taken special measures to reduce crimes against women, weaker sections and maintain communal amity. For prompt and proper investigation of crime against women, special units are being constituted in every district.

108. My Government is consistently working towards containing naxalite activities. Towards this end, my Government has announced “Birsa Munda Rehabilitation Project” which aims at rehabilitation of youths by training them for employment in the State Transport Undertaking. This is the first such initiative in the country.

109. Maharashtra is among the advanced States to roll out CCTNS project successfully along with the number of Citizen Services across the state. Citizen can now reach out to Maharashtra Police in a far more convenient way than before through Mobile Application which went live on 21st December, 2017.

110. To further strengthen the judicial system, the State Government has sanctioned 18 additional Courts, 24 Fast Track Courts and 14 Family Courts for a period of five years, as per the recommendations of 14th Finance Commission.

111. My Government has made an additional budgetary provision of Rs. 186 crore for the components of creation of additional Courts, re-designing the Court buildings, technical manpower support, scanning and digitization, Lok Adalat, alternate dispute resolution and capacity building of stakeholders

112. My Government has extensively amended Maharashtra Public Trusts Act to facilitate expeditious resolution of the proceedings before the Charity Commissioner, promote the objective of the Charity Organisation and improve the functioning of the Charity Organisation for advancement of public charitable purpose.

113. Maharashtra Rajya Marathi Vishwakosh Nirmitee Mandal has created 20 volumes of “Marathi Vishwakosh” which are now available on “Vishwakosh” mobile Application on Android & i-phones. Around 18,000 articles on 150 subjects have been included in this application.

114. A Marathi language learning module for non-Marathi people has been jointly undertaken by the Rajya Marathi Vikas Sanstha, Mumbai and German Language Department of Mumbai University. In the current fiscal, my Government has released Rs.38 lakh as first installment for this project.

Hon’ble Members, in this Session, Supplementary Demands, the Budget Estimates for the year 2018-2019, various bills, other Government and non-official business may be placed before you for your consideration.

I wish your deliberation in this Session every success.

Jai Hind ! Jai Maharashtra!