As many as 21 people’s forums under the banner of the Odisha Shramjeebee Manch and Mahila Shramjeebee Manch have started a campaign to develop a people’s manifesto, comprising demands of the people, to be presented to the leaders before the general elections.
While usually it is seen that parties have manifestoes before the electorate during their campaign for polls, this will be a bottom-up approach where the electorate will present their manifesto to the parties.
The process planned since August started with awareness creation and data collection and fact finding. Besides, a ‘Cycle Yatra’ was launched on November 15 on the Birsa Munda Divase which culminate on December 9, covering 1,500 km where the village leaders and representatives, armed with case studies and demands, will present their cases to the political parties in the presence of mainstream media. Later, a thousand villages will represent the issues and travel to Bhubaneshwar to share their ideas of development. On December 10, the Human Rights Day, the people’s manifesto will be publicly declared. More importantly, there will be a ‘Watch Group’ to ensure that ruling parties take due action to fulfil the demands.