Declaring that its main mission will be to make Kerala absolutely booze-free in ten years, Kerala’s Congress-led ruling UDF on Wednesday released its manifesto for the May 16 Assembly election promising “food, shelter and health for all” in the next five years if it is voted back to power. The programmes for the next five years, as per the manifesto, would be based on the UDF’s declared policy of “Development and Care”.
The UDF manifesto, several proposals of which looked similar to those put forward by the CPI(M)-led Opposition lDF in its manifesto released the other day, promises to create 15 lakh job opportunities in the next five years. The lDF manifesto has promised to create 25 lakh employments.
“The slogan the UDF is promoting in this election is home for all, food for all and health for all,” said State Congress vice-president MM Hassan while reading out the manifesto for the media in Thiruvananthapuram. A Home Bumper lottery will be constituted for achieving the goal of providing home for all, says the manifesto.
Releasing the 63-page manifesto, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy said the UDF would not retrace even a single step from its declared liquor policy that envisaged total implementation of Prohibition within the next ten years. Free bicycles to Class 8 girl students and laptops at concessional rate to college students are just two of the main promises in the document.
The manifesto says that a Krishi Bumper lottery will be set up for assisting the farmers who had suffered crop loss and a Krishi Nidhi (fund) will be constituted for this. A board will be constituted for organic farming in the State. Setting up of Agri-Bio parks and hiking of farmers’ pension to Rs1,000 are other promises related to the agriculture sector.
The UDF, which had faced a lot of flak for allegedly doing nothing to protect the rubber farmers who were going through a tough time due to price fall of the commodity, said it would provide production incentives to rubber farmers if it returned to power. The procurement price of paddy and coconut would be enhanced, the manifesto said.
Insurance cover and festival allowance for those who were members of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Startup villages in every district for young entrepreneurs, creation of more jobs in the traditional industrial sector and setting up of a Kerala Academy for Skills for skills development are some of the other promises in the manifesto.
The other proposals put forward in the manifesto are industrial parks for women entrepreneurs, industrial estates in all panchayats and at lands lying idle at public sector undertakings, subsidy for education loans for students belonging to BPl families, upgrading medical colleges to global standards, bank loans and working capital for NRIs returning home.
like the lDF poll document, the UDF manifesto says that the prices of the essential commodities sold through Maveli Stores would not be hiked in the next five years and that the number of items sold through these outlets would be increased from the present 13 to 20. There would also be scheme for providing lunch to the public at low price, the document adds.
The release of the manifesto marked the start of the second phase of the UDF’s campaigning for the crucial Assembly election. A campaign committee has been constituted with UDF convener and senior Congress leader PP Thankachan as convener. Each constituent party of the UDF will have a member in the campaign committee.