The Congress’ manifesto committee today conducted its third meeting under the leadership of Jharkhand Pradesh Congress Committee (JPCC) president Sukhdeo Bhagat. Members of the committee brainstormed over a number of focus areas that could form the part of the final draft.
The draft committee discussed, displacement, one of the most volatile issues related to mining activities in Jharkhand and talks about setting up a ‘displacement commission’ to mitigate the negative impact of the displacement. The issue being of emotive nature has been the cause of upheaval in areas that are affected due to people displaced by mining activities.
“We will identify affected districts and will create institutions (to address the problem of displacement) on pilot basis,” said the JPCC president. The manifesto will contain five parts and cover long-term and short-term goals in agriculture, education, health services, basic infrastructure, uninterrupted electricity supply, clean drinking water, guarantee of livelihood for poor, facile transport facility, effective industrial policy and setting up resource based industries in Jharkhand.
“We are ahead of other political parties (in drafting of manifesto). It is not just a manifesto, it is a resolution and we have fulfilled about 80 per cent (of promises made in the manifesto),” asserted Bhagat. While the issue of employment in grade-3 and 4 jobs is still far away from amicable solution the Congress is likely to incorporate the promise of providing jobs to one member of the each family in the said category. Also, the party will include unfinished businesses of UPA-1 and 2 in the manifesto.
“It will take some time. Committee members will visit all divisions of Jharkhand to collect facts before finalizing the draft. The committee will first visit Jamshedpur,” added Bhagat. Congress leaders—Gulfam Mujibi, Abha Sinha—and other senior leaders of the party were present in the meeting.