The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Monday released its manifesto, Sankalp Patra, for the
Lok Sabha Elections 2019 on Monday, focusing on farmers, housing for all and national security. Voting for the first phase of Lok Sabha elections begins on April 11. Counting of votes will be held on May 23.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, BJP president Amit Shah and home minister Rajnath Singh released the manifesto. Finance minister Arun Jaitley and foreign minister Sushma Swaraj also accompanied them on the stage for the announcement.
Here are the key highlights from the manifesto:
PM Kisan Yojana:
Under the PM Kisan Yojana, the BJP will expand the coverage of the scheme to all the farmers in the country and provide a pension scheme for all small and marginal farmers in the country so as to ensure social security to them on reaching 60 years of age.
Investment of Rs 25 lakh crore in the agri-rural sector to improve the productivity of the farm sector.
Short-term new agriculture loans up to Rs. 1 lakh at a zero percent interest rate for 1-5 years on the condition of prompt repayment of the principal amount under the Interest-free Kisan Credit Card loans.Economy:
Commit to make India a $5 trillion economy by 2025 and $10 trillion economy by 2032
Lowering of tax rate thereby rewarding honest taxpayers and improving compliance.
Simplification of GST process by engaging in dialogue with all stakeholders.
Work towards the training of Yoga practitioners. Undertake a rapid expansion of Yoga health hubs, Yoga tourism and research in Yoga.
By 2024, we will make the capital investment of Rs.100 lakh crore in the infrastructure sector.
Work in this direction to take the country’s ranking into the top 50
Amend the Companies Act to impose civil liability for technical and procedural defaults of a minor nature thus unclogging the majority of the cases from the courts
A new industrial policy to improve the competitiveness of manufacturing and services with an eye on Industry 4.0 in order to gear up for technologies like artificial intelligence and electric mobility
invest in creating clusters/networks
Provide credit of 1 lakh crore to MSMEs under Credit Guarantee Scheme by 2024. So far credit of around Rs.19,000 crore was achieved in 2017-18.
Establish National Traders’ Welfare Board and create a National Policy for Retail Trade for the growth of retail businesses.
Provide accident insurance of 10 lakh rupees to all the traders registered under GST
On the lines of Kisan credit card, we will also create a scheme to give merchant credit card to registered merchants.
Launch a new scheme to provide collateral-free credit up to 50 lakh for entrepreneurs
Easing regulatory requirement for start-ups. Targeting time spent for tax compliance at 1 hour per month. Facilitating establishment of 50,000 new Staups in the nation by 2024. Creating 100 Innovation Zones in Urban Local Bodies. Seing up 500 new incubators and accelerators by 2024.
Creation of a ‘Seed Staup Fund’ of ₹20,000 crore.
'Entrepreneurial Northeast' scheme to provide nancial suppo to the micro, small and medium industries and for employment generation in the Noheastern state.National Security:
‘Zero Tolerance’ against terrorism and extremism and will continue to follow the policy of giving a free hand to our security forces in combating terrorism.
Speed up the purchases of outstanding defence-related equipment and weapons.
For Armed Forces veterans: Start planning for the resettlement of soldiers three years before their retirement and in accordance with their preferences. This will include provision for skills training, soft skills training, financial support for higher education, for housing and for starting an enterprise.
Will expeditiously complete the National Register of Citizens process in border areas on priority and implement the NRC in a phased manner in other parts of the country.Jammu and Kashmir - Article 370:
Committed to annulling Article 35A as the provision is discriminatory against non-permanent residents and women of Jammu and Kashmir.
Make all efforts to ensure the safe return of Kashmiri Pandits
Provide financial assistance for the resettlement of refugees from West Pakistan, Pakistan occupied Jammu and Kashmir (POJK) and Chhamb.Citizenship Amendment Bill:
Citizenship Amendment Bill is for the protection of individuals of religious minority communities from neighbouring countries escaping persecution. Will make all efforts to clarify the issues to the sections of the population from the Northeastern states who have expressed apprehensions regarding the legislation.Uniform Civil Code:
Article 44 of the Constitution of India lists Uniform Civil Code as one of the Directive Principles of State PolicyInfrastructure:
Aim at next-generation infrastructure which will include gas grids and water grids, i-ways, regional airports and wayside amenities along National Highways.
Set up five regional centres of excellence on urban issues. These centres will provide support to states and local bodies on issues of urban governance and growth.
Launch a National Urban Mobility Mission to provide technology-based urban mobility solutions to all urban local bodies and increase the use of public transport, enhance walkability and cycle use. And also promote a common mobility card/ ticketing across different modes of transport.
Ensure that 50 cities are covered with a strong metro network.
Construct 60,000 km of National Highways in the next five years.
Double the length of National Highways by 2022.
Complete the Phase-1 of Bharatmala Project and launch Bharatmala 2.0 project especially with a view to supporting the states to develop state road networks connecting the interior regions to the main roads.
Ensure conversion of all viable rail tracks to broad gauge by 2022.
Ensure electrification of all railway tracks by 2022.
Expand connectivity and experience of high-speed trains and new version trains such as Vande Bharat Express across the length and breadth of the country in the next five years.
Complete the dedicated freight corridor project by 2022.
Expect to double the number of functional airports (currently 101 functional airports) in the next five years.
Every Gram Panchayat will be connected with a high-speed optical fibre network by 2022. Through village level, high-speed broadband services, a range of services such as telemedicine, tele-education and agriculture-related advisories will be provided.Health:
Under Ayushman Bharat, the party initiated a programme to set up 1,50,000 Health and Wellness Centres (HWCs) by 2022. Till date, 17,150 HWCs have become functional. Target provisioning of telemedicine and diagnostic laboratory facilities at these HWCs by 2022 to ensure quality primary medical care to the poor.
Set up one Medical College or Post Graduate Medical College in every district, through public or private participation, by 2024, 75 such Medical Institutes will be set up by 2022.
Double the number of MBBS and Specialist doctors in the country by 2024 as compared to the work done from 1947 till 2014.Governance:
Single Voter List - In order to ensure that every citizen gets the right to exercise his/her franchise for all public bodies and to avoid confusion created by multiple voter lists.
Will formulate a ‘Model Police Act’ in consultation with the States to have a pro-people citizen friendly police. This will take the Indian policing at par with its contemporaries anywhere in the world.
Merge similar and complementary departments into sectoral ministries. This will allow policymakers to frame comprehensive policies on the one hand and ensure implementation on the other.
Set up a committee for Easing Citizens’ Interactions with Government (CECIG) to work with experts in reforming citizen’s interface with Government across domains such as taxes, business compliance, rules and regulations for greater simplicity and ease.
Convert the National Clean Air Plan into a Mission and focus on 102 most polluted cities in the country and reduce the level of pollution in each of the mission cities by at least 35 percent over the next five years.Jobs:
Launch a new scheme to provide collateral-free credit up to Rs 50 lakh for entrepreneurs.
Guarantee 50 percent of the loan amount for female entrepreneurs and 25 percent of the loan amount for male entrepreneurs.
Set-up new 'Entrepreneurial Northeast' scheme to provide financial support to the micro, small and medium industries and for employment generation in the Northeastern state.
Expand the loan availed under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana further to take the number of beneficiaries of Mudra loans up to 30 crore.Education:
Aim to open another 200 Kendriya Vidyalaya and Navodaya Vidyalaya schools by 2024.
Promote a programme for ‘Study in India’, which will focus on bringing foreign students to study in higher educational institutions in our country and make India a major destination for education for foreign students.Women Empowerment:
Through a constitutional amendment, 33 percent reservation in parliament and state assemblies will be provided to women.
Will legislate a bill to prohibit and eliminate practices such as Triple Talaq and Nikah Halala.
To generate better work opportunities for women, 10 percent material to be sourced for government procurement will be done from MSMEs having at least 50 percent women employees in their workforce.Welfare For Poor:
We are committed to bringing down the percentage of families living below the poverty line to a single digit in the next five years.
We will ensure pucca houses for families either living in kuchha houses or without access to housing by 2022.
Ensure that every Indian has access to banking facilities within a radius of 5 km.
Expand the Pradhan Mantri Shram Yogi Maandhan scheme to cover all small shopkeepers.Foreign Policy:
Strengthen the MADAD portal as a single-point avenue for information and services for Indians living abroad.
On countries supporting terrorism, the party will work towards establishing a ‘Comity of Nations Against International Terrorism’ as a voluntary multi-lateral forum based on the principles of the draft Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism.Ram Mandir:
Explore all possibilities within the framework of the Constitution and all necessary efforts to facilitate the expeditious construction of the Ram Temple in Ayodhya.Swacch Ganga:
Achieve the goal of Clean Ganga by 2022.First Published: Apr 8, 2019 12:48 PM IST
