BJP's half-term manifesto for LS polls

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On Apr 08, 2019, BJP leaders launched the 'sankalp patra' for achieving 75 election pledges by 2022 (ie. 75 years after independence). Most striking are the pledges to abrogate Articles 35A & 370, build the Ram Mandir, and double farmers' income. 

Highlights:
1.   Establish 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres under Ayushman Bharat
2.   Ensure access to safe and potable drinking water for all households
3.   Ensure 100% waste collection, 100% disposal of liquid waste and reuse of waste water
4.   Strive to ensure all-weather connectivity for every village. 
5.   Ensure a pucca house to every family
6.   Aim to cover all the secondary schools under Operation Digital Board
7.   Enable digital delivery of government services such as tele-medicine
8.   Work towards digitising land records
9.   Ensure comprehensive social security coverage for all unorganised labourers including insurance, pensions, etc
10. Provide short-term new agriculture loans up to Rs 1 lakh at 0% interest rate for 1-5 yrs
11. Complete Phase-1 of Bharatmala (34,800 km) and double length of national highways
12. Start developing smart railway stations across India
13. Achieve 175 GW of renewable energy capacity
14. Ensure the supply of piped cooking gas in major Tier 1 and 2 cities. 
15. Strive to achieve 10% blending of ethanol in petrol
16. Work towards completely eliminating crop residue burning to reduce air pollution
17. Strive to make all government buildings accessible to disabled people

AGRICULTURE
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Achieve the target of doubling farmers’ income by 2022. Work towards ensuring that maximum farmers get income support under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana. Launch a pension scheme for small and marginal farmers to ensure social security after 60 years of age. 

Provide short-term new agriculture loans up to Rs 1 lakh at 0% interest rate for 1-5 years on the condition of prompt repayment of the principal amount.

Ensure adequate market avenues for the realisation of MSP through e-NAM, GrAMs and PM AASHA Yojana. Enable the creation of 10,000 new Farmer Producer Organizations. 

Work towards completing all irrigation projects under the PM Krishi Sinchayi Yojana and increase the cropped area under irrigation.

Work towards assisting the maximum number of fishermen by ensuring the availability of storage and other infrastructure under a new ‘Matsya Sampada Yojana’.

Work towards digitising land records.

INFRASTRUCTURE
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Ensure a pucca house to every family. Ensure a toilet in every household. Ensure 100% electrification of all households. Ensure the LPG gas cylinder connection to all poor rural households. Ensure every citizen has access to a bank account. Ensure the availability of banking services within 5 kms of every individual. Connect every Gram Panchayat with high speed optical fibre network. Strive to ensure all-weather connectivity for every village. 

Ensure access to safe and potable drinking water for all households. Form a new Ministry of Water unifying the water management functions. This will help approach the issue of water management holistically and ensure better co-ordination of efforts.

Ensure the supply of piped cooking gas in major Tier 1 and 2 cities. .

Ensure ODF status for all villages and cities. Ensure 100% waste collection under Swachh Bharat Mission and achieve ODF+ and ODF++ in cities and villages. 

Ensure 100% disposal of liquid waste and reuse of waste water. Achieve the goal of Clean Ganga by 2022.

Complete Phase-1 of Bharatmala Project expeditiously. Double the length of national highways. Aim to increase the number of operational airports to 150 for better air connectivity. Increase port capacity to 2,500 MTPA. Achieve 175 GW of renewable energy capacity. 

Strive to achieve 10% blending of ethanol in petrol.

RAILWAYS
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Ensure conversion of all viable rail tracks to broad gauge by 2022. Make all efforts to ensure electrification of all railway tracks by 2022. Work towards equipping all main railway stations with Wi-Fi facility. Start developing smart railway stations across India. 

Complete the ongoing dedicated freight corridor projects by 2022.

HEALTH, CHILD and WOMEN
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Establish 1.5 lakh health and wellness centres under Ayushman Bharat. Target provisioning of tele-medicine and diagnostic laboratory facilities at all health and wellness centres to ensure quality primary medical care to the poor at their doorstep.

Start setting up 75 new medical colleges/postgraduate medical colleges. Increase the doctor-population ratio to 1:1400#.

Ensure a drastic reduction in cases of tuberculosis. Ensure full immunisation coverage of children. Under the POSHAN Abhiyaan, aim to reduce the malnutrition levels at an accelerated pace.

Work towards increasing female workforce participation rate. Work towards increasing the number of childcare facilities threefold.

Ensure justice for Muslim women by enacting the law against Triple Talaq.

YOUTH AND EDUCATION
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Aim to cover all the secondary schools under Operation Digital Board.

Enable investment of Rs 100,000 crore in higher education through Revitalising of Infrastructure and Systems in Education (RISE).

Work towards increasing the number of seats in premier management institutes, in premier engineering institutes and in premier law institutes. Establish at least one ATAL Tinkering Lab in every block.   

Under a new 'Entrepreneurial Northeast' scheme, provide financial support to MSMEs and for employment generation in northeastern states.

ECONOMY
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Further improve India’s rank in ‘Ease of Doing Business’ ranking. Work towards improving GDP share from manufacturing sector. Work towards doubling the total exports.

Strive to ensure reduced tax rates, higher tax collection and greater compliance. Work towards ensuring a stable taxation regime. 

In order to incentivise compliance of law and ease of doing business, amend the Companies Act to impose civil liability for technical and procedural defaults of a minor nature, thus unclogging the majority of cases from courts. 

Ensure comprehensive social security coverage for all unorganised labourers including insurance, pensions, etc. Expand the PM Shram Yogi Maandhan scheme to cover all small shopkeepers. 

Work towards creating a single-window compliance and dispute resolution mechanism for MSMEs. Establish National Traders’ Welfare Board and create a National Policy for Retail Trade for the growth of retail business.

GOOD GOVERNANCE
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Enable digital delivery of government services. Achieve complete digitisation and modernisation of courts. Promote and increase digital transactions. Ensure end-to-end digitisation of government processes.

Work towards substantially reducing the current levels of air pollution. Work towards completely eliminating crop residue burning to reduce air pollution.

Put an Indian in space in an Indian spacecraft as part of ‘Gaganyaan’ mission.

INCLUSIVE DEVELOPMENT and CULTURAL HERITAGE
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Strive to make all government buildings accessible.

Ensure the completion of six Tribal Freedom Fighters Museums. Work towards completing the development of ‘Panchteerth’ circuit.

Complete the development of all projects under Swadesh Darshan, PRASAD and HRIDAY schemes. Work towards digitisation of collections in all national museums.
May 17th, 2019
# India to achieve 1.03:1000 or WHO recommended doctor–population ratio by 2024

BJP manifesto for Lok Sabha polls released: Top promises | Economic Times

Piped drinking water is the next priority
"After constructing toilets and giving dignity to women, I will focus my next term on ensuring clean drinking water" 

163 million out of India's population of 1.3 billion are silently suffering and around 200,000 die every year, for inadequate access to safe drinking water. But in the election campaign where sundry promises were made, providing water to every home has not been talked about. It seems the elite are either not aware, or more likely, are unwilling to confront this issue wholeheartedly. 

In the very last election rally at Khargone, Madhya Pradesh on 17th May, PM Modi said, "Fifty years ago, Lohia told Nehru that the two most important issues facing women were sanitation and water, so I will be fulfilling Lohia's wishes". By promising piped water supply to all homes by 2024, the BJP would have delivered something that no politician has ever promised, let alone delivered!! 

BJP knows that women fetch water for homes in hundreds of villages, which is used for cooking and cleaning for a family of four or eight persons. And the women have to walk several miles a day to carry two pots of water on their heads, every day, regardless of aches and pains or poor health. Girls drop out of school because the chore is thrust on them when they are barely old enough to carry the two pots of water. 

If Modi achieves this in addition to Swachh Bharat, Ujwala Yojana and Beti Bachao Beti Padhao, then he would have secured the confidence of women voters, and it gives BJP a sure-shot chance of winning the next general election!!

With almost all of rural India depending on monsoon rain for agriculture and domestic purpose, there is a desperate need for water management on a war footing. From April to July every year the situation in at least eight states in the country is grim. For example, Centre has issued drought advisory to Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, owing to low water storage in dams. 

BJP's manifesto promises the setting up of a unified Ministry of Water to end the water woes. Currently, management of water resources is fragmented between six or seven ministries, where as a centralised system would plug loopholes that will even benefit river clean up missions across the country. The centralised team can focus on cleaning up the river and managing it so that more water is given for agriculture, and fresh, sanitised water is piped into every home in the next two or three years.
May 18th, 2019
https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/elections/lok-sabha/india/water-management-to-be-modis-priority-if-nda-is-re-elected/articleshow/69389336.cms

               PM Modi addresses Public Meeting at Khargone, Madhya Pradesh