IMPHAL: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) national president JP Nadda on Thursday released the party's manifesto for the forthcoming Manipur Assembly elections, promising two free cooking gas cylinders to poor women, free scooty (two-wheeler) for all meritorious college girls, incentive of Rs 25,000 to poor girls and free laptops to all meritorious students passing Class 12.
Nadda said that the election manifesto is not a piece of paper but is a commitment to the people and to make Manipur stable with all-round development of the State.
According to the BJP's poll manifesto, a monthly pension for all the senior citizens in the State will be increased from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000 and girls from economically weaker and backward sections would be provided with an incentive of Rs 25,000 under the Rani Gaidinliu Nupi Maheiroi Singi scheme.
Declaring that the BJP is committed to protect the territorial integrity and preserve the rights of the indigenous people of Manipur and its rich cultural heritage, the BJP national president added that after coming back to power the party would increase the financial assistance from Rs 6,000 to Rs 8,000 per annum under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana.
Accompanied by Manipur Chief Minister N Biren Singh, BJP state president A Sharda Devi, national BJP spokesperson and Manipur party in-charge Sambit Patra and other leaders, Nadda said that the five years of the BJP Government turned Manipur from instability to stability and now the party is keen to provide a major push to the State.
"The BJP Government in Manipur under the leadership of N Biren Singh tamed the insurgency and established peace and turned Manipur from divisive to united politics. The Government has done a lot to curb the drug menace and provided governance from non-performance to performance."
Nadda said that like the Prime Minister's aspirational district model, aspirational block programmes would be introduced with special focus on overall development in selected blocks of the State.
He added that a 'One Sub-Division, One Product scheme' would be launched to promote indigenous produce and boost local economy and 'FO-FO' train (Follow Foothills train), a peripheral rail network along the foothills of the State, would also be launched to boost tourism and increase allied vocational opportunities in the State.
To promote local tourism, the BJP national chief said cash incentives and subsidies would be provided for the homestay owners, aiming to generate nearly one lakh employment opportunities in the State.
The other promises made in the BJP manifesto include scholarships for the children of small and marginal farmers, and landless farmers pursuing technical education at the graduation and post-graduation level, 100 per cent coverage of Ayushman Bharat and CMHT (Chief Ministergi Hakchelgi Tenbang) scheme to provide health insurance of Rs 5 lakh to all the eligible beneficiaries, establishment of AIIMS, interest-free loans to MSMEs for technology upgradation, capital requirements and to enable better market access.
The manifesto also promised establishment of a skill university in Manipur to boost the skills of the youth in various sectors, expanding the people-centric initiatives like 'Go To Village' and 'Go To Hills' to provide the doorstep delivery of all Central and State Government schemes, establishment of 100 crore Start-up Manipur Fund to provide zero interest loans of up to Rs 25 lakh. The BJP also promised to launch the Loktak mega eco-tourism project to promote tourism in the State. (IANS)
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