RJD promises 10 lakh jobs and free transportation
New Delhi: Sticking to its job poll plank to woo youth voters, the Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) reiterated its promise of providing 10 lakh government jobs and the law to scrap farm laws in its manifesto that was released by party leader Tejashwi Yadav on Saturday in Patna.
Other key promises include application forms for competitive government exams would be free, free transportation of candidates from their home district to the examination centre.
While unveiling the party's manifesto, Yadav took a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who had promised 2 crore jobs every year during 2014 Lok Sabha elections, by saying that he could have also promised one crore jobs just for the sake of promise.
"If we had to make a false promise, why would we say to create 10 lakh jobs only? We could have also said 50 lakh or one crore jobs. It will be the first time in the country that 10 lakh employment opportunities will be created at one go," Yadav said.
Explaining the formula of 10 lakh jobs, Yadav said, "Apart from the immediately filling up the 4.5 lakh vacant positions in the state government, an additional 5.5 lakh jobs would be provided in medicine, education, engineering and police services."
"The state government has the capacity to provide 4 lakh jobs as the state has a budget of Rs 2.13 lakh crore of which only 60 per cent has been spent. Nitish Kumar has not been able to spend the remaining 40 per cent, which is Rs 80,000 crore," the leader of Opposition said.
Hitting out at both CM Nitish Kumar and his deputy Sushil Modi, Tejashwi said, "People used to mock us, how will we give jobs. There is a difference between earning and jobs. One can earn by selling pakodas, cleaning the drains, or picking up garbage. We are not saying that. We are clearly saying that we will provide 10 lakh government jobs," he stressed.
"We want to make Bihar better. For this, we have to compete with the national (employment) average. This is not a manifesto. This is our promise for change. Nitish Kumar is not being able to manage Bihar as he is tired," said Tejashwi.
In a bid to woo migrant workers, Yadav said, "Bihar has not forgotten how Sushil Modi left migrants to fend for themselves saying they cannot be brought back because the state does not have resources."
"During the crisis, the Bihar government had said that workers would commit robberies and youth of the state go to other states for work for fun," Yadav said.
The RJD manifesto also talks about guaranteed work to every family under MNREGA and increasing the number of days from 100 to 200. Teachers on the contract would be offered permanent jobs.
As per the manifesto, all the non-functional mills including sugar mills, paper mills and jute mills, among others, would be revived to promote the industry in the state. The rate of electricity would be reduced.
