INDIA bloc promises 10L jobs and Rs 15L health cover for underprivileged

Ranchi: The INDIA bloc unveiled its manifesto for the Jharkhand Assembly elections on Tuesday, pledging 10 lakh jobs for the youth and health insurance coverage of up to Rs 15 lakh for the underprivileged. Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, who presented the manifesto alongside Jharkhand Chief Minister Hemant Soren and RJD’s JP Yadav, emphasised the bloc’s commitment to social justice. The manifesto proposes increasing reservations for Scheduled Tribes from 26 per cent to 28 per cent, Scheduled Castes from 10 per cent to 12 per cent, and Other Backward Classes from 14 per cent to 27 per cent.

In response, the BJP criticised the JMM and Congress as “experts in making false promises.” Kharge highlighted Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s tendency to dismiss their guarantees, stating, “Congress fulfils all its guarantees, but Modi’s never get fulfilled.” Additionally, the INDIA bloc promised to raise the monthly free ration for the poor from 5 kg to 7 kg and offer gas cylinders at Rs 450, contrasting with the BJP’s proposal of Rs 500, which includes two free cylinders during festivals.

The other guarantees unveiled include guarantee of domicile policy based on 1932 Khatiyan (land record settlement), implementation of a separate Sarna religious code for tribals and protection and conservation of regional languages.

The INDIA bloc also promised that paddy would be procured at a minimum support price (MSP) of Rs 3,200 per quintal from the existing Rs 2,400 per quintal, besides enhancing MSP for procurement of forest produce by 50 per cent.

The BJP, in its manifesto, has announced an MSP of Rs 3,100 for paddy. Under the guarantee of education, degree colleges will be set up in all blocks and engineering, medical colleges and universities in district headquarters.

Also, industrial parks will be set up on 500 acres of land each in all district headquarters to create employment opportunities for the youth.

The manifesto also promises to enhance Maiyan Samman Yojana amount to Rs 2,500 per month against the current financial assistance of Rs 1,000 to women per month.

The INDIA bloc also pledged to form a Welfare Ministry for Backward Classes to address issues pertaining to them.

Soren said, "After this election, the coming government will move forward with the guarantees that we have launched today."

Responding to the unveiling of INDIA bloc's manifesto, the BJP called the JMM and Congress "experts in making false promises".

"The JMM and Congress are experts in making false promises. But people have also understood them and they no longer take these promises seriously," BJP working president Ravindra Rai told reporters here.

He said that the promises made by the JMM-led alliance in 2019 "proved to be false".

"They are neither politically serious nor matured. They made some promises after seeing the BJP's manifesto," Rai alleged.

He said the state government started giving Rs 1,000 to women three months ahead of the elections.

"Now, they are promising to give Rs 2,500 per month. If they were able to give Rs 2,500, why did they start with Rs 1,000 per month?" he questioned.

The Jharkhand Reservation in Vacancies of Posts and Services (Amendment) Bill 2022 was passed in the state assembly in November 2022 and raised the quota for reservations in government jobs for STs, SCs, EBCs, OBCs and economically weaker sections (EWS) to 77 per cent from current 60 per cent.

However, the bill which was passed by a special session of the assembly, came with the caveat that "the Act shall take effect after it is included in the ninth schedule of the Constitution of India". While the new law was greeted by celebratory crowds, critics lashed out at it as a "political gimmick" by the Hemant Soren government.

In the proposed reservation, local people belonging to the Scheduled Caste (SC) community will get a quota of 12 per cent, Scheduled Tribes 28 per cent, extremely backward classes (EBCs) 15 per cent, Other Backward Communities (OBCs) 12 per cent and EWS, barring those from the other reserved categories, 10 per cent.

At present, the STs enjoy 26 per cent reservation in Jharkhand, while SCs have 10 per cent quota and OBCs 14 per cent.

Increasing reservation was an electoral promise of all mainstream parties in 2019, including the ruling UPA allies JMM, Congress and RJD.

The Jharkhand governor had last year returned the bill to the government based on the legal opinion provided by the Attorney General of India. As far as domicile policy is concerned, Jharkhand Definition of Local Persons and for Extending the Consequential, Social, Cultural, and other Benefits to Such Local Persons Bill, 2022 was passed in a special session of the Jharkhand assembly on November 11, 2022, by voice vote.

However, the governor had returned it to the government with some suggestions last year.

The Jharkhand Assembly on December 20, 2023 once again passed the bill that proposes to use 1932 land records to determine people's domicile status, without any amendment as sought by the governor.

Elections to the 81-member Jharkhand Assembly will be held on November 13 and 20, and the counting of votes will take place on November 23.