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Journalism of Courage
If price rise, corruption, development of infrastructure, education, manufacturing, and services sector were some of the areas that the BJP had focused on in its 2014 manifesto, some of the big promises made by the saffron party in its 2019 “Sankalp Patra” include farmers welfare, Citizenship Bill, commitment to make India the third largest economy by 2030 and a zero-tolerance policy towards terrorism.
Construction of a Ram Temple in Ayodhya, abrogation of Article 370 of the Constitution, which gives special status to Jammu and Kashmir, and Uniform Civil Code have always been part of the BJP’s core agenda and finds mention even in the 2019 manifesto, which was unveiled on Monday by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the presence of BJP chief Amit Shah and other top leaders of the party.
In a scathing criticism of the BJP manifesto, the Congress said the ruling party has “simply copy pasted” its 2014 poll document and changed all previous deadlines.
2014 – The BJP manifesto had mentioned reviving the anti-terror mechanism that had been dismantled by the Congress and putting in place swift and fair trial of terror-related cases. Complete all pending fencing work along the India-Bangladesh and India-Myanmar border also found mention.
2019 – Mentions the surgical strikes and airstrikes that were carried out during the Modi government, the manifesto says, “We will continue to follow our policy of giving a free hand to our security forces in combating terrorism.” It further says the purchase of defence equipment would be fast-tracked and self-reliance in the sector via ‘Make in India’ also found mention.
The contentious Citizenship Amendment Bill also finds mention under national security in the BJP manifesto.
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2014 – The BJP promised to double farmer incomes, increase minimum support prices to 1.5 times the cost of production, rationalise agricultural markets, make institutions for procurement more efficient, promote value additions to food production.
2019 – Expanding the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi Yojana to all farmers in the country and a pension scheme for small and marginal farmers above the age of 60 years are one of the major pledges in the BJP manifesto.
The ‘Sankalp Patra’ also promises to introduce an interest-free kisan credit card loan at a 0% interest rate for 1-5 years on the condition that the farmer promptly repays the principal amount.
2014 – Encouraging and empowering youth via self-employment. Focus on agriculture, allied industries, and retail through modernisation as well as stronger credit and market linkages. Initiating a multi-skill development programme, with a focus on job creation and entrepreneurship.
2019 – While the manifesto does not explicitly mention about creating jobs, BJP promises to launch a new scheme to provide collateral-free credit up to 50 lakh for entrepreneurs. The BJP manifesto states that the government will guarantee 50% of the loan amount for female entrepreneurs and 25% of the loan amount for male entrepreneurs.
On startups, the BJP manifesto promises to ease regulatory requirements and the creation of a ‘Seed Staup Fund’ of Rs 20,000 crore.
2014 – The manifesto included the launch of national healthcare programmes, medical education, and financing. Setting up an AIIMS-like institute in states was also one of the major promises of the BJP.
2019 – The BJP manifesto promises to set up one Medical College or Post Graduate Medical College in every district of the country by 2024. By 2022, the BJP proposes to set up 75. Making the national nutrition mission a mass movement and eliminating tuberculosis by 2025 also finds mention in the BJP manifesto.
2014 – The biggest promise the BJP made in its manifesto was that it would frame a new education policy. The party had also stated its intention to increase public spending on education and universalise secondary schooling (Class 9 and above).
2019 – Promise to establish National Institutes of Teachers’ training that will provide four-year integrated courses for teachers and opening 200 more Kendriya Vidayalayas and Navodaya Vidayalas by 2024 are some of the key points of the 2019 manifesto.
In the next five years, the BJP hopes to increase the number of seats in Central Law, Engineering, Science and Management institutions by at least 50 per cent.
