Chhattisgarh Assembly Election: Congress chief Rahul Gandhi releases 'people's manifesto'

Congress Chhattisgarh Manifesto: The Congress party chief on Friday released the party manifesto in Dongargarh ahead of the upcoming elections in the state. The manifesto focuses on various problems including farmer distress, the livelihood of women and education for all. The party claims that the Chhattisgarh manifesto is the culmination of Congress Party's touring of 24 districts of Chhattisgarh extensively to take inputs from varied organisations and representations, including farmers, women representatives', workers organisations, students, teachers, mitanin workers, Tendu Patta workers, tribals, businessmen, doctors, nurses, political outfits, housewives, lawyers, amongst others. During the press conference, the 47-year-old Congress chief released the manifesto along with AICC In-charge of Chhattisgarh, Chhattisgarh PCC Chief and CLP leader. In the manifesto, the Congress party has zeroed down 36 major points of policymaking and have also promised immediate loan waiver for farmers within 10 days, increasing the MSP on 70-85  forest crops and fixing Rs 4000 per bag for Tendu Patta workers and better healthcare facilities for all. Elections to the 90-member Chhattisgarh Assembly will be held in two phases - on November 12 and November 20 - and counting of votes will take place on December 11.

Here are some of the salient features of the Congress Chhattisgarh manifesto 2018:

1. Immediate loan waiver for farmers within 10 days of formation of Congress Govt. A major thrust on the agricultural sector also includes fixing MSP for various crops as per Swaminathan Commission report. The MSP for Rice has been fixed at Rs 2500/quintal and Maize at Rs 1700/quintal. The manifesto also includes provisioning of pension for farmers above 60 years of age to support them.
2. The Manifesto also promises cutting of electricity bills by half for domestic consumption, provisioning of houses and land to urban and rural families, respectively.
3. Every family will be given 35kgs of rice, every month at the rate of Rs 1 only!
4. Tackling employment under Ghar Ghar Rozgaar, Har Ghar Rozgaar, the manifesto underlines apprenticeship programs and employment opportunities for the youth. Also the govt will provision monthly stipend to 10lakh unemployed youngsters under Rajiv Mitr Yojna for financially support.
5. Women Safety is one of the primary features of Congress Party's Jan Ghoshna Patra, pertaining to which strict enforcement of laws, setting up of special women police stations and women help cells in every police station have been proposed. Also special conveyance for women for late night commuting, adept with technology has been proposed in the Manifesto.
6. Minority communities and their interests have been give due importance in the Manifesto with proposals in place for their security, job opportunities and special help for ease of doing business.
7. Emphasising on healthcare services, the Manifesto proposes introduction of a Universal Healthcare program pertaining to which free and quality services will be provided to those in need. It also proposes converting 6 medical colleges into multi speciality hospitals, alongwith bringing 1000 specialists on board in the first year. Air ambulances will be provisioned for areas like Bastar, Sarguja and Supebeda.
8. Special attention on improving the quality of education through emphasis on quality of teachers has been listed out in the Manifesto. Apart from education, measures will be in place to deal with nutrition and anaemia in school kids, putting a health cell in all educational institutions. The Manifesto also promises filling in 50,000 post for teachers to balance the teacher student ratio in the first year.
9. Increasing the MSP on 70-85 forest crops and fixing Rs 4000 per bag for Tendu Patta workers. Fixing a respectable income for daily wage labourers, increase in income bands of Class 3 and 4 employees, distribution of 7th pay commission surplus in 3 phases, increase in the pension being given to police families, who lost loved ones in naxal attacks, establishment of sports hostels, scholarships for economically weak sportspersons.

Chhattisgarh became witness to an intense political slugfest on Friday ahead of the assembly polls, as both BJP and Congress kicked off campaign for the first phase of elections. Earlier today, In his first election rally for the upcoming assembly polls, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the Congress-led government did not work towards the development of the Naxal-infested Bastar region citing the troubles caused by Maoists, but the same party backs the urban Maoists. He said: "Urban Maoists live in AC surroundings, move around in big cars and their children study abroad, but they ruin the lives of our poor Adivasi youth here through remote control. Why is Congress supporting these Urban Maoists?" Congress chief Raul Gandhi was addressing the first rally of his Chhattisgarh tour in Pakhanjore town of Kanker district also trained guns at Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Raman Singh, over a number of issues including demonetisation, Rafale and the state’s chit fund scam.