Himachal Votes 2022: 33% job quota, free cylinders, pension, BJP goes all out to woo women voters

Shimla, November 6

The BJP has promised Uniform Civil Code, 8 lakh jobs, 33 per cent reservation for women in government recruitment and a slew of sops for different segments in its manifesto for the Himachal Assembly elections that was released here today.

Maintaining that their focus was on “empowerment” than allurement, Nadda claimed that the 11-point ‘Sankalp Patra’ contained commitments for empowering women, employees, youth and horticulturists.

The BJP rolled out a standalone manifesto — ‘Stree Shakti Sankalp’—for women, promising bicycles for schoolgirls and scooties for college students, enhanced ‘shagun’ for marriage, Rs 500 crore corpus for interest-free loans to women entrepreneurs to set up homestays and a system for procurement and disbursement of fodder through fair price shops.

It promised three free LPG cylinders to women of poor households, enrolment of all women over 30 years from poor families under the Atal Pension Yojana, Rs 2,500 per month to 50,000 meritorious female students of government schools during graduation and ‘Stree Shakti Cards’ to all women for treatment of ailments not covered under the ongoing Himcare scheme.

In the ‘Sankalp Patra’, Nadda promised constituting a committee to implement the Uniform Civil Code and a survey of Waqf properties to weed out illegalities. It said a new fund would be instituted to credit Rs 3,000 annually in the accounts of farmers, in addition to Rs 6,000 being paid under the PM Kisan Samman Nidhi.

“Wasteful spending should be stopped, but any expenditure on welfare must be treated as investment,” said Nadda as he announced all-weather metalled road connectivity to all villages in the state over the next five years with an expenditure of Rs 5,000 crore. The BJP said five new medical colleges would be set up while the existing infrastructure and facilities would be strengthened in the existing colleges. It said Rs 900-crore startup fund would be set up for the youth. Addressing the anxieties of apple growers who were agitated over the raise in GST on packaging material, the BJP promised limiting the tax burden to 12 per cent with the state government bearing the additional 6 per cent.

To promote religious tourism, a tourist circuit, “Himteerath”, has been promised, which would connect all important temples and Shakti Peeths across the state by launching 45 special buses from New Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Meerut and Mathura. An investment of Rs 12,000 crore has been assured to develop transport and physical infrastructure around all prominent temples.

The manifesto, however, fell silent on reviving the old pension scheme, a demand of state government employees that has emerged as a major political issue in the run-up to the Assembly elections. Other promises include substantial increase in ex gratia to the dependants of martyrs and removal of anomalies in the pay scales of employees.

Nadda said the ‘Sankalp Patra’ was not merely an election manifesto, but a “roadmap for the development, growth and progress of Himachal”. Asked how the party would mobilise resources for the assured eight lakh jobs, he said groundwork had been done before unveiling the pledges. The BJP said the document was based on about 25,000 suggestions received from different sections through online and offline modes. The manifesto committee was headed by Rajya Sabha MP Sikander Kumar.

Election manifesto promises 8L jobs

• 8 lakh jobs, Rs 900 crore startup fund, resolving pay anomalies
• Rs 3,000 per year proposed to farmers, in addition to Rs 6,000 under the PM Kisan Nidhi
• Rs 5,000 crore fund to build all-weather roads to all villages
• Uniform Civil Code, survey of Waqf properties; GST on apple cartons at 12%, state to bear 6% cost
• Five new medical colleges, existing ones to be strengthened

Rs 12K crore for religious circuit

• The BJP has promised an investment of Rs 12,000 cr to promote religious tourism
• Aim will be to enhance transport facilities, infrastructure around prominent temples
• Pilgrimage tourist circuit ‘Himteerath’ has been promised
• Will connect all key temples, Shakti Peeths across the state
• 45 buses will be started from Delhi, Jaipur, Chandigarh, Meerut & Mathura to link temples