Five promises of the future NDA Government BJP

We who are in public life have the responsibility to ensure that your vote is translated into good and responsive governance. As far as the BJP is concerned, I want our government to be judged by your expectations. I say this because we know what your expectations are. To enable you to succeed, to enable you to build a great India, the BJP promises you, I personally promise you, initiatives and reforms in five major areas.

First, we will work to ensure that each of you will have access to the best education possible. 
Second, that even the poorest student will receive financial aid to complete his or her education and improve their ability to find jobs that match their talents and abilities. 
Third, we will ensure security – so that you are able to live and travel without fear and work anywhere in this great country.  The problems of terrorism and naxalism will be tackled with a firm hand.
Fourth, we will work with you to protect our environment so that you can inherit a green and flourishing India.  Our holy rivers, our lakes, our mountains, our forests, our wildlife, our sea shore — all these are a part of India’s priceless natural resource. It is our duty, the duty of both the Government and the people, to preserve this resource.
Finally, we will work with you to improve our existing cities, to build beautiful new cities, to so improve amenities in our villages that you don’t feel compelled to leave them to go and stay in some urban slum.
How shall we fulfill this covenant?  Let us take them one at a time. 
Quality Education for All: First and foremost, we will liberate the education sector – so that the seats and facilities in it multiply and improve. It is a tragedy that, even as we have seen in sectors as far apart as manufacturing and telecom what freeing a sector can do, education continues under the old, licence-quota raj. 
There are too few public universities; private colleges charge too much; our teachers are not paid adequately for their unstinting service; too many of our students have to go abroad for higher education. On the one side, we cannot find good craftsmen and technicians. On the other, good jobs go unfilled – the list of problems is endless. 
We will open the doors to higher education and ensure that there are more than enough seats for all qualified students.  We will create incentives for all who want to promote learning; to set up good private colleges and universities; to partner with the best foreign institutions of learning; to set up many, many vocational training institutes; to develop the facilities for, and the culture of research and innovation in, India. We will thereby multiply seats for students, and also ensure that teachers are rewarded for their efforts. 
Our top educational institutions like IITs and IIMs will remain autonomous and be able to pursue academic excellence as they see fit. There will be no governmental interference in their functioning. We have the best students in the world; we will to ensure that they have access to the best academic institutions in the world. Our government will ensure financial aid for all deserving students through scholarships and loans. 
Many of our organizations strive to give you the opportunity to serve society through constructive work. I know that many of you want, in addition, to participate in public life, in crafting public policy. Our government will launch a new highly prestigious National Fellows program in honor of our distinguished leader, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee. As a beginning, we will award special, national fellowships to young Indian leaders under the age of 25 with undergraduate degrees.  Each of these young leaders will receive a one year internship in a government organization.  At least 50 of these National Fellows will work in the Prime Minister’s Office and other ministries on policy assignments.   An independent eminent jury will select these National Fellows and all will be encouraged to apply.
Employment opportunities for all: Once talent has been transformed into abilities through the education system, there must be jobs that enable the young to stretch themselves to the maximum. New and exciting jobs will, of course, come through sunrise industries like IT and BPO, as they will through modern manufacturing. But much more can, and must be done. In services, we have just begun to scratch our potential: product and process design; surgery; civil engineering, accountancy, legal assistance, teaching from a distance by using new technologies.
I believe that productivising Indian agriculture through sound policies can create tens of thousands of rewarding and fulfilling jobs for our educated youth. For this we need technologies that can transform rural India. Technologies for water and soil conservation, for organic farming, for growing of new and higher-value crops – pulses, fruit, vegetables, for preserving what our kisans grow, and for ensuring that farmers get good credit and marketing facilities. We will pay priority attention to these areas, so that you can get good jobs — and good opportunities — in changing the face of rural India.
No compromise in the fight against terrorism: One of the great failures of the present Government has arisen from its weak approach to lawlessness and terrorism.  Often traveling in public transport can be unpleasant for you.  Many of you, especially girls and young women feel harassed and victimized.  Sometimes you are afraid to settle in parts of our country that are racked with violence or are hostile to outsiders. 
This is not the India we want.  We want an India where, in whichever part of the country, you choose, you can contribute your best. We will, therefore, resume the work we were doing to strengthen national security – from restoring necessary laws such as POTA, to ensuring they are enforced, to reforming and strengthening our security forces. We shall also ensure that their structures, work culture and emoluments and facilities improve so that many of you can look forward to fulfilling careers in them.
Protection of India’s priceless environment: Along with protecting you and your loved ones, we must also protect this beautiful country. I know that, more than most other sections of our people, the young are the ones who are most dedicated to preserving our environment. After all, we do not own this great country, we hold it in a trust for you, as do you for future generations.
Our government will transform the way in which we deal with environmental issues.  We will formulate environmental policies and regulations that will protect our environment and wildlife for generations to come. I want our governments to create a new regime of taxation and rewards – one in which people and industries are not penalized according to what they contribute to society, but in accordance with what they use up from the pool of our non-renewable resources, in accordance with the harm they inflict on our environment. We will constitute an independent Environment Management Authority that will be headed by a world-famous environmental expert and will be staffed with eminent scientists. This agency will help us formulate the best possible plans for our environment and wildlife, and keep every government accountable.
Transforming Urban India: I come next to our villages and cities. Our first priority must be to create in our villages the facilities and opportunities that will provide jobs and a fulfilling life right there – so that you do not feel compelled to flee them to some urban slum. Second, we must improve our cities.  They are not in a good condition.  There is no need to repeat the unpleasant facts that fester all around us. Many empty promises have been made – of making Mumbai an international financial center, for instance. You know what has been done about them. We will fix our existing cities and build many new beautiful cities. 
This requires coordinated action on many fronts including strengthening urban property rights, enforcing land use restrictions, establishing good property tax collections, and reforming our municipal governance.  We will work on all of this in our existing cities.  But, we promise more – we promise that we will build cities that you will be proud to live in, cities that will welcome our brothers and sisters from rural areas, cities that will be green and pleasant places to bring up families, and cities that will live on as spectacular and grand urban spaces.
These then are our promises to you:
•    Vastly enlarged education capacity so that every young person, especially those belonging to the Scheduled  Castes, Scheduled Tribes, OBCs, and disadvantaged sections of other communities, can follow their dream;
•    Financial aid to complete this education;
•    New and exciting job opportunities for all young men and women in the frontier areas of tomorrow;
•    Opportunities to work in public life – to improve our policies and institutions;
•    Security to pursue your lives and ambitions;
•    A green and clean India;
•    Prosperous villages, and beautiful welcoming cities for you and your families. 

― From a speech by Shri L.K. Advani at an interactive session with students Organised by INDIA BANAO! in New Delhi on October 20, 2008

Election Manifesto – 2009 BJP Highlights

DETERMINED LEADER, DECISIVE GOVERNMENT
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY and HIGHLIGHTS

Election Manifesto – 2009 BJP Highlights

PUTTING POOR FIRST:

1. All BPL families to get 35kg of rice or wheat every month at Rs 2 per kg. This will be available against Food Coupons redeemable both at PDS and private outlets.
2. Ensure farm loans at a maximum interest rate of 4 percent.
3. Waive agricultural loans.
4. Introduce a Farm Income Insurance Scheme through which both price and produce will be insured
5. Irrigate 35 million hectares of additional farmland within 5 years.
6. Initiate special schemes for the urban poor, such as loans at 4 percent interest to poor vendors.
7. Set up a “Workers Bank” to provide a safety net for unorganized sector workers.
8. Revise minimum wages and ensure strict implementation of the Wages Act.

ECONOMY GROWS, INDIA PROSPERS

1. Generate employment through massive public spending on infrastructure projects. Complete the implementation of Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s dream projects: National Highway Development Project by building 15-20 km of new highways every day; and Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, to link all villages with over 500 people by all-weather road.
2. Introduce schemes to encourage private industry and services sectors. Ensure a low tax, low interest rate regime.
3. Exempt personal Income Tax for those earning up to Rs 3 lakh per annum. For women and Senior Citizens, the exemption will be Rs 3.5 lakh per annum. This will benefit over 3.5 crore people.
4. Complete exemption for interest income on bank deposits for all other than corporates and those who have business income.
5. Scrap Fringe Benefit Tax (FBT), which is a source of harassment to employees and employers alike.
6. Abolish CST and fix a ceiling of 12-14 percent on GST.
7. Ensure watertight monitoring of regulatory bodies so that the public is secured from companies indulging in fraudulent practices in the stock markets.
8. Construct 10,00,000 housing for the poor units every year; kick-start the real estate sector that is suffering at present. Bring down interest on housing loans to make urban housing affordable.
9. Take firm steps to identify and retrieve Indian money stashed away in foreign banks. Estimated at Rs. 25 lakh crore-Rs. 75 lakh crore, getting this amount back through international cooperation will be enough to complete road and power connectivity throughout the country; ensure setting up of quality schools in all villages. This quantum of black money, if recovered, will amount to allocating Rs 4 crore to every Indian village to improve living conditions in the countryside.
10. Boost tourism sector: Identify 50 destinations and develop infrastructure, connectivity. Double foreign tourist arrivals in 5 years to help generate employment in hospitality industry.
11. Ban on foreign direct investment (FDI) in retail sector to help domestic retail trade.

WAR AGAINST ENEMIES WITHIN AND WITHOUT

1. BJP’s robust commitment to securing the nation against its enemies is well known. Our first priority will be to take stern steps against terrorists, cross-border or home-grown. An improved POTA-type law will be introduced. The intelligence mechanism shall be overhauled. India’s 4000-km long coastline will be fully protected by enhanced naval security.
2. We will systematically detect, detain and deport illegal immigrants who have emerged as a major source of homegrown terror. Fencing of the India-Bangladesh border, deliberately neglected by the UPA in pursuit of vote bank politics, will be speedily completed.
3. Use coercive diplomacy to isolate and compel countries engaging in exporting terror across the border to stop their misadventure. Ensure that the foreign tap of separatist groups in India is completely turned off.
4. Wage a relentless war against Maoist groups throughout the country using the highly successful and popular Chhattisgarh model.
5. Introduce a comprehensive National Identity Card for all citizens of India.

JAI JAWAN IN ACTION

1. All members of the armed forces and the para-military shall be exempted from payment of Income Tax. This will benefit nearly 20 lakh people.
2. Take steps to set up a separate Pay Commission for the armed forces. Also revisit the existing pay structure to ensure a better deal.
3. Implement one-rank-one-pension.
4. Push State Governments to introduce better schemes for the rehabilitation of ex-servicemen and explore avenues for resettling them with gainful employment.

ENERGY SAVED, ENERGY GAINED:

1. Generate an additional 120,000 MW of electricity in 5 years through speedy conclusion of ongoing projects while sanctioning new power plants. 20% of this will be through harnessing non-conventional energy sources.
2. Reduce dependence on imported fossil fuels by promoting renewable energy options such as run-on-river electricity projects, solar, wind power and biomass.
3. Secure energy needs through aggressive diplomatic and commercial moves in oil-producing countries.

WOMEN EMPOWERED, NATION STRENGTHENED

1. Introduce the Madhya Pradesh BJP Government’s highly successful ‘Ladli Lakshmi’ Scheme throughout India to directly transfer funds to the school going girl child to encourage education and secure economic self-sufficiency for young women. Rs. 1.18 lakh after completion of 12th standard.
2. Pave the way for nationwide implementation of the Bhamashah Scheme proposed by the erstwhile BJP Government in Rajasthan to directly pay Rs 1,500 to open a bank account for every adult woman, to be accessed by biometric cards usable through fingerprint.
3. Provide bicycles to every school going girl child from BPL families throughout India.
4. Introduce special schemes to promote entrepreneurship among rural women through Self-help Groups (SHGs).
5. BJP remains committed to bring about 33 percent reservation for women in legislatures and will endeavour to introduce it at the earliest.
6. Salaries of 28 lakh Anganwadi workers and helpers, who are the backbone of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) will be doubled.
7. BJP believes all sections of Indian women cannot be fully empowered without the enactment of a Uniform Civil Code as decreed in the Directive Principles of the Constitution and emphasized repeatedly by the Supreme Court. The party remains committed to implementing such a code after discussions with all sections of opinion.

YOUNG INDIA, NATION’S PILLAR

1. UPA has nurtured despair, frustration and joblessness among India’s young people who account for 50 percent of the population. BJP will regenerate hope through massive vocational training programmes and job creation schemes both in rural and urban areas.
2. A network of National Knowledge Incubation Centres will be set up throughout the country to identify and groom young talent for every sector of the economy.
3. Study loans will be made cheaper and more accessible by fixing student loan interest at 4%.
4. BJP will create 12 million IT-enabled jobs in rural areas. Computer prices will be drastically cut to make it affordable to every section. All educational institutions will have internet facilities within 5 years. Broadband connectivity to every village.
5. Special provisions will be made for SC/ST/OBC and other underprivileged sections of the youth for skill development with focus on web-based training.
6. Launch an aggressive project to groom young sporting talent by allocating Rs 5,000 crore for creation of sports infrastructure especially in educational institutions Appoint trained coaches; secure employment for international medal winners. Sport will be a compulsory subject in school curricula.

NATION’S WEALTH, PEOPLE’S HEALTH

1. BJP is committed to making the right to clean water a fundamental right. A massive programme will be launched to provide clean, drinking water to every citizen.
2. A regulatory authority to be set up for private hospitals and nursing homes to monitor unfair practices.
3. A comprehensive project to bring health-for-all by 2014.
4. Introduce a mandatory ‘Dial 108 for ambulance at your doorstep’ scheme throughout the country.
5. Revive the creation of new AIIMS, originally initiated by the NDA Government but neglected by UPA. All six state-of-the-art hospitals will be rapidly constructed over the next 5 years.
6. Janani Suraksha Yojana to care for delivering mothers and infants will be strengthened.
7. Investment will be made to promote alternative medicine such as Ayurveda, Yoga, Unani etc.
8. Population stabilization holds the key to India’s prosperity. BJP will introduce schemes in consultation with different sections to expedite serious progress in this direction.

PRIVILEGING THE UNDERPRIVILEGED:

1. BJP is deeply committed to creating a society of equal opportunities with Justice for All as its credo. Its State Governments have introduced a series of schemes for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Minorities – especially in education, job training, poverty alleviation and promotion of entrepreneurial talent. These schemes will be improved upon and the most successful among them replicated nationally. In addition, people living in backward regions, particularly in the North-East, inaccessible forests and hilly areas will be prioritized.

2. Education and Job quota will be introduced for economically backward sections of society other than SCs, STs and OBCs, for whom reservations will continue.

SENIOR CITIZENS:

1. Recognising the importance of Senior Citizens in nation-building and inculcating civilisational values, BJP commits itself to reducing the age for receiving travel benefits from 65 to 60 years.
2. Complete tax exemption to senior citizens in respect of pension income.

CREATING THE RIGHT ENVIRONMENT:

1. Combating climate change and global warming through non-polluting technologies will be prioritized.
2. Importance given to programmes to arrest the melting of Himalayan glaciers from which most major rivers in North India originate.
3. Protect and promote forests and afforestation.
4. Take all appropriate steps to save Tiger, the National Animal, and safeguard critical habitants of all wildlife. Emphasis to be laid on protecting India’s resplendent but endangered bio-diversity.

DEFENDING THE CIVILISATION

1. The BJP remains committed to the construction of a grand Ram Mandir at Ayodhya.
2. BJP will not allow anybody to touch the revered Ram Setu. We will evolve a new route for Sethu Samudram bypassing Ram Setu.
3. Cleaning the revered Ganga and other major rivers will be a priority. Local communities will be enrolled in this gigantic task.
4. Cow protection is an article of faith with BJP. This will be pursued relentlessly.
5. Full integration of the nation is not possible as long as Article 370 stays on the statute books. BJP remains steadfast in its belief that the provision must be removed to ensure Indian unity.

BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY BJP

BHARATIYA JANATA PARTY

SHRI L.K. ADVANI HOLDS ROUNDTABLE WITH EXPERTS IN HEALTHCARE; PLEDGES TO MAKE ‘AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE FOR ALL CITIZENS’  A FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT

New Delhi : 6 April 2009

 

Shri L.K. Advani, prime ministerial candidate of the BJP and NDA, today took time out of his busy schedule of election campaigning, to hold a roundtable with experts in healthcare. He pledged to implement the promise of ‘HEALTH FOR ALL’, contained in the BJP’s election manifesto, in the event of the NDA winning the people’s mandate in the coming Lok Sabha elections.

In his opening remarks, Shri Advani said, “My belief in healthcare as an important element of Good Governance and Development was greatly reinforced by a thought expressed by Nobel laureate Dr. Amartya Sen. In one of his books, Dr. Sen writes that the neglect of education and healthcare is the principal reason for India’s backwardness. I know that Health for All is one of the toughest challenges, given the fact that the current condition of healthcare in our country is abysmal. But we are determined to accept and overcome this challenge.”

The meeting was attended by Shri Jaswant Singh, former Union Finance, Defence and External Affairs Minister; two former Union Health Ministers Dr. C.P. Thakur and Shri Shatrughan Sinha; Shri Vijay Kapoor, who conducted the meeting; and Sudheendra Kulkarni, a member of the BJP’s election strategy group.

Participants in the roundtable (list of their names attached) gave many useful suggestions on different aspects of the strategy needed to move towards the goal of ‘HEALTH FOR ALL’. All of them emphasized the need to re-orient healthcare in India towards preventive and wellness care. They urged the BJP leadership to vastly increase government spending on healthcare (which is now less than 1% of GDP) and, at the same time, shift the focus from inputs to outcomes. Many useful ideas were presented on radically improving healthcare in rural areas.

Shri Advani referred to his earlier roundtable with experts in drinking water, in which they had urged the BJP to make access to clean drinking water a fundamental right for all citizens. “We have made this promise in the BJP manifesto,” he said, adding, “Based on today’s consultation, I wish to say that the NDA will also make affordable health care for all citizens a fundamental right.”

Shri Advani also expressed his support to the following suggestions:

1. Universal Health Insurance Scheme, launched by the NDA Government, will be revived, with the Central Government bearing the expense of medical insurance for all BPL families.

2. Total Sanitation Campaign, waste disposal and recycling, nutritional security to children, and eradication of communicable diseases will receive highest attention from the Government.

3. 50 essential medicines, which can take care of 90% of common diseases, will be distributed free to all needy citizens.

4. Each tehsil will have a well-equipped hospital with a bed strength of at least 50.

5. Each district will have a modern multi-speciality hospital with an attached medical college. Public-Private Partnership model will be adopted for this purpose. This district will have a mobile extension service to cater to the needs of nearby rural areas.

6. Existing healthcare infrastructure, in which considerable public investment has already taken place, has enormous scope for improvement with minimal additional investment. Policy will be reformed to enable the private sector to partner in running this system.

7. Over 7,00,000 practitioners of Ayurveda and other Indian systems of medicine have been making a major contribution to healthcare in rural and remote areas. They will be assisted to further expand and improve their services.

8. The entire healthcare system will made more woman-centric and child-centric.

9. Considering the growing healthcare needs of senior citizens, the government will provide interest-free loans to young couples to build an extra room in their homes for their parents.

10. Every ministry in Government of India will incorporate healthcare as part of its plans and programmes.

11. Corruption in healthcare administration and medical education will be removed. Medical education will be made affordable.

12. In order to meet the enormous need for trained healthcare workforce in rural areas, the Government will start a new medical education course to create a large public healthcare cadre, who will work in rural areas.

13. Information Technology will be used innovatively and extensively to connect every hospital and every PHC in rural areas to the National Telemedicine Service Network.

14. Health tourism will be promoted.