RJD manifesto promises free laptops, farm loan waiver and 10 lakh jobs

Amid a row over NDA’s vaccine promise ahead of Bihar Assembly elections, Rashtriya Janata Dal leader Tejashwi Yadav, who is the chief ministerial candidate of the Grand Alliance, released the party’s election manifesto on Saturday, saying he would not promise one crore jobs.

“I am promising 10 lakh jobs. I could have also promised one crore jobs just for the sake of promise. But I am not doing that because this will become a reality in the first meeting of the Cabinet. This will be the first time in the country that 10 lakh employment opportunities will be created at one go. This figure is what we require in the state’s workforce at present,” Tejashwi said.

He also promised an unemployment allowance of ₹ 1,500.

“People used to make fun that from where we will generate employments. Now, you must understand there is a difference between earning and employment. Here we are talking about government jobs,” Tejashwi Yadav said, explaining that there are employment opportunities for teachers, professors, junior engineers, doctors, nurses and lab technicians.

“We need more police for the law and order of the state. Manipur is a smaller state but it has more police per lakh population than Bihar,” Tejashwi said.

The manifesto promised that all the villages in Bihar will be turned into smart villages if the RJD is elected to power.

Here’s a list of RJD promises:

Employment: RJD promised to bring in a domicile policy providing 85% reservation in state government jobs for local youth; state government employees on contract to be regularised and given equal pay for equal work; privatization in all the state government departments will also end.

Youth: A waiver of application fees in all government jobs and exams; setting up of Bihar Youth Commission; setting up of domicile policy to provide 85% reservation to local youth in government jobs; unemployment allowance 1500 per month will be provided to youth up to the age of 35; and educational loan up to Rs 5 lakh will be waived.

Agriculture: Farmers to be provided a bonus over and above MSP for their produce; all farm loans will be waived; Kisan credit card loans taken before 2020 will be waived; Kisan Aayog will be set up.

Industry: New industrial policy will be brought; Vyapari Suraksha Dasta will be set up to provide security to industrialists and businessmen; special economic zone will be set up for the food processing industry, industry-specific cluster, food park, food processing unit, IT parks; electricity rates will be reduced; interest-free loans will be provided to industries relating to agriculture and agricultural produce, sugar, jute, makhana; toddy industry will be commercialized.

Education: Recruitment of teachers will take place at a war footing and all vacant posts will be filled in all government schools; the budget on education to be increased to 22 per cent of state GDP; e-learning will be promoted in schools. Computers, high-speed internet, and projectors will be provided in government schools; English and computer education will be made mandatory in all government and private schools along with mother tongue; laptops to be provided to all OBC students and Dalit students who secure 80% marks in class 12

Women empowerment: Financial assistance to women on childbirth to be increased from ₹ 1,400 to ₹ 4,000; wages of Anganwadi sevika and Asha didi to be doubled; Asha workers wages to be increased from ₹ 1,000 to 4,000 per month; and Anganwadi Sevika wages to be raised from ₹ 4,500 to ₹ 8,000 per month.

Also read:BJP promises 19 lakh jobs, free COVID shots in Bihar poll manifesto