Shillong, Jan 24: The All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) today released its election manifesto and 10 pledges for Meghalaya.
National general secretary of the party, Abhishek Banerjee, released both in the presence of senior party leaders including MP and AITC Parliamentary Party in the Rajya Sabha, Derek O’Brien, TMC state in-charge Manas Bhunia, TMC legislature party leader Mukul Sangma, state party president Charles Pyngrope and vice-president George Lyngdoh.
The TMC has so far announced 52 poll candidates for the Feb 27 Meghalaya Assembly elections.
TMC’s 10 pledges for Meghalaya
Pledge 1: Abundant opportunities and thriving economy—
- Double-digit economic growth in the next 5 years to double the GDP size and ensure a poverty-free Meghalaya.
- 4,000 new MSMEs to be added annually (4 times the current annual growth) to increase the number of functional MSMEs to 1.3 lakh units in the next 5 years.
- Mining to be resumed by formulating a scientific and sustainable mining policy to ensure no individual’s livelihood is endangered.
Pledge 2: Guarantee of a brighter future
- 3 lakh jobs over the next 5 years to be created and an allowance of ₹1,000 monthly (₹12,000 yearly) to every unemployed youth between the ages of 21-40 under Meghalaya Youth Empowerment (MYE) scheme.
- 1 lakh laptops to all higher secondary and college-going students in the state to facilitate digital education.
- All individuals engaged in the tourism sector to be identified and their services to be formalised through Government-registered job cards providing a monthly honorarium of ₹2,500.
Pledge 3: Empowered women prosperous Meghalaya
- A direct transfer of ₹1,000 per month (₹12,000 yearly) to a woman of every household as guaranteed universal income support under the Meghalaya Financial Inclusion for Women Empowerment (MFI WE) scheme.
Pledge 4: Social security for all
- All social welfare pensions to be increased to ₹1,000 per month (₹12,000 annually), doubling the financial assistance to PWD, single mothers, widows and senior citizens.
- A social security scheme, Meghalaya UNITE (Meghalaya Unorganised Sector Training and Empowerment scheme) for all the 2.8 lakh unorganized sector workers to provide them skill training, free healthcare, term life insurance, and provident fund benefits.
- 25% increase in grants for healthcare, education assistance, death benefit, marriage assistance and disability pension to workers under the Meghalaya Building and Construction Workers’ Welfare Board.
- E-ration cards for all and resurvey in all districts to increase the number of beneficiaries covered ensuring every deserving household receives the PDS benefit. Essential items in the ration kits to be increased from 4 to 8 (potato, chickpeas, cooking oil and salt to be included).
Pledge 5: Better produce happy farmers
- ₹10,000 annual financial assistance to all farmers in the state through the introduction of a new FARM (Farmers’ Assistance for Rural Meghalaya) scheme.
- FARM centres in all districts of the state for one stop assistance to farmers from production to sales.
- FARM crop insurance policy covering all crops (including horticulture crops) to ensure zero loss to farmers.
Pledge 6: Holistic healthcare for all
- Maternal and Child Care Centres in every block to provide efficient prenatal and postnatal services.
- Shortage of specialists, staff and equipment to be bridged at all PHCs and CHCs in the state to make them 100% functional.
- Establishment of new medical colleges and ensuring quality tertiary healthcare facilities across the state.
- 25% increase in healthcare cover for senior citizens under Meghalaya Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS); 60 medical shops, 1 in each block, to be set up to provide all medicines at a 20% subsidy.
Pledge 7:Quality Education for children
- Direct Benefit Transfers of ₹1,200 annually to the families of all school-going children registered in Government-run schools to cover the cost of books and allied material.
- Each block to have a model school, immediate upgradation of school infrastructure in all districts and doubling the number of seats for teacher training in the state.
Pledge 8: Robust civic amenities for residents
- Facilitation of piped drinking water connections to all households.
- Revival and overhaul of the MeECL to create resilient infrastructure for uninterrupted power supply to all households.
- All 6,459 villages in Meghalaya to be connected with black-topped motorable roads and upgradation of major arterial roads to all-weather roads.
- Shillong Ring Road Project (connecting the Eastern and Western Bypass) to be completed on mission mode to ease the persistent traffic snarls in the city.
Pledge 9: Meghalaya’s glory: Music, sports, culture and tourism
- Mission Sports to identify, train and promote talent at the block level. Each district to set up a state-of-the-art multi-purpose stadium.
- State’s first Sports University to be set up and a corpus of ₹10 crores to assist the 22 registered State Sports Associations and all recognised sports clubs under them.
- Meghalaya Music Promotion Board to be set up to promote the state’s musicians through training and assistance with the vision of taking the local music to the global stage.
- Establishment of a Cultural tourism circuit through identification and promotion of cultural and ecological hotspots in every district. Interest free loans of up to ₹2 lakhs to local communities to set up homestays and conduct other sustainable tourism activities.
Pledge 10: Honour to traditional institutions and sacred land
- A holistic Village Administration Bill in consultation with the ADCs and traditional headmen to uphold and protect the traditional institutions to be introduced.
- Effective and immediate implementation of the Meghalaya Residents Safety and Security Act (MRSSA), 2016 across the state to ensure a comprehensive registry of all legal tenants.
- Private member bill in the Union Parliament for the immediate recognition of the Khasi and Garo languages through their inclusion in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution.
- The Border MoU signed with the Government of Assam to be revoked, and police check posts at all strategic border areas to be set up.