In the last article I discussed how the performance of this government has been througout, the tenure . Now we will look at the Manifesto both the parties have published and the promises they are making and then will compare and say which one is better . One thing that should be kept in mind that every party presents BEAUTIFUL Manifesto only ; what matters is how much they stand by what they said . We will start with

BHARTIYA JANATA PARTY (BJP)

• Promise I liked the most was pension scheme to farmer above 60 as it will be a huge boost to the poor farmer who spend their whole life under immense pressure . But the extension of this scheme to shopkeepers was not needed as SHOP is an asset which will be there and there is no official retirement for a shopkeeper . Easy loans to farmers upto 1,00,000 at 0% at the condition of prompt repayment is yet another decent idea .
• There have been some innovative and appreciable ideas prsented such as E-Commerce portal for delivery of consumer good products at the doorstep of consumers . Enacting HONEY MISSION to double the . Land to be brought under Micro Irrigation and launching new FPOs .
• Bringing India under top 50 countries in EASE OF DOING BUSINESS Rankings . It will not be a tedious task as the government has performed very well in this regard .
• By 2024 it’s promised that each household will have a house of his own , all houses will be electrified and also connected with Water pipeline . So this would be Dream come true if all this really happens as then we citizens will have almost everything we want ; it seems a bit HiFi talks .
• By 2022 all women and children are targeted to be taken under Vaccination and Immunizations program .
• GANGA is proposed to be clean by 2024 which seems a Joke now seeing the current status of Ganga which has actually worsened in last few years .
• Some investment in Metro and things like that are there but an extremely Abnormal no. was presented of 10 lakh crore investment in the Infrastructure . Who knows from where they got this no. just for show off .
• In one of the rare promises related to environment they said that air pollution in top 102 polluting cities will be reduced by 35% .
• Another disturbing point in their manifesto was to issue effective and speedy forest and environmental clearances for eligible projects and our aim is to maintain Green Environment . Just tell me how can these two things happen simultaneously .
• One of their main promise was again RAM MANDIR which has been constant throughout from 1996 . It seems a Comedy now , on one side they say they are not able to make it as tbe matter is under Supreme Court but then on the other hand why the Hell are they promising something outside their control .
• Some regular BJP kind of promises were removing Article 370 , bring in UNIFORM CIVIL CODE (UCC) and enacting CITIZENSHIP AMENDMENT BILL ; these bills they couldn’t pass even being in full majority how will the do without being in it . While the first is almos impossible as if it couldn’t happen when they were in full majority how the hell will happen with a bit less than that . For second one , it violates their own Mindset and Norms as we saw in SABARIMALA Case . For the 3rd it’s a Dangerous Bill for our country and can break us from within .
• For Army , BJP has proposed to create resettlement of armed forces Veterans but it’s not explained how , all has been said in just one line only . Also it’s proposed to create a modern police force not it’s not clearly said how this difficult task will be done .
• Last but not the least there was a typing mistake which mentioned “Strict provisions will be made for transferring laws in order to commit crimes against Women” .

So this was the MANIFESTO of BJP . Let’s quickly come across towards the one presented by CONGRESS .

INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

• One of the points I liked very much in their Manifesto was doing away with Electoral Bonds ; yes the bonds I talked about in last article which helped BJP in LEGALISING Corruption and garnering anynomous funds .
• Defamation will be termed as Civil Law as this power is used by big names to suppress independent voices .
• One third Reservation for women in government jobs . I really like this idea as in OUR Country now I think it’s not possible to see equal participation of all genders unless this law is made compulsory .
• Another point I liked a lot was getting away with the SEDITION LAW . The law which gives the Tag of ANTI NATIONAL , TUKDE TUKDE GANG and URBAN NAXALS , the law that charges anyone criticising government , supporting rival cricket team , asking provocative question or drawing Cartoons , law which is used to suppress independent voices against the government just like the BRITISHERS used to do .
• But on other hand they have planned to bring a Law to punish those who spread Hate speech or provocating comments on social media . But this law can instead then act like the above described law only if been misused by the government ; but still can be a good one if worked upon well .
• Another appreciable point was to do away with CITISZENSHIP AMENDMENT BILL which being
• The best thing with this manifesto is it’s Priority being Education , Health and Science & Research . By 2023 they have promised to allocate 6% to Education , 3% to Healthcare and 2% to Science & Research ; which is a fairly large and also difficult amount to allocate .
• While we saw BJP was almost Silent on Employment , Congress has promised to fill all vacancies of Central government other government job by 2020 . Also all police force vacancies will be filled by Nov 2020 and in public Hospitals by May 2020 ; which also sounds a bit difficult due to time constraint but at the same time is also the Need of the hour .
• FISCAL DEFICIT is targeted to be brought down to 3% (3.4 now) . Now it seems very difficult as all the Schemes announced will require large Capital so how will the Deficit be reduced .
• It’s been said that 10 crore people will be brought out of poverty which seems a big announcement as this government has taken 5 crore people out of poverty only in this tenure as said by Modi Ji himself ; CONGRESS has promised just DOUBLE .
• There were some Miscellaneous plans like making AADHAR Voluntarily , random internet shutdowns will be countered by Internet Freedom . All PANCHAYATS to be connected through Internet Connectivity .
• There were also some regular kind of promises like ensuring every child is Vaccinated , every house is accessible to portable drinking water , providing full infrastructure to all schools and providing high speed internet connectivity to all .
• Bringing an end to Manual Scavenging by 2022 and allocation to river cleaning will be doubled . First one is a Necessity now but the Second one won’t do anything I can bet on that with the failure of NAMAMI GANGE Project strengthening my claim as this problem is not of lack of money but of lack of technique or say lack of idea .
• Decentralisation and creation of special wing under Police force for looking into cases of Mob Lynching and Hate Crimes . It is definitely not going to be easy as Central government will find it difficult to control Police which is under the state governments .
• A new ANTI discrimination law and a law countering the media monopoly and cross ownership . Another promise is ensuring autonomy and independence of institutions and their appointments being Transparent . All these promises have an appreciable intent but are not easy to implement , so we can’t give a Verdict on them .
• NITI Aayog will be scrapped and a New Planning Commission will be formed but as we know that before NITI Aayog there was also a Planning Commission but it didn’t worked that well so we can’t expect very much from this also .
• A Nonsense idea is to replace SWATCH BHARAT ABHIYAAN with NIRMALA BHARAT ABHIYAAN . There is absolutely no point in it as this scheme is already in practice and is doing quite well . Any new idea could have easily been added to it but doing away with it will not add anything .
• A high on promise points of doing away with GST and a GST 2.o to be brought having a Single Tax . We can’t argue much on it unless it really comes to implementation .
• PONDICHERRY is promised full statehood while ANDHRA PRADESH and North Eastern states have been promised a special category .
• Regarding J&K promise it says to reduce Armed forces within the valley and increase it towards Border . It’s a fair idea as not only it will reduce the Fear among the civilians allowing them to live a bit openly and also it will curb the entry of Infiltrators from Border . AFSPA (ARMED FORCES SPECIAL POWERS ACT) will be revised with some suitable changes .

It can’t be said that these points will suddenly solve the Kashmir Issue but keeping in mind Kshmir’s peaceful time was under CONGRESS only (2011-12) we can keep faith . My blood boiled when our Media leaving all the above points for which it took me around 1 hour to write only just focussed on these 2 points and some called this the Manifesto of PAK and JNU and called them Anti-Nationals . What was that ….. NONSENSE … ?????

• While regarding Environment Congress on contrary has given 18 point decent promise . Some of the main highlights are :
• Construction of Environment Protection Authority Institution , calling Air Pollution a national emergency and banning illegal sand mining , protection of coastal areas , complete ban in water disposal and discharge of affluent in water . But how these will be done that is not mentioned so it may prove out to be difficult . Forest cover will be increased by 25% and Green Budget will be brought in taking into account all factors which affect our Environment .
• A new ENVIRONMENT PROTECTION AUTHORITY (EPA) will be made to monitor environment related issues replacing all existing government bodies as it was seen how Forests were given to the ADANIS supporting CRONY CAPITALISM despite the Chattisgarh Resrvation being crossed .
• For Amry Congress Congress has specifically explained it in 6 points , like giving Lateral entry , allowing pre mature retired soldiers to go to CRPF . Martyrs will be compensated through whe education being funded and giving one government job to one of the family member .
• The most ambitious promise NYAY (NYUNTAM AAY YOJANA) to allocate 72,000 / year to 5 crore most poor families . It’s been said that first 3 months it will be tested , then 6 to 9 pilot testing will be done for it’s implementation .

It is the biggest scheme announced by Congress and is also being used as their main weapon in the Elections . So it needs a close and detailed watch ; first of all it’s a no brainer that it’ll cost 3,60,000 crore . From where will the government bring the Money . You don’t need to be an Economist to figure out that it can’t happen without raising the Inflation . Also what makes the problem a bit more complex is Congress saying that the plan will not affect any existing schemes or Subsidies . But RaGa claiming that he had discussed it with RAGHURAM RAJAN gives some Assurance . Frankly speaking I liked the idea of this scheme but only if we can arrange the money . It was Comical and correct to some extent ; of RAHUL GANDHI to say that “I will bring out the Money from the pockets of ANIL AMBANI” . But in reality I am able to see only one way if we finish all ineffective schemes and subsidies and concentrate on this , but it will be contrary to what RaGa has promised . But , I think they should definitely go for it keeping in mind all these points .

Many of you might think that I have written more on the Manifesto of Congress than that of BJP
But that’s because Congress has presented a more detailed , elaborated and obviously a longer Manifesto . I will recommend to you all that take some time out to have a read over the Manifestos as you should be well aware of what the Party has in store for you whom you are going to Vote . Also having a long and detaile Manifealsto helps a party also to fulfil the promises more easily , accurately and timely as well .

Personally I think Congress Manifesto is quite better than that of BJP as it addresses aspects like Environment , Employment , Corruption and some aspects being misused by current government ; also they have given deadline and targets which makes their Manifesto more professional and visionary . Also what pushes BJP Manifesto a bit backwards is it Copy Pasting most of the 2014 Manifesto .
But more and less it’s just a Manifesto so it will look nice only ; What one does after coming in power is what really matters . In the next Article I will come across the Campaign and our duty as Voters .

JAI HIND

ARUNESH SINHA