After all, much delayed BJP Manifesto 2014 released on Monday, April 07, 2014, just between the 1st phase of Lok Sabha election 2014 in Assam and Tripura.
As I wrote in my last post on Congress Manifesto 2014, the comparative study of Congress Manifesto and the BJP Manifesto will give opportunities to voters to understand the ideology of both the largest Indian political parties properly, so this is the time to compare.
“All Indian political parties released manifesto for 2014 Lok Sabha elections very late. Delaying the manifesto till elections is reflecting the ignorance of value of manifesto by the political parties in democracy which is not a good sign“, said Namita Pandey – Professor of politics in a college in Jaipur.
It is notable that Congress released the manifesto on Wednesday, 26th March 2014 which was already considered very late.
Some important questions raised here:
- Do you also think the same what Namita Pandey said that the Indian political parties are ignoring the value of manifesto?
- Is manifesto now just a formality and electoral ritual for Indian political parties? If yes, then do you think that the parties will seriously work to fulfill their promises when come in force?
- When the promises made by a company for their products and/or services come under legal enforcement and you can claim under consumer protection rights to get the fulfillment of the words of the company, so do you think that the manifesto should also comes under some legal enforcement to ensure the fulfillment of promises for which you vote for a particular party?
- Do you think that the Indian politics is changing rapidly and moving towards presidential election system of United States?
Apart from the delaying in manifesto, now the serious discussion on the manifesto and the ideology of the political parties must be started for the development of India.
BJP presented its 16 points agenda after the 15 pledges of Congress. New slogans also released in BJP Manifesto 2014 which say, “Ek Bharat, Shreshta Bharat” and “Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas” which seem the efforts of BJP to counter the regular attacks of Congress on Narendra Modi’s one man show biz.
BJP Manifesto 2014 brings BJP on the severe attacks of all the political parties because of the inclusion of Ram Mandir issue in the manifesto. Some of the experts are saying that the Ram Mandir issue will prove the communalism of BJP rather than secularism. Others are saying that Ram Mandir issue is included in BJP Manifesto 2014 after the open support of Imam Bukhari to Congress.
It is notable that the Congress president Sonia Gandhi met Bukhari few days back, after which Shahi Imam of Delhi’s Jama Masjid – Syed Ahmed Bukhari – appealed on Friday, April 04, 2014 to Muslims to vote in favor of Congress and its allies.
According to the experts, this appeal can shift remarkable number of Muslim votes from BJP to Congress and could be game changer. BJP included Ram Mandir in the manifesto to counter this electoral strategy of Congress to attract more Hindu votes.
- Do you think both Congress and BJP are still playing electoral game on the name of religion whereas the Lok Sabha election 2014 was supposed on the basis of development issues and good governance?
- Is Indian politics still seriously suffering from communalism including the issues related to religion, caste, race, region etc.?
Along with all these sensitive issues, I’m trying to compare what Congress and BJP are offering an Indian voter on 22 issues in their Manifesto.
| Issue | BJP Manifesto | Congress Manifesto |
| Education | 6% of GDP will allocate for education, Review of school system |
Make RTE effective thoroughly, Work to reduce dropout rate |
| Employment | Boost labor intensive sectors, Make job exchanges career centres |
Create 10 crore jobs |
| Health | AIIMS like institute in every state | Raise spend to 3% GDP |
| Growth | No target | 8% plus in 3 years |
| Urbanisation | 100 new cities | 100 new urban clusters |
| Corruption | Technology enabled e-Governance, Simplify laws to combat corruption |
Enact laws, guarantee services |
| Black Money | Bring back black money to India | Appoint special envoy to bring black money |
| Price Rise | Special courts to stop hoarding, Price stabilisation fund, Un-bundle FCI operations |
Steps to tame inflation |
| Taxes | Get states to adopt GST, Simplify regime, Overhaul dispute resolution set-up |
Ensure DTC, GST bills enacted in 1 year, Avoid retroactive taxes |
| FDI | No to multi-brand retail, okay in all other sectors | Promote FDI specially in labor intensive sectors |
| Banking | Steps to rationalize interest rates, Credit boost for low-cost housing |
New law for financial sect0r, roadmap for bad loans planned |
| Social Sector | Implement food security, Bring law on rights of persons with disabilities, Bring Women’s reservation bill, Ensure rape laws implemented, Fund for acid attack victims |
Start a fisheries ministry, Back WRB, Fast track courts for crimes against women |
| Farm Sector | Link MNREGA to Agriculture, Raise public investment, Ensure minimum 50% profit |
Increase productivity and farm incomes via higher investment |
| Manpower | Set up Veterans Commission, Address shortage, Implement one rank one pension |
Fulfilled demand for one rank one pension, to set up ex-service men commission |
| Judiciary | Start National Judicial Commission, Modernize courts, Speed up appointments |
Enact appointments and Accountability bills, Deal with backlog, Set up fast track courts |
| Police and Internal Security | Assist states on modernization, strengthen home-guards, civil defense |
Provide modern tech, weapons to police, more manpower |
| Defense Sector | focus on defense equipment, support services, revamp | Modernize, boost local manufacturing |
| Nuclear | Revise nuclear doctrine, Maintain credible deterrence, Invest in thorium program |
Continue credible deterrence, Second strike capability |
| Industry and Infrastructure | Single window approval at all levels, Time-bound green approvals, New industrial regions, Back PPPs with more autonomy to regulators |
Time-bound green approvals, Focus on SMEs, 10% manufacturing growth, $1tn in infra projects, better regulated PPPs |
| Foreign Relations | To engage with neighbors without being led by big power interests, Firmly deal with cross-border terrorism, Friendly ties but act strongly if required |
Dialogue with Pak in line with 26/11 accountability, Help combat global terrorism, Seek permanent UNSC membership |
| Foreign Policy | Tap NRIs, PIOs; Reorient goals, content, processes, expand, empower diplomats |
Protect NRI’s expatriate Indians, To back Tamils’ demand in Sri Lanka |
| Macros | Enforce fiscal discipline without compromising on funds for asset and development |
Fiscal deficit at 3% of GDP by 2016-17, amend FRBM law. |
Only the time will tell us whose government will form in center in 2014, but after studying and analyzing the ideology of BJP and Congress, do you think any of these parties will succeed to:
- Accelerate the growth and development in India in next 5 years?
- Give good governance in next 5 years?
- Achieve the projected targets of general health, education and employment?
Write your answers here in comment area below and also ask your friends to answer these questions. Raise your voice and Be the part of change.
Author: Sameer Goyal
Don’t Ask ” How ” ?
At the bottom of the 42 page Election Manifesto of BJP , released yesterday , I tried to search , if in very small print somewhere , there was a footnote which read ,
” Please , don’t ask how we plan to implement these promises ;
From where we plan to find all the money to execute these projects ”
Here are my back-of-the-envelope estimates of what some of the MAJOR projects might cost :
————————————————————————————
PROJECT ……………………………… Approx Cost ( Rs Lakh * Crores )
————————————————————————————-
> 100 Mega Cities…………………… 90
> Interlinking of Rivers……………… 60
> Sagar Mala of Ports……………….. 30
> Highways ( 25,000 Km )………….. 50
> Housing ( 100 mill units )………… 100
> Rivers Cleaning…………………….. 10
> Other Infra Projects……………….. 100
* Freight Corridors
* Gas Grids
* OFC Network
* Quadrilateral Bullet Trains
————————————————————————————
Total ……………………………………Rs 430 Lakh Crores
————————————————————————————
Admittedly , not all of these money will be required in the very first budget that NaMo government ( – of course , only if voted to power ! ) , would present by end June 2014
But a problem does not go away by postponement !
There is only ONE viable solution to the FUNDING problem , viz:,
> Union Government must NOT even try to fund these projects !
There is NO WAY , it can find these kind of money thro taxation !
There will be a revolt !
ANSWER
> Make it possible for the PUBLIC to invest into these projects by ” owning ”
these projects – and earn a reasonable ” tax-free ” return on investments
( Bonds ? ) in these projects
> Towards this end , create various INFRASTRUCTURE SPVs
> Immediately modify PERSONAL INCOME TAX regime as follows :
> Up to Rs 5 lakhs………………… NIL
> 5.1 – 10 lakhs………………….. 8 %
> 10.1 – 20 lakhs…………………. 6 %
> 20.1 – 50 lakhs………………… 5 %
> 50.1 – 100 lakhs………………… 3 %
> Above 100 lakhs…………………. 1 %
What is likely to happen with such ” INVERSE TAXATION ” regime ?
Following few things :
> Total personal tax payer base will go up dramatically from current 4
crores tax-payers
> with this ” INVERSE TAX REGIME ” , there will be no incentive to evade
taxes and to generate ” BLACK MONEY ”
There will be no resistance to accept ALL payments by cheque / electronic
clearance
The more you disclose as your income , the less you pay by way of taxes
( Of course , incrementally )
> For a change , we will learn to reward honesty / efficiency / productivity !
No need to bribe those Income Tax officers !
> Suddenly , lakhs of crores of BLACK MONEY will become WHITE MONEY
> There will be a huge surge in bank deposits ( – even with , the inevitable
lower interest rates )
> Banks will be awash with funds to finance businesses / infrastructure
projects etc , encouraging entrepreneurs / self-employed to set up new
businesses ( at 2 % interest rates of loans ) and generate millions of jobs
In any case , BJP manifesto promises :
> Rationalization and simplification of the tax regime – which is currently
repulsive for honest tax payers
> The process of bringing black money to India , what belongs to India , will
be put in motion on priority
> Minimize scope for Corruption
Narendrabhai ,
Here is your chance to ditch the ” Historical Baggage ” into the Indian Ocean
and come up with an INNOVATION that will take India ahead of China !
* hemen parekh ( 08 April 2014 / Mumbai )
hemen parekh recently posted…VotesApp
Thanks Mr. Hemen Parekh for giving very much time on my blog post and for your valuable contribution.
No doubt that the estimates for major projects are huge. Solution for funding is also good. But no any political party or leader is talking about fund issues. This implied that they will collect funds through tax only. Providing Rice and Wheat 1 Rs./Kg. is telling us about their ideology. Isn’t it?
Thanks for writing taxation plan in detail. Similar to your ” INVERSE TAXATION ” regime plan and some more taxation plans are discussed by Finance experts many times. Those plans will come in force only when we – the common men, the governments, political parties and all of the leaders will take interest to bring back black money. The discussion you started here is therefore very important, so that people start talking on these issues and raise the voice along with ideas for betterment.
I expect your active participation and contribution on my blog posts in future also.
Sameer Goyal recently posted…10 Cabbage Health Benefits Which May Amaze You
your blog is really nice!
i love to write about political things and i will keep your blog in mind.
i even shared it with my friends….this is going to be topic of night in my hostel today.
dilip yadav recently posted…Download Free Illinois Withholding Income Tax Return Form
Dilip Yadav, thanks for appreciate my work. Thanks for sharing it with your friends.
Sameer Goyal recently posted…10 Cabbage Health Benefits Which May Amaze You
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