People’s Committee’s Manifesto for 2019 Lok Sabha Elections

The Nation is plagued by all round corruption. Unless and until this is addressed, people will continue to be at the receiving end and effective delivery of welfare governance will remain a dream. 

People’s Committees will work to establish Corruption Free Governance, with transparent people friendly administration.

Towards this we will take every possible action to ensure establishment of effective Ombudsman at Central and State levels, Revisiting the Lokpal and Lok Ayuktha bills and making it effective with necessary powers to prosecute any public servant from PM to the last rung government employee, with mechanism for quick disposal of cases - separate courts for cases against politicians and high officials, conducting hearing on a day to day basis without vacations and settling cases within reasonable time frame.

Revisit appointment of Vigilance commission and Information commission officials – post honest persons with due credentials to ensure effective delivery. 

Ensure autonomy to Police force so as to obviate/ minimize interference from the executive. Police force will be reoriented to be a friendly force rather than vindictive.

Law and justice

Justice delayed is justice denied

People Committee will work to establish mechanism for the disposal of all court cases within reasonable time frame, hearing on a day to day basis without court vacation, thus delivering justice effectively. A massive push to clear long pending cases will be launched.   

Prohibition

The nation is crippled by free availability of liquor and narcotics. We will do everything possible to clamp total prohibition of liquor brewing and sale, as well as effectively eliminate the menace of narcotics. Productive labour and work energy thus released will be channelized for nation building activities. Policies will be reoriented towards employment generation to ensure absorbing those drunken man hours thus liberated. Free de addiction treatment will be made available for the needy.    

Sustainable Development

All projects – public as well as private ones – Roads, bridges, rail, dams, factories to research institutions – will be scrutinized to ensure sustainability and reworked with social goals as against profit motive for a few. Environmental considerations will not be brushed under the carpet for the sake of some individual’s profit. To ensure fairness for the stake holders, project affected and beneficiaries, due public hearings will be conducted without letting it be an eye wash.

Grams Sabha institutions will be empowered to function as ‘people’s committees’ for effective communication between people and government. ‘People’s Committees’ will be established at various levels and utilized for public consultations and convincing where required for the actions of the government.

Economic policy

Economic policy including industrial, agricultural, and trade policies will be reoriented focusing on wider distribution of wealth and facilities, rather than focusing on maximizing profit for a few individuals. Towards this the policies post introduction of LPG regime in 1991/92, will be replaced by the Democratic Socialism model of Nehruvian era, with planned development and governmental/social controls to ensure wiping every tier from every eye. Public sector, private sector, joint sector will be utilized judiciously to maximize welfare of the people. Manufacture of essentials will be prioritized as against non essential, luxury goods. Protective policies will be limited to small, micro sector and self help groups. 

Farm sector

Farming is still the major employer in the country. Farming has been rendered a quagmire (quick sand) since the introduction of LPG regime. Farming will be restored to its due and original – pre LPG - glory

 All farm produce will be awarded ‘Fair Remunerative Price’ – FRP - based on a proper evaluation of the cost of cultivation on the basis of costing methods adopted for Industrial products. Contract charges – kuththagai – as well as, all the labour put in by the family of the owner/ contract farmer will be factored in and the cultivation cost computed for the average yield over a period – say 10 years – and not for the highest yield. This will help the farmers come out of the debt trap soon and invest the surplus in increasing area of cultivation, adopt more scientific cultivation and subsequently acquire consumer goods, build more space in residences etc. resulting in explosive growth of demand for industrial products as well as employment opportunity.

Farming will be freed from the clutches of the middle men. Farmers’ cooperatives and federations will be established on the lines of NDDB, Avin, Nandhini, Milma ---. The federation will take over procurement, storage, processing – milling, oil extraction etc. – value addition, re packing and supplying through its own outlets – like for milk.

Irrigation facilities will be enhanced by interlinking of rivers where ever feasible and desirable, building of micro dams, check dams, gates etc. desilting on a regular basis involving public participation thro’ gram sabhas.

Multi cropping and crop rotation among farmers of each village to ensure minimizing loss, improve availability of all produce in each sub area, minimize transport cost etc.

Employment

The above policies on Industry, economics and agriculture will by themselves ensure large scale job creation. In addition every developmental action will be focusing on job creation. Skill enhancement training will be provided to all needy at reasonable cost.

Right to services, food, education

All these laws already passed will be implemented with an eye on fair distribution of wealth and availability of services.

Safety of women and children

The severe erosion of moral standards in the society driven mainly by cinema and fanned by private television channels have resulted in highly unsafe conditions for not only women and children, but even for men and animals. Murders and inflicting grievous injuries have become common place. Strict social audit – censorship – of not only cinema, even TV programs will be organized with proven defenders as members. Guidelines to ensure decency and morality in cinema/ TVprograms will be issued, recent past programs audited, warnings issued and the action taken on habitual violators. Moral education will be restored to its past glory in schools. No amount of CC TV cameras is going to ensure safety. Only re moralizing can help.  

Gender sensitivity will be improved by sex education and promoting celebrations like ‘Raksha bandan’. Education will be reoriented to ‘man making’ and not ‘money making’ as at present.

Education     

Privatization – commercialization – of education has resulted in degradation of the quality of education in as much as morality, other social values are concerned. Education for all at affordable cost will be ensured by opening new government aided schools and colleges. Skill development and Man making education will be the goal. The culture of commercial education will be reversed. 

Health

Commercialization of health care has resulted in grave danger to the citizens apart from the fleecing they are subjected to. Many more government hospitals will be opened down to Thaluk level, to provide health care at reasonable and affordable cost. The culture of commercial medicine will be reversed.

Urbanization 

Severe concentration of population at existing cities is posing major problems in providing motor able roads, piped water supply, sewerage, power supply etc. as well as causing heavy pollution. Urbanization will be dispersed by halting further developments in existing cities and encouraging satellite towns, other towns to be developed. Floor space index will be restricted to ensure limiting population density. Health care and educational institutions will be developed at the new centers of development to ensure dispersal of population. Planned development will be restored.  

Night shelters with reasonable facilities will be built in urban areas for the homeless. Public conveniences will be built at many places like parks, near temples, markets etc. on pay and use basis and maintained well.     

Housing

Again large scale commercialization of housing has rendered housing unaffordable for large sections of the society. Large scale affordable housing projects for low income groups, on ownership as well on rental/ installment basis will be taken up.

In areas frequently affected by natural calamities, pucca concrete houses will be provided at heavily subsidized rates.

Roads and transport

Roads will be inspected and repaired to make them motor able on a regular basis. Any developmental work requiring road cuts will be clubbed and taken in short stretches wise, completed on war footing and traffic restored quickly.

Public transport will be improved to make people prefer them to private transport. Thus limiting pollution, traffic snarls and accidents. Cost effective methods like ‘Bus Rapid Transit System’ will be resorted to, instead of white elephants like ‘rail rapid transit’ and ‘Metro rail’.

De polluting rivers systems

Discharge of sewerage and industrial effluents in to rivers like Coovam, Buckingham as at Chennai, Noyyal as in Tamil nadu, will be stopped by diverting the sewerage and effluents through exclusive drainage and the rivers, canals desilted, tile lined in city areas and used for water transport, tourism, eco parks etc. It will also improve recharge of ground water.

Religious tolerance, communal amity

Religious and caste amity will be ensured by the government – ministers, members of councils, officials - not  participating in any religious functions, strict action against any one violating the religious sentiments of others, Conducting inter religious/caste meetings to foster amity.

Political parties in particular and associations, commercial organizations and even educational institutions and trusts will not be allowed to retain communal, caste indicators in their names.

People will be encouraged to declare themselves above caste/community, as secular in demographic enumerations. Avenues to incentivise/encourage this will be explored.  

Free bees  

The free bee culture fanned by the greed of the political parties to garner votes has rendered the poor to always look for alms. They have to be freed from this decease. While every attempt will be made to make them realize that they should earn their lively hood, buy their comforts, every effort to make the people get employed and earn decent living will be made. Freebees as well as subsidized supplies will be withdrawn gradually in parallel to providing employment opportunities. 

Subsidies and reservations

All subsidies and reservations will be revisited to make them targeted to bring the disadvantaged out of the rut and lead to an egalitarian society in the near future.

Foreign Relationship

Good relationship is key to peace in the international arena. We will extend an olive leaf to our neighboring countries as well as every other country in the world.

Democracies have no reasons to exist as individual nations. We will forge a union of all democratic nations of the world. We will give first priority to trading and extending help during calamities to these countries.

Dependence on dollar as common currency has lead to a huge trade imbalance. Dollar is priced several times its inherent value. PPP value of a dollar is about Rs 17/- while the exchange rate is about Rs 70/-. We will get in to bilateral trade with other than the leading nations, on PPP value as exchange rate. This not only bring down dependence on dollar, bring down the value of dollar, but result in direct benefits like control on inflation rate, reduction of threat of wars etc.   

In all People’s Committees will work to establish a society beyond caste, communal, linguistic, racial intolerance and lead the society to become egalitarian and achieve subeeksha for all.        

A New Year Gift to all Indians

Dated 31.12.2018

K. Raja Rajan   

(A technologist by qualification, farmer by option and a Gandhian by conviction)

President – Gandhian Initiative for Social Transformation - Chennai

Ph: 94441 60839,            Email: letsbelldcat@gmail.com, 

Face book: Raja Rajan K,          Blog: prithvi-mithra.blogspot.in