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CM Mamata promises minimum earning guarantee for families in TMC manifesto
Under the minimum income guarantee scheme the government will provide a monthly assistance to the senior-most female member of a family. If the family belongs to the general category it would get assistance of ₹500. SC, ST and OBC families would get assistance of ₹1000.
West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee announced a minimum income guarantee for every family in the state if the Trinamool Congress is voted to power for the third time.
The TMC chief released the party’s manifesto for the upcoming assembly polls which begins from March 27.
The manifesto promises a slew of other schemes and developmental measures including credit cards for students, free ration at door-step, reducing unemployment by half, generating five lakh jobs every year, hiking assistance to farmers from ₹6,000 to ₹10,000 annually, setting up a task force to bring some caste groups under the Other Backward Classes among others.
“This is not a political manifesto. This is a developmental manifesto. This is a manifesto of the people, by the people and for the people,” Banerjee said while speaking to the media at her Kalighat residence.
Under the minimum income guarantee scheme the government will provide a monthly assistance to the senior-most female member of a family. If the family belongs to the general category it would get assistance of ₹500. SC, ST and OBC families would get assistance of ₹1000.
This is in line with the Congress’s Universal Basic Income scheme which was promised by Rahul Gandhi, former Congress president ahead of the 2019 Lok Sabha polls.
The manifesto also promises a student credit card through which a student could avail a loan of up to ₹10 lakh at four per cent interest and the government would become his guarantor.
Buoyed by its success in the Duare Sarkar (government at doorsteps) scheme where camps were set to deliver benefits of 11 state-run welfare schemes, the TMC has promised in the manifesto to introduce Duare Ration to provide free ration at people’s doorsteps.
The manifesto speaks of promises in 10 sectors including economy, social justice and security, youth, food for all, farming and agriculture, industries, health education, housing and electricity, roads and water.
The BJP, however, criticized the manifesto saying that the TMC lacks vision.
“The TMC manifesto proves why a double engine government is needed in West Bengal. Most of the announcements are central projects. Just their names have been changed. These would not materialize without the Centre’s help. There is no proper measure to increase employment. This government has no roadmap and it only depends on announcements without any base,” said Samik Bhattacharya, BJP spokesperson.
Political experts said that it is a very populist model which has been earlier adopted by political parties in Delhi and Tamil Nadu.
“This is an extreme form of populist politics without ensuring substantial job opportunities for voters. We have seen such populist models earlier being followed by the ruling parties in Delhi and Tamil Nadu. This is bound to have some effect on the voters because the TMC will use its strong ground-level machinery to reach out to the voters with this. The BJP lacks this machinery at the grass root level,” said Biswanath Chakraborty, a professor of political science at Rabindra Bharati University.
The chief minister who was sitting in a wheel chair with her leg in a cast also mounted an attack on the BJP.
“The BJP is a high-loaded virus. It is playing a dirty game. Khela Hobe (A game will be played) and the BJP will get its first jolt from Jangalmahal when the game starts from March 27,” she said.
The BJP which had made deep inroads in the state winning 18 of the 42 seats in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls had won all the five seats in Jangalmahal area in the western parts of the state. The eight-phase election starts from Jangalmahal on March 27.
