ALL INDIA JANATA PARTY ELECTION MANIFESTO 2006

SALIENT FEATURES OF

JANATA PARTY’S ELECTION MANIFESTO 2006

Introduction

                Janata Party as a political organization, has a rich tradition and a glorious past.  Founded by that unparalled and unblemished leader Late Shri.Jayaprakash Narayan as an aftermath of the Emergency imposed on the people in 1975, the party successfully waged a Dharmic struggle for reintroduction of Democracy in the country and gained power in the centre in 1977.  Today it is fortunate in being headed by one of the few intellectual political leader of the nation viz., Dr.Subramanian Swamy.

                The Janata Party is entering the fray in the forthcoming Elections to the Legislative Assembly of Tamil Nadu by fielding its candidates in a few constituencies including Mylapore, Chennai.  The party is in alliance with Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and some other political parties of Tamil Nadu which do not want to have any truck with the so called Dravidian parties.

                The party has pleasure in furnishing below the details of its Election Manifesto for the benefit of the Electorate and information of the media.

1.             Alternative to the Public Distribution System

                The party will introduce the system of Food Stamps in the place of the present Ration System.  The quantum of food subsidy allocated by the Govt. would be directly distributed to the families, after due assessment of the requirement of each of them, in the shape of coupons of suitable denominations.  Under this system, which is in vogue in many other countries, the coupons can be exchanged for the essential commodities and the difference in value if any paid in cash.  Another feature will be that the public will be free to choose their shops instead of crowding the badly managed and corruption ridded Ration shops.

2.             Water Resources Management

                The Party has come to the rescue of the farmers of about 7 districts like Madurai, Theni etc., by successfully launching a litigation and winning the same in the Supreme Court for raising the level of the Mulla Periyar Dam.  The party was the first to raise its voice for setting up of desalination projects for conversion of sea water into potable water.  In this background the party pledges itself to.

(i)                   Bring about a Southern watergrid by linking of southern rivers.

(ii)                 Introduce massive desalination projects vigourously as  vast coast line is available to the state

(iii)                Initiate projects for water recycling, so that waste that could be converted as suitable for irrigation and industrial use.

3.             Agriculture

                The party will work for:

(i)                   Declaration of Agriculture as an Industry.

(ii)                 Introduce scientific support prices to prevent price falls in respect of Agro products.

(iii)                Securing a minimum of Rs.60,000/- crores as food subsidy as found necessary and possible by a WTO estimate.

(iv)               Reintroduction of Toddy production to assist rural population engaged in palmyrah cultivation as the party is of view that when total prohibition is not possible of being implemented there should be no discrimination between the production and sale of IMFL and on the one hand and toddy on the other.

4.             Upliftment of Dalits

(i)                   Utmost attention will be given for the upliftment of dalits who constitute a major part of Hindu society.

(ii)                 As Dalits are mostly dependent on Agriculture effective steps will be taken to recover and restore to Dalits the Panchami lands which were once given to them and not in their possession today.

5.             Traders welfare

(i)                   Introduction of VAT involves lot  a procedural problems and enormous paper work for submission of returns.  The Janata Party will make the VAT system applicable only to big traders with an annual turnover of Rs.60 lakhs and more.

(ii)                 The dormant Traders Welfare Board will be revived and group insurance scheme will be introduced so that when a trader dies his family will get Rupees one lakh as insurance.

(iii)                The incidence of sale tax being highest in TN the Sales Tax will be phased out gradually and a trader friendly alternate system will be brought in to effect to compensate the revenue.

6.             Abolition of Personal Income Tax:                  

Personal Income tax, brings in only a very small part of the revenue for the govt.  The Janata Party will abolish personnel income tax totally so that the salaried class,  teachers, other professionals and self employed people like lawyers, doctors, etc., will be spared of this burden.

7.             Educational Reforms

(i)                   Scheme for ‘Education for all’ as a compulsory measure will be introduced to prevent ‘school dropouts’ which is presently at a whopping 50%.

(ii)                 Starting Technical schools and Training centres to take advantage of the vast opportunities available due to the increasing trend for globalization and rapid strides made in the Technological field in recent years.

(iii)                A three languages formula comprising Tamil, English and Hindi will be introduced in schools.

8.             Development of soft skills and job opportunities for youth.

                The Janata Party will concentrate and draw up suitable plans for providing soft skills among youth so as to render them suitable for availing the enormous opening offered in the IT field in software and other ITES, BPOs, etc.  While hard skill can be acquired through regular job related training programmes, the soft skills relate to individual attitudes, life style, personal habits, optimistic attitude for self development, friendliness, fluency in language , communication skills, team spirit etc.  The Janata Party will in consultation with experts in the field strive for development of soft skills and impart them to youth through training centres.

9.             Temple administration

(i)                   Govt. interference in Temple administration will be put an end to and management of temples will be entrusted to autonomous bodies, in which religious leaders, heads of mutts, and others will be given a due place.

(ii)                 The poojaries welfare board will be revived and the Economic development of village temple priests will be ensured.

(iii)                Free electricity will be made available for temples.

(iv)               Temple lands will be exempted from the operation of land reform laws so that the temples will earn due revenues from the lands owned by them.

10.          Secularism and Ban on Conversion

                The basic tenet of secularism is that the state should not discriminate amongst citizens of different faiths but due to the vote bank politics in vogue in the country we are pampering certain sections in the name of minority thereby robbing the opportunities to the majority and the undermining of Hindu tradition and culture.  In this background Janata Party will undertake the following measures;

(i)                   Gender discrimination will be put an end to in all fields and an uniform civil code introduced.

(ii)                 The anti-conversion law will be re-enacted.

(iii)                Special reservations for any religious minorities will be totally avoided so as to ensure that Reservations facility available to under privileged Hindus is not eroded.

(iv)               Any insult, redicule of Hindu culture and practices etc., in the name of secularism or entertainment will be strictly dealt with and offenders indulging in it through TV, Press, School Texts etc will be severely punished.

(v)                 All bogus cases foisted on Shankaracharya of Kanchi will be withdrawn and action taken against those responsible for foisting such cases.

11.          Sri Ram Temple

                Sri Ram Temple must be constructed on the site where the original temple existed in Ayodhya, as the Allahabad bench appointed archealogical committee as clearly stated with proof the existence of a temple under the masq.

12.          Terrorism

There must be zero tolerance for Terrorism in any part of India.

13.          Efficiency in Judiciary

There is a back log of countless number of cases in courts.  Immediate reforms must be implemented to reduce number of cases pending in the courts.

(i)                   Necessary changes in law enforcement must be made.

(ii)                 Number of judges must be increased

(iii)                Appointment of judges must be based on knowledge, experience and impartial attitudes.

(iv)               Court fees must be reduced and cases must be handled with expediency to eliminate the growth of Katta Panchayats.