GUWAHATI
The Bharatiya Janata Party has promised two bovine missions and a medicine-from-the-sky initiative, apart from creating a robust infrastructure and providing an accountable government in Arunachal Pradesh.
Delivering life-saving drugs to 500 remote villages and launching a mission to preserve indigenous breeds of yak and mithun were among the 30 promises in the BJP’s manifesto released by party president J.P. Nadda in the State’s capital Itanagar on April 10.
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The manifesto is for the simultaneous Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Arunachal Pradesh on April 19. The State has two parliamentary seats and 60 Assembly seats, 10 of which were won by the BJP uncontested on March 30.
The yak is a high-altitude bovine animal and the mithun is a semi-wild bovine highly valued in indigenous cultures. Both are crucial for the local economy.
“The northeast, earlier known for shutdowns, insurgencies, and targeted killings, has made rapid progress in the last 10 years of the Narendra Modi government. The Centre is working to make the region more developed,” Mr. Nadda said.
He said the northeast, comprising eight States, had made rapid strides in various sectors, including power, tourism, Internet, terrestrial and air connectivity, agriculture, and sports. “A government by the BJP will launch the Arunachal Pradesh Gati Shakti master plan for the next five years to boost multi-modal connectivity,” he added.
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The manifesto promises to focus on infrastructure development, women empowerment, and employment apart from ensuring accountable governance. “The BJP is committed to implementing the promises made in this manifesto in letter and spirit. We have already done what we had promised earlier, and what had not been promised has also been fulfilled,” he said.
Mr. Nadda said India would grow only if the northeast developed. “Prime Minister Modi always attaches priority to the region and has undertaken several initiatives to bring it on a par with other parts of the country,” he said, citing the UNNATI scheme that entailed an investment of ₹10,000 crore for the northeast.
Among the other promises in the BJP’s manifesto are the one tribe-one weave initiative to provide comprehensive support to artisans from the initial stage of product development to successful market entry, positioning the State as the adventure tourism capital of India, establishing women-run Suryodaya canteens to serve locally made nutritious food, and making it a hub of ethanol production.
The BJP also promised to increase the financial assistance to farmers under PM Kisan Yojana from ₹6,000 to ₹9,000, collateral-free low-interest loans of up to ₹10 lakh to young women entrepreneurs, LPG at ₹400 per cylinder to beneficiaries of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana, and the allocation of ₹1,000 crore towards ensuring healthcare for all.
