Through such posters and other campaigns, the ruling SP, best known so far for its aggressive espousal of the social justice plank, is trying to push a development agenda ahead of the crucial Assembly elections in the country’s most populous state.
But, that seems to be on the face of it. Perhaps taking a cue from the recent electoral successes of Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal, J Jayalalithaa in Tamil Nadu and Nitish Kumar in Bihar, the SP, too, is banking on a slew of welfare schemes, other than working on roads and electricity (bijli-sadak), to improve its electoral prospects.
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“Ever since its launch, the Samajwadi pension scheme has received good response. The UP government, therefore, has expanded its coverage this year to include many more families,” says an official associated with the state government.
The Rs 3,327-crore Samajwadi pension scheme is to cover 5.5 million families this year compared to 4.5 million last year. Under the scheme, Rs 500 is directly credited every month to the accounts of the senior woman member of each of the identified family. This is in addition to other running pension schemes such as monthly pension for the elderly, for widows and the physically challenged. Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav announced in his Budget speech this year that with the expansion of the Samajwadi Pension Scheme, 11.8 million people would get the benefits of multiple pension schemes in the state.
This is one of many schemes the government has launched recently. The Yadav government recently launched direct benefit transfer (DBT) for subsidies given to farmers to procure quality seeds. It enhanced the insurance amount to be given to farmers in case of unfortunate accidental deaths. It also launched a Rs 400-crore scheme to give assistance to poor families of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes, minorities, and others for marriage of daughters. Besides, there is a Rs 840-crore scheme for giving scholarships to Muslim students of the minority community. The government has set an ambitious target of giving Rs 93,212 crore as crop loan to farmers this financial year.
Experts say the idea of reorienting the government’s focus was discussed in the core group of the Samajwadi Party after the 2014 Lok Sabha elections debacle. It was decided to go all out for selected ambitious projects to be completed before the 2017 Assembly elections and launching a slew of welfare schemes targeted at different social groups. “It seemed inconceivable a few years ago. But, the SP is going to face the electorate on the development agenda and test the effectiveness of its welfare programmes,” the official quoted above says.
However, the most ambitious of promises that the SP government has made is on the power front. Currently reeling under many hours of power cut, the government has promised at least 16 hours of electricity in rural areas and 22 hours in urban areas from October this year. It claims to augment the state’s power availability from the existing 11,000-Mw to 21,000-Mw. The government has also promised to electrify all villages by the end of this year. “It is going to be a tall ask given the state of distribution and transmission network in the state,” says a Lucknow-based former bureaucrat who retired recently.
Incidentally, recent electoral successes of Banerjee in West Bengal and Nitish Kumar in Bihar are largely attributed, among others, to improvement in the power situation in their respective states. Both of them successfully also ran schemes of giving bicycles to school girls.
Jayalalithaa, on the other hand, promised a series of freebies and bucked anti-incumbency in Tamil Nadu. Her promises include waiver of all farm loans, free laptop with internet connection to class 10 and 12 students, maternity assistance of Rs 18,000, 100 units of electricity free for every two months, and 50 per cent subsidy to women to buy mopeds and scooties.
Experts say while Yadav’s promises look more modest compared to Jayalalithaa, he has compensated that by focusing on roads and electricity, something that Mamata Banerjee and Nitish Kumar have done with some success. Experts also say that whether it enhances the ruling party’s electoral prospect will be known only after elections, but the fact that the SP is going to elections with a focus on development agenda is a change from the past. “For nearly three decades, elections in UP have been fought on the basis of symbols. The SP under Akhilesh Yadav is trying to bring the development agenda to the forefront,” says Lucknow-based political commentator Sudhir Panwar.
DOLES GALORE IN UP
- Rs 3,300 crore Samajwadi Pension Scheme for women
- Various pension schemes to cover 11.8 million people
- Rs 400 scheme for marriage of daughters
- DBT introduced to give subsidies for procuring quality seeds to one million farmers
- Rs 840 crore scheme to give scholarship to students from the minority community