TDP manifesto chants welfare mantra

Releasing its election manifesto, the Telugu Desam Party promised that it would invest a whopping Rs 60,000 crore to develop the state's rural economy in the next five years if it was voted to power for the third time.

Interestingly, the party document is totally silent on the much talked about economic and administrative reforms and the IT sector.

The party manifesto released by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu promised that Rs 40,000 crore would be spent on agriculture and irrigation.

If the above amount were to divided into five equal parts for every year, it will surpass the current annual plan size by about Rs Rs 3,000 crore. The party, however, did not elaborate on how the additional funds would be mobilised.

Out of the remaining amount, Rs 15,000 crore would be spent on rural infrastructure like roads, drinking water, drainage and sanitation and Rs 5,000 crore would be spent on rural electrification in the next five years, according to the TDP manifesto.

The new things that have been incorporated in the party document include a separate "backward areas development council" to bring all the under-developed areas of the state on par with the developed regions. This is seen as a response to the demand for a separate Telangana made by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti.

The party also promised one-third seats to women in all the legislative bodies.

The TDP has promised 40 lakh new LPG connections, and a revolving fund to all the eligible self help women's groups (popularly known as DWCRA groups) and an assurance of a minimum of Rs 2,500 income to each group.

Apart from the creation of a Rs100 crore infrastructure development fund for the industries, there was nothing much to offer specifically to the other sectors.

Titled as "Golden future-Telugu Desam Manifesto', the election eve document has tried to project the TDP as a party being rurally oriented, with agriculture and irrigation development as the sole thrust areas for the future.

Except a separate package of welfare measures to each category of population like SC, ST, BCs and the promise to extend current welfare schemes to women and a recently promised Rs 1000 crore youth empowerment policy, no new grand schemes found place in the TD manifesto.

In his introductory remarks on the party manifesto, Chandrababu Naidu has said that his government has been rated as the best in the entire country in terms of welfare budget being implemented in the last eight years.

Terming poverty eradication as the top most priority, he said his government, if voted again to power, would strive hard to achieve 10.3 per cent growth rate in all the vital economic sectors by effectively utilising the 24 growth engines envisaged in the vision-2020 document. He further stated that his party would effectively utilise IT as a tool to achieve good governance.

On the infrasructure side, the manifesto envisaged an addition of 4,110 MW capacity in the next five years and 100 per cent electification of the state. The manifesto promised to spend Rs12,284 crore on road development.

Though the party had in the run up to the 1999 elections promised to achieve 100 per cent literacy by the year 2005, the latest manifesto has made no mention about it but merely said that the literacy rate has reached 73 per cent in 2003.