Rajasthan polls-In BJP manifesto,
promise of 30,000 govt jobs a year The Congress and other opposition parties have criticised the Raje government for its alleged failures to create jobs and rein in farm distress
The ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), facing anti-incumbency in Rajasthan on account of agrarian distress and lack of jobs, on Tuesday released a manifesto where it committed to creating 30,000 government jobs each year and disburse cooperative bank farm loans worth Rs 1 trillion in the next five years.Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar released the manifesto in Jaipur. Raje said her government fulfilled 630 of the 665 promises made in the party’s 2013 manifesto for the state. The manifesto detailed the BJP government’s “achievements”, and furnished a comparison on how poor the budgetary allocations were for key sectors in the previous Congress governments in “the last 50 years”, while the Raje government increased funds manifold during its tenure.BJP leaders have run governments for 20 of the last 50 years.
BJP’s Bhairon Singh Shekhawat was chief minister of the state for over 10 years — with stints from 1977-80 (erstwhile Janata Party), 1990-92 and 1993-98. Raje has been chief minister for nearly 10 years, with stints from 2003-08 and 2013-18. The Congress and other opposition parties have criticised the Raje government for its alleged failures to create jobs and rein in farm distress.The Raje government has faced farmer protests and frequent strikes by government servants. Rajasthan has not returned an incumbent government since 1993, and opinion polls have predicted a similar outcome this time. Rajasthan goes to polls on December 7.The manifesto has sought to reach out to youths, farmers and has sops for government servants (see box). The BJP manifesto has claimed Raje government waived off farm loans of 2.93 million farmers worth Rs 84 billion. It said the government spent Rs 50 billion to procure the rabi crop of 433,000 farmers at READ
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