Kochi: Kerala’s ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) released its manifesto for the Assembly polls Thursday, outlining a 60-point programme with 950 proposals to create what it calls a ‘Nava Kerala’ (New Kerala) focused on job creation, welfare and development.
The manifesto, released by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan at an event in Kozhikode, also pledges to address human-wildlife conflict, a key issue faced by the state government.
Key promises include eradicating absolute poverty and aiming to uplift five lakh affected families in the state, which votes on 9 April. The initiative will ensure the participation of SC/ST families, fishermen communities, and Antyodaya Anna Yojana (AAY) ration card holders, it said.
It also includes measures to ensure complete care for bedridden patients and an increase in welfare pensions to Rs 3,000 a month. Other promises include launching LIFE Mission 2.0 to ensure housing for those in need, a campaign to provide safe drinking water, and universal healthcare coverage.
The party also promised that it would continue its push for a rapid railway system connecting Thiruvananthapuram to Kasaragod, complete the National Waterway in the next five years, and extend the Kochi Water Metro to Alappuzha, Kollam and Kodungallur.
It also plans to develop airstrips in Idukki and Wayanad districts, complete the second phase of Vizhinjam port, and redevelop Kollam, Ponnani, Beypore and Azhikkal ports.
While releasing the manifesto, Vijayan said the state was able to achieve women’s empowerment in the past decade with the help of Kudumbashree, a women’s empowerment and poverty alleviation programme.
“Development should be human-centric and involve all sections of society. The LDF has always said development should be universal, for which social justice and development should be considered together. In other states, we can see people’s welfare and development are treated separately. But we were able to do both,” Vijayan said.
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Push for jobs
Amid criticism from opposition parties over the migration of Kerala’s youth, the LDF announced several initiatives for creating jobs in the state.
They include universal skill training across higher educational institutions as part of the curriculum, along with a ‘connect to work’ scholarship for students undergoing training.
It also aims to conduct hackathons and set up incubators in colleges for job creation, and make students part of government projects.
The manifesto also promises to increase the number of Global Capability Centres from 40 to 120, and to build an innovation centre in Kochi’s Kalamassery.
An initiative named ‘Back to Campus’ is also proposed, aiming to provide skill training to college alumni in partnership with institutions.
The manifesto also promises to increase the percentage of working women in the state from 30 percent to 50 percent, with the help of local bodies and Kudumbashree.
Similarly, the manifesto promises to protect the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) and strengthen public sector undertakings.
The party also aims to increase the share of the manufacturing sector in the state’s revenue to 16 percent by 2031, from 13 percent in 2024–25.
Further, innovation hubs will be established, including a Defence Cluster (Thiruvananthapuram), Global City (Kochi), Biotech & Life Sciences City (Kozhikode, Malappuram), ESDM & Power Electronics Manufacturing Campus (Kannur), Mega Food Processing Park (Kollam), Medical Biotech Hub (Thiruvananthapuram), Cyber Valley (Kochi), and the India Innovation Centre for Graphene.
Besides this, the party also promised to set up small-scale parks and job centres across districts.
(Edited by Sugita Katyal)
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