ASSEMBLY ELECTIONS 2006

LF Election Manifesto Reiterates

Pro-People, Pro-Poor Agenda

THE election manifesto of the Bengal Left Front noted in the beginning that with overwhelmingly popular support, the Bengal Left Front government was striding forward with a focussed pro-people, especially pro-poor outlook.  In the words of the manifesto, “We are firm in our belief that the Left Front shall have the full trust and confidence of the people and that the people of Bengal shall establish the Left Front government for the seventh time in the state.”

The manifesto outlines the achievements of the Left Front government over the decades and years, and proceeds to summarise the agenda that it sets out for itself in the days to come. The principal highlights of the agenda include:

AGRICULTURE

Ø     Consolidate the successes of land reforms and go in for extension of the success achieved as possible within the existing framework

Ø     Cultivation based on improved scientific methods, use of improved seeds and bio-fertiliser, and extension of the irrigation system towards making cultivation intensity to stand at 90 per cent

Ø     Strengthen even more the production of food crops, flowers, fruits including diversification,  preservation, storage, and marketing

Ø     Electrification in each village in areas where such connection does not exist

Ø     Supply of power at cheap and affordable rate in agricultural work based on time-bound meter system

Ø     With agricultural land being required for building infrastructure and for industrialisation, appropriate compensation, rehabilitation if facing loss of home, and arrangement for agricultural work for those who lose land and are kisans will be considered with adequate importance

Ø     As an alternative source of rural income over and above agriculture, animal resource development will be put in place based on specific targets

Ø     Plans will be undertaken to make the state self-sufficient in the production of eggs, fish, meat, and milk within the next five years

Ø     A land-use plan would be set in motion to scientifically utilise land resources, water resources, and forest resources

Ø     Special initiative will be taken to convert fallow land into agricultural land

Ø     The provident fund and health insurance schemes will be further extended for the landless and the agricultural labour, and for the unorganised workers of the townships and villages

INDUSTRY

Ø     The continuity of investment increase in big, middle, cottage and small industries will be maintained

Ø     Industrial parks have been decided to be set up in the task of modernising the traditional labour-intensive industries, and to make them competitive.  Parks will be set up for foundry, jute, rubber, garments, textile, iron & steel, chemicals, polymer, light engineering, and food

Ø     A minimum of four big industrial taluka and special economic zones will be set up in the state

Ø     A permanent fair ground for industries will be established

Ø     An international standard convention centre will be set up

Ø     Several permanent outlets will be set up to market products of cottage and small industries and also to provide incentive to the middle and small industries

Ø     Special incentive will be given for the setting up of industries in the backward areas

Ø     Tourism industry will be further developed

GENERATION OF EMPLOYMENT AND INCOME

Ø     The problem of creation of employment and income for the working people in particular is most complex and important

Ø     We are engaged in tackling the issues by organising industrialisation, development of cottage and small industries, increasing the expenditure in the building of rural and urban infrastructure, and in building up self-help groups. The process will be further strengthened in the days to come

Ø     More than 10 lakh self-help groups will be set up in the next five years

Ø     This process will be further strengthened by providing loans on easy terms and giving instructions to the youth of the backward sections in particular, like SC, ST, minorities, women et al

Ø     Where rural employment guarantee scheme is being implemented, a minimum of 100 days’ employment would be guaranteed

Ø     The pension scheme for aged and disabled ST men and women will be further extended

EDUCATION

Ø     Universal education would be guaranteed

Ø     The infrastructure of primary and secondary education would be improved further

Ø     Work education at these two levels will be looked at with importance

Ø     Effective steps will be taken to tackle standard of education, modernisation of the syllabi, and drop outs

Ø     The literacy campaign will be further and successfully extended among the elderly illiterates

Ø     Priority will be attached to setting up child education centres and secondary education centres under the Panchayat and infrastructure built up to extend the scope of education

Ø     Effective steps will be taken by the Left Front government in developing the standards of government and private professional education/technical education centres

Ø     A centre of excellence will be set up for science and research

Ø     A centre will be set up to build up successful entrepreneurs

HEALTH

Ø     Health infrastructure must be further improved; health service for the people especially those who are poor and of small means will be improved further

Ø     Apart from the medical colleges, the infrastructure of district, sub-division and block-level hospitals will be strengthened and improved

Ø     Effective and specific steps to be taken to improve the primary and block-level health centres

Ø     If necessary, for this purpose, a sharing between government and private initiatives will be put in place

Ø     The Left Front government will continue to attach great importance to mass health

Ø     Further improvements will be done in sectors like nutrition, inoculation for mother and child, potable water, sewerage and drainage systems, cleanliness etc

Ø     Include all areas under ICDS

Ø     Mid-day meals for all primary schools

Ø     Potable water in each village, water free of arsenic poisoning

Ø     Building of latrines and toilets in each household and in every school

Ø     Enhancement of consciousness towards preventing under-age marriages from taking place

Ø     Inclusion of mother and child in the municipal level health schemes

Ø     Each municipality to be brought in succession under a scientific waste disposal project

Ø     The process of health decentralisation will be further strengthened

Ø     The Panchayats and the municipalities will be made to be involved in this process in a more effective manner

INFRASTRUCTURE

Ø     Compared to the past, a remarkable improvement has been made possible in the realm of infrastructure.  More investment is necessary to accelerate the rate of development.  In the background of the financial and fiscal limitation of the state, we emphasise on private investmen t— indigenous and foreign

Ø     Importance is attached to joint sector ventures

Ø     Investment has been made appreciatively in such sectors as housing, satellite townships, roads, transport, etc.  The projects will be finished within the next five years

Ø     Two big satellite townships will be set up in Dankuni and west Howrah

Ø     An international standard highway will connect Barasat and Diamond Harbour, bypassing Kolkata

Ø     All-weather roads will connect each village with the nearest main arterial road

Ø     The issue of housing for the economically backward will be accorded importance

Ø     The south-north corridor will upgraded from two to four lanes

Ø     The work has started with the participation of a consultation agency to weigh what can be done in accordance with the ‘look east’ policy

Ø     The possibility of a new international airport and a sea port with provision for the anchoring of large vessels will be looked at

Ø     The production, transmission, and distribution of electricity will be further strengthened

Ø     Emphasis to be attached to non-conventional energy

Ø     More than 2000 MW electricity to be produced over the next five years

Ø     Work will start for the setting up of several new power plants

Ø     Improvements will be done to the state transport and other transport systems

Ø     Special infrastructure will embellish the health townships

Ø     Sub-soil water usage will be disseminated and encouraged and consciousness built up

ADMINISTRATION

Ø     The work of decentralisation of power will continue relentlessly.  The village sansads and the village development committees in the rural areas and the ward committees in the urban stretches will be strengthened further

Ø     The village planning by the village people will be strengthened further

Ø     Attempt will be made to increase the ‘free funds’ of the Panchayats and the municipalities

Ø     In keeping with higher technology, the administration will be made faster, more responsive, pro-people, and transparent

Ø     The forces of communalism, divisiveness, separatism, and terrorism will be put down and the people organised against these forces

CENTRE-STATE RELATIONSHIP

The centre-state relationship has appeared with new dimensions in the backdrop of the liberal policies of the union government.  The scope of the state government to intervene for alleviating the miseries of the people has been made limited, and the centre is fixing its dues in the structure of conditionalities in keeping with the liberalisation compulsions: in this background our demands are as follows:

Ø     The Twelfth Finance Commission has reduced the state share from central state-level collection of tax to 30 per cent; this must be made 33 per cent

Ø     The Twelfth Finance Commission has reduced the interest on centre loans but the factor of the state getting to have its dues on account of small savings has been left out; this must be restored

Ø     The Twelfth Finance Commission has included as a conditionality the placement of income and expenditure account of the state assembly when reducing interest on loans; this must be withdrawn

Ø      The credit-deposit ratio of the state sectors banks in Bengal must be increased

Ø     The erosion of river banks must be seen as a national issue, the centre must provide financial assistance to prevent river erosion, and also provide assistance in the case of rehabilitation of victims of the erosion of banks

Ø     The Teesta project must be made a national project

Ø     The work of the modernisation of the Kolkata Airport must start immediately

Ø     Initiative must be taken to revive the closed and sick state-sector units of the centre in the state

Ø     The complexity created out of the judgement of the Supreme Court on ration cards must be resolved early and the public distribution system must be strengthened and extended

Ø     The Planning Commission must take on a special responsibility to secure the environment of the Sunderbans and to develop the standard of living of the people living there

Ø     No conditionalities must be imposed in allocating funds for urban revivification

The Bengal Left Front appeals to the people of the state to make the Left Front victorious, defeating the forces that have jeopardised the economy of the country, have aided and abetted the forces of communalism, and have spread the poison of division and separatism, and who are keen to destroy democracy and progress.

The central slogan of the Left Front for the 2006 Assembly elections is, “Consolidate the success of the Left Front and participate in the struggle for development!”

Biman Basu and Anil Biswas said that the election campaign of the Bengal Left Front would commence from the evening of February 16 itself.

“Consolidate the success of the Left Front and

Participate in the struggle for development!”