7 Promises by MK Stalin

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DMK president M K Stalin on Sunday unveiled a vision document that offered a seven-point promise to the people of Tamil Nadu to enable the state to grow on seven different spheres over the next 10 years. Addressing a huge conference organised by the party on the outskirts of Trichy in the evening, Stalin promised economic and agriculture growth, drinking water for all, quality education and healthcare for all, social justice to the needy and downtrodden, beautiful cities and improved rural infrastructure to improve quality of life.

“We worked together with experts from various fields to create this vision document. This is Stalin’s seven-point promise to the people of Tamil Nadu,” Stalin said.

“I am not making this promise for the next five years, when DMK is all set to come to power. I am making this promise for the next 10 years,” Stalin said, to the loud cheers of the party cadre who converged in Trichy from across the state.

On the economic front, the DMK vision document has promised to ensure a consistent double digit growth for the state’s economy to make it a Rs 35 lakh crore economy, while increasing the per capita income of the people to Rs 4 lakh per annum.

The party has promised to create 10 lakh jobs every year to abolish unemployment. Its government will work towards eradicating poverty by lifting over one crore people from below the poverty line.

On the agriculture front, the vision is to bring an additional 11.75 lakh hectares under regular farming activities, thereby increasing the farm areas to 75% from the present 50%. It also promises to double two-crop farm lands per annum to 20 lakh hectares from the present 10 lakh hectares.

Special focus will be on production of food grains and cereals, besides getting Tamil Nadu to the top three spots for cash crops like coconut, sugarcane, cotton, sunflower by improving farm efficiency.

It also promises to increase the per capita water source from nine lakh litre per annum to 10 lakh litre, reduce the daily wastage of water to 15% from the present 50%, increase the recycled water usage to 20% from the present 5% and extend the green cover of the state from 20.27% to 25% by bringing an additional 7.5 lakh hectare land under green cover.

On the education and healthcare, the DMK has promised to triple allocations, as a percentage of GSDP to these two sectors by increasing allocation to education to 6% from the present 1.9% and for healthcare to 2% from the present 0.75%. The vision promises to improve the state to get into the top 10 rank on the education front from the present 17 among all states and reduce the rate of school dropouts to 5% from the present 16%.

While model school and hospital will be built in every village panchayat, the DMK plans to achieve this by doubling the number of health workers including doctors and nurses, as well as technical graduates.

As part of its promise to deliver social justice to all, the DMK has promised Rs 1,000 per month to all the housewives, doubling the aid for education for scheduled castes, tribes and the backward classes, besides abolishing human intervention in sanitary works.

Under the promise to improve urban infrastructure, the DMK promises to provide tapped drinking water to 36 lakh more homes, effective solid waste management system for all towns and cities, reduce the percentage of slum dwellers from 16.6% now to 5% by building 9.75 lakh concrete houses and enable 15 municipal corporations to figure among Top 50 Indian cities.

As part of the rural focus, the party promises to improve percentage of concrete houses to 85% from the present 57% by building 20 lakh new houses, ensure tapped drinking water to all houses in rural areas and to provide roads and sewage systems to handle vagaries of all seasons.

It also promises broadband connectivity to all villages and at least 50% of villages to have solid waste management systems.

News Source: Times of India