Mumbai: It’s raining ‘revdis’ in poll-bound Maharashtra, as the Mahayuti and the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) are caught in a battle of freebies. While there’s no clarity on how the expenses will be met, the two rival alliances have left no section of the electorate untouched, be it women, youths, and farmers.
On Wednesday, the MVA released its joint card of its poll guarantees, ‘Loksevechi Panchasutri’, in the presence of Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Aghadi leaders Sharad Pawar and Uddhav Thackeray.
The day earlier, the Mahayuti unveiled its 10-point guarantee list with the punchline: ‘Kelay kaam bhari aata pudhchi tayari’ (We have done good work already, now is the time to look ahead).
If that was not enough for the two alliances, Ajit Pawar of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) released his separate 11-point constituency-wise manifesto and Uddhav Thackeray of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Bal Thackeray) unveiled a 10-point manifesto.
“With these freebies, now we are tying our hands in committed revenue expenditure. We need to expand the reach of government services to the grassroot level. We don’t have enough of them. We already have about 2.44 lakh vacant government jobs across the state departments,” Prof. Neeraj Hatekar, an independent economist, told ThePrint. “Now because of these promises, our committed expenditure will go up to 66 percent and we have only room left for 34 percent.”
The government’s committed expenditure mainly consists of interest payments, expenditure on salaries and wages, pensions on which it has limited control.
Currently, the state’s committed expenditure is already around 55 percent of the revenue. Maharashtra has headroom to spend, but the volley of schemes passed by the Mahayuti government could limit the state’s ability to ramp up capital expenditure on hard infrastructure. For this fiscal in particular, a rise in interest payments and pensions is also likely to weigh on the state’s overall expenditure, limiting capital expenditure, as per the budget estimates.
Hatekar asserted that though these freebies are announced, the ground-level workers such as police personnel, or ASHA workers are not available to implement the schemes.
Women empowerment
A standout feature of the poll manifestos, irrespective of political colours, is the raft of sops announced for women empowerment. Taking the Ladki Bahin scheme ahead, the Mahayuti promises to increase the monthly aid from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,100 for its beneficiaries. The ruling alliance also talks about inducting 25,000 women personnel in the police force.
The three-party alliance announced increasing monthly wages of anganwadi and ASHA workers to Rs 15,000 as well as providing security coverage to them.
Additionally, in Ajit Pawar’s manifesto, one of the promises is to provide a monthly stipend of Rs 10,000 to 1,00,000 students through training programmes.
The Aghadi has gone a step further when it comes to promising financial assistance to women. A monthly aid of Rs 3,000 to women and free bus travel for women and girls were announced under the Mahalakshmi Yojana.
In its manifesto, the Shiv Sena (UBT) promises 24/7 separate women police stations and induction of 18,000 women personnel. Besides, free transportation, increase in the number of toilets, subsidised sanitary napkins for rural women are among points mentioned in the document.
Agrarian sector
The Mahayuti promises to increase the amount of annual financial assistance from Rs 12,000 to Rs 15,000 for farmers and add a 20 percent subsidy on the Minimum Support Price (MSP). Focus is given on solar and renewable energy, thereby reducing the electricity bills by 30 percent it claims.
In Ajit Pawar’s manifesto, the deputy chief minister mentions of loan waivers for farmers and a Rs 25,000 per hectare bonus for paddy growers. Free electricity for 44 lakh farmers is also promised.
The MVA guarantees include waiver of farm loans up to Rs 3 lakh for all farmers across Maharashtra. Additionally, an incentive payment of Rs 50,000 will be provided to farmers who consistently repay their loans.
In the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s manifesto, the prices of essential commodities like wheat, rice, oil, dal, sugar have been promised to be kept stable without adversely affecting the MSP. Farm labourers would be registered so that they could get benefit of government schemes, it added.
Youth & jobs
The Mahayuti promises employment and educational aid for students, which include creation of 25 lakh jobs as well as a monthly tuition aid of Rs 10,000 for 10 lakh students through specialised training programmes. A similar promise is made by Ajit Pawar.
The Aghadi’s Panchsutri promises Rs 4,000 per month to the unemployed youths. Further, the Sena (UBT)’s manifesto talks about a ‘jobs fair’ every three months in every district of Maharashtra. Similarly, ITI and other skill development programmes will be available free of cost.
Former chief minister Uddhav Thackeray also promised that along with girls, even boys would get free of cost education, and just like the Mumbai Public Schools, all other state board schools will be built on the model of MPS.
Rural sector & health
In Mahayuti’s promises, the allies mention road ushering in development in 45,000 villages. When it comes to health needs, the Aghadi promises to provide health insurance up to Rs 25 lakh and free of cost medicines.
The financial aid to senior citizens will be increased from Rs 1,500 to Rs 2,100, says the Mahayuti. The Sena (UBT) promises to implement the old pension scheme for retired government employees.
Meanwhile, the Aghadi also talks of conducting a caste census in Maharashtra to protect marginalised communities and secure their rights.
Mumbai, a big part of Sena manifesto
The Shiv Sena (UBT) concentrates heavily on Mumbai in its poll manifesto. It promises to build 1 lakh houses for the ‘sons of soil’ at subsidised rates, while up to 5 lakh houses are earmarked in Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR). For koliwadas (colonies of Koli rajputs) and gaothans (settlements of Mhatre and Raote families), Uddhav Thackeray promises a tailor-made redevelopment to suit local requirements instead of going for a blanket cluster redevelopment.
Besides, an IFSC (International financial service centre) is promised for the metropolis A climate action plan will be implemented for Mumbai and across the state, according to the Shiv Sena (UBT) manifesto.
For Marathi and Hindi film industry, it envisions a renewed filmcity with adequate facilities. Tourism will be developed across the city and Mumbai’s racecourse project will not be used for any construction, the Shiv Sena (UBT) promises.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: 6 regions, 36 districts & 288 seats: How to read Maharashtra’s electoral map
