THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Vowing to make Kerala the fastest growing state in the next five years, the LDF on Tuesday formally kickstarted its election campaign with the launch of its election manifesto studded with a slew of social welfare measures.
The manifesto, released by Chief Minister V S Achuthanandan in the presence of representatives from the LDF coalition partners, has been broadly categorised into seven sections. The key focus has been given to social security programmes providing lifetime security to citizens right from birth.
Maternity leave for women in the unorganised sector along with onemonth wage, Rs 10,000 deposit in the name of every newborn, free education for all children, including free uniforms, books and midday meal, health insurance, incomeemployment guarantee schemes, Rs 2 per kg rice for all sections and Rs 1,000 as oldage pension are some of the schemes.
At the same time, the manifesto promises measures to attract private investments, including the Rs 40,000crore package for revival of roads, announced in the state budget, Rs 50,000 crore high-speed rail corridor and a slew of other infrastructure projects like waterways, airports, seaports and gas networks.
The manifesto guarantees a womanfriendly state if voted back to power, with various women-centric schemes like constitution of a women development department, Rs 7,500crore scheme for women and various concessions for widows. It also promises the completion of ongoing schemes for providing housing, food, water and electricity for all with an aim to ensure complete social security for all citizens.
The manifesto reiterates finding solutions to many prevailing issues like implementing the Sabarimala masterplan, flushing out lottery mafia from the state, ensuring reasonable reservation for all castes and 10 percent reservation for economically backward sections among the forward castes.