The AIADMK manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections released on Tuesday promised to extend almost all key welfare measures being implemented by the State government headed by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to the whole of India.
The welfare schemes included distribution of mixies, grinders, fans to all ration card holders, distribution of milch cows and goats to village people, social security schemes through which `1,000 per month is given as pension to downtrodden people, solar-powered green houses to the poor, marriage assistance scheme for poor girls (four grams of gold for making thirumangalyam) and financial assistance, Cable TV services, etc.,
Comprehensive medical insurance scheme, maintenance allowance for the differently abled, high-end technologies used for increasing agricultural production in Tamil Nadu, Farmers Protection Programme which provides womb-to-tomb social security to agricultural labourers, concessions for micro, small and medium enterprises in Tamil Nadu, and welfare boards for unorganised labourers in all the States are some of the other measures which the
AIADMK manifesto has promised to extend to the rest of the country in the event of the party becoming a part of the Central Government.
The manifesto promised to create a congenial atmosphere for talks between the fishermen of Sri Lanka and India, so as to protect the interests of the fishermen of Tamil Nadu. It also promised steps to retrieve Katchatheevu.
Since deep-sea fishing is a solution to the problem of fishermen, in order to encourage it, full grants will be given through the Government of India for the purchase of deep sea fishing boats, it said.
In order to ensure the prosperity of fishermen in the coastal areas, the fishing harbours in Kasimedu, Cuddalore, Puducherry, Nagapattinam,
Thanjavur, Pudukottai, Ramanathapuram, Kanyakumari and Thoothukudi will be modernised. River mouths from Pulicat to Kanyakumari will be desilted.
Sufficient funds will be allocated to prevent sea erosion in Ennore, Cuddalore, Poompuhar, Nagapattinam, Thoothukudi, Kanyakumari, Tirunelveli and Ramanathapuram areas, the manifesto said and added that for the welfare of the fishermen, the National Fishermen Saving-cum-Relief Scheme would be revamped.
The manifesto further promised to take steps for establishing new power corridors and strengthening the existing corridors so as to enable transmission of power from the surplus States to deficit States.
Obtaining DAS licence for the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation and expeditious establishment of the Cauvery Management Board are some of the important promises made in the AIADMK manifesto.