Uttarakhand elections 2017: Harish Rawat on Saturday released a nine-point vision document.
Short of releasing the party manifesto of the Congress in poll-bound Uttarakhand, Chief Minister Harish Rawat on Saturday released a nine-point vision document, considered to be a precursor to what the manifesto may hold. The vision document has created a stir in political circles of the state with some calling it pure politicking and others accusing the chief minister of trying to protect Congress's faltering position among the electorate even before the manifesto formally sees the light of day.
Among the nine 'visions' of the CM, what stood out were the creation of a new ministry for soldiers by March 2017 and free smartphones to all youth. Launching his populist vision document from Garhwal on Saturday, Mr Rawat said that Uttarakhand has a separate ministry for the police force and that it is high time a ministry for serving and retired soldiers be established. Many see this as the Congress's last bid to woo the defence vote-bank in Uttarakhand, by some counts nearly 20-30 per cent of the state electorate.
In a bid to reach out to the youth, which comprises about half of Uttarakhand's electorate, the Chief Miniser also announced in his vision document free smartphones along with one-years' worth of data and calling services for all youth voters. There was also talk of creating an unemployment allowance of Rs 2,500. Following up on this, the CM said that by 2020, his government will strive to ensure that at least one person in every household gets a government job.
Reaching out to his rural constituencies, Mr Rawat also promised to bring electricity, water and roads to every village in the next 3 years and appoint 5 'disaster assistants' in all villages.
Special measures were also announced for women and tourists. The Chief Minister said women will have a third of all government jobs reserved for them. On tourism, Mr Rawat said that he envisions tourist numbers rising three-fold over the next five years.