June 9 marks exactly one year since Narendra Modi and his Council of Ministers were sworn in. Before the elections, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) published a 69-page manifesto. Here are 15 promises from the BJP Manifesto 2024. What is the reality in 2025.
1. Promise: Expanding our efforts to protect garib ki thali (page 11).
Reality: According to the World Bank, 7.5 crore Indians earn less than Rs 225 per day. The poorest 5% spend Rs 68 per day. A vegetarian thali costs Rs 77.
2. Promise: Empowering the neo-middle class (page 13).
Reality: Between 2014 and 2024, household liabilities have doubled, while net financial savings have fallen to one of their lowest levels in the last 50 years.
3. Promise: Creating high value jobs (page 14).
Reality: Since 2021, more and more people have been pushed towards agriculture. Currently 46% of the workforce is engaged in agriculture. Nearly three out of five people are self employed, which experts call ‘not the best form of employment'.
4. Promise: Participation of women in the workforce (page 15).
Reality: Between 2018-23, the proportion of women engaged in employment-related activities rose by just 2.3 percentage points. Time spent on employment-related activities increased by just 10 minutes over five years. The labour force participation rate for women remains half that of men.
5. Promise: Implementing the Nari Shakti Vandan Adhiniyam (Women's Reservation Bill) (page 16).
Reality: BJP has 13% women MPs in Lok Sabha. The Bill was passed in 2023. However, it was linked to the Census which is slated to be conducted in 2027. Post Census, the delimitation exercise will be held. It is only after both of these, that the Bill can be actually implemented. When? Anybody's guess.
6. Promise: Strengthening PM KISAN (page 22).
Reality: 30 farmers commit suicide every day. Between 2018-23, real wages declined annually by 0.4% in rural areas, while agricultural wages saw an annual growth of just 0.2%. The suggestion made by a Parliamentary Committee to increase funds under PM Kisan to Rs 12,000 has been ignored.
7. Promise: Global manufacturing hub (page 42).
Reality: The value added by the manufacturing sector declined from 12.3% of GDP in 2023 to 4.5% in 2024, falling below 2014 levels. Over the past two years, only one in ten individuals have been employed in manufacturing. Between 2015 and 2024, the number of manufacturing MSMEs grew just over 2%.
8. Promise: Expansion of kavach train protection system (page 45).
Reality: In four years, Kavach has been installed in just 2% of routes and less than 1% of locomotives. At the current rate of progress, the implementation of Kavach across the Indian Railways network could take a few decades to complete.
9. Promise: Expanding bullet trains (page 46).
Reality: The government announced the bullet train project in the railway budget 2014 with an estimated expenditure of 60,000 crore. 11 years later, after spending more than Rs 71,000 crore, less than half the project has been completed.
10. Promise: Expanding expressways and ring roads (page 47).
Reality: In 2017, the government sanctioned 34,800 km under Bharatmala Pariyojana. However, only about half of this has been completed. Nearly 25% of the project has not even been awarded as yet.
11. Promise: Developing airports for seamless connectivity (page 48).
Reality: 114 routes have been discontinued even before they completed three years. 619 routes were operationalised of which half are currently operational under UDAN.
12. Promise: Combating corruption (page 54).
Reality: In the last decade, only two convictions have been made out of 193 cases against MPs, MLAs, and political leaders by the ED. In the last 11 years, a total of 5297 cases were filed by ED. Only 47 were taken to court for trial. For every 1000 cases filed, accused were found guilty in only seven cases.
13. Promise: Strengthening AIIMS (page 57).
Reality: 18,737 positions are vacant in AIIMS hospitals across India. More than 2200 of these positions are related to faculty.
14. Promise: Expanding skills training for youth (page 60).
Reality: One in three young people in India are neither in education, employment, nor training, with women making up 95% of this group. Only 4% of the youth workforce have received formal skill training. Under the PM internship scheme, one out of five districts had less than 10 internship opportunities available.
15. Promise: Maintaining peace in northeast (page 63).
Reality: It has been over two years since the violence began in Manipur. The Prime Minister has not visited Manipur even once. Another broken promise.
(Research credit: Dheemunt Jain)
(Derek O'Brien, MP, leads the Trinamool Congress in the Rajya Sabha)
Disclaimer: These are the personal opinions of the author
