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LJP manifesto promises Dalit Muslim quota
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October 05, 2005 16:20 IST
Seeking to make deep inroads into Rashtriya Janata Dal's Muslim vote bank, the Lok Janshakti Party on Wednesday released its election manifesto for Bihar announcing a slew of sops for muslims, including job quotas for Dalit Muslims and measures for empowerment of women and checking lawlessness.

The 24-page manifesto released by LJP president Ramvilas Paswan promises to work for 10 per cent job reservations for educationally and economically backward Muslims and amending articles 341 and 342 of the constitution to provide the benefits enjoyed by scheduled castes and scheduled tribes to Dalit Muslims, including reservation for them in Lok Sabha and state assemblies.

It pledges to ensure adequate compensation and government jobs to the dependents of those killed in Bhagalpur communal riots in 1989 which had left over 1000 dead, and stringent action against the perpetrators of the tragedy.

Vowing to make Bihar free of communal riots, the manifesto says separate budgetary allocations would be made for all minority educational institutions and assured to fill all vacant posts of Urdu, Arabic and Persian language teachers.

It promises that salaries and perks of teachers of minority institutions would be brought on par with state government teachers and steps would be taken to remove educational and economic backwardness among Muslims.

For empowerment of women, the document vows to work for 33 per cent reservation for women in local bodies and assured setting up a "crime against women cell" to check atrocities on women, besides strict punitive action against those accused of rape.

In order to tone up the law enforcement machinery, the manifesto says effective steps would be taken to check corruption in the police force. Special units would be raised in the police force to tackle terrorist violence and communal riots, besides fast track courts would be set up to try cases against anti-social elements and rioters.

The LJP in its manifesto pledges to work for political, social and economic uplift of the extremely backward classes for which a commission would be constituted.

It promises to end atrocities on scheduled castes and free of cost vocational training to them, besides pucca houses.

The document promises to provide free of cost education up to secondary level and free school uniforms and mid-day meals to children.

It says a well equipped hospital on the pattern of Delhi's All India Institute of Medical Sciences would be set up in north Bihar and infrastructure of existing hospitals would be strengthened.

An employment guarantee law would be enacted within six months of LJP coming to power so that every youth has a job.

The manifesto promises suitable measures for tackling recurrent flood by strengthening the existing embankments and holding negotiations with the government of Nepal through the government of India as most rivers which caused devastation in the state originated in the Himalayan kingdom.

It also says homeguards, chowkidars and dafadars would be given the status of fourth grade government employees.


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