‘50 lakh homes, a neo-middle class and modernisation of madrasas’

50 lakh homes

Rs 33,000 crore budgeted under Mukhya Mantri Gruh Samruddhi Yojana; housing department to be headed by chief minister; 28 lakh houses (all pucca) in rural and 22 lakh in urban areas. Public-private partnership, with sops to developers.

The objective

A counter to Congress's "Ghar nu Ghar" scheme under which houses would cost Rs 70,000, Rs 1 lakh or Rs 1.8 lakh. The average cost of the houses promised by the BJP is Rs 66,000. The Congress's promised houses range from 278 to 857 sq ft; the BJP's are either 387 or 538 sq ft.

BJP jibe

"Our government has built 22 lakh houses in 10 years while the Congress built 12 lakh houses in 40 years," Chief Minister Narendra Modi said.

Congress reply

"Our homes will be executed by revamping the Gujarat Housing Board and the Slum Clearance Board, while the BJP's plan announced on a PPP model will benefit builders," said Congress spokesperson Manish Doshi.

Neo-middle class

A new term coined by Modi for people just risen above the poverty line, who cannot yet be counted in the middle class. Their issues to be taken up.

madrasa modernisation

"Literacy among Gujarat's Muslims is 73.5 per cent, much higher than the national 59 per cent. We plan to raise the quality of education with the medium of technology to help bring Muslims into the mainstream education and modernise madrasas."

ram pagdandi

"Shri Ram Pagdandi" in Dangs, retracing Lord Rama's journey in exile.

Aam admi

Accident insurance to all; Right to Services Act ; relaxed age limit for government jobs; aid to mass marriages of every community.

Health

Specialty hospitals at Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, North Gujarat.

Agriculture

16-lakh-ha increase in land under irrigation; Rs 4,125 crore for irrigation facilities to tribal farmers in eastern belt ; government to share interest burden of farm loans; Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation Yojana.

... contd.

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