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Narendra Modi revs up into ‘populist gear’ with jobs, wages, power, land, sops aplenty in offing

From farmers, labourers, cheaper CNG, and jobs, the Narendra Modi govt has something for everyone.

In the run up to the next Lok Sabha elections, the Chief Minister Narendra Modi seems to have switched to ?populist gear?.

For example: the state government has been sanctioning agriculture power connections on immediate basis. This had been reportedly frozen for 17 years. Even the government is going on a recruitment drive for the first time in two decades.

Besides, despite a revival period of five years for fixing minimum wages, the government recently raised the farm labourer wages from Rs 120 to Rs 150, within a year after the last hike.

From farmers, farm labourers , tribals, cheaper CNG, and jobs to aspiring youths, the Narendra Modi government has something for everyone.

In spite of three consecutive wins in the state, the BJP?s performance in last two LS elections have not been so impressive. It won only 14 in 2004 and 15 in 2009 out of the total 26 LS seats in Gujarat.

But this time, Narendra Modi needs a big push from his own state as his party aims to collect all the seats in saffron kitty.

?While Narendra Modi himself is a popular chief minister, the BJP cannot afford to keep any section unhappy,? said a senior BJP leader.

It all began in October, little over a month after Narendra Modi was anointed PM candidate by the BJP on September 13.

The government announced Tatkal (immediate) schemes for authorising 1 lakh new power connections. It has been 17 years, with the Narendra Modi government in power the sanction of agriculture electricity connections were almost frozen. Nearly 5 lakh applications are pending with four subsidiaries of Gujarat Urja Nigam Limited.

Last year, the government claimed that it has started clearing one lakh applications. But from this year, it has announced special Tatkal Scheme, wherein applications filed before March 31 will be cleared on immediate basis.

In October itself, the government also distributed land rights to tribals in south Gujarat, five months after the Gujarat High Court passed stricture on the state government to follow the Forest Rights Act 2006. While 15,000 tribals were given rights for the land they have been cultivating for years now, on December 23 the government also announced starting of coaching classes for medical entrance examination in the tribal area.

?While allotting land rights was nothing more than implementing central Act, with coaching classes the government has been trying to provide facilities in the region where the BJP cannot claim a stronghold,? said a state BJP leader.

The top officials are saying that opening up of the government posts from January 2014 for youths will come as a master stroke. In a 10-year recruitment plan prepared by the General Administration Department, 75,000 posts in 25 government departments will be opened up from January. This will be for the first time since 1991 that the government, which had gone for ad-hoc recruitment in the interim period, will go on a hiring spree even as nearly 40,000 employees are set to retire in next five years.

And, the raise in minimum farm labourer wages, which is even Rs 13 higher than the Central Government, will cover 75 lakh workers in the state, which has more than 4 crore voters.

However, the government maintained that it is not been done as a populist measure. ?The wages have been increased so that the sector does not feel any shortage,? said state government spokesperson Nitin Patel.

By de-freezing land of the Punjabi and Haryanavi natives settled in Kutch district last week, the Modi government had not only won over 800 farmers, but also kept the NDA ally Shiromani Akali Dal in good humour. The fate these farmers, who had settled in Kutch since 1965, was hanging in fire after the Gujarat government froze their land ownership in 2010 on technical grounds. For the CNG consumers, especially in urban areas and industries, the government fought a legal battle with the Central Government to provide the fuel at par with Delhi and Mumbai prices. With the state government winning the case in the Supreme Court, the CNG prices in Gujarat have fallen by Rs 10 per kg from last week.

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First published on: 26-12-2013 at 13:09 IST
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