DMK eyes poll victory with smartphone, 4G, cheap milk

CHENNAI: The DMK manifesto released on Sunday had a few big bangs. One was a freebie promise. The party promised to give smartphones to poor people and free 3G4G services along with free laptops and tablets to 16 lakh students in the state.

The other was a crop and educational loan waiver, which according to the party will lead to a one time outgo of Rs 11,000 crore. Yet another was the promise to bring in prohibition, which would mean losing nearly one-third of the government's revenue.

There were innumerable small bangs, too, which sought to attract all sections of voters, including farmers, fishermen and first-time voters. Among them is a promise to reduce price of Aavin milk by Rs 7 and several job creation measures, especially in the government.

To woo fishermen, the party has promised to include them in the scheduled tribe list and call them as marine tribes. The manifesto also promises to construct five lakh houses for fishermen and provide Rs 5,000 during the fishing holiday and as monsoon relief.

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The DMK manifesto has gone slow on freebies ­ if you ignore the smartphones ­ though it is not short on welfare. It does not extensively address the perception that the pace of industrialisation has slowed and job creation has stalled in the state. The manifesto does talk about single-window clearance for entrepreneurs within 100 days and promises sops for MSMEs. Bold proposals on attracting big-ticket investments are lacking, however. DMK leaders say that the cost of all the welfare promises has been worked out and is within limits. But the absence of liquor revenue of nearly `30,000 crore per year may well make some of the welfare measures untenable. But the scheduled tribe move will require the approval of the Centre and Parliament.

The DMK promised to continue some of the schemes introduced by AIADMK like the Amma canteens but with a change of name. Amma canteens would be renamed “Arignar Anna Unavagams“ if the DMK comes to power.“DMK will waive all farm loans taken by small and micro farmers and all education loans taken by students,“ said Karunanidhi, praising the manifesto committee headed by former Union minister T R Baalu and consisting of his daughter Kanimozhi.

Apart from the smartphone, DMK did not announce any other electronic freebies in its manifesto like free televisions that it promised in 2006 but concentrated on supporting people economically .

Among the states, Tamil Nadu has the most number of students who have taken education loans in the country . “A scheme will be in place for the students who have availed of such loans. First the government will waive all loans which are outstanding for a long time and their parents are not able to repay it and the student is also unemployed after completion of studies. We have calculated the outgo to be Rs 9,000 crore. Later the scheme will look into other education loans and take a decision,“ DMK spokesperson T K S Elangovan told TOI.

Similarly , the outgo from the government exchequer for waiver of farm loans will be around `2,000 crore an onetime expenditure. “We have taken care of each and every department and its financial position before coming up with the policy in the manifesto. For example, lowering of Aavin price by Rs 7 promised will not be a loss to the milk federation as we are lowering only the margin on a per litre basis,“ said Elangovan.