Six days before the state of Himachal Pradesh goes to polls, the BJP on Sunday released its manifesto called – Sankalp Patra – promising Uniform Civil Code, Rs 3,000 annually to farmers under ‘Mukhyamantri Annadata Samman Nidhi,’ 8 lakh jobs for the youth in a phased manner, and scooty to every girl student if she enrols herself for higher studies.

BJP national president JP Nadda and Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur released the party manifesto here, which comprises of 11 promises to the voters in general, and 11 other promises aimed at women’s empowerment, who have been outnumbering men in the state polls since 1998.

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According to the manifesto, the BJP, if voted to retain power in the ensuing Assembly polls, will ensure 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs and educational institutions, scooty for those pursuing higher education and three free LPG cylinders to the poor households under Devi Annapoorna Yojana. Also, 5000 top ranked female students in Class 12^th examination will get a monthly scholarship of Rs 2,500 during their graduation courses.

The party intends to enroll all women above the age of 30 from poor families in the Atal Pension Yojana, provide an amount of Rs 25,000 to pregnant women to ensure proper treatment and care of mother and child, ‘Stree Shakti’ card to all women for treatment of ailments that are not currently covered under the Himcare card.

The financial assistance under the Shagun Yojana will be enhanced from existing Rs 31,000 to Rs 51,000 for the marriage of girls belonging to BPL families and also the upper limit of loans given to women self-help groups will be raised and interest rate will be reduced to two per cent.

The manifesto of the ruling party says that 24 hostels, two each in 12 districts, will be constructed for girls pursuing higher education across the state and bicycles will be provided to the school going girls of Class 6^th to 12^th.. A corpus of Rs 500 crore will be set up for interest free loans to women entrepreneurs to establish home stays.

Some of the promises meant for the general public include connecting roads in all villages under the PMGSY in the next five years. In a bid to woo the apple growers, the party has promised to limit the GST payment on apple packaging material to 12 per cent and any additional GST cost will be borne by the state government.

The BJP plans to launch a programme ‘Shakti’ and invest Rs 12,000 crore over 10 years to develop transportation and physical infrastructure around all prominent temples. These temples will be connected to the major cities through Him Teerth tourism circuit. Five new medical colleges will be opened and the number of mobile clinic vans will be doubled in each Assembly constituency.

For job creation a corpus of Rs 900 crore will be set up under Him-startup Yojana. The BJP proposes to conduct a survey of Wakf Board properties and set-up a judicial commission to investigate the illegal usage of such properties. Illegal land grabbing leading to demographic change in Himachal Pradesh will also be investigated, promises the saffron party.