BJP manifesto: There are goodies for entrepreneurs and innovators too

The Bhartiya Janata Party’s 2014 party manifesto has put job creation and entrepreneurship as one of its priorities if it comes to power. The BJP has targeted specific demographic groups, drafting innovation-related provisions for each and attempted to cover all aspects of entrepreneurship.

Here are the highlights of the BJP’s entrepreneur and innovation focused promises:

•**Youth:**Since the BJP considers India’s youth as the most productive asset of the country, it has promised toinitiate nation-wide ‘district level incubation and accelerator programme’ for encouraginginnovation and entrepreneurship.

•Credit: Encourage and empower the youth for self-employment - incubating entrepreneurship as well asfacilitating credit.

•**Jobs:**The party promises to address the employability issue by initiating a multi-skills development programme in missionmode. Focus will be on job creation and entrepreneurship, in both rural and urban areas.

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•Vocational training: To perpetuate higher education, the BJP will startcorrespondence courses in new domains for self-employment, family run businesses,entrepreneurship and innovation, and these courses would be provided for free to women.

The goalwould be to prepare the youth for jobs being created by the emerging sectors, foster a spirit of
innovation and entrepreneurship, leading to more incomes and job creation

•**Tax:**The party will provide tax incentives for investments in research and development, geared towards indigenisationof technology and innovation

•**Women:**Creating special skills training, business incubator parks and facilitation centers for women. The BJP will also set up a dedicated W-SME (Women Small and medium enterprises) cluster in every district.

•SC/ST/OBC businesses: A high priority for SC, ST, OBCs and other weaker sections would be to create an ecosystem foreducation and entrepreneurship.

•**Minorities:**With a desire to improve the socio-economic conditions of minorities, the BJP will promote entrepreneurial opportunities, augment minorities’ traditional artisanship and entrepreneurial skill, which are a backbone of India’s cottageand small-scale industry - strengthening these sectors through better market linkages, brandingand access to credit.

•Encourage innovation: The manifesto states thatresearch and innovation in areas of relevance for the economy and society will be encouraged, particularlyby promoting close and productive interaction between private and public institutions. Sectorssuch as agriculture (particularly soil, water management, human and animal nutrition and fisheries),water, health, education, industry, energy including renewable energy, communication andtransportation would be accorded highest priority.

•Encourage private sector investment: The BJP willencourage and incentivise private sectorinvestments - both domestic and foreign, in science and technology and in high-end research aimed towards innovation.

•Promote fundamental research: Provide work environment and professional opportunities in fundamental scientific research, tomake research careers more appealing, so that the nation can harness the best of brains forscientific research leading to enhancing the national productivity and competitiveness and reversebrain drain.

•Guaranteeing IPRs: The BJP promises tocreate an ecosystem for multi-country and inter-disciplinary collaborative research, and establishan Intellectual Property Rights Regime which maximizes the incentive for generation and protectionof intellectual property for all type of inventors

• **Achieving synergy between industry and scientific research:**Autonomous technology transferorganizations will be created as associate organizations of universities and national laboratoriesto transfer the know-how generated by them to industry. Industry will be encouraged to adopt orsupport educational and research institutions to help direct science and technology endeavourstowards tangible industrial goals.

•National system: Innovation will be promoted by creating a comprehensive national system of innovation.