Madhya Pradesh polls: BJP releases special manifesto for women; promises 10 lakh jobs, start-up training to woo youth

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Saturday released its manifesto 'Samruddh Madhya Pradesh Drishti Patra' for the poll-bound state, with Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan and other state leaders in attendance.

File image of Union finance minister Arun Jaitley and Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan. Twitter/@BJP4MP

Chouhan outlined the promises that the party was making in the document, which included increasing employment opportunities in the state."We will make efforts to provide 10 lakh jobs and self-employment opportunities every year. We will provide start-up facilities to young entrepreneurs and also establish new industrial townships," he said.

He also announced Krishak Samrudhi Yojana, to benefits farmers in debt across the state.

He announced the party's plans to encourage women empowerment. He said that the party even launched a 'Nari Shakti Sankalp Patra' proposing self-help groups for women empowerment.

The chief minister vowed to upgrade the intra-state connectivity and the state's infrastructure as well.

Jaitley also addressed the gathering, saying that the BJP is showing commitment to bettering the state "out of conviction, while others are doing so out of convenience."

Responding to questions about the demonetisation, the finance minister said the move to implement it was "highly ethical."

"It was no secret that many in India were not tax compliant. Compelling them to put their undeclared money into the banks had an ethical rationale to it," he said. adding that "every move of this government, from demonetisation to GST and putting the tax system online, has helped to formalize large part of the economy."

He said that the impact of the government scheme was is that both the Central and the state governments now have much larger revenues. "Before the Narendra Modi government, 3.8 crore people were paying taxes. In four years, that number has hiked up to 6.68 crore," he said.