The Bharatiya Janata Party has come out with its Party Manifesto and as its first highlights talks about making India a Developed Nation and a Great Power by 2020.The Manifesto Committee chaired by Dr. Murli Manohar Joshi along with 15 senior members of the Party including AP s Bandaru Dattatreya. The key focus was on the 5 Ts which are Talent, Trade, Technology, Tourism and Tradition. Presenting a few highlights of the Manifesto.

·        Further broadening and deepening of economic reforms, based on a self-reliant approach, for sustained double-digit GDP growth rate to achieve complete eradication of poverty and unemployment; end of regional and social disparities; and bridging the urban-rural divide.

·        Achieving a quantum improvement in the quality of life of all Indians by fulfilling their basic needs in education, healthcare, nutrition, drinking water, housing, sanitation, and cultural development.

·        Launching the Second Green Revolution to unleash the tremendous growth potential in Indian agriculture and agro-based industries, eliminating waste in the food chain, and to ensure doubling of income of even a marginal farmer by 2010.

·        Giving India a world-class infrastructure in power, telecom and IT, roads, railways, air travel, ports, shipping and inland navigation, markets and the financial sector.

·        Making India a major exporting nation, a global manufacturing hub; a preferred service provider to the world; a preferred country for higher education and healthcare; a leading creator of R&D; putting India at the centre of the Knowledge Economy; and making India a major tourist destination in the world.

·        Preparing India for the momentous shift taking place in the world economy, in which low-cost economies can score a big march over high-cost economies by building competitive strengths in manufacturing and services; enriching our human resources and reforming our economy towards this end, and turning our young population into a huge opportunity in the era of globalisation.

·        Dealing with the challenge of water on a war-footing with a three-pronged approach: Launch of the River-Linking Project; Massive encouragement for micro initiatives such as watershed management, checkdams, rainwater harvesting, drip irrigation, etc; Cleaning up of rivers and traditional water bodies.

·        Comprehensive Good Governance Reforms, encompassing administrative reforms, judicial reforms, electoral reforms, devolution of powers to States and effective empowerment of Panchayati Raj Institutions and urban local bodies.

·        Commitment to construction of a magnificent Ram Mandir at Ayodhya; Amicable resolution of the issue through dialogue for starting a new chapter in Hindu-Muslim relations  and ban on religious conversions through fraudulent and coercive means.

·        Educational development, economic upliftment, and empowerment of minorities; and ending the majority-minority distinction in politics.

·        Vigorous pursuit of the ideals of social justice, economic justice and empowerment of the Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes, Nomadic and Denotified Tribes, OBCs, and the poor among the Forward Classes.

·        Intensification of the peace and development process in Jammu & Kashmir and the North-East. Ensuring early return of Kashmiri Pandits and other displaced people to their native places.

·        Commitment to women's all-round empowerment; the BJP is ready to back any consensus formula to ensure early legislation for women's reservation in Parliament and State Legislatures.

·        Legislation to ensure that important offices of the Indian State can be occupied only by those who are India's natural citizens by their Indian origin.

Empowerment of the Civil Society to promote people's participation in development at all levels and for creating effective dispute resolution mechanisms outside the realm of the government and the judiciary.

Making population control a people's movement, with non-coercive disincentives for a two-child norm, and incentives for a girl child.

Intensifying dialogue with Pakistan to find a lasting solution to all bilateral issues; working for a multi-polar world, with India as one of the poles; further raising India's standing in the world; and securing for India a meaningful and steadily growing role in international affairs