Loktantra Bachao Abhiyan — a campaign comprising a collective of right outfits — released a public manifesto for the Assembly poll on Tuesday calling for building “Abua Raj” (our rule) as envisioned by the Jharkhand movement in the next five years.

A delegation of the Abhiyan on Tuesday evening also handed the manifesto to JMM and Congress state leadership.

“The campaign has urged political parties that believe in communal harmony and constitutional values to include the demands raised by the campaign in their manifestos and have handed over the public manifesto to Congress and JMM,” said Aloka Kujur, a member of the Abhiyan.

“Based on the assessment of the last five years of Hemant Soren-led coalition government it undertook several initiatives in line with public expectations, such as a significant increase in the coverage of social security pensions, the Maiya Samman Yojana, support for migrant workers during and after Covid lockdown, agricultural loan waivers, withdrawal of case related to the Pathalgadi movement and a halt to the extension of the Netarhat Field Firing Range project,” added a statement issued by Abhiyan members.

“Assessing this situation based on the public manifesto calls for action within the first six months of the formation of the government on the issues for which the state was formed — water, forest and land, Adivasi autonomy, and freedom from exploitation. Land Acquisition Law (Jharkhand) Amendment 2017 and Land Bank Policy should be repealed. All projects that are being established without the consent of the Gram Sabha and that violate land laws, or which are opposed by local affected communities, should be cancelled,” the statement added.

It also calls for a displacement and rehabilitation commission and according to a decision of the Supreme Court, the state government should immediately impose state tax on mining and give at least half of it to the Gram Sabha. PESA rules should be formulated. Sixth Schedule provisions should be implemented in Adivasi-intensive areas such as Kolhan and Damini Koh. All pending individual and community forest pattas should be distributed. It also calls for a high-level judicial inquiry to identify and close the false cases against Adivasis and marginalized people.

“The priority of the next government should be to fix the poor public education and health system of the state. To address this, vacant positions from primary schools to college levels should be filled, and regular quality classes must be ensured. Similarly, all vacancies from sub-health centres to district hospitals should be filled, and arrangements for medicines, tests, etc., should be ensured,” the statement added.

“To end widespread migration and unemployment in the state, an urban employment guarantee law should be enacted, and the daily wage rate under MGNREGA should be set at ₹800. Building on the social security initiatives started by the government, the amount of social security pension should be raised to ₹ 3,000, and all pregnant and lactating women should receive maternity benefits of ₹20,000 without any conditions, following Tamil Nadu model,” it added.