Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, the national civil society coalition, today launched the process for setting out a People’s Agenda for the forthcoming 2009 elections.

“The People’s Manifesto will be poor and marginalised people’s non-negotiable demands that every political party will need to promise in its manifestos for the forthcoming elections,” said Mr Amitabh Behar, Convenor of the Abhiyan which represents over 3000 NGOs and networks across 23 states. “The Abhiyan has been tracking the UPA government’s National Common Minimum Programme over the last four years but this is the time to start thinking beyond, to what ordinary citizens need from the government, irrespective of which party comes to power.”

On Thursday, the Abhiyan released the People’s Verdict on the UPA government’s CMP, listing the gains but also misses like continuing low investment in education, health and NREGA, the employment scheme for the poor.

The People’s Manifesto will emerge from the ground with civil society groups and networks organising meetings in all the 543 Parliamentary constituency. “The decision to make it bottoms-up is critical,” said Mr Ashok Bharti of the Abhiyan’s Steering Group. “We want to include the concerns and needs of dalits, adivasis, women and religious minorities so that their demands are given a voice.”

The process will look at both the needs of the constituency and the larger needs at the national level. “This is the first time that people will set the agenda, not political parties as they have been doing for the last 20 years,” said Mr Mazhar Hussain, Steering Group member. “In Karnataka, we’ve been promised colour television by a political party! We are all tax payers, even the poor pay indirect taxes, so the poor have a right to decide the political agenda. This process will also spread awareness about people’s political right in our democracy.”

State-level chapters of the Abhiyan will take this process forward and the blueprint is expected to be ready by Januray 2009.

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