Hyderabad
March 18: Election manifestos have now gone global. All major political parties in the state have borrowed the best of governance systems from around the world in a bid to win over the local voters this general elections.
If one political party has copied the Brazilian model of helping the poor, the other wants to replicate the irrigation system adopted in China to turn perennial drought-hit lands greener.
Those engaged in drafting manifestos are busy going through the administrative set-up in developing countries, collecting the best of them to be incorporated locally. The entry of film actor Chiranjeevi into politics and his assertion to bring about “change” ala Barack Obama has forced the old political players to launch a search internationally for the best of promises and schemes.
The Telugu Desam, which wants to wrest power from the ruling Congress, has taken the lead by studying the politico-social models in Latin American countries including Brazil, Chile and Venezuela, where people living below the poverty line are paid monthly allowances.
The former Union minister, Mr Ummareddy Venkateswarlu, who looks after the Telugu Desam’s manifesto, does not hesitate to admit that the “cash transfer scheme” of his party was influenced by the social security programmes being adopted in some Latin American countries.
“We have contacted Telugu-speaking people living in South America for their inputs. We went for the cash scheme as it is not only attractive but also beneficial.
In fact it is a novel programme, first of its kind in the Indian sub-continent,” he said.
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