Kamal Haasan promises 'payment' to women for their work at home, unveils economic agenda for 2021 Tamil Nadu elections

Actor-politician Kamal Haasan on Monday assured 'payment' to homemakers for their work at home, computer with high-speed internet to all households, and transformation of farmers to agri-entrepreneurs, if his party MNM was voted to power in the 2021 Tamil Nadu assembly elections.

Unveiling his party's seven-point "Governance and Economic Agenda," he also said people below the poverty line would be taken to "prosperity line."

"Homemakers will get their due recognition through payment for their work at home, which hitherto has been unrecognised and unmonetised, thus raising the dignity of our womenfolk," the agenda said.

It was released by Haasan in the presence of former IAS officer Santhosh Babu, who recently joined the Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM).

On his campaign trail in northern Tamil Nadu for the second day on Monday, the 66-year-old MNM founder leader asserted that remittance to women at home was possible.

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"It is definitely possible," he said when reporters asked him about the assurance for 'payment' to the womenfolk in the agenda, virtually a mini-manifesto of the party. By avoiding corruption, the state could be made prosperous, he added.

To a question, Haasan ruled out joining hands with the Dravidian majors — the ruling AIADMK and the DMK.

Though the assembly elections were expected during April-May, the MNM, the AIADMK, and DMK have already launched their campaign to woo the electorate.

The MNM said, if voted to power, its government would take steps to realise revolutionary poet Bharati's dream of women empowerment through education, employment, and opportunities towards entrepreneurship.

"Women will break through established glass ceilings by the equal opportunities provided to them by our MNM government."

Promising what the party called 'online homes,' the agenda said its government would provide a computer along with high-speed internet (100 Mbps and above) through optical fibre cable to each and every home, as a common property resource by implementing the BharatNet and TamilNet projects.

The plan could bring far-reaching transformation, and the "internet will be declared as a basic human right," the party added.

Outlining 'Green plus revolution,' the party said farmers would be transformed into agriculture entrepreneurs.

It assured world-class infrastructural amenities like a cold chain from the level of villages, investments for value-added farming, and giving a fillip to organic farming as part of its agenda.

MNM would take people below the poverty line to the 'prosperity line,' the document said.

Promising a 'green channel' government, MNM said all certificates and documents would be issued without the citizen applying for it, and these shall be delivered to people on their smartphone.

A new law the Right to Government Services Act and predictive governance shall be part and parcel of its green channel government. "All services to citizens, including grievance redressal, shall be delivered in a timebound manner."

Paperless government offices, a new department of digital governance, promotion of green industries, technologies, and providing urban opportunities in rural areas were among the other aspects of the agenda.

Haasan visited Dravidian icon and late Chief Minister C N Annadurai's memorial and interacted with weavers in the town, known for its unique and popular Kancheepuram silk sarees.

The MNM, launched in February 2018, which contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections and garnered 3.77 percent votes, is seeking to offer an alternative to the Dravidian majors in the state polls — the first after the demise of DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi and AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa.