Dhaka, Jan 30 (.) The National Citizens Party (NCP) on Friday rolled out its 36-point election manifesto ahead of the upcoming polls on Feb 12.
The document prioritises jobs, accountability and institutional reform at the centre of its political pitch, promising to create 10 million decent jobs within five years and to launch a Tk100 billion ($818 million) entrepreneurship fund to support businesses and start-ups.
The 86-page document, titled ‘Manifesto of Youth and Dignity’, was formally unveiled at a hotel in Dhaka, under the slogan ‘Bangladesh through a new lens’, in the presence of party leaders, supporters and journalists.
NCP Convener Nahid Islam attended the function as chief guest, and was joined by party spokesperson and Central Election Management Committee chair Asif Mahmud Shojib Bhuyain joined as a special guest, alongside senior figures from the party’s central and affiliated bodies.
According to party leaders, the document represents a roadmap which will pave the way for a more powerful and dignified Bangladesh, built on the foundations of a youth-driven, progressive, and accountable nation, rooted in institutional reform, and committed to ensuring social justice and national sovereignty.
Spanning 12 chapters and built around a 36-point reform agenda, the manifesto covers governance, human rights, economic restructuring, education, healthcare, the environment, women’s empowerment, employment, expatriate welfare, foreign policy and national security.
At its core, there is an underlying pledge to generate large-scale employment, with targeted support for small and medium enterprises, women and youth entrepreneurs through cash-flow-based lending and a dedicated Tk100 billion fund.
The party also proposed setting a national minimum wage of Tk100 per hour, introducing labour safety insurance and pension schemes, easing the tax burden on low and middle-income earners, and raising the tax-to-GDP ratio to 12% by cracking down on evasion.
A gradual shift toward a cashless economy also features prominently.
Accountability and justice run as a central thread through the document. The NCP pledged to publicly disclose the income and asset statements of ministers, MPs, elected representatives and senior officials through a digital platform named “Hisaab Dao,” and to establish an independent commission to oversee the implementation of the July Charter’s legislative and administrative reforms.
The party also committed to pursuing justice for crimes against humanity, including the July killings, the Shapla Chattar killings, the BDR massacre, enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings, alongside forming a truth and reconciliation commission.
To safeguard minority and human rights, it proposed a special investigative cell under the Human Rights Commission with powers to independently probe discrimination, communal violence and ethnic persecution.
On the subject of governance, the manifesto proposes wide-ranging civil service reforms, including greater lateral entry, fully performance-based promotions overseen by an independent commission, inflation-adjusted pay scales and the inclusion of imams, muazzins and khadims in the national salary structure.
In education, the party proposed an education reform commission, a separate salary structure for teachers, the nationalisation of 75% of MPO-registered institutions within five years, and mandatory six-month internships or thesis research at the undergraduate level, alongside measures to reverse brain drain and establish a national computing server.
Healthcare pledges include setting up specialised healthcare zones in the northern and southern regions, introducing a GPS-tracked national ambulance and emergency response system, upgrading district hospitals with modern ICUs and CCUs, rolling out NID-based digital health records and gradually implementing a national health insurance system.
To boost women’s participation and welfare, the manifesto proposes 100 directly elected reserved seats for women in the Lower House, paid maternity and paternity leave, optional period leave in government offices, workplace daycare facilities and decentralised access to essential women’s health products.
Environmental and infrastructure commitments include shutting down polluting brick kilns, enforcing effluent treatment plants in industries, generating 25% of electricity from renewable sources within five years, transitioning government vehicle procurement to electric vehicles and introducing integrated public transport systems in major cities.
On foreign policy, the party said it would take a firm stance on unresolved issues with India, including border killings and water-sharing disputes, and pursue international legal avenues if necessary, while reiterating support for a humanitarian solution to the Rohingya crisis and expressing its intention to work toward ASEAN membership.
In the area of national defence, the manifesto outlines plans to create a reserve force twice the size of the conventional armed forces, establish a UAV brigade within five years and acquire medium-range surface-to-air missile systems.
. . PRS