New Delhi: The Congress manifesto for the coming Lok Sabha polls will bear a strong imprint of former party chief Rahul Gandhi’s social justice agenda that he has been articulating through his ongoing Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra.
The party’s manifesto committee chaired by former finance minister P Chidambaram finalized the draft on March 5 and has given the same to party chief Mallikarjun Kharge who will soon convene a meeting of the Congress Working Committee to approve the document.
“I can’t speak about the draft but it will surely reflect the ideas that the Congress is closely associated with and certainly bear the imprint of Rahul Gandhi’s social justice agenda with a heavy focus on the youth,” manifesto committee member TS Singhdeo told this channel.
According to party insiders, the manifesto is likely to promise a law to ensure transparency in government recruitment to end the problem of exam paper leaks and an assurance to fill up all the pending government vacancies in a phased manner if the INDIA alliance was voted to power.
“Over the past years and especially during the Nyay yatra, Rahul Gandhi has been expressing concern over the high unemployment rate in the country which is the biggest challenge for the government. Throughout the yatra, public feedback has shown that unemployment was the single biggest concern among the youth today,” AICC secretary in charge of Gujarat BM Sandeep Kumar told this channel.
Rahul’s yatra will enter the western state on March 7.
According to party insiders, the unemployment allowance will ensure direct transfer of money into the bank accounts of the jobless youth and will provide a major relief to them.
Besides jobs, conducting a fresh caste census to find out the social distribution of communities would also figure majorly on the party’s poll manifesto, said party insiders.
“The caste census is not a political issue but will allow the party to frame policies to ensure social justice in which the concerns of both the backwards as well as the poor among the upper castes would be addressed,” said Sandeep Kumar.
Further, expanding the party’s policies in Congress ruled Karnataka, Telangana and Himachal Pradesh, the poll manifesto is likely to promise a monthly allowance for women.
In an attempt to provide further relief to the youth, there could be a provision of cheap education loans to allow the young to enhance their qualification and skills.
As part of the focus on youth, the party is likely to promise to cancel the current Agniveer scheme which provides short-term employment to the youth in the armed forces. In this series, the party will promise to implement the One Rank One Pension scheme in its true spirit for the welfare of the ex-servicemen.
In the past, Rahul has been speaking against the Agniveer scheme and had been raising the concerns of those who were preparing for a regular career in the armed forces for years but are still awaiting the filling up of permanent jobs.
The document will also promise a legal MSP to address the concerns of the farmers and provide them justice. Further GSP on some important farm equipment and inputs could also be reduced to provide relief to the food growers.
As part of the focus on rural jobs, the party is likely to promise more funds for the MGNREGS. The party has been charging the central government of neglecting the rural jobs scheme started by the previous UPA regime.
Further, as Rahul has been saying that small and medium businesses help create bulk jobs but have been ignored by the Centre, a provision for cheap loans might be made for the segment.
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