Takeaways from Congress manifesto: Big push for jobs, quotas, doles; focus on youth, women, marginalised | Political Pulse News

The Congress has additionally acknowledged that it’s going to, if voted to energy, carry a regulation to recognise civil union between {couples} belonging to the LGBTQIA+ group.

Listed below are the important thing takeaways from the manifesto.

Social justice

The Congress, particularly its senior chief Rahul Gandhi, has already made the demand for a nationwide caste census the centrepiece of the social gathering’s marketing campaign, hoping to regain the social gathering’s backward class help base. The manifesto reiterates the promise however provides that the social gathering will move a constitutional modification to boost the 50% cap on reservation for the SCs, STs and OBCs, implement the ten% quota in jobs and training for the Economically Weaker Part (EWS) for all castes and communities with out discrimination, refill backlog vacancies in reserved posts inside one yr and double the funds for scholarships for the SC, ST and OBC college students, particularly for larger training.

Moreover, the social gathering promised to enact a regulation just about Article 15(5) of the Structure to supply for reservation in non-public academic establishments for the SCs, STs and OBCs, one other regulation named after Rohith Vemula to handle discrimination confronted by college students belonging to the oppressed and backward communities in academic establishments, and pledged to determine a Range Fee that may measure, monitor and promote variety in private and non-private employment and training.

It promised to nominate extra girls and individuals belonging to the SC, ST, OBC and minority communities as judges of the Excessive Courts and the Supreme Courtroom.

Unemployment

The Congress has been fiercely vital of the Narendra Modi authorities’s document on job creation. The social gathering hopes unemployment will emerge as one of many key electoral points, focusing vastly on the creation of jobs. Its guarantees on this regard embrace enactment of a Proper to Apprenticeship Act to supply a one yr apprenticeship with a non-public or a public sector firm to each diploma holder or faculty graduate beneath the age of 25 with a stipend of Rs one lakh a yr. The social gathering has additionally pledged to arrange fast-track courts to adjudicate circumstances associated to query paper leaks and supply financial compensation to the victims.

Moreover, the Congress has promised to fill the practically 30 lakh vacancies in sanctioned posts at numerous ranges within the central authorities, restructure the Fund of Funds Scheme for start-ups and allocate 50% of the out there fund amongst all districts, for offering funds to youth beneath 40 years of age to begin their very own companies and generate employment. It has promised to abolish utility charges for presidency examinations and posts.

Among the many social gathering’s different important guarantees is to launch an city employment programme guaranteeing work for the city poor in reconstruction and renewal of infrastructure, enhance the wage beneath MGNREGA to Rs 400 per day and repair the identical quantity because the nationwide minimal wage, and enact a regulation to specify and shield the rights of gig and unorganised staff and improve their social safety.

The Congress has promised to reform the production-linked incentive scheme and introduce a brand new employment-linked incentive (ELI) scheme for corporates to win tax credit for added hiring towards common, high quality jobs.

Girls

The opposite focus space of the manifesto is girls welfare. The Congress believes its money dole guarantees for girls had helped it win the Meeting elections in Himachal Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana within the latest previous. The manifesto guarantees to launch a scheme, referred to as Mahalakshmi, to supply Rs 1 lakh per yr to each poor Indian household as an unconditional money switch. The quantity will likely be immediately transferred to the checking account of the oldest lady of the family. It additionally guarantees to implement 33% reservation for girls in Parliament and Assemblies instantly and reserve 50% of central authorities jobs for girls starting 2025.

Institutional overhaul & administrative steps

The Congress has usually accused the BJP authorities of hollowing out constitutional establishments and clamping down on freedom of expression. The manifesto makes a number of guarantees together with decriminalising the offence of defamation and supply, by regulation, a speedy treatment by means of civil damages and assurance to finish the arbitrary and indiscriminate suspension of the Web.

The social gathering mentioned it’s going to evaluate the Telecommunications Act, 2023 and take away the provisions that prohibit freedom of speech and violate the precise to privateness.

Considerably, the Congress has additionally promised to make sure that the police, investigation and intelligence companies will perform strictly in accordance with regulation. “They are going to be introduced beneath the oversight of Parliament or the state legislatures, because the case could also be. We promise to place an finish to the weaponisation of legal guidelines, arbitrary searches, seizures and attachments, arbitrary and indiscriminate arrests, third-degree strategies, extended custody, custodial deaths, and bulldozer justice. We promise to enact a regulation on bail that may incorporate the precept that ‘bail is the rule, jail is the exception’ in all legal legal guidelines,” the manifesto states.

Your entire Opposition has been up in arms towards the federal government over the arrest of a number of senior Opposition leaders on expenses of corruption.

Silences, tweaks

After pitching for the Outdated Pension Scheme (OPS) for presidency staff, making it part of its plank within the Meeting polls, and truly reverting to it in states the place it got here to energy, the Congress manifesto steers away from the OPS promise in its manifesto.

The Congress had additionally demanded a return to paper poll. In 2018, the social gathering had handed a decision at its AICC session in search of a return to the paper poll system. However the manifesto is silent on that rely too. As an alternative, it guarantees to amend the election legal guidelines to mix the effectivity of the digital voting machine (EVM) and the transparency of the poll paper.

“Voting will likely be via the EVM however the voter will be capable of maintain and deposit the machine-generated voting slip into the voter-verifiable paper audit path (VVPAT) unit. The digital vote tally will likely be matched towards the VVPAT slip tally,” it says.

The manifesto has promised elimination of the Angel Tax, first launched by the UPA authorities in 2012-13, and passage of a regulation to cap assortment of cess as a share of tax revenues. Cess has for lengthy been a bone of rivalry between the Centre and the states because the quantity thus collected is allegedly not shared with states and used solely by the Union authorities.

“We’ll finish the duplicitous ‘cess’ raj of the Modi authorities to disclaim states their rightful share of tax revenues by introducing a regulation to restrict Union cess and surcharges to five per cent of gross tax revenues,” it says.

Different main guarantees

The Congress has promised to abolish the Agnipath scheme.

“We’ll instantly restore full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. We’ll amend the Sixth Schedule of the Structure to incorporate the tribal areas of Ladakh,” the manifesto says.

The social gathering has pledged to develop Article 15 and 16 to ban discrimination on grounds of “incapacity”, “impairment” or “sexual orientation”.

Hit by defections of a lot of its MLAs and MPs, ensuing within the collapse of its governments in some states like Madhya Pradesh and Arunachal Pradesh, the Congress has mentioned it’s going to amend the Tenth Schedule of the Structure and make defection (leaving the unique social gathering on which the MLA or MP was elected) an automated disqualification of the membership within the Meeting or Parliament.

The social gathering has promised to determine a Nationwide Judicial Fee (NJC) in session with the Supreme Courtroom and the Chief Justices of the Excessive Courts. “The composition of the NJC will likely be determined in session with the Supreme Courtroom. The NJC will likely be chargeable for the choice and appointment of judges of the Excessive Courts and the Supreme Courtroom,” the manifesto says.

The social gathering has promised to determine a Judicial Complaints Fee consisting of retired judges of the Supreme Courtroom and retired Chief Justices of the Excessive Courts to analyze complaints of misconduct towards judges of the upper judiciary.

The Congress has additionally pledged to exchange the GST legal guidelines and put in place a brand new regime which will likely be primarily based on the universally accepted precept that GST shall be a single, average price with a number of exceptions. The social gathering proposes to revamp the GST Council, making it the ultimate authority on coverage and all GST-related issues.