Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Focus on jobs, gig workers, legal guarantee for MSP in Congress' draft manifesto
The manifesto, a draft of which was handed over to party Chief Mallikarjun Kharge on March 6, also features implementation of Sachar Committee recommendations for Muslims, a pan-India caste census and increasing reservation for the OBC community, sources said
The Congress party has promised a comprehensive social security cover for gig workers, an immediate recruitment on at least 30 lakh vacant Central government posts and 33 per cent reservation for women in government jobs in its manifesto, a draft of which was handed over to party Chief Mallikarjun Kharge on March 6 by the members of the Congress Manifesto Committee.
According to the sources, the manifesto also proposes a legal status for Minimum Support Price, implementation of Sachar Committee recommendations, a pan-India caste census, and increasing reservations for the OBC community.
The social security cover for gig workers, which may be offered as a right-based law, will likely encompass pension, disability and life insurance, according to a report in Hindustan Times. The plan has been modelled on a law that former Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot implemented in the state last year.
The party may also repackage the Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) programme – which found few takers during the 2019 elections – and offer ₹ 72,000 annually to the eldest woman in the country’s 20% poorest families. The manifesto may also promise scrapping the military recruitment scheme ‘Agnipath’, reports suggested.
Manifesto Committee Chairperson and former Finance Minister, P Chidambaram, along with panel members, presented the draft of the manifesto to Kharge on Wednesday. The manifesto will now be scrutinised by the party’s Working Committee to give the final touches.
Former Deputy Chief Minister of Chhattisgarh, TS Singh Deo, is the Convenor. Karnataka CM Siddaramaiah, Jairam Ramesh, Shashi Tharoor and Priyanka Gandhi Vadra are other members of the panel.
Overall, the manifesto is likely to be based on the thrust areas of Rahul Gandhi’s Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (BJNY), which focuses on ‘Protecting the Constitution,’ emphasising economic, social, and political justice.
The party may promise a Germany-style apprenticeship and compensation for paper leaks to woo young voters in its manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections 2024, according to a report.
For quite some time now, Rahul Gandhi has been attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Union government on joblessness and paper leaks.
Reduced to 44 and 52 seats in the 2014 and 2019 Lok Sabha elections, respectively, the Congress party faces the formidable task of stopping the BJP from returning to power in the general elections scheduled for April-May. The party has stitched up a coalition with other parties as part of the INDIA bloc.
A confident BJP has already released the names of candidates for 195 seats. Prime Minister Narendra Modi discussed the agenda of his expected third government with his ministers at a meeting in New Delhi on Sunday, March 4.
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