NEW DELHI : The Congress today released the ‘Nyay Patra’, the party manifesto, for the 2024 General Elections, promising ‘Paanch Nyay’, five pillars of justices with 25 guarantees, which include, ‘Yuva Nyay’, ‘Naari Nyay’, ‘Kisaan Nyay’, ‘Shramik Nyay’ and ‘Hissedari Nyay’.
The Nyaya Patra was released at the AICC headquarters by the Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, Congress Parliamentary Party Chairperson Ms Sonia Gandhi, former president Rahul Gandhi, Manifesto Committee Chairman P. Chidambaram and General Secretary (Organisation) K.C. Venugopal.
The main guarantees include caste census, legal guarantee on MSP, removing the fifty percent cap on reservation of SCs, STs and OBCs, providing 50 percent reservation to women in central government jobs, waiving of all educational loans up to March 15, 2024, filling the 30 lakh vacancies pending in various central government departments at the earliest, raising the minimum daily wage to Rs 400 and introducing the Rajasthan Model of universal healthcare with insurance cover up to Rs 25 lakhs for everyone.
The party also promised to scrap the Agnipath scheme of recruitment in Armed Forces and restore the earlier system.
The party announced that it will provide legal guarantee for the MSP of various crops which will be fixed on the basis of the recommendations of the Swaminathan Commission.
As promised repeatedly by the former party president Rahul Gandhi, the Congress guaranteed that it will conduct a nationwide socio-economic and caste Census to enumerate the castes and sub-castes and their socio-economic conditions.
The party said, it will scrap the fifty percent cap on reservations of scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and Other Backward Castes, through a constitutional amendment.
The Congress ‘Nyay Patra’ promised to abolish application fees of examinations for recruitment in various government departments.
Besides, the party will also provide one time relief for students and will write off all the student and educational loans, due up to March 15, 2024 and the banks will be compensated for it by the government.
In a major step towards providing equality to women, the party promised it will reserve one-half (50 per cent) of central government jobs for women starting in 2025.
Promising to launch the Mahalakshmi scheme, the party said it will provide ₹1 lakh per year to every poor Indian family as an unconditional cash transfer. The poor will be identified among the families in the bottom of the income pyramid, the party added.
To achieve transparency and ensure credibility of the electoral process, the ‘Nyay Patra’ said, the Congress government will amend the election laws to combine the efficiency of the electronic voting machine (EVM) and the transparency of the ballot paper. “Voting will be through the EVM but the voter will be able to hold and deposit the machine-generated voting slip into the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) unit”, it said, adding, “the electronic vote tally will be matched against the VVPAT slip tally”.
The Congress promised to replace the existing GST regime saying it will replace the GST laws enacted by the BJP/NDA government with GST 2.0. “The new GST regime will be based on the universally accepted principle that GST shall be a single, moderate rate (with a few exceptions) that will not burden the poor”, the manifesto added.
The party also promised to double the GDP in next ten years, saying, “the Congress is committed to rapid growth and generation of wealth…we have set a target of doubling the GDP in the next 10 years’.
On the border issue with China, the party said, it will work to restore the status quo ante on borders with China and to ensure that areas, where both armies patrolled in the past, are again accessible to our soldiers. “We will take the necessary steps to adjust our policy towards China until this is achieved”, it added.
The party said it will repair relations with the Maldives also.
In order to curb the menace of paid and fake news, the party said it will amend the Press Council of India Act, 1978 to empower the Council to deal with the menace of fake news and paid news.
To discourage defections, the party promised to amend the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and make defection (leaving the original party on which the MLA or MP was elected) an automatic disqualification of the membership in the Assembly or Parliament.
The party promised to raise the pensions for senior citizens, widows and persons with disabilities under the National Social Assistance Programme to Rs 1,000 per month against the current pitiful amount between 200-500.
In order to streamline the functioning of sporting bodies and federations, Congress promised to enact a separate legislation for the registration of sports federations/bodies/associations which will ensure full compliance with the Olympic Charter, allow for autonomy and full accountability, and provide recourse for members and sportspersons against discrimination, bias, sexual harassment, abuse, wrongful termination, etc.
The Congress government will provide sports scholarships of ₹10,000 per month to talented and budding sports persons below the age of 21.
The party also promised not to interfere with personal choices of food and dress, to love and marry, and to travel and reside in any part of India. “All laws and rules that interfere unreasonably with personal freedoms will be repealed”, the party said.
It will also encourage state governments to establish “school fee regulation committees”.
It will ensure to provide mobile phones for all students from classes IX to XII for equitable access to learning.
It promised to double the number of Anganwadi workers and create 14 lakh more jobs.
The Congress will Immediately restore full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir.
It will also amend the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to include tribal areas of Ladakh
The party promised to give Special Category status to Andhra Pradesh.
The party will amend the Government of NCT of Delhi Act, 1991 so that the LG shall act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers of NCT, Delhi except on 3 reserved subjects. Party has also promised to grant full statehood to Puducherry.
The Congress promised to remove the present state government of Manipur and heal the wounds between communities.
It will appoint a Reconciliation Commission for political and administrative settlement in Manipur and ensure appropriate compensation and redressal for victims and survivors of conflict in Manipur.
The party promised to have a final solution and agreement with the Naga groups.
Priyanka Gandhi, Ajay Maken, Jairam Ramesh, Sachin Pilot, Pawan Khera and many other leaders were present on the occasion.
