Congress releases its manifesto for 2019 Lok Sabha election, job, farmers, education main thrusts  

Congress president Rahul Gandhi (3R) with other senior leaders of the party during the release of the party manifesto.

New Delhi: The Congress, on Tuesday, released its manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha election. The party president, Rahul Gandhi, in the presence of party seniors, including Manmohan Singh, former prime minister; Sonia Gandhi, UPA chairperson; AK Antony, former defence minister, and P Chidambaram, former finance minister; released the document at the Congress headquarters, in New Delhi.

The manifesto – titled “Hum Nibhayenge (We Will Deliver)” – focused on education, farm crisis and unemployment along with the Congress’s minimum income scheme, Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY), which guarantees ₹72,000 a year to 20 per cent of the country’s poorest families.

Rahul Gandhi, while releasing the manifesto, said it “reflects the aspirations” of the people. He also said that there are five primary areas of focus – farmers’ debt, addressing unemployment, supporting entrepreneurs, education and healthcare.

Speaking first during the release of the manifesto, Chidambaram said the manifesto will set the narrative for the general election. He said, “The BJP may be the ruling party today, but the party is trying to take the narrative to five years back ... to divisiveness and hypernationalism ... Our manifesto is focussed on real issues of jobs.” He said unemployment, farm distress and women’s security were the top three issues. The theme of the manifesto is how to “marry wealth and welfare”.

Rahul Gandhi said he instructed party members not to prepare the manifesto behind closed doors. He said the document was the “voice of people”.  Gandhi said, “I do not want a single thing in this manifesto that is a lie because we have been hearing large number of lies spoken everyday by our prime minister.”

He said the NYAY scheme that his party proposed help the economy, which the Narendra Modi government “jammed” with the 2016 demonetization of ₹500 and ₹1000 banknotes.

Some of the highlights of the Congress manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha election are:

NYAY: Nyuntam Aay Yojana under which ₹72,000 per year will be given to the poorest 20 per cent households in India. The money will be transferred to a woman in the household.

Aadhaar: The Congress manifesto says, if the party is voted to power, it will pass a law on privacy and restrict the use of Aadhaar to the original purposes of the Aadhaar Act.

AFSPA: The Congress manifesto promises to review the controversial Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, which gives unprecedented power to security forces in disturbed zones like Jammu & Kashmir and some parts of the northeast.

Agriculture sector: The Congress manifesto says it will present a separate “Kisan Budget” every year. Apart from that it also promises to bring a permanent National Commission on Agricultural Development and Planning. Failure to repay farm loan would be treated as a civil offence and not a criminal offence, as it is now.

Education: The manifesto promises a 6 per cent allocation of the GDP towards education by 2023-24, which will be almost double of what it is now.

Employment: The Congress manifesto vowed to make jobs its Number 1 priority. It promises to fill all 4 lakh central government vacancies by March 2020 and to persuade state governments to fill their 20 lakh vacancies. It plans to create an estimated 10 lakh new “Seva Mitra (Service Friends)” positions in every gram panchayat and urban civic body. The document says businesses will be rewarded for job creation and employing more women and firms with over 100 employees will have to implement an apprenticeship programme.

Electoral reforms: The manifesto promises that the Congress will scrap the opaque “Electoral Bond Scheme”, set up a national election fund where any person can contribute. It also promises that 5o per cent of the electronic voting machines (EVMs) will be matched against voter-verifiable paper audit trails (VVPATs).

GST: The manifesto says the Congress will simplify the GST regime with a single moderate rate of tax, zero rating of exports, and exemption of tax for essential goods and services. It said, “We also promise panchayats and municipalities a share of GST revenues.”

Hate Crimes: The Congress promises to stop mob violence and lynchings by ending the sense of impunity among the perpetrators. It says it would seek to prevent atrocities and hate crimes against women, dalits, tribals, and minorities by “holding the district administration and the police accountable for proven negligence in the case of riots, mob violence and hate crimes.”

Healthcare: The manifesto promises that if the Congress is voted to power, it would enact the “Right to Healthcare Act”, which will guarantee every citizen free diagnostics, out-patient care, free medicines and hospitalization. This will be done through a network of public hospitals and enlisted private hospitals. It said the party will double expenditure on healthcare to 3 per cent of GDP by 2023-24.

MGNREGA 3.0: The Congress in its manifesto promises to launch MGNREGA 3.0, which will increase the guaranteed days of employment up to 150 days. It also promises to connect all villages and habitations with a population of 250 with a road under the Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana. It also promises to pass the “Right to Homestead Act” to provide a homestead for every household that does not own a home or own land.

The full video of the event in which the Congress launched its manifesto:

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