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A promise to hike the reservation ceiling from 50% to 75%, including the restoration of a 4% quota for Muslims, a return to the Old Pension Scheme (OPS), and a promise to repeal all “unjust laws and anti-people laws passed by the BJP government” within a year of assuming power. These are among the key promises the Congress has made in its manifesto for the Karnataka Assembly elections that was released on Tuesday.
“To increase the ceiling and reservation from 50% to 75% to accommodate the hopes and aspirations of SC/ST/OBC/minority and other communities like Lingayats and Vokkaligas. The Congress party (is) committed to increasing reservation for SCs from 15% to 17%, STs from 3% to 7%. and restore minority reservation (of) 4% and increase reservations (for) Linagayats, Vokkaligas and other communities,” read the manifesto released by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge. The party said it would also push for the inclusion of reservation hike in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution to safeguard it and promised to release the Socio-Economic and Caste Census report in the first session of the legislature if voted to power.
The assurance on raising the reservation ceiling comes at a time when the BJP has made internal reservation for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (STs), quota hike for Vokkaligas and Lingayats, and the scrapping of reservation for Muslims its key poll plank.
The other key assurances include the fulfilment of the demand of a section of government employees to bring back the Old Pension Scheme, Rs 1.5 lakh crore for various irrigation projects, streamline payment to contractors who take up government projects, and the repeal of all “unjust laws and other anti-people laws passed by the BJP government” within a year of assuming power. These include the three farm laws that the Centre repealed but are still in force in Karnataka.
The Congress, appealing to government job aspirants and government servants, said it would “fill up approved vacancies in all government departments within one year” and “sympathetically consider the extension of Old Pension Scheme” to government employees who joined the service from 2006 onwards.
The promise to streamline payments to contractors comes in the wake of corruption allegations that the Karnataka State Contractors’ Association has levelled against the BJP government. The Congress said it would “abolish corruption in public works” and “create a transparent tender system” for projects of various government departments. It promised a “special law to punish the perpetrators of corruption”. The party said it would ensure that projects are taken up within 90 days of the issue of the work order and are completed within a specific timeframe and that bills are settled on time for contractors.
“We will not allow anyone to destroy the existence of our pride Nandini,” reads the manifesto. Last month, a row erupted in the state over reports that Nandini that is a popular brand of the state-run Karnataka Milk Federation would merge with Amul. The Congress has promised to implement a Ksheera Kranthi Mission to increase daily milk production to 1.5 crore litres.
The manifesto also includes the five guarantees made by the party in the run-up to the polls such as Gruha Jyothi, or 200 units of free power to all houses; Gruha Lakshmi, which promises Rs 2,000 per month to women head of a family; Yuvanidhi, which is an unemployment allowance for graduates and diploma holders; Shakthi, which guarantees free bus travel to women in state-run buses; and Anna Bhagya, under which 10 kg of foodgrains or millets of choice will be given to each person in a family below the poverty line.
Other assurances include strong legal action against groups such as the Bajrang Dal and the Popular Front of India (PFI) that “sow discord in society”, high-speed Wi-Fi hotspots in every gram panchayat, Rs 200 crore for scientific measures to prevent man-animal conflict, enactment of a Karnataka Whistleblowers Protection Act, a policy to control online loan apps, purchase of cow dung at Rs 3 per kg, the establishment of compost/manure centres in villages by involving rural women and youth, setting up of the country’s largest boat-building yard, a gold and diamond park in Mangaluru, and a special package to revive establishments closed due to demonetisation and Covid pandemic.
The assurances made for Bengaluru include a comprehensive law for the management of Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) by bringing all service providers such as Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), transport, and housing under a single agency; the creation of a mega Bengaluru region with infrastructure and administrative connections with cities such as Kolar, Chikkaballapur, Doddaballapur, Tumakuru, Ramanagara and Kanakapura; elevated flyovers with necessary wings to ease the traffic; the completion of all pending metro projects within a year of coming to power; and the establishment of a Mega Bengaluru Planning Committee.
