50% women quota in Central jobs, easing bail law: Congress in manifesto

The Congress had come in for criticism from the BJP in 2019 when its manifesto promised to repeal the colonial-era sedition law and “review” the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and Disturbed Areas Act which empower and provide immunity to security forces in areas hit by insurgency and militancy. The party played safe and skirted both the issues this time.

Incidentally, the Congress was critical of the BJP government when it passed three laws to replace the IPC, CrPC and the Evidence Act and made a claim that the sedition law has been repealed. “The removal of the law on sedition was a mere symbolic gesture as it is replaced by a Clause 150 BNS which is much more tyrannical and colonial in its essence,” Congress leader in Lok Sabha Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury had written in his dissent note to the Parliamentary standing committee which went through the three Bills.

The party’s promise in its manifesto that it will “enact a law on bail that will incorporate the principle that ‘bail is the rule, jail is the exception’ in all criminal laws”, too, is significant since it was the UPA government that made changes in the Prevention of Money Laundering Act in 2012 to introduce stringent bail conditions for those accused of corruption.

The Congress asserted that if voted to power it will review and change “anti-people laws” passed by the BJP government relating to “workers, farmers, criminal justice, environment & forests and digital data protection”.

It said: “We promise to ensure that the police, investigation and intelligence agencies will function strictly in accordance with law. They will be brought under the oversight of Parliament or the state legislatures, as the case may be. We promise to put an end to the weaponisation of laws, arbitrary searches, seizures and attachments, arbitrary and indiscriminate arrests, third-degree methods, prolonged custody, custodial deaths, and bulldozer justice. We promise to enact a law on bail that will incorporate the principle that ‘bail is the rule, jail is the exception’ in all criminal laws.”

The 46-page document titled Nyay Patra released by the Congress top leadership at the AICC headquarters also promises farmers a legal guarantee for Minimum Support Price; a nationwide caste census; universal and free healthcare at public health centres along with cashless insurance of up to Rs 25 lakh; compulsory and free education from Class I to Class XII in public schools; and scrapping of the Agnipath scheme.

After releasing the manifesto with party president Mallikarjun Kharge and former president Sonia Gandhi, senior Congress leader Rahul Gandhi exuded confidence of victory, saying it was a “much closer election” than is being “propagated by the media”. He asserted that the NDA’s “400-paar” campaign will meet the same fate as that of ‘India Shining’ in 2004.

On the Prime Ministerial face, he reiterated that the opposition’s INDIA bloc will decide the leader after the elections.

The manifesto also made new promises like enacting a Right to Apprenticeship Act to provide a one-year apprenticeship with private or public sector companies for diploma holders and graduates aged below 25 with a stipend of Rs 1 lakh a year; establishment of a Diversity Commission to monitor and promote diversity in public and private employment; and education and reforming of the production-linked incentive scheme to introduce a “new employment-linked incentive (ELI) Scheme for corporates to win tax credits for additional hiring against regular, quality jobs”.

“The overall theme of the manifesto is three powerful words – work, wealth, and welfare,” said former Finance Minister and chairman of the manifesto committee P Chidambaram.

Responding to a question, Chidambaram said OPS was “very much in our minds” and added that the party will come out with its position once the committee appointed under the Finance Secretary into the issue of pensions under the National Pension System makes its report public.

The party also promised full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir, including the tribal areas of Ladakh, and full statehood to Puducherry. It promised to amend the Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi Act, 1991, to declare that Lt Governor shall act on the aid and advice of the Council of Ministers of NCT, Delhi.

Rahul Gandhi said the 2024 Lok Sabha election is fundamentally different from previous polls. “I don’t think that democracy has been as much at risk, the Constitution has been at as much risk as it is today… this election is about those who want to destroy the Constitution and democracy in the country versus those who want to protect the Constitution and democracy,” he said.

To a question on the outcome of the polls, he said, “I am not a soothsayer. Unlike many political commentators I can’t predict the future but what I am confident of is that this is a much closer election than is being propagated by the media. It is a close election and we are going to fight an excellent election and we are going to win the election.”

“Do remember one thing. That there was a similar feeling being generated by the press when Mr Vajpayee was Prime Minister. There was the India Shining campaign. So, we have a similar idea being propagated, India Shining, with two-three new dimensions, international dimension … all sorts of new dimensions (with) full support of the monopolists of the country. But do remember what happened to the India Shining campaign and do remember who won that campaign,” he said.

The Congress’s social justice promises include implementation of 10% quota in jobs and educational institutions for Economically Weaker Sections without discrimination; filling up of backlog vacancies in posts reserved for SC, ST and OBC within one year; doubling the funds for scholarships for OBC, SC and ST students, especially for higher education; and a law named after Rohith Vemula to address discrimination faced by students belonging to backward and oppressed communities in educational institutions. It also promised to appoint more women and persons belonging to the SC, ST, OBC and minorities as judges of the High Courts and Supreme Court.

To appeal to the youth, the party promised setting up of fast-track courts to adjudicate cases related to question paper leaks and monetary compensation to the victims; filling up the nearly 30 lakh vacancies in sanctioned central government posts; restructuring the Fund of Funds Scheme for start-ups and allocate 50 per cent of the available fund, as far as possible equally among all districts, to providing funds to those aged below 40 to start their own businesses.

The other significant promise is to launch an urban employment programme guaranteeing work for the urban poor in reconstruction and renewal of urban infrastructure, increase the wage under MGNREGA to Rs 400 per day and fix the same amount as the national minimum wage and enact a law to specify and protect rights of gig workers and unorganised workers.

The other focus area is women. The manifesto promises to launch a scheme christened Mahalakshmi to provide Rs 1 lakh per year to every poor family as an unconditional cash transfer. The amount will be directly transferred to the bank account of the oldest woman of the household. It also promises to implement 33% quota for women in Parliament and assemblies and reserve 50% of central government jobs for women starting 2025.

The Congress also promised to de-criminalise defamation and provide, by law, a speedy remedy by way of civil damages; end arbitrary and indiscriminate suspension of the Internet; review the Telecommunications Act, 2023 and remove provisions that restrict freedom of speech and expression; 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.

It also promised to replace the GST laws and put in place a new regime which will be based on the universally accepted principle that GST shall be a single, moderate rate with a few exceptions.