Congress 2019 Elections Manifesto: What’s New & What’s Recycled?

The Congress party released their manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections on 2 April.

With the elections coming up, and polling just days away, what has the party promised, what’s new and different about this manifesto and how much of it will they be able to deliver on?

In The Big Story podcast, we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the first Congress manifesto under Rahul Gandhi. Tune in!

In this podcast we’ll tell you everything you need to know about the first Congress manifesto under Rahul Gandhi.

So, quickly let’s take a look at some of the highlights of the manifesto.

The first pledge on the manifesto is the NYAY Scheme or the Nyuntan Aay Yojana. A minimum income guarantee scheme, that promises to transfer Rs 72,000 per year to the poorest 20 percent of India’’s households to combat poverty.

The Congress has also promised that they’ll ensure 34 lakh jobs in the public sector. How do they plan on doing this? Three ways:

1. First, by filling 4 lakh central government job vacancies, by March 2020.
2. Second, by persuading state governments to fill 20 lakh job vacancies.
3. And finally, they also promise to create 10 lakh New Seva Mitra positions in gram panchayats and urban local bodies.

On the topic of employment, the Congress’ manifesto also promises to raise the number of guaranteed employment days under the MNREGA from 100 to 150 days.

Now coming to the topic of small and new enterprises. The Congress manifesto also promises that as far as setting up new businesses goes, any young person who wants to set up a business can do so, and can operate without a permit for the first three years or so. They’ve capped this off by promising rewards to business for employing women and for creating new jobs.

Clearly, they’ve made some big promises as far as tackling poverty and unemployment. So, how different is this from previous Congress manifestos and how much of it sticks to the party’s traditional manifestos?

“This is different from their past manifestos. It’s simple, pointed and tries to be very specific. Usually, manifestos aren’t meant for reading, they’re more of a ritual. There’s an element of newness in the idea to tackle poverty. But how they carry this will determine the effectiveness of the schemes. This is just a first glimpse of the party’s promise. It’s too early to speculate.”

Sanjay Pugalia, Editorial Director, The Quint

The manifesto also promises to tackle the agrarian crisis with remunerative prices, lower input costs and assured access to institutional credit, all of which will be provided for in a separate kisan budget for farmers. On the topic of farm loans, an issue that the country’s farmers have been crying themselves hoarse about, the manifesto promises to decriminalise farm loan defaults, and making them only a civil offence, not a criminal offence.

The manifesto addresses education as well by with a promise of free compulsory education till Class 12 in all public schools, along with promise to allocate 6 percent of the GDP for education by 2024.

How much of this is actionable, and what’s different about these points of their Manifesto?

“The party should be more specific and up front about how they would mobilise funds and carry out the promises they’ve made. India is huge and it’s very possible to raise funds for health and education. The kisan budget has been in demand, but the approach has to change. The farming industry has to be unshackled from government control, allowing the farmer to be self-reliant and self sufficient.”

Sanjay Pugalia, Editorial Director, The Quint

The party’s also made fundamental rights a key issue — like the right to privacy, by restricting the use of Aadhaar and a pledge to protect the right to free speech and dissent, especially the rights afforded to journalists, students, activists and other similar groups.

The right to equality is also a big part of this manifesto. The party has promised to uphold the rights of minorities and women through reservation for women in the Lok Sabha and state legislative assemblies as well as Central government jobs.

It also promises to implement the Forest Rights act to protect scheduled tribes from being displaced unjustly.

In addition to this, the party promised to stamp out hate crimes, mob lynchings, and atrocities against minorities and hold law enforcement accountable for proven negligence in mob lynchings, riots or other hate crimes.

Since the BJP government came into power in 2014, the country has witnessed a sharp rise in hate crimes and incidents of mob violence, as well as violence against minorities. Over 165 incidents of mob violence have taken place since 2015, and at least 90 deaths that resulted from lynching.

Other promises the party has made include that they will scrap section 124A of the IPC, which lays down the offence of sedition. From the students of JNU to activists across the country, the sedition law has been used to silence dissent and opposition.

The party has also promised to amend the Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), which has come under fire for enabling fundamental rights violations in Jammu and Kashmir, Manipur, and other disturbed areas of the country. What these amendments will be, they didn’t specify.

So, has this been a staple of the Congress’s past election Manifestos or is this a response to the present situation in the country?

“This is new for the Congress. They’ve always been status quo-ist in their past manifestos. They never promised to tinker with sedition laws, some times even using the sedition law against people. This seems to be a change in their approach as far as AFSPA goes too. If they amend it to tackle sexual crimes and torture, it could win them some goodwill. As far as the sedition law, it seems to be a reaction to the situation in the country.”

Aditya Menon, Associate Editor, The Quint

Other promises on this manifesto include the abolition of the Electoral Bonds scheme (which has come under heavy critique by the Election Commission itself for its opacity and potential for abuse), and the declaration that the party will restore the dignity of the country’s institutions such as the RBI, the CIC, the EC and the CBI.

The party has also promised a new GST, a GST 2.0, so to speak, that implements a single moderate tax rate and exemptions for essential goods and services.

On the topic of defence spends, the manifesto promised to INCREASE spending on defence to meet the Armed Forces’ needs as well as an expediting the army’s modernisation process with transparency.

The final points of the manifesto promise to address the issues of urbanisation and disaster management with a comprehensive policy. This becomes particularly important given the large number of urban disasters that have taken place across India in the past five years.

Finally, the manifesto promises to tackle an issue that’s literally killing people by the thousands — air pollution. It promises to tackle the problems of air pollution, environmental protection and global warming by setting up an independent Environmental Protection Authority.

What will the BJP’s manifesto promise? Well, we’ll tell you that too, so stay tuned.