Congress' 2024 Manifesto For Lok Sabha Polls: Key Announcements And Highlights

The Congress party has announced its manifesto for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, focusing on job creation, infrastructure development, and a national caste census. Party leader Mallikarjun Kharge, alongside Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, and former Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram, who led the drafting committee, presented the manifesto in Delhi.

Kharge described the manifesto as a document of justice in the country's political history, emphasizing its commitment to the five pillars of the 'Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra' - youth, farmers, women, workers, and equity. The manifesto, titled 'Nyay Patra,' promises 25 guarantees under the themes of 'Paanch Nyay' and 'Pachees Guarantee.'

Among its key promises, the Congress manifesto pledges to conduct a nationwide socio-economic and caste census.

Here are the key statements and promises outlined in the Congress party's poll manifesto, titled 'Nyay Patra':

• Conducting a nationwide socio-economic and caste census.
• Passing a constitutional amendment to raise the 50% cap on reservations for SC, ST, and OBC.
• Urging voters to look beyond religion, language, and caste to elect a democratic government.
• Changing the style of governance witnessed over the past decade.
• Filling nearly 30 lakh vacancies in sanctioned posts within the central government.
• Adopting the Rajasthan model of cashless insurance for up to Rs 25 lakh for universal healthcare.
• Implementing a 10% quota in jobs and educational institutions for EWS without discrimination.
• Abolishing the Agnipath programme and directing Armed Forces to resume normal recruitment.
• Introducing a new right to apprenticeship act providing one year apprenticeship to every diploma holder or graduate below the age of 25.
• Launching an urban employment programme guaranteeing work for the urban poor in reconstruction and renewal of urban infrastructure.
• Reserving 50% of central government jobs for women starting in 2025.
• Restoring full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir immediately.
• Probing allegations against individuals who evaded law after joining the BJP.
• Abolishing contractualisation of regular jobs in government and PSUs and ensuring the regularisation of such appointments.
• Implementing the Mahalakshmi scheme to provide Rs 1 lakh per year to every poor Indian family.
• Writing off the amount due on student educational loans, including unpaid interest as of March 15, 2024, as a one-time relief measure compensated by the government to banks.
• Setting the national minimum wage at Rs 400 per day.
• Replacing GST laws enacted by the BJP/NDA government with GST 2.0, based on a single, moderate rate to not burden the poor.
• Enacting a Direct Taxes Code for transparent, equitable, clear, and impartial tax administration of direct taxes.
• Eliminating "Angel tax" and other exploitative tax schemes inhibiting investment in new micro, small companies, and innovative start-ups.