Congress Nyay Patra: 1 lakh annually to poor families, caste census

The Congress Party on Friday released its Nyay Patra, or manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha 2024 elections. Sops that the party promises if voted to power include an annual grant of one lakh rupees to every poor Indian family, a nationwide caste census and constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on quota for the marginalised, MSP for farmers, reservation of jobs and education for the economically weak and restoration of status quo on India’s border with China.

The manifesto was released at the headquarter of All India Congress Committee (AICC) in Delhi by party president Mallikarjun Kharge. Also present at the event were Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi besides former finance minister P. Chidambaram, who headed the panel that drafted the manifesto.

“This manifesto will be ‘nyay ka dastavez’ (document for justice) in the political history of the country. From the five pillars of the Bharat Jodo Nyaya Yatra — yuva (youth), kisan (farmers), naari (women), shramik (workers), and hissedari (equity), 25 guarantees will emerge,” Kharge said.

The Nyay Patra is themed around “justice”, Chidambaram explained. The veteran Congress leader criticised the BJP’s governance over the past decade, saying: “Every aspect of justice has been threatened, weakened in the last 10 years, especially in the last five years.” He added that the Nyay Patra is based on “work, wealth and welfare”.

Here are the salient features of the Congress manifesto:

ONE LAKH ANNUAL GRANT FOR POOR

Among the party’s biggest poll promises is the Mahalakshmi scheme that guarantees Rs 1 lakh annually to every poor Indian family. Criticising the BJP regime as a “government of the rich, by the rich and for the rich”, Chidambaram said the ruling party was “driven by the interests of the top one per cent... but we will look at the bottom 50 per cent”.

NATIONWIDE CAST CENSUS

The Congress manifesto trains focus on caste census, too, which is a topic that has generated a lot of political heat in the past months. The Nyay Patra assures an all-India census to classify castes and sub-castes, and talks of a constitutional amendment to raise the 50 per cent cap on quota for scheduled castes, scheduled tribes and other backward classes.

MINIMUM MSP FOR FARMERS

The party promises that if voted to power they would give a permanent guarantee on MSP, or minimum support price. MSP has been the root cause of farmers’ protests for nearly four years now, with farmers agitating against the three farm laws that the Central government introduced and eventually withdrew.

EDUCATION, JOBS FOR ECONOMICALLY WEAK

The manifesto talks of providing 10 per cent reservation in jobs as well as educational institutions to Economically Weaker Sections (EWS) across castes and communities. The party also promises to help state governments set up one government community college per tehsil/taluka.

RESTORE CHINA BORDER STATUS QUO

The party promises to work towards restoring status quo as far as India’s border with China is concerned, besides making sure “areas where both armies patrolled in the past are again accessible to our soldiers”.

The Lok Sabha polls will be held from April 19 to June 1 this year, in seven phases. Results will be declared on June 4.