Jobs, welfare, equity in Cong’s 2024 manifesto

New Delhi The Congress on Friday promised to give ₹1 lakh a year as cash transfer to women from poor families, abolish the Agnipath scheme of army recruitment, restore statehood to Jammu & Kashmir, remove the 50% cap on caste-based reservation, waive student loans, conduct a caste census, and accord civil union rights to same-sex couples if it returns to power in general elections beginning this month.
The party also promised to remove the current BJP government of Manipur, where ethnic clashes have killed over 200 people since May last year, make defection punishable by disqualification, establish a national judicial commission in consultation with senior judges, amend the central law that governs Delhi, restore the status quo ante on the border with China, and require presiding officers of the two Houses to sever their connection with any political party.
The poll manifesto was heavy on pledges connected to employment, social sectors and marginalised sections. It focussed on the already announced five “pillars” of justice or nyay, and 25 guarantees under them, and was released in Delhi by Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge and senior leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi.
“The 2024 general election presents an opportunity for radically changing the style and substance of governance that has been in evidence in the past decade of Anyay kaal. We appeal to you to look beyond religion, language and caste, choose wisely, and install a democratic government that will work for all the people of India,” the manifesto said.

The document will be a key weapon for the country’s main opposition party as it attempts to wrest power from the dominant Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), which is vying for a third consecutive term in elections that begin on April 19. The party has focussed on a more strident social and economic agenda in its bid to undercut the BJP’s campaign, especially in north India where it faces off against the ruling party in 190-odd seats.
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Speaking at the event, Kharge said, “Some people are running away from us out of fear. They are the same people who have done something wrong. The one who stands straight on his principles, no one can scare him. Our leaders Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi do not fear, but the PM does. He talks about ‘400 paar’ after taking our people. He could not go to Manipur but went all over the world. When our leader Rahul Gandhi went there, why couldn’t he? He did not go because he fears and the one who gets fear, cannot run a country.”
In the 45-page document titled Nyay Patra, the party promised to fill nearly three million vacancies in sanctioned posts at various levels in the central government, fill all backlogs of Scheduled Caste, Scheduled Tribe and other backward caste posts within a year, abolish the contractualisation of regular jobs in the government and public sector enterprises, provide for reservation in private educational institutions for SC, ST and OBC, and end manual scavenging.
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In a section on the media, the Congress promised to withdraw the Broadcasting Services (Regulation) Bill and amend or delete the restrictive provisions of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act and the Press and Registration of Periodicals Act.
On the economy, the party pitched a Nav Sankalp Economic Policy focussed on jobs. It promised GST 2.0 with lower rates; relief for Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), and promotion of manufacturing.
For young people, the party said it will offer a specific one-time write off of pending education loans as on March 15, 2024. “The youth of India face joblessness as well as hopelessness.” It also promised a Right to Apprenticeship Act for diploma or graduates, laws to protect women at the workplace, fast-track courts for exam paper leaks and sports scholarships.
In agriculture, the party promised a legal guarantee for minimum support prices (MSP), a key demand of farmer unions who earlier this year attempted to march to the Capital. It also promised to raise wages paid in the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act. “The BJP/NDA government’s response has been callous and brutal. Farmers do not get fair and remunerative prices for their produce; nor do the producers have adequate avenues to market their produce.”
Attacking PM Modi during the launch of the manifesto, former Congress chief Rahul Gandhi said that Modi “has made a monopoly of political finance by using ED, CBI and IT”.
“Modi wants the monopoly of political finance in his hands. The entire political finances are in his hands. The entire structure is rigged. This election is about those who are trying to destroy constitution vs those who want to protect the Constitution and democracy. Once this fight is won, it is important to see that India is run not for 2-3 people but for all,” Gandhi said.
He emphasized that it would be a “much closer election than what is propagated by the media”.
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The party vowed to carry out a socioeconomic caste census nationally and increase the legal limit for reservation. “It is the moral and political responsibility of any government to ensure that every Indian family is assured of a basic income every month.” It said health care will be free at government hospitals and a ₹25 lakh health insurance. The education budget would be doubled and free education till class 12 made compulsory if the party came back to power, said the document.
The Congress said it will probe demonetisation, the Rafale deal, the Pegasus spyware usage, and the electoral bonds scheme, and bring those who made “illegal gains” through these measures to justice.
The party said it will repeal laws that effectively allow free speech to be restricted and improve protections such as those for privacy and the right to dissent. “We will expand Articles 15 and 16 of the Constitution to prohibit discrimination on the ground of disability, impairment or sexual orientation,” said the document.
The party promised to end arbitrary internet suspensions, uphold the right to privacy and dissent peacefully, and stop “extrajudicial measures” such as “lynching and bulldozer justice”
The Congress promised that elections to the Lok Sabha and the state assemblies will be held as and when they are due, and said it will review the new education policy. It also promised to enact a law on bail that will incorporate the principle that ‘bail is the rule, jail is the exception’ in all criminal laws.
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The party said it will amend the Constitution to create two divisions in the Supreme Court: a Constitutional Court and a Court of Appeal. “We promise to amend the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and make defection an automatic disqualification of the membership in the assembly or Parliament.”
It also pledged to end the “weaponisation” of laws, arbitrary searches, seizures and attachments, arbitrary and indiscriminate arrests – echoing allegations by many Opposition leaders against the central government.
Former Union minister P Chidambaram, the chairman of the manifesto committee, drew a parallel between the PM Modi’s guarantees and the Congress’ guarantees, and said, “The Congress’ guarantees are concrete guarantees. We have spelt out what each guarantees means. Modi’s guarantees are empty promises. He is giving guarantees to ensure he gets a third term. I can narrate 50 such promises of Mr. Modi which are empty promises.”
While there was no response from the BJP on the Congress’s manifesto, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister and senior BJP leader Shivraj Singh Chouhan said, “The confidence in the Congress party has significantly eroded. The forms of the members of INDI bloc are being rejected.”