NYAY, Farmers' Budget, No Electoral Bonds: Key Highlights Of Congress Manifesto

The Congress on Tuesday released its manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections with the tagline- "Hum Nibhayenge (We will deliver)."

Congress president Rahul Gandhi launched the manifesto in the presence of top party leaders including UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and formr PM Manmohan Singh.

Terming the manifesto as the 'voice of the people," Rahul said there was an "economic emergency" in the country and his party was determined to set right the situation.

Below are the key highlights of the manifesto:

• Rahul announced that the first point of address in the Congress's manifesto would be the much-discussed NYAY scheme, under which Rs 72,000 will be given to poorest 5 crore families.
• Cong proposes to have separate 'kisan budget' and make non-payment of loans by farmers civil offence instead of criminal one
• The Congress said it will allocate 6 per cent of GDP to education, will strengthen govt hospitals and give high-quality healthcare access to poor.
• Congress government would allow entrepreneurs to start new ventures without permission for three years to give a boost to the economy.
• Congress will fill all 4 lakh Central Government and institutional vacancies before March 2020.
• Congress will adopt a policy on foreign trade that will ensure that exports become a key driver of economic growth.
• The party promises to enact the Direct Taxes Code in the first year of its government
• Current GST laws will be replaced with GST 2.0 regime that will be based on a single, moderate, standard rate of tax on all goods and services
• Congress manifesto says the party will encourage the establishment of state-level and regional-level institutions, including small banks, to provide bank credit to MSMEs
• Will increase defence spending and expedite all modernisation programmes of the armed forces in a transparent manner
• It promises to work with other countries to eliminate terrorist groups, terrorist acts and cross-border terrorism
• It promises to scrap Electoral Bonds
• Congress says it will amend the Press Council of India Act to empower the Council to deal with the menace of fake news and paid news
• Congress will scrap the NITI Aayog
• Will pass the Constitution (Amendment) Bill to provide 33% reservation to women in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies
• The Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act and the Disturbed Areas Act in J&K will be reviewed.
• Will pass a new law to prevent and punish hate crimes

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