Congress president Rahul Gandhi is expected to release his party's manifesto for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections on April 2.
While Rahul's promise of a minimum income guarantee - Nyuntam Aay Yojana (NYAY) - of Rs 72000 per annum to Rs 5 crore of India's poorest families has already generated much curiosity, the details of the implementation of the scheme will be laid out in the manifesto.
Congress sources say that the key areas of focus will be NYAY, job creation and alleviation of farmer woes. These aside, the manifesto, drafted by a party panel headed by former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram, is also expected to make some "big ticket announcements" on the social sector and on ways to bolster micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME).
The document, which includes a large number of "crowdsourced ideas", will also explain how the party, if voted to power, will implement Rahul's assurance of a 3-year holiday from seeking government permissions to young entrepreneurs who are starting new businesses.
It will also reiterate the party's commitment to ensuring early passage of the women reservation bill in Parliament. The bill which promises 33 per cent reservation to women in government jobs, as well as legislatures, was passed by the Rajya Sabha in March 2010 during the term of the Congress-led UPA-II government of Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh. However, protests from the then BJP-led Opposition and some UPA allies had stalled its passage in the Lok Sabha. Over the past five years, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and the Congress president have repeatedly urged Prime Minister Modi to have the Bill passed by Parliament, assuring him of Congress's support on the issue, but the NDA government has not responded to the demand.
The latest push for women's reservation comes at a time when Opposition parties like Naveen Patnaik's Biju Janata Dal and Mamata Banerjee's Trinamool Congress have decided to introduce women candidates in their lists of party candidates for the Lok Sabha polls. While the BJD was the first party to publicly declare that 33 per cent of its candidates for the upcoming Lok Sabha and assembly polls in Odisha will be women, Banerjee upped the game by announcing that 42 per cent of Trinamool's candidates in the Lok Sabha polls from Bengal will be women.
While the Congress has made no such assurance with regard to its candidates for the upcoming polls, Rahul Gandhi has said that 33 per cent of government jobs will be reserved for women if a government led by his party is elected in May.
Sources said that the manifesto is also likely to come up with some out of the box ideas on how MSME units will be helped to increase their business. The party's manifesto panel had discussed the possibility of whether Congress-led governments in the states can be asked to source products manufactured by MSME units. This was after Rahul Gandhi asked MP chief minister Kamal Nath to analyze whether his government can make khadi uniforms mandatory in the schools run by it and source khadi from small scale textile traders. The idea had come up during an interaction Rahul had with a small group of traders and young professionals from across the country two months ago. Views of reputed economists on how to improve the state of India's economy have also been sought - NYAY was a result of this exercise, Rahul has maintained.
Chidambaram and his party had urged the public to contribute ideas for the party manifesto while Rahul has been regularly holding discussions with small groups of professionals from different walks of life to gauge what they expect from a central government. A large number of these ideas are expected to find resonance in the manifesto to be released at the Congress headquarters situated at 24, Akbar Road on April 2.
The party's highest decision-making body, the Congress Working Committee has already been given a presentation of the draft manifesto by Chidambaram on March 25. The manifesto release will be done in the presence of Sonia Gandhi, former PM Dr Manmohan Singh, Chidambaram and other senior party leaders.
