Congress Promises Big on Jobs, Quotas and Healthcare in 2019 Manifesto

New Delhi, Apr 5: The Indian National Congress recently unveiled their election manifesto for the 2019 Lok Sabha polls, outlining an ambitious plan to bring significant reforms in key sectors like employment, affirmative action and universal healthcare. Titled ‘Nyay Patra', the document was released by party president Rahul Gandhi in the presence of senior leaders like Sonia Gandhi and Mallikarjun Kharge.

Some of the major promises included in the party's manifesto are providing legal guarantees for minimum support prices (MSP) for farmers as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission. They also pledged to fill nearly 30 lakh Central government job vacancies at various levels. The Congress reaffirmed support for continuing 10% quotas for the economically weaker sections across all communities.

On reservations, the manifesto stated that a constitutional amendment will be pushed to raise the cap on quotas for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes beyond the current 50% limit once elected to power. A nationwide survey of socio-economic status and caste census was another highlight. In a bid to boost employment, the manifesto guaranteed a new Right to Apprenticeship Act for one year of training for diploma and graduate youth below 25 years.

For healthcare, the Congress promised to adopt Rajasthan's model of cashless medical insurance coverage up to Rs. 25 lakh for all citizens. Restoring statehood to Jammu & Kashmir immediately and launching an urban job guarantee scheme were other commitments. The manifesto also assured scrapping the Agnipath defense recruitment plan and reverting to regular intake to achieve full sanctioned military strength.

With its manifesto focussing on the themes of social justice, economic equality and governance reforms, the Congress aims to provide Indians an alternative vision and put forth its agenda to radically transform the country if voted to office in the upcoming polls.