Takeaways from Congress manifesto: Big push for jobs, quotas, doles; focus on youth, women, marginalised

Facing an uphill battle in the Lok Sabha elections and struggling to win back voter confidence, the Congress Friday came out with its manifesto, announcing a raft of promises to woo the marginalised, such as lifting the 50% cap on quota for SCs, STs and OBCs in addition to reservation in private educational institutions. The party has outlined steps to create jobs, hoping those would strike a chord with the youth, even as it has offered cash doles to women besides pledging to reserve 50% of central government jobs for them.

The 46-page document, titled “Nyay Patra”, promises a legal guarantee for minimum support price (MSP) for farmers’ crops, cashless insurance up to 25 lakhs for universal healthcare, and offers compulsory and free education from Class I to Class XII in public schools.

The Congress has also stated that it will, if voted to power, bring a law to recognise civil union between couples belonging to the LGBTQIA+ community.

Here are the key takeaways from the manifesto.

The Congress, especially its senior leader Rahul Gandhi, has already made the demand for a nationwide caste census the centrepiece of the party’s campaign, hoping to regain the party’s backward class support base. The manifesto reiterates the promise but adds that the party will pass a constitutional amendment to raise the 50% cap on reservation for the SCs, STs and OBCs, implement the 10% quota in jobs and education for the Economically Weaker Section (EWS) for all castes and communities without discrimination, fill up backlog vacancies in reserved posts within one year and double the funds for scholarships for the SC, ST and OBC students, especially for higher education.

Besides, the party promised to enact a law with reference to Article 15(5)