Cong manifesto promises dole to jobless graduates
NEW DELHI: The Congress on Sunday released its manifesto for Delhi polls, focussing on environment, transport and employment for the youth. It pledged ₹5,000 for graduates and ₹7,500 for postgraduates who are registered with employment exchanges in Delhi but are still unemployed. It also promised 300 units of free electricity.
NEWDELHI: The Congress on Sunday released its manifesto for the February 8 Delhi assembly elections, focussing on environment and transport. The party promises 300 units of free electricity and free water up to 20,000 litres.
Delhi Congress chief Subhash Chopra said that the party will also move the Supreme Court against the implementation of the controversial Citizenship (Amendment) Act,the National Register of Citizens and the National Population Register, if voted to power. They also pledged to regularise all unauthorised colonies in Delhi.
After ruling the national capital for three terms, between 1998 to 2013, the Congress did not win a seat in the 2015 assembly polls.
The BJP called their promises an attempt at “vote bank politics”. “As far as regularisation of unauthorised colonies is concerned, it is the (Narendra) Modi government that started the process to give ownership rights to residents,” said Satish Upadhyay, co-convener of the Delhi BJP election management panel.
FOR YOUTH
Under the ‘Yuva Swabhiman Yojana’, the party promises ₹5,000 for graduates and ₹7,500 for post-graduates who have registered with the employment exchanges in Delhi but are still unemployed. It also promises 100 days of training to make them “job-ready”. To encourage young entrepreneurs, the Congress will also launch the ‘Yaari Startup Incubation Fund’, a ₹5,000 crore corpus that will incentivise business ventures.
FOR WOMEN
In its 24-page document, the Congress said that it will reserve 33% seats in government jobs for women along with expanding the ambit of the ‘Ladli Scheme’ — a flagship programme to promote girl child education under the former Delhi chief minister Sheila Dikshit. “We will also provide ₹1,10,000 as ‘shagun’ for the marriage of graduate girls from the economically weaker sections. This is to encourage them to continue their education. We will also take strict action against companies that do not provide safe transport options to women at night,” Maken said.
FOR EDUCATION
The party has promised to implement an extension of the ‘Right to Education Act’. It also offered the ‘Right to Quality Education’ to ensure that schools impart quality education at par with global standards. Subsidised education for all students living in notified slums and all resettlement colonies till class 12, in both private and public schools, was also featured in the manifesto.
FOR ENVIRONMENT
The Congress has promised to allocate 25% of the government’s annual budget for the environment. The document also said that it will aim to bring at least 30% of Delhi’s area under green cover. “We have a seven-point comprehensive strategy to fight pollution and protect Delhi’s environment. We will make Delhi the cleanest and greenest city in India,” Chopra said.
Despite a detailed plan, experts said that considering the Congress and the AAP share a similar vote base, most of their promises are an extension of the schemes already in place. “For the Congress, it will be difficult to connect with voters in slums and unauthorised colonies now without the subsidies that were introduced by the AAP government,” said Sanjay Kumar, director at the Centre for the Study of Developing Societies.