Jobs, talks with Pak top of agenda

MUMBAI: Jobs for educated urban youth, free education for girls till the post-graduation level, more economic growth, talks with Pakistan over terror, and a complete loan waiver for farmers — the Nationalist Congress Party’s (NCP) poll manifesto, released on Monday, touched upon every topic that has dominated the election discourse this season.

The Sharad Pawar-led party has promised guaranteed jobs to educated youth for 100 days in urban areas. It also promised a white paper to show how the Centre’s demonetisation move in November 2016 “drastically slowed down India’s economic growth and impacted GDP”.

Other promises in the 24-page document included a single, or a maximum of two, Goods and Services Tax (GST) rates for better compliance; and scrapping the Triple Talaq bill in its current form as it “did not consult members of the community”.

At present, an ordinance criminalises the practice.

The NCP is contesting the polls with the Congress and other like-minded parties in Maharashtra.

Senior NCP leader and head of the party manifesto committee Dilip Walse Patil said the country was reeling under a job crisis. “The NSSO, in its draft report estimated unemployment in India had hit a 40-year-high of 6.1% in 2017-18. Almost 1.80 crore people lost their jobs in the country last year. According to a CMIE report, the loss of jobs and the number of unemployed people in the country have been steadily rising.”