Decoding Election Manifesto of Indian National Congress
What India’s opposition has to offer against ruling government
The Indian National Congress (INC) released its election manifesto for the 2024 elections on 5th April 2024. The elections in India are due next month and the citizens of the biggest democratic country in the world will decide if they want the current ruling government to continue for the third term or if they want to give a chance to the current opposition. What makes this election interesting is that most of the leading opposition parties have already come under one banner and are fighting against the ruling party, which has forged alliances with multiple regional players.
The release of the election manifesto strengthens the spirit of democracy as it reinforces belief in the idea that this country doesn’t belong to any person, family, or party but to the individuals who live in it. It is these individuals who select the government by assessing the participants on their intentions.
The release of the election manifesto by INC provides them an opportunity to connect with the masses and highlight what they will work for if provided a chance. It is a good thing and needs to be praised. Every party, whether regional or national, should take inspiration and follow suit by releasing their intentions and focus beforehand (not just a week back) and allow the public to judge. The current ruling party is yet to release a formal manifesto and thus, it is hard to make any comparison.
To be neutral and fair, I am using the details shared by the INC on their website and other trusted sources that put forth only the promises and do not engage in criticism or appreciation. If you wish, you can read the details on this link
Part — 1 Justice
The manifesto starts by targeting the justice denied in the past 10 years. It is hard to comment on the statement as the entire theme is political. The opposition wasn’t any better when it came to justice. It was the BJP and the other regional parties that accused the UPA alliance (the time when INC ruled with their partners) of denying justice and misuse of central agencies. Even at the state level, there is so much happening on the ground that the entire theme of justice doesn’t even fit any political party. Once anyone is in power, they all resort to the same practices. The media curbs, misuse of state agencies, denying individuals and groups to gain votes of particular sections, etc., are common and followed by each party at their levels. Thus, the statement is only rhetoric and has less value
Part 2: Work, Wealth & Welfare
The second part two of the manifesto focuses on issues like work, wealth distribution, and welfare schemes and could garner the interest of the voters.
After making remarks on the ruling party and the current state of affairs of the country the INC has made big promises like:
1. Nationwide Economic Social Caste Census
The party has shared its intentions of doing a nationwide caste census to bring social equity for all. It includes understanding the population and representation of each caste in various regions, institutions, and at various levels of governance. Then working on the reservation to create a utopian state where each caste and group has its representation in government and other institutional levels. The move may require increasing existing reservation quotas at various levels.
Analysis
To me, the move appears a blunder and disaster. The opposition alliance may secure good votes with such poll promises but would damage the fabric of democracy and equity. A state develops when you allow it to grow neutrally. Even in existing times, the reservation is killing the spirit of merit and highly skilled individuals choose to leave the country as they find better opportunities outside. Despite having reservations at various levels, the clashes among various sections of society are only increasing and there is a growing call for working on the reservation by both sides (those who have it want it to be increased and those who don’t have it either want to have it or dissolve it completely)
Also, you cannot fix the social representation by appointing someone at some post by relaxing the standards of the position. You can surely kill the quality and efficiency in this process. Anyway, the reservation is only increasing day by day and more people now identify themselves as backward. It’s a strange thing that a policy that was supposed to bring out the backward classes in the mainstream has pushed even the general sections of society to identify themselves as backward.
There are better ways to arrive at social equality by imparting education, working on moral upbringing, sensitizing the population, and skill development, etc., A growth-oriented society would slowly move away from divisional practices and focus on growth and livelihood. The parties should talk about creating equal opportunities for each individual by working on the root level ensuring good quality services for each individual which they can use to better their lives.
But these are my thoughts, there would be people who would believe the promise is right and perhaps also vote for the party.
2. First Job Guarantee & Promises to Youth
This is something like a guaranteed internship for each student. The party has announced that all graduates would be presented with a 1 lac annual one-time internship that would help them build skills and use the earned knowledge.
Analysis
It is a great step. If done with detailed thought and a proper roadmap of execution, it can prove to be a game changer and can help create ripples in raising jobs, skill levels and building a better India.
But some issues raise questions about the promises. There are millions of graduates in India and the population is rising with more and more students graduating. A lot of them aren’t skilled and often fail in basic exams. There are issues of declining education standards and thus, having a degree doesn’t necessarily mean that the student is skilled for a job.
Moreover, the sheer number of students in low-job scenarios implies there would be other criteria that would be used apart from graduation and age. The same can also be said about later stages and there would be questions of “What after the internship?”, “Would the companies have enough jobs to employ all these individuals once the one-year period is over?”
Lastly, the 1 lac annual compensation is too low (the fee of institutes is much higher)
In a nutshell, the spirit of this idea is good. It appears the idea is not thought out enough and we can expect more clarity around it if INC comes into power. One can say it to be a gimmick, crowd-capturing statement, or just some motivation but one cannot downplay that at least there is someone who is looking into the job statistics.
The remaining points such as setting fast-track courts for hearing exam leak cases is a good step. One-time relief for student loans is another freebie and would only create issues in the future. INC and opposition parties are already famous for providing freebies and creating stress on the economy. However, the strategy works and every political party keeps on adopting it. No one now cares about the economy, the long-term impact of such decisions, and if there is an alternate way to use this money that can help the public.
Abolishing examination fees, providing scholarships to sportspersons, and the thoughts about funds of funds scheme for startups are good ideas and should be further thought upon. Doesn’t matter who comes to power, these ideas should be thought upon seriously and incorporated at state to national level manifestos. If we can ensure quality education, most of the issues will automatically evaporate.
3. Women Empowerment
There is another set of promises focused on women of India. It includes raising the reservation of women to 50% in certain government jobs, equal rights and pay for women, equal heritage, 1 lac support to the poor women, etc.,
Analysis
Introducing equal rights at the constitutional level is a great step. But giving free money, and forcing free/ relaxed entry is a disastrous step. I cannot understand why would the parties want to kill growth from our economy.
The women are already facing challenges at various levels. There are needs to revamp infrastructure, raise education levels of females, create more awareness, provide opportunities, control population, provide sanitary health at ground level to all females, etc., but the parties are engaged in using reservation as a one time magic solution and think it will change everything.
While no one is against women coming to the forefront and leading the nation, the idea of mandating doesn’t sound good at all. It will only create chaos in the society.
There have been great steps by earlier governments (including INC and BJP) to raise awareness of women’s rights and women’s empowerment. The steps such as abolishing gender revelation, promoting seats for single girl children, and education awareness programs for people about girl health have led to the success that women enjoy today. There is also an active need to promote more such steps.
But the 50% reservation is simply a stupid idea. One should try and create an atmosphere in which each individual feels safe, respected, treated equally, and gets equal opportunities without any discrimination. It cannot be done only by introducing reservations. Also, for a country where the male members are looked upon as bread earners and aren’t treated well if they cannot provide for their family, having such reservations would squeeze opportunities from them.
If one adds the caste reservation and women reservation, the seats available for unreserved male candidates would practically disappear and the quality of system would take a hit in the short term.
The “mahalaxmi” scheme of awarding INR 1 lac to poor needy females is another disaster and would promote more such freebie schemes in the near future. If you give food, security, and shelter for free, why would anyone bother working? Moreover, rather than distributing this money for free, the same money can be used to educate and train the individuals of these families so that they don’t remain dependent on your freebies and can live a dignified life. But why would anyone do that? won’t that take away the vote bank and make those voters aware of their capabilities?
4. Promises for Farmer
This is another big announcement from INC. It includes creating a legal framework for the MSP, introducing a minimum national wage, giving employment guarantee, and other similar things
Analysis
This is another disastrous promise. On a time when the focus should be on sustainability, creating open markets, better infrastructure for supporting agriculture, better quality seeds, export quality produce, and changing the agriculture sector from a low-income profession to a medium to rich-income source, the party has again favored to win votes by announcing freebies and killing the growing economic spirit.
Agriculture is already exempted from income tax and there are already a lot of subsidies given for the agriculture domain. Most of the rich individuals, politicians, firms, and other businesses use agriculture to hoard money as it doesn’t include taxes. The existing subsidies are already a stress on the economy and most of the farmers still do not have access to good quality seeds, formal financial assistance, direct markets, education, agriculture technologies, etc., On top of that, there are issues of high amount of urea, declining crop diversity, declining soil quality, etc.,
When a sector has so many issues, the government and opposition should come together to discuss how they can address the issues one by one. But since freebies work, both are engaged in announcing loan waivers, MSP, and whatnot.
There is a lot that can be done in the agriculture domain and none of the governments at the state or center level are willing to work on that. The public is also dormant in adopting these changes and any new changes are pushed with protests, road blockage, and sloganeering. It is no wonder that the parties only care to announce freebies and turn a blind eye to the actual issues that need targeting.
5. Promises in Education
There are other promises for the education sector. Here are some highlighted below
Analysis
The promises of reducing special fees, working on right to education act for free education from 1–12, scholarships for PhD, consultation with state governments, etc., appear good on paper. These promises inspire confidence and trust. However, the big issues lie in the quality of education.
The Indian education sector is struggling with individuals complaining about rising fees of private institutions, exam leaks, fake colleges & degrees, unstructured approaches to education and teaching, schools and universities still relying on the old methods and unaware of new tools, skill development not being part of the curriculum, etc.,
The above promises do nothing to address the prominent issues and only act as a sweet statement to the uninformed public. Thus, the promises would only impact a small size of the population and can’t be thought of as brilliant ones.
Other promises are neutral at best but appear more as appeasement and freebies. To sum up, the Manifesto is a seriously thought agenda devised by the INC to lure multiple sections of society and should work to garner some votes. They are smart in targeting multiple sections of society and using the freebies to lure them. I would not call it good for the national interest but it can help them gain something in the election.
We need to see what the current ruling government has to offer. They are already late and should have been proactive in listing what they will introduce if reelected but now the manifesto of INC is out, we can hope they will catch up and work on something.
The writer is not associated with any party and the above article is only aimed to create awareness about the manifesto. I can expect each individual would have their own opinions and they can differ for multiple reasons. I welcome a healthy discussion to put forth the benefits and flaws of each argument.
