Many of these suggestions seem like a good thing for a modern democracy.
The question I have, based on experience in the UK and watching the USA, is whether the public will support such ideas, or whether many have become convinced that other, more nationalistic, ideas are now a priority?
Overall I think India is heading in the right direction because that's what happens when more people are educated and connected via technology to each other and to what happens around the world.
@rzeta0 >The question I have, based on experience in the UK and watching the USA, is whether the public will support such ideas, or whether many have become convinced that other, more nationalistic, ideas are now a priority?
It seems like even amongst the cow belt regions (Haryana, Uttarakand , UP and Bihar and Rajasthan) people are challenging the narrative of bjp when mainstream news channel anchors go there to report
@rzeta0 Can't say for sure how much has the tide changed but seems like the hindu nationalistic types are also raising questions, this also has to do with a very popular youtuber called dhruv rathee who has a large following, he recently made videos on the electoral bond scam of bjp, then the way they conduct propoganda via whatsapp and now some of his points are being raised in rallies :D
"The scope of the Public Procurement Policy will be expanded to award more public works contracts to contractors belonging to the SC and ST communities"
"The current universal healthcare programme will be redesigned for different sections of the people and will allow enlistment of private hospitals, non-profit health facilities and health centres under the schemes"
"All manufacturers of medicines will be under strict scrutiny for maintaining quality and following good manufacturing practices"
I wish they were more specific on this, like we will comply with all of ICH's (an international consortium that sets safety standards for drug impurities) standards for drug impurities
"Congress guarantees a new Right to Apprenticeship Act to provide a one year apprenticeship with a private or a public sector company to every diploma holder or college graduate below the age of 25. Apprentices will get ₹ 1 lakh a year. The apprenticeship will impart skills, enhance employability and provide full-time job opportunities for millions of youth"
"Congress will restructure the Fund of Funds Scheme for start-ups and allocate 50 per cent of the available fund, as far as possible equally among all districts, for providing funds to youth below 40 years of age to start their own businesses and generate employment"
Man just provide AWS credits or create a state subsidised hosting services, just that alone could enable so many people to launch online businesses.
"Due to widespread unemployment, as a one-time measure of relief, the amount due including unpaid interest as on 15 March 2024 in respect of all student educational loans will be written off and the banks will be compensated by the government"
"We will restore the autonomy of colleges and universities. Higher educational institutions will have academic freedom and will be encouraged to experiment, innovate and promote research. We will protect and preserve students’ freedom of speech and expression and the right to have elected student unions"
"We will establish a National Sports Science Institute to promote research and development in sports sciences and training"
"Congress will ensure that there is at least one community sports centre in every block and municipal town and at least one multi-sport coaching centre in every district"
"In order to encourage talented youth to pursue sports as a profession without fear of their future, Congress will introduce a “Sporting Heroes Job Guarantee” programme to assure every sportsperson who has represented India at the international level or the national level a good quality job after the end of the sportsperson’s sporting career"
"We will allocate sufficient funds to promote sports among girls and women, persons with disabilities, and disadvantaged groups such as ST"
"All laws will be scrutinised for gender discrimination and gender bias. The offending provisions will be removed or amended in the first year of the Congress government"
"We will ensure that the principle of ‘Same Work, Same Wages’ is enforced in order to prevent discrimination in wages for women"
"We will ensure that more women are appointed to high positions such as judges, secretaries to government, high ranking police officers, law officers and directors on the boards of listed companies"
"The Labour Force Participation Rate of women is an abysmal 25 per cent. We will embark on a massive exercise to expand women’s participation in the workforce through measures such as fair and equal wages; safe places of work; childcare services; preventing sexual harassment and violence; and extending maternity benefits"
"We will substantially increase the amount of institutional credit that is extended to women. In particular, we will vastly enhance the credit extended to Self Help Groups by banks, Non-Banking Financial Companies and Micro Finance Institutions"
"We will appoint an Adhikar Maitri in every Panchayats to serve as a paralegal to educate women and assist them in the enforcement of their legal rights"
"In partnership with the State governments, the Central Government will double the number of working women hostels in the country, with at least one Savitribai Phule Hostel in each district"
"Congress will give a legal guarantee to the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) announced by the government every year, as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission"
"Crop insurance will be made farm and farmer specific. Premium will be charged from the farmer according to the sum insured and all claims will be settled within 30 days"
"In consultation with farmers’ organizations, we will make available to farmers three avenues for sale of agricultural produce:
(a) Regulated Market under the prevailing APMC Act.
(b) E-market that will be operated by an autonomous body with representation of farmers’ organizations, Farmer-Producer Organizations (FPOs) and individual progressive farmers"
"(c) Freedom to the farmer to sell agricultural produce at the farm-gate or at any other place of choice with an option to upload the sale-and-purchase agreement on a digital ledger"
"We will establish farmers’ retail markets in large villages and small towns to enable the farmers to bring their produce and sell the same to consumers"
"We will launch a major programme to install solar panels connected to tube wells to generate energy"
"We will double the funding for R&D in agriculture in five years"
"We will revive the system of Agricultural Extension Services to disseminate the best knowledge and best practices to every agricultural holding. We will increase the number of Krishi Vigyan Kendras and appoint more scientists to each Kendra"
"In co-ordination with state governments, we will ensure that one agricultural college and one veterinary college is established in every district of the country"
Again to reiterate, there are 797 districts in India.
"Congress will establish mechanisms with neighbouring countries to resolve the problems faced by fishing communities, to eliminate conflict, arrests, seizure of boats and loss of lives, and to improve livelihood opportunities for our fishing communities"
"We will introduce reforms in industrial and labour laws to restore the balance between labour and capital to meet our twin goals of full employment and high productivity gains"
"We will increase the wage under MGNREGA to ₹400 per day. MGNREGA funds and workers may also be deployed to build public assets such as classrooms, libraries and primary health centres"
"We will collaborate with the state governments to open Indira Canteens that will offer subsidised meals as has been done in Karnataka and Rajasthan"
"We will propose laws to regulate the employment of domestic help and migrant workers, and ensure their basic legal rights"
"We promise to ensure that the police, investigation and intelligence agencies will function strictly in accordance with law. They will be brought under the oversight of Parliament or the state legislatures, as the case may be"
Should have been more specific, like colin gonsalves suggested
Colin Gonsalves interview: ‘Policemen who pursue malicious prosecutions should face crippling fines
"We promise to put an end to the weaponisation of laws, arbitrary searches, seizures and attachments, arbitrary and indiscriminate arrests, third-degree methods, prolonged custody, custodial deaths, and bulldozer justice"
"We promise to enact a law on bail that will incorporate the principle that ‘bail is the rule, jail is the exception’ in all criminal laws"
"We promise to ensure that the police, investigation and intelligence agencies will function strictly in accordance with law. They will be brought under the oversight of Parliament or the state legislatures, as the case may be"
"Congress has always believed that self-regulation is the best way to correct the misuse of the media. Congress will amend the Press Council of India Act, 1978 to strengthen the system of self-regulation, protect journalistic freedoms, uphold editorial independence and guard against government interference"
"Congress will pass a law to curb monopolies in the media, cross-ownership of different segments of the media, and control of the media by business organisations. Congress will refer cases of suspected monopolies to the Competition Commission of India"
"Congress will defend independent journalism by enacting laws to protect journalists from coercive action by the State. This includes restricting the powers of the government for surveillance of journalists, seizure of their devices and exposure of their sources"
"Congress will pass a law to preserve the freedom of the Internet and to prevent arbitrary and frequent shutdowns of the Internet"
"Congress will amend the Constitution to create two divisions in the Supreme Court: a Constitutional Court and a Court of Appeal. The Constitutional Court consisting of the seven seniormost judges will hear and decide cases involving the interpretation of the Constitution and other cases of legal significance or national importance"
"Congress will establish a Judicial Complaints Commission consisting of retired judges of the Supreme Court and retired Chief Justices of the High Courts to investigate complaints of misconduct against judges of the higher judiciary"
Nice, they should expand the above with establishing some kind of body for setting basic jurisprudence standards as well to monitor quality of rationale of judges.
"In the last 10 years, we have seen that several measures taken by the BJP/NDA government were actually a cloak for corruption. Some examples are demonetisation, the Rafale deal, Pegasus spyware, and the Electoral Bonds scheme. Congress will probe these dubious deals and schemes and bring to law those who made illegal gains through these measures"
Oh guys don't hold punches here, go full zondo commission
"Congress will commit resources and attention to sustaining India’s living traditions, especially to the flourishing of our distinct indigenous cultures"
"We will empower the artisan economy and promote crafts-based enterprises"
"We will offer grants for the translation of traditional and contemporary expressions of Indian culture into Indian and foreign languages to foster national integration and Indian soft power abroad"
"Congress will support government and private efforts to establish museums, art galleries, libraries and archives. This will include smaller institutions at the district level, which are the repositories of local knowledge about artists, artisans, folk culture and communities. We will support measures to create digital archives"
"Congress will guarantee artistic freedom. We will oppose censorship. Attempts by vigilante groups to censor or intimidate artists will be dealt with firmly and according to law"
"Abolish the Agnipath programme and direct the Armed Forces (Army, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard) to resume normal recruitment to achieve the full sanctioned strength"
"Double the number of Anganwadi workers and create an additional 14 lakh jobs"
"Launch a strategic mining programme to explore and mine rare earths and critical minerals with the object of increasing the share of mining to 5 per cent of GDP and creating 1.5 crore jobs for unskilled and skilled workers in the mineral-rich states. The programme will be implemented consistent with stringent environmental and labour safety standards"
"Provide jobs for low-education, low-skilled youth by launching a Water Bodies Restoration Programme and a Wasteland Regeneration Programme that will be implemented through village panchayats and municipalities"
"Establish an autonomous non-profit society involving the state governments, universities and business organisations to establish at least one Skills Training Institute in each district to impart skills through short and long-term courses to youth in the age group of 18-29 years. Incentivise corporates to use CSR funds for skill training in recognised skill training institutes"
"Congress will lessen the burden of tax on MSMEs owned by individuals and partnership firms"
"Shopkeepers and small retail businesses that face intense competition from online businesses will be given significant tax relief"
"We will end the duplicitous “cess” raj of the Modi government to deny states their rightful share of tax revenues by introducing a law to limit Union cess and surcharges to 5 per cent of gross tax revenues"
"Congress will replace the GST laws enacted by the BJP/NDA government with GST 2.0. The new GST regime will be based on the universally accepted principle that GST shall be a single, moderate rate (with a few exceptions) that will not burden the poor.
"The Income Tax Appellate Tribunal (ITAT), the Goods and Services Tax Appellate Tribunal (GSTAT) and the Customs Appellate Tribunal (CESTAT) will be autonomous judicial bodies without interference by the government"
"Congress will aim for India attaining a position of leadership in multiple industries such as steel, metals, garments and textiles, cement, automobiles, electronic goods, pharmaceuticals, engineering goods, petroleum products, chemicals, and mining rare earths and critical minerals"
"Congress will reform the production-linked incentives (PLI) scheme to target specific sectors that can create thousands of jobs by making India one of the top 5 producers in the world in that sector"
"We will implement renewable energy schemes that will make the panchayats or municipality self-sufficient in electricity as far as possible. We will promote solar-powered engines for tapping groundwater for agriculture"
"We will ensure that modern scientific methods for exploration and extraction of natural resources are followed to protect and preserve the local environment and communities. Representatives from the concerned panchayat or municipality will be consulted before undertaking such projects"
"India is one and many at the same time. Its unity gets strengthened when its diversities are accommodated and celebrated. This has always been Congress' stance and will remain so"
"We will instruct the Finance Commission to take into account factors such as demographic performance and tax efforts in determining the shares of states in the devolution of central tax revenues. We will work with state governments to evolve a formula to devolve funds, including a share of GST revenues, directly to panchayats and municipalities"
"We will review the distribution of legislative fields in the Seventh Schedule of the Constitution and build a consensus on transferring some fields from List III (Concurrent List) to List II (State List)"
"Taking into account rapid urbanisation, we will amend the laws to grant more executive, financial and administrative powers to the directly-elected Mayor/Chairperson for effective governance in urban local bodies. The administration will be accountable to the Mayor/Chairperson & the Council"
"We will immediately restore full statehood to Jammu and Kashmir. We will amend the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution to include the tribal areas of Ladakh"
"We will grant full statehood to Puducherry"
"We will give Special Category status to Andhra Pradesh as promised on 20 February 2014"
"To regulate the mindless expansion of existing cities, Congress will support the construction of a twin city near an existing city but separated by a clear green and no-construction zone between the old and new cities"
"The menace of stray dogs has acquired alarming proportions. Solutions will be found that will protect humans (especially children) and that are consistent with a humanitarian approach to animals"
Yes please, glad they have mentioned this. Rabies is lethal.
"The situation in Manipur has gone from bad to worse due to the callous neglect of the BJP/NDA government. Congress will remove the present state government forthwith and heal the wounds between the communities. We will appoint a Reconciliation Commission to bring about a political and administrative settlement that will be satisfactory to all the people of the state"
"We will ensure appropriate compensation and redress for the victims and survivors of the conflict in Manipur"
"The National Security Council (NSC) and the office of National Security Adviser (NSA) will be brought under the oversight of a select committee of Parliament"
Congress will establish a National Economic Security Board under the NSC with the following objectives:
(a.) to monitor possible risks to global supply chain disruptions and suggest counter actions;
(b.) to suggest measures to reduce over-dependence on large import sources;
(c.) to recommend future courses of action toward inward and outward investments that will strengthen India's footprint in the world;
(d.) to monitor global financial flows and identify potential threats to India, along with actions required to mitigate them in advance; and
(e.) to work on digital/cybersecurity issues that may threaten India's digital financial infrastructure.
One Rank One Pension (OROP) will be implemented in accordance with the order of the UPA government dated 26 February 2014. Anomalies that have arisen in the implementation of OROP by the BJP/NDA government will be rectified. We will restore the disability pension and make it tax-free.
"There was a consensus on foreign policy since Independence. Unfortunately, in many areas, foreign policy under the BJP/NDA government has witnessed marked departures from this consensus, notably on the ongoing Gaza conflict. Congress pledges to restore India’s global reputation as a voice of peace and moderation in world affairs"
"We will constitute an independent Environment Protection and Climate Change Authority to establish, monitor and enforce environmental standards and to enforce the National and State Climate Change plans.
In order to facilitate the funding required for Green Transition and to achieve the goal of net zero by 2070, we will set up the Green Transition Fund of India together with state governments and the private sector"
"India experienced the biggest loss of forest cover after Brazil between 2015 and 2020. We will work with state governments to increase the forest cover, redefine ‘forest’ and ‘forest cover’ in accordance with modern scientific standards, and involve local communities in afforestation"
"Congress will appoint a high-level committee to study the issue of landslides in the hill districts, evolve measures to prevent landslides and ensure citizens’ safety"
"We will implement a nationwide plan to provide potable water in all cities, towns and village panchayats"
"Water harvesting will be made mandatory. Desalination plants will be installed in all coastal areas. The use of recycled water will be promoted for non-drinking and industrial purposes"
"Congress will pay special attention to access to water and democratic sharing of water. We will address these issues by focusing on storage in dams and water bodies, replenishing groundwater and creating a large participatory programme of water management involving the state governments, civil society organisations, farmers, panchayats and gram sabhas, and municipalities"
Add comment