A foolproof system to prevent paper leaks of professional recruitment exams, providing an allowance to unemployed youth, offering cooking gas cylinders for ₹450 and a low interest rate on education loans are some of the proposals that the Congress party may promise in its 2024 Lok Sabha manifesto.
On March 5, former party chief Rahul Gandhi, in a post on X, said that there will be a foolproof system to prevent paper leaks that endangers the future of the youth.
“In the last 7 years alone, more than 70 paper leak cases have broken the dreams of more than 2 crore students. This is not only wasting their precious years to build their future but also putting a financial strain and mental burden on their families,” he said.
The Congress leader said there is a need to ensure accountability at every level by ending the criminal nexus of a callous government, corrupt officials, mafia involved in cheating and private printing presses.
“By combining the suggestions received from everyone, Congress is preparing a concrete and foolproof plan to make the recruitment process of youth transparent, and very soon we will present our vision before you. We will not let the future of students be played with!” he added.
For the second day on Tuesday, the Manifesto Committee met to finalise the draft manifesto with a clear focus on employment and livelihood issues.
While the party has already said it would fill up nearly 10 lakh existing government jobs that are lying vacant, it also wants to lay emphasis on vocational training and apprenticeship to make the workforce more in sync with the demands of the global job market.
The party will also reiterate its commitment to scrap the Agnipath recruitment scheme and revert to the old system for the armed forces.
There will be a special focus on women too with guarantees such as monthly cash assistance and possibly concessional travel.
Earlier, The Hindu had reported that making minimum support price a statutory right and conducting a caste-based census would prominently figure in the manifesto.
For farmers, instead of loan waivers, the Congress will assure higher MSP and the promise to remove goods and services tax (GST) from agricultural tools and implements.
