New Delhi [India], April 5 (HBTV): The Congress party has promised to pass a constitutional amendment to raise the Supreme Court mandated 50 per cent cap on reservations for Scheduled Castes (SC), Scheduled Tribes (ST) and Other Backward Classes (OBC), as per its poll manifesto released on Friday.  

The party also promised to conduct a nation-wide Socio-Economic and Caste Census to enumerate the castes and sub-castes and their socio-economic conditions. 

To put a curb on rampant defections, the Congress has promised to amend the Tenth Schedule of the Constitution and make defection (leaving the original party on which the MLA or MP was elected) an automatic disqualification of the membership in the Assembly or Parliament.  

The Congress has also promised to implement reservation of 10 per cent in jobs and educational institutions for Economically Weaker Sections for all castes and communities without discrimination. 

Stressing on the economic empowerment of minorities, the Congress promised to ensure that banks will provide institutional credit to minorities without discrimination. 

"We will ensure that the minorities receive their fair share of opportunities in education, healthcare, public employment, public works contracts, skill development, sports and cultural activities without discrimination," the manifesto said. 

Congress will ensure that, like every citizen, minorities have the freedom of choice of dress, food, language and personal laws, it added. 

The party has also promised to fill all the backlog vacancies in posts reserved for SC, ST and OBC within a period of one year and also enact a law to provide for reservation in private educational institutions for SC, ST and OBC.

The Congress promised to increase the central government's contribution to pensions for senior citizens, widows and persons with disabilities under the National Social Assistance Program from INR 200 to INR 500 per month to INR 1,000 per month. 

The Rajasthan Model of cashless insurance up to INR 25 lakh will be adopted for universal healthcare, the Congress said. 

To prevent violence against doctors, Congress said that it will pass a law making it an offence to commit acts of violence against healthcare professionals while performing their duties. 

The party has also promised to enact a separate legislation for the registration of sports federations or bodies or associations which will ensure full compliance with the Olympic Charter, allow for autonomy and full accountability, and provide recourse for members and sportspersons against discrimination, bias, sexual harassment, abuse, wrongful termination, etc.  

Congress will also be providing sports scholarships of INR 10,000 per month to talented and budding sports persons below the age of 21 once elected to power.  

Putting to rest farmer's longstanding demand, the Congress said that it will give a legal guarantee to the Minimum Support Prices (MSP) announced by the government every year, as recommended by the Swaminathan Commission. 

For the unemployed youth, the Congress said that it will abolish application fees for government examinations and government posts. 

Students’ educational loans to be written off

Due to widespread unemployment, as a one-time measure of relief, the amount due including unpaid interest as on March 15, 2024 in respect of all student educational loans will be written off and the banks will be compensated by the government, the Congress said in its manifesto.  

In a major boost to women empowerment, the Congress said that it will reserve one-half (50 per cent) of central government jobs for women starting in 2025.  

For women, the Congress resolved to launch Mahalakshmi scheme to provide INR 1 lakh per year to every poor Indian family as an unconditional cash transfer. The poor will be identified among the families in the bottom of the income pyramid, the party said.  

The Congress has also promised to remove the sinister provisions of the Constitution (106th) Amendment Act so that one-third reservation for women can be applied to State Assemblies that will be elected in the next round of Assembly elections in 2025. The one-third reservation for women will also be applied to the Lok Sabha that will be elected in 2029, the party said. 

The party has also promised an electoral reform in which they have promised to amend the election laws to combine the efficiency of the electronic voting machine (EVM) and the transparency of the ballot paper. 

Congress said that voting will be through the EVM but the voter will be able to hold and deposit the machine-generated voting slip into the voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) unit. The electronic vote tally will be matched against the VVPAT slip tally, the party said. 

The Congress said that they do not intend to interfere with personal choices of food and dress, to love and marry, and to travel and reside in any part of India. "All laws and rules that interfere unreasonably with personal freedoms will be repealed," it stressed.