INDIAN NATIONAL CONGRESS

The Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released the party's manifesto in New Delhi on Tuesday. The manifesto lists some promises with special focus on minorities, Dalits and tribal communities.

Reiterating its National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme, the Congress has promised 100 days of work for Rs 100 a day, as an entitlement under the NREGA.

The Congress has also promised to enact a Right to Food law that guarantees food for all. It has announced that every family living below the poverty line will be entitled to 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 per kg. The manifesto promises subsidised community kitchens, which will be set up in all cities for homeless people and migrants, with the support of the central government.

In the health sector, the Congress has declared that every family living below the poverty line will be covered by the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana over the next three years.

The party has promised comprehensive social security cover for the disabled, the elderly, urban homeless, released bonded labourers, members of primitive tribal groups and members of the most backward Dalit communities.

In an attempt to woo the minority community, the Congress plans to implement reservation for minorities, on the basis of social and economic backwardness, in government jobs and educational institutions. The party has promised to set up an Equal Opportunity Commission to ensure that the Sachar Commission's recommendations are implemented and the minorities are not deprived in any manner.

The party has reiterated the contentious promise of implementing 33 per cent reservation for women in Parliament and state legislatures, which it had failed to do in the last five years, due to stiff opposition by some of its allies. The Congress even promises to reserve one third of all central government jobs for women.

The Congress has promised free education -- from primary till the university level -- for students from Dalit and tribal communities. Continuing its incentives for the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe communities, the party has pledged to pay the tuition fees for all entrance exams for at least one lakh SC and ST students every year, in addition to increasing the national scholarships for such students.

To reiterate the party's commitment towards pursuing affirmative action, the Congress has promised to implement reservations in the private sector for the economically weaker sections of all communities, without prejudice to the existing reservations for SCs, STs and OBCs.

To check communal and caste-related violence, the Congress has proposed a law that empowers the National Human Rights Commission to monitor investigation and trial in all such cases. Declaring a zero tolerance policy towards terrorism, the Congress has pledged to equip the police and other special security forces with the latest weapons and technology to counter terrorist threats. More specialist battalions will be raised and positioned in key locations across the country, says the manifesto.

The party has focused on its core areas of concern which include farmers, women, the socially deprived and the weaker sections. Through its wide range of promises, the Congress is trying to project a government which will work on inclusive growth, encompassing all sections of the society.

Download Congress manifesto 2009