Women, Farmers Among 19 Focus Areas In Congress Manifesto

Bhubaneswar: The Congress on Sunday released its election manifesto, ahead of the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections in Odisha, with 19 focus areas including women, farmers, youths, tribals and backward communities.

The manifesto was released by Odisha Pradesh Congress Committee (OPCC) president Niranjan Patnaik in presence of the chairman of the Manifesto Committee Ganeswar Behera at the Congress Bhawan here.

The 19 key promises for 2019 are as follow:

—Guaranteed monthly income of Rs 6,000 per month for the poorest 20% NYAY (Nyuntam Aay Yojana). If the Congress comes to power in Odisha, the party will give income guarantee of Rs 6,000 per month to each poor family and the money will be deposited in the bank account of a woman in each family.
—A government or private job for every family
—Rs 3,000 monthly allowance for the jobless
—All contractual workers to be regularized
—Relaxation in age limits for jobs
—Land for every landless family
—Shelter for every homeless by 2024
—For empowerment of women, 33 per cent reservation in Parliament, state assemblies and government jobs
—Refund of chit fund money to the duped investors within six months
—Workdays under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) scheme will be raised to 150 days.
—Supply of drinking water to all villages and urban areas by 2024
— Anganwadi workers to be regularized with a monthly salary of Rs 9,000
— Free education up to Class XII for women at all levels and marriage assistance to the needy family, free technical education to women in government polytechnic institutes and withdrawal of all pending cases against women.
— The monthly pension of Rs 1,500 for old-age people, Rs 2,000 for widows and senior citizens (above 70 years).
—Waiver of farm loans up to Rs 2 lakh; Minimum Support Price (MSP) for paddy to be fixed at Rs 2,600 per quintal; sharecroppers to get their rights; waiver of power bill for farmers; provision of free electricity to women farmers
— Special yearly assistance of Rs 10,000 to farmers for 3 years
—Solar pump to farmers
—Implementation of Swaminathan Committee recommendations
—Free treatment and surgery in all Primary Health Centres (PHCs) and Community Health Centres (CHCs)