Right to health, home and pension in Cong's manifesto

Fighting Lok Sabha polls with its back to the wall, Congress today promised in its manifesto an ambitious six-point charter of pro-poor measures, including the right to affordable healthcare, housing and pension, and to uplift 80 crore of the population to the middle class.
It has also set out a special Youth and Student Agenda committing to train 10 crore youth and give them employment opportunities in five years.
A highlight of the document is that Congress has also committed to finding a way forward for introducing reservation in education and employment for economically weaker sections of all communities "without in any way affecting existing reservations for SC, ST and OBC".

The manifesto released by Congress President Sonia Gandhi in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party vice president Rahul Gandhi, vowed to restore the country's sluggish economy to 8 per cent-plus growth rate within three years.
Titled "Your Voice our Pledge", the manifesto has come out with a 15-point agenda for socio-economic and political transformation of the country.
The agenda includes protection of minorities, empowerment of women and fight for their security, enhanced legal protection and resource allocation for SCs and STs and strongly protecting the interests of OBCs.

The charter of rights that will be put in place also includes the right to social security, the right to dignity and humane working conditions and the right to entrepreneurship.

The new rights will supplement the other rights established under UPA I and UPA II like Right to Food, Right to Information, Right to Education, Right to Employment and rights to fight corruption.
To support the right to health, Congress will increase health expenditure to 3 per cent of GDP and provide universal and quality healthcare for all, including free medicines.
The manifesto has fallen back on left-of-centre policies focusing on welfare measures and widening the ambit of rights- based legislations.
Expressing a resolve to tackle corruption, an issue that has hit UPA-II in the form of scams like 2G, coal and CWG, the party assured the nation that it will appoint a special envoy on black money.

Amid demands that job reservation be extended to the private sector, the party committed itself to creating a national consensus on affirmative action in this regard.