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The Congress party released its manifesto for the Telangana Assembly polls on Friday which promises 75 per cent reservation to local youth in private companies set up in the state with the help of government incentives and to increase the minimum support price (MSP) of five crops, including paddy.
The 42-page manifesto, released by Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge in Hyderabad, focuses on proposed measures to solve unemployment among youth, farm distress and provide financial assistance to women.
In an effort to reclaim the party’s support base among Dalits, the manifesto has detailed steps to protect the rights of Scheduled Castes (SCs), including increasing SC reservation to 18 per cent.
The highlight of the Congress’ campaign in Telangana, which goes to polls on November 30, is its ‘six guarantees’, some of which are inspired from the party’s ‘guarantees’ in neighbouring Karnataka. The Congress won the Assembly election in Karnataka in May on the back of its ‘five guarantees’, and hopes to unseat the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) in Telangana with its ‘six guarantees’.
These ‘guarantees’ include Rs 2,500 monthly allowance to women, cooking gas cylinders at Rs 500, free travel for women in state transport buses, Rs 15,000 per acre every year to help farmers and tenant farmers and Rs 12,000 to landless agricultural labour.
The party has promised 200 units of electricity free to all households, Rs 5 lakh assistance for house construction to those who do not own one, Rs 5 lakh to students for college or coaching fee, establishing ‘Telangana International Schools’ in each block and monthly pension of Rs 4,000 to senior citizens, widows, single women and toddy tappers.
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It has also committed to writing off crop loans of up to Rs 200,000 of farmers, providing interest free crop loans of up to Rs 300,000 and free power.
The manifesto promised to increase the MSP for paddy by Rs 500 to Rs 2,683, and also that of maize, cotton, red gram and soybean. It said it will fix a support price for chillies, turmeric, sorghum and jowar. The manifesto said a Congress government would increase rural employment guarantee wages to Rs 350 a day.
The manifesto states that a Congress government will issue an “annual job calendar with vacancies” in all government departments every year by June 2, completing recruitment by September 17 and filling 200,000 vacancies in the first year.
The party said its government in the state will provide a monthly allowance of Rs 4,000 to unemployed youth. The manifesto said the Congress will provide electric scooters to all girl students above 18 years.
Unemployment in Telangana has been higher than the national average, according to data by the periodic labour force survey (PLFS).
Telangana’s literacy rate was lower than all-India average, even though moderately. The literacy rate was 79.2 per cent in the state against 80.3 at all-India level during 2022-23. Of this, the female literacy rate was 73.2 against 74.2, the data stated.
The Congress has committed to carving out new districts, including one that would be named after former prime minister P V Narasimha Rao, and conducting a caste census within six months of forming the government.
It said it will give Rs 160,000 assistance to the newly-wed couples of Muslims, Christians, Sikhs and other minorities and Rs 100,000 and 10 grams of gold to newly-wed Hindus.
The party promised Rs 12,000 financial assistance per month for incense and lamps to Hindu temples, a monthly honorarium of Rs 5,000 to public distribution ration dealers in the state and Rs 12,000 assistance a year to auto rickshaw drivers. The party has also resolved to restore the Old Pension Scheme.
