THE CONGRESS THEMES

Vikaas

The Congress is the only party with a clear agenda for development. It has shown this by experience, innovation and example.

That agenda is the elimination of poverty as we have known it for centuries in our generation. That agenda is to make use education as a tool for social empowerment. That agenda is to improve the quality of life of every Indian.

The first non-Congress government at the Centre had destroyed the economy between 1977 and 1979.

The Congress restored it to health between 1980 and 1984. Between 1984 and 1989, the economy moved further ahead.

The second non-Congress government at the Centre undid all this in a matter a few months in 1990.

When the Congress government came to power in June 1991, the economy had hit rock bottom.

The nation’s gold had been pledged to foreign banks to borrow money.

The country had foreign exchange just for about ten days of imports of kerosene, fertilisers, edible oil, steel, machinery and other essential items of consumption and investment.

Inflation was raging at 17%.

The Eighth Five-Year Plan had been abandoned. There was undeclared Plan holiday.

Poverty alleviation, employment generation and social development programmes had come to a grinding halt.

It was an hour of shame. It could well have turned into an hour of grief.

But the Congress saved us from disaster.

It converted the crisis into an opportunity.

It converted a short-term challenge into a long-term agenda for reconstructing the Indian economy.

Agricultural growth between 1991 and 1996 was the highest in any five-year period.

Incomes of farmers increased. The terms of trade moved in favour of agriculture. Agricultural wages increased.

Industry boomed. This resulted in the elimination of shortages and blackmarkets in most consumer goods and items of mass consumption.

Exports increased at a record rate. This enabled the further growth of labour-intensive industries like textiles, gems and jewellery, leather and growth in agriculture and agro-processing.

Investment confidence in India was at an all-time high. Businessmen, both Indian and foreign, planned and executed new projects in large numbers.

Industrialists, businessmen, exporters, importers and traders were given unprecedented freedom. They were liberated from outdated controls and regulations.

The Eighth Five-Year Plan was launched with special emphasis on building physical and social infrastructure.

To the Congress, development is ultimately for the people. Development must have a strong social component.

That is why the Congress Government introduced a number of innovations in the social sectors. It

• introduced a scheme to expand and strengthen ration shops in drought-prone areas, desert areas and hill and tribal areas.

• launched a national old age pension scheme to provide a pension of Rs 75 per month to destitute persons of 65 years and above.

• started a national family benefit scheme to provide lumpsum benefits in case of deaths of bread-earners of families below the poverty line.

• implemented a national maternity benefit scheme to provide assistance to pregnant women below the poverty line.

• began a new mid-day meal programme to improve nutrition and increase school attendance of 11 crore children in classes I to IV.

• established a new Employment Assurance Scheme to provide guaranteed employment in 120 of the poorest districts of the country.

• set up a Rashtriya Mahila Kosh to provide financial support to working women and women entrepreneurs and launched a Mahila Samriddhi Yojana to make our women—the backbone of Indian society—self-confident and economically independent.

The investment in rural development and poverty alleviation during the period 1991-96 was Rs 34,000 crore, thrice the amount spent in the previous five years.

This was made possible because the Congress has a vision. The poor and the disadvantaged are the centre stage of this vision.

The Congress bequeathed a strong and growing economy to the United Front government in 1996.

The United Front could not consolidate on what had been given to it by the Congress.

GDP growth in 1997/98 is not expected to be more than 6%, compared to 7% in 1994/95 and 1995/96.

The growth in exports that averaged over 20% between 1993 and 1996 has dropped sharply to 4%.

Industrial growth has decelerated from 12% to 6%.

Bank lending to industry and trade has greatly slowed down. Worse, bankers are afraid and reluctant to lend.

Tax revenues are not buoyant which means a setback to development expenditure. Growth in Central Plan expenditure in key infrastructure and social sectors has been reduced drastically.

It is time to repair the economy once again.

It is time to revive confidence in businessmen, traders, exporters, investors and stockmarkets.

It is time to relaunch traditional Congress programmes and schemes for social development through increases emphasis on primary education, health, nutrition and employment generation.

It is time to restore the prestige of India in the world.

In short, it is that moment of history once again.

It is time for the Congress.

Lokniti

The Congress believes in a strong Centre, in strong states and in strong panchayats and nagarpalikas.

Each of these three builds on and draws sustenance from each other.

There is a delicate balance among the three.

How to maintain that balance comes from years of administrative experience and an overall perspective, something only the Congress can offer.

Panchayats and nagarpalikas are not the third tiers of development. They are, instead, the first tier of democracy.

Rajiv Gandhi alone understood the need to give Constitutional strength to panchayats and nagarpalikas. He launched his battle in 1987. His dream was fulfilled in 1993 when the Constitution was amended.

Congress governments in the states have taken the local administration seriously and devolved administrative and financial powers as provided for in the Constitution.

A silent revolution is taking place in the villages and towns of India.

Its full impact will be felt in the next few years.

There are about 4500 MPs and MLAs representing a population of 95 crore.

With panchayats and nagarpalikas in place, 30 lakh representatives at the grassroots—10 lakh of whom are women—will now emerge as leaders of the people. This is empowerment that the Congress has made possible.

Vibhinnata Se Ekta

Indian civilisation is at least 5000 years old.

The Indian nation-state is just 50 years old.

The India that was created on August 15, 1947 is a noble experiment, an experiment at creating and sustaining a political unity among peoples who have always been united culturally and spiritually.

Multi-ethnic societies all over the world are under stress and strain.

Some have withered away even though they had military might.

India too faces many challenges to her unity.

But it is the Congress’s commitment to parliamentary democracy and sensitive federalism that has kept the nation together.

Armed insurrection in many parts of India has given way to peace and democracy.

The agitators of yesterday in places like Assam, Mizoram, Tripura and Nagaland are now part of the national mainstream.

The threat of secession in Punjab has been pushed back. Punjab is back to normal.

Peace is slowly, steadily but surely returning to Jammu and Kashmir.

The National Front Government, of which the BJP was an integral part, created the crisis in J&K in 1990 by its totally inept and insensitive handling of people and events.

Since then, the Congress government fought militancy with a firm hand while at the same time it reached out to the people. The people of J&K have responded magnificently.

India is one and many at the same time.

That oneness has to be preserved and strengthened.

At the same time, that variety has to be recognised, nurtured and given opportunity for full expression.

We have survived because diversity of all kinds has been allowed to flourish.

Diversity defines us.

But why should it divide us?

That is what precisely the BJP and constituents of the United Front want to do.

Only the Congress, because of its history, its basic character and because of years of experience can understand and manage these nuances.

Garib Ka Raj

Today, the desire among large sections of our society is not just for a Swarg on earth but also for Swar—for voice, for full representation in the institutions of governance, for social acceptance and for political power.

The desire is not for benevolence but for participation, for social justice.

The Congress has always been sensitive to these concerns. It has championed equal opportunity. It has consistently believed that equal access to the best education and health is the foundation of a truly egalitarian society.

But education and health alone cannot compensate for centuries of discrimination. There is need for reservations also. The Congress enshrined reservations for scheduled castes and tribes in the Constitution.

Reservations for the Backward Classes too was an idea of the Congress. Pandit Nehru made this into a Constitutional principle way back in 1952.

Since then, Congress governments have successfully implemented reservations for backward classes in several Congress-ruled states.

In 1990, due to its hamhanded and opportunistic approach, the National Front government triggered a caste war in several parts of India over the implementation of the recommendations of the Mandal Commission.

Between 1991 and 1993, the Congress moved to end the caste strife and build a consensus over the Mandal Commission’s report.

27% of the jobs were reserved for OBCs in the Central government and in public sector enterprises.

A National Commission for Backward Classes was also set up and a National Backward Classes Finance and Development Corporation established.

Today, OBCs have been appointed in the IAS and the IPS, thanks to the wise approach of the Congress. There has been no violence, no backlash. That shows the Congress touch.

It was the Congress that conferred Constitutional status on the National Commission for Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes in 1994.

Successive Congress governments amended the Constitution on several occasions to continue reservations for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes.

It was the Congress that established the Dr. Ambedkar Foundation and converted the Dr. Ambedkar University in Lucknow into a Central University.

It was the Congress that launched the Indira Awas Yojana to provide houses free of cost to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes below the poverty line.

It was the Congress that launched the million wells scheme to provide irrigation to farmers belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities.

There is a whole new generation of dalits, backwards and other disadvantaged groups—a generation that is conscious of its rights.

This generation is rejecting the politics of charity.

It is embracing the politics of parity. This is the Garib ka Raj that the Congress espouses.

Arthik Swaraj

During the freedom movement, the Congress adopted Swadeshi when the enemy was the foreigner.

It adopted Swadeshi when it was necessary to instill pride in India and build up our self-confidence and morale.

In the early years following Independence, Panditji gave us the goal of self-reliance.

It was needed to create our own industrial base, encourage our own scientists and technologists and mobilise our own resources for development projects.

Swadeshi and self-reliance have served us well. They have made India the fifth largest economic power in the world.

But it is time to reinterpret swadeshi and self-reliance, to redefine them and give them a contemporary meaning and relevance.

Today, the enemy is poverty and unemployment.

Today, the enemy is low investment and poor infrastructure.

Today, the challenge is to accelerate employment-intensive growth in all states of India.

The only answer to our problems is growth and more growth, growth in agriculture, industry and services and growth with more social justice and concern for the environment.

Higher growth is possible only if we invest more in physical and social infrastructure and invest them in a productive manner.

Higher growth is possible only if our public sector becomes more efficient and profit-oriented.

Higher growth is possible only if we export more and import more and if our economy becomes internationally competitive.

Higher growth is possible only if we have a higher rate of savings, particularly public savings.

Higher growth is possible only if we are able to attract at least two to three times the present level of foreign investment.

Higher growth can be sustained only if government’s expenditure matches its revenues.

We have nothing to fear from the world.

We can stand up confidently and take on the world. Our businessmen, engineers, scientists, managers and workers are second to none.

We must use and take full advantage of the opportunities offered by an increasingly interdependent world economy. Countries that have closed themselves to the world have stagnated.

The poor countries of the world are not self-reliant. The rich ones are.

What is true self-reliance? What is Arthik Swaraj ?

We will be truly self-reliant when we can pay for our imports through our exports.

We will be truly self-reliant when we at least double our share of world trade over the next five years.

We will be truly self-reliant when we open up further so that Indian businessmen and goods conquer the world and are able to face up to and withstand foreign competition in the home market.

We will be truly self-reliant when we are able to invest more in education, in health, in water supply and sanitation, in irrigation, in roads, in power and in other basic areas.

We will be truly self-reliant when we are able to eradicate poverty and provide full employment.

This is possible only if we reorient the role of government at all levels and restructure government’s expenditure pattern.

We will be truly self-reliant when we are able to keep our internal and external debt profile at manageable and sustainable levels.

We will be truly self-reliant only when we are able to maintain fiscal balance, particularly on the revenue account.

Our enemy is within.

Some self-styled protagonists of national interest have corrupted this simple fact.

But these protagonists cannot sustain their lies for long.

They have admitted in no uncertain terms that swadeshi is their electoral compulsion, while foreign investment and liberalisation is the national necessity.

This is the height of hypocrisy.

The BJP and its allies vowed to throw Enron into the Arabian Sea if they came to power in 1996. Yet, the only decision the 13-day BJP government took in May 1996 was to approve the Enron power project!

The Congress is clear. There is no double-speak in its approach to self-reliance, to Arthik Swaraj.

THE CONGRESS’S OVERALL AGENDA

Broadly, the Congress’s agenda is three-fold: economic, political and social.

The economic agenda is sharp.

It is to get the wheels of the economy moving once again as they did between 1980-89 and during 1991-96 and to restore confidence among farmers, workers, domestic entrepreneurs and industrialists and foreign investors.

It is to increase real investment in agriculture, in rural infrastructure particularly in the backward regions and to revamp the agricultural education, research, extension and credit systems so that farm prosperity spreads faster.

It is to increase both the level and productivity of investment, both domestic and foreign, public and private, in infrastructure like power, roads, ports, railways, coal, oil and gas, mining and telecommunications.

It is to revive the buoyancy in the capital market so that millions of Indians have new and profitable avenues for investing their savings.

Employment-intensive economic activities will get special and immediate policy attention and investment focus. These include exports, agriculture and agro-processing, livestock and animal husbandry, information technology, housing and construction, afforestation, village and small industry, textiles and tourism.

Soon after assuming office, the Congress government will present its Budget and unveil its short-term blueprint with special focus on accelerating employment generation.

Shortly after its assumption of office, the Congress government will finalise and present to the nation the Ninth Five Year Plan which will contain the detailed plan of action, particularly in regard to employment.

The Congress will continue to fight for India’s interests in world forums like the WTO. At the same time, it will honour all international commitments in a responsible manner.

The political agenda is pointed.

The Congress will restore governance and once again impart a sense of coherence and national purpose to government’s functioning.

In its simplest form, the business of government is to govern. The Congress will do so effectively in a determined, goal-oriented manner so as to trigger a process of institutional renewal.

The Congress will strengthen local bodies. Over a three year period, all rural development funds, currently at around Rs 8000 crore per year will be transferred directly to zilla parishads and other panchayat institutions. Nagarpalikas also will be provided with adequate funds and the municipal bond market will be developed as a way of raising resources.

The Congress will set up a Lok Pal and bring all political offices, including the Prime Minister and Chief Ministers, under its jurisdiction.

All controls that breed corruption will be weeded out. All organisations pursuing anti-corruption cases like the CBI will be given functional autonomy and their operations made more transparent and time-bound.

The Congress will overhaul the law and order machinery to make it more effective, yet humane; more powerful, yet more sensitive. A determined effort will be made to deal with organised crime and different criminal nexus.

All elected representatives belonging to the Congress will declare their assets on the day they enter office. They will make a similar declaration they vacate their offices.

As its commitment to giving greater political power to women, the Congress introduced reservations for women in local bodies so that one-third of all representatives in panchayats and nagarpalikas are women. It is time to extend this further. The Congress will initiate moves to amend the Constitution so that one-third of all seats in the Lok Sabha, the Rajya Sabha and in Vidhan Sabhas are reserved for women.

The Congress will enact a Freedom of Information Act to end the culture of secrecy and to ensure openness in administration. All exercise of discretionary power by its Ministers will be made open to public scrutiny.

The Congress amended the Constitution to strengthen panchayats and nagarpalikas. It will amend the Constitution to revive, democratise and professionalise cooperatives.

The social agenda is purposive.

The reform of India’s education system at all levels—schools, colleges, universities—is the single biggest challenge before us that the Congress will take up in right earnest. Rajiv Gandhi had launched such a reform over ten years ago. It is time for yet another monumental effort.

The Congress will amend the Constitution to make free elementary education upto 14 years of age a fundamental right.

The Congress believes in compulsory primary education. But the compulsion has not only to be on parents but also on Government itself to provide all essential facilities for the universalisation of elementary education. Resources for this must and will be found. Universities must be depoliticised and run completely on professional lines.

The mid-day meal scheme and a new Education Guarantee Scheme run by panchayats will be the flagship programmes for spreading primary education in the country.

Tuition fees and maintenance allowance to every scheduled caste and scheduled tribe student admitted to any university will be guaranteed for a maximum period of six years.

In a population of 95 crore, just about 1.5 crore Indians have pension cover and 20 lakh Indians have health insurance. The Congress will completely restructure the health insurance and pensions businesses so that more and more Indians benefit.

India’s most serious public health challenge arises out of unhygienic water and poor sanitation practices and facilities. Various schemes have been started but with limited impact, particularly in regard to sanitation. A time-bound programme will be launched to provide potable water and effective sewerage. A national movement will also be launched by the Congress Party to promote community hygiene.

The Congress sees women not just as beneficiaries of programmes but as critical agents in achieving development objectives. It will continue to strive for the full legal, economic and political empowerment of women. Gender biases in education and employment will be removed. Specific schemes to drastically reduce female mortality and morbidity will be introduced. The Congress will be in the forefront of a new social reforms movement against sati, dowry deaths, female infanticide and child marriage.

The Congress has always had great faith in the nation’s youth. It was Rajiv Gandhi who reduced the voting age from 21 years to 18 years. To further harness the energy and enthusiasm of our youth in critical nationbuilding tasks, the Congress will launch a new scheme Desh ke Liye—Ek Saal. Educated youth will be mobilised and paid for their involvement for a year in mission-oriented projects in areas like literacy drives, afforestation schemes, family planning programmes, social reform movements, legal rights awareness campaigns. The choice of opting for this programme after school or college will be a matter of individual choice.

The Congress will revitalise and modernise the centuries-old revenue administration that affects the lives of crores of Indians in the rural areas of India.

Justice delayed is justice denied. There has been a welcome reduction in delays in the Supreme Court but the Indian judicial system is still characterised by long delays that hurt millions of ordinary people. In cooperation with the judiciary, the Congress will introduce fundamental judicial reforms and reforms of laws and their administration.

Over the years, the size of Government has grown. It is time for a fundamental redefinition of the role, size and scope of government at all levels. A new Administrative Reforms Commission will be set up. Key ministries and departments will undergo a major restructuring in terms of structure, functions and procedures.

The Government machinery will be made more dynamic, more responsive to the needs of the people and more problem-solving in its approach and attitude. Harassment of citizens will end. Citizens have a right to demand a better quality of service from all public utilities and agencies. The Congress is fully alive to this concern and will take all necessary steps to protect the interests of ordinary citizens.

A whole new work culture is needed in India in which performance, not patronage counts; in which productivity, not perquisites matter. The Congress will, by example and exhortation, bring about this transformation.

WHY CONGRESS?

The Congress is an umbrella organisation which has a place for everyone, from all sections of Indian society.

The Congress remains the only All-India party with an extensive organisational presence in every village, town, city and state of India.

The Congress is the only party that mirrors the diversity of India.

The Congress is the only party that reflects the plurality of India.

The Congress is the only party that respects and rejoices in the heterogeneity of India.

In its 112 year old history, the Congress has had its ups and downs. But its basic non-sectarian character has remained unchanged.

The Congress does not mobilise people from any one single group, community, jati, religion, language or region. But every group, community, jati, religion, language and region can identify with the Congress.

The Congress is a broad platform of people from every section of Indian society.

Indeed, the Congress itself has been a coalition of interests. And because of this, the Congress philosophy has been that of accommodation, of live and let live, of working through consensus at all levels.

In the Congress differences are not submerged or sought to be killed. There is open debate and discussion. The Congress believes that dissent is an essential part of democracy.

The middle-of-the-road and tolerant philosophy of the Congress is a reflection of the essence of Indian civilisation itself.

The composite nature of the Congress represents the composite nature of our ancient culture.

Thus, a vote for the Congress is a vote for

• enriching the plurality of our society;

• celebrating the diversity of our culture;

Thus a vote for the Congress is a vote for

• Stability

• Experience

• Development

THE CONGRESS’S WORK PLAN

Agriculture

Agriculture will be the engine of growth. It will be given the status of industry. All controls, licensing and regulations that come in the way of increasing incomes of farmers will be reviewed and removed where necessary.

The agricultural credit system will be strengthened to increase the flow of credit to farmers through cooperative banks, land development banks, commercial banks and agencies like Nabard. Group loan schemes will be encouraged. Selected cooperative banks and RRBs will be recapitalised to improve their health.

A Special Programme for Dryland Farming will be introduced. This will cover research, extension and credit support.

A time-bound programme for restoring all public tubewells to health will be launched. The pace of construction of new irrigation wells will be stepped up considerably specially in the poorer districts of the country.

A massive programme of creating rural infrastructure will be launched. The Congress government started the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund through Nabard in 1995. This will be expanded. New godowns, storage facilities, cold storage networks and access roads will get priority.

The agro-processing industry and other agriculture-related activities like livestock, aquaculture, fisheries, horticulture, sericulture and dairy development will get fresh investment and technology inputs.

The Congress will continue to lay stress on land reforms to promote security of tenure to the tiller, land consolidation, distribution of surplus land and upgradation and maintenance of accurate land records. The Congress Party will take up the cause of land reforms once again, as it did before 1947 and in the early years following Independence.

The Congress will work towards one revenue code for each state comprising of all revenue and land laws of that state.

Special programmes to restore the productivity of lands that have become barren because of reasons like salinity or alkalinity will be launched.

A renewed emphasis will be placed on wasteland development and afforestation. Industry will be involved in the regeneration of degraded forest lands with the full cooperation of local communities.

A strong agriculture is the instrument for fighting poverty. Investment is the key to continued agricultural growth. Farm prosperity cannot be sustained merely on the basis of subsidies that benefit a small section of the farming community.

Employment

The Congress’s top priority has always been employment-intensive growth. Jobless growth is socially unacceptable. At the same time, mere increase in jobs without growth and productivity cannot be sustained economically.

The employment challenge in India is daunting. Around 1 crore jobs have to be created every year. During the Congress regime between 1991 and 1996, about 70 lakh jobs were estimated to have been generated every year. A new momentum is needed and specific focus is needed even though sustaining the 7% rate of growth seen in 1994/95 and 1995/96 will, in itself, expand employment opportunities.

Continued agricultural growth will generate lakhs of additional employment opportunities. This is particularly so in the resource-rich but poorer and backward regions of the country where the potential for greater absorption of labour in farming activities is still significant. A special programme for accelerating agricultural production in the eastern and central regions of the country will be launched.

New jobs will be created in economic activities like horticulture, aquaculture, livestock, afforestation and agro-processing. These activities require fresh technology, marketing and credit inputs.

A greater thrust on exports will also create new employment. Industries like gems and jewellery, textiles, leather, software, light engineering, and consumer goods manufacturing have substantial export potential. Policies to further boost exports in these areas as also exports from agriculture will be adopted and programmes pursued.

The potential for creating employment through a massive programme of housing and construction is substantial. Laws that impede and hold back the faster development of land will be repealed and the flow of institutional finance to this sector will be at least doubled.

Small-scale industry will be made more competitive and its problems relating to the supply of working capital overcome. Small-scale industry needs a proactive approach in technology, finance and marketing.

The Congress will impart a whole new look to the KVIC. Khadi and village industries have significant potential for generating employment in rural and semi-urban areas. KVIC will be transformed into a dynamic, modern, technology-oriented, research-based and customer-focussed organisation.

The service and self-employed sector will be expanded through vastly expanded availability of finance and reforms of laws and regulations that come in the way of growth in such businesses.

While growth will generate jobs, there is still an important role for special employment generation programmes. Today, there are a number of such schemes. All special employment generation schemes in rural areas will be amalgamated into one revamped JRY to be implemented by panchayats. Similarly, all special employment generation programmes for the urban poor will be consolidated into one single scheme to be implemented by nagarpalikas.

The Congress will modernise the entire technical and vocational training and education system in the country. Private industry will be closely involved in the management of it is, polytechnics and toolrooms. Job placement schemes run by employment exchanges will be significantly expanded and professionalised.

The educated unemployed will receive fresh attention. Existing apprenticeship schemes will be reviewed, expanded and made more effective. A new national service scheme will be started to involve fresh graduates in key nationbuilding activities like literacy, rural development, etc. Entrepreneurship development will receive renewed emphasis.

The key barometer of growth is jobs. Today, the employment information system is out-of-date and date on jobs becomes available once in five years. An annual employment survey will be conducted and its results made public.

The Congress will also review all existing labour legislation in consultation with industry and trade unions with a view to enhance productivity and accelerate employment creation.

Rural Development

IRDP will be the single rural development programme for creation of assets. JRY will be the single programme for w3age employment creation. All existing programmes will be merged into either the IRDP or the JRY.

All IRDP and JRY funds will be transferred to zilla parishads and panchayat bodies.

An employment assurance scheme will cover all blocks of the country as part of the JRY.

The activities of the Khadi and Village Industries Commission will receive more marketing, research and technology support.

Irrigation

All on-going irrigation projects, along with their distribution systems, will be funded adequately and completed in a time-bound manner.

A comprehensive policy and programme for water management, command area development and for drainage will be developed and put in place.

The Congress will evolve a national consensus on the sharing of water of inter-state rivers. A permanent solution to all inter-state water disputes will be found and implemented.

Many parts of the country like AP, Orissa, North Bihar, West Bengal Assam are periodically ravaged by floods. Durable flood control measures to alleviate the misery of lakhs of people will be introduced.

Minorities

Indiraji’s 15-point programme for Minorities continues to be our blueprint. Each and every element of this programme will be implemented with renewed vigour.

The Congress will create a new Ministry for Minorities to ensure better coordination and integration. A high-powered Commission will be set up to examine and give recommendations on how the representation of minorities in public services could be enhanced in a meaningful manner.

The Congress will amend the Constitution to establish a Commission for Minority Educational Institutions and provide direct affiliation for minority professional institutions to central universities.

New middle-level technical institutions in clusters where, for example, artisans and weavers are concentrated will be started.

The Congress will substantially enhance the corpus of the Maulana Azad Educational Foundation to spread education and literacy among minority communities.

In 1996, the Congress took the initiative to establish the Maulana Azad National Urdu University at Hyderabad. This University will impart higher education, particularly vocational and technical education, in the Urdu medium specially to women. The Congress will ensure that this University emerges as a centre of excellence.

The Congress government made Urdu the second official language in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. However, no follow-up action was taken by subsequent governments. The Congress will give Urdu its due status.

The Congress respects the personal laws of all communities and rejects that idea of an uniform personal law for all Indians. This goes against the very nature of Indian civilisation itself. Reforms of personal laws of communities will be considered only when there is a demand for change from the communities themselves.

The Congress enacted the Protection of Places Worship Act in 1991. This freezes the status of all places of worship as on August 15, 1947. This law will be strictly enforced.

On Ayodhya, the Congress will abide by the ruling of the Supreme Court. No other outside court solution will be allowed.

The Congress will include socially and educationally backward minorities in the list of beneficiaries entitled to reservations and other special measures intended for the OBCs.

Special security and insurance schemes for weavers and handloom workers, fishermen, toddy tappers, leather workers and plantation labourers will be introduced.

A special drive will be launched for the recruitment of minorities to the police, paramilitary forces and the armed forces. Communally-sensitive districts and places will be kept under special watch.

Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes

The Congress will ensure that the existing policy on reservations for scheduled castes and scheduled tribes in jobs and education will be implemented fully. All reservation quotas, including those relating to promotions, will be sought to be filled on a time-bound basis. Reservations will be legalised and put in the Ninth Schedule of the Constitution.

The scheme of remedial and special coaching for SC/ST students will be further expanded.

Education at all stages will be free for the girl child belonging to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe communities.

Special courts will be set up in adequate numbers in all tribal areas of the country to protect tribal interests and to safeguard customary tribal laws and practices.

A new forest policy will be formulated to integrate the management of forest lands with the genuine concerns of forest-based tribal communities.

The special line of credit of Rs 100 crore opened by earlier Congress governments through cooperative and commercial banks exclusively for scheduled caste and scheduled tribe farmers will be doubled straightaway.

In addition, a special scheme will be introduced for loans to be made available to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes to set up small-scale, cottage and village industries.

Ownership rights will be conferred where land has been distributed to scheduled caste and scheduled tribe families.

A separate National Commission for Scheduled Tribes will be established and given statutory status.

Labour

The Congress will actively promote and support the use of workers’ cooperatives to turn around sick companies.

Various alternatives to enhance the participation of labour in management both at the shopfloor and at the Board-level will be examined and specific measures taken.

The Board for Industrial and Financial Reconstruction (BIFR) will be completely overhauled so that it becomes an effective institution for industrial revival.

Facilities in all existing Industrial Training and Vocational Training Institutes and in polytechnics will be upgraded to international standards. Private industry will be encouraged to participate in the running of these institutes.

The Congress will take steps to enhance the welfare of labour in the unorganised sector. A National Commission on Unorganised Labour will be set up to make specific recommendations.

Social security and insurance schemes for workers in the unorganised sector, particularly women, will be strengthened and expanded.

The Congress will actively seek a national consensus on industrial relations issues like the linkage between productivity and wages, secret ballots, multiplicity of unions and union leadership.

Employee stock option plans will be encouraged in industry through appropriate policy changes.

The Congress will ensure that all statutory dues to workers in public and private sector companies will be cleared in a time-bound manner.

Defence and Ex-Servicemen

The Congress deeply appreciates the gallant role being played by our armed forces in defending our borders and in counter-insurgency operations in sensitive states. The Congress is well aware that our armed forces have been discharging their duties under conditions of extreme hardships. The Congress will attend to their problems on a priority basis.

The Congress will take immediate action to arrest and reverse the decline in the quality of and morale in the defence forces.

The Congress will appoint a high-powered Commission to formulate essential reforms in our defence apparatus keeping in view the overall economic and foreign policy perspective. It will implement the recommendations in a time-bound manner.

The Congress believes that ex-servicemen are very valuable asset whose potential must be recognised and harnessed in a constructive manner.

New resettlement programmes for ex-servicemen will be started. Ex-servicemen and their cooperatives will be used for specific programmes like literacy and afforestation.

Women

The Congress will launch a political campaign for ending discrimination against women and girls through a process of education, empowerment and provision of legal rights.

Schemes for distributing assets like house sites and land jointly or singly in the name of women will be introduced.

The Congress will strengthen and expand existing programmes to increase access of women to credit.

All anti-poverty programmes like the IRDP will have women as their special target group. Women will be given a central role in watershed development and forestry projects.

The Congress Party will be in the forefront of a campaign to combat atrocities on women like sati and dowry deaths and social evils like child marriage.

Youth and Children

The Congress will make NCC compulsory in all schools. This will help instill a sense of discipline at a young age.

The Integrated Child Development Programme will be expanded to all community development blocks in the country and arrangements made to ensure adequate nutritional support.

The National Mid-Deal Meal Programme launched by the Congress government in 1994 will be consolidated and will cover all elementary schools in the country, with particular emphasis in the poorer states.

Laws against child labour will be strictly enforced. Special educational facilities will be created in areas where child labour prevails.

The Congress will launch a special scheme for the welfare of street children through voluntary agencies and non-government organisations. Street children must be provided shelter, nutrition and education.

Strict measures will be taken for the protection of the girl child. Stringent punishments will be introduced for female infanticide and foeticide.

Special insurance and social security schemes for the girl child among weaker sections will be launched.

The North-East

The perennial problem of insurgency and militancy in the region will be effectively tackled by various means, including the speedy all-round development of the region, and through mutual understanding and negotiations with the various groups.

The Congress will ensure that the North-East Council is equipped with adequate expertise, larger funds and greater financial powers.

Regional offices of various Commodity Boards will be upgraded and given more financial powers.

The Brahmaputra Board will be activated and provide adequate financial resources for planning studies, demonstration projects and actual schemes.

Border trade routes will be developed at selected locations along the international border.

Guwahati will be upgraded into an international airport and action towards opening the aerial route between the North-East and East Asia will be initiated.

The inner-line permit system will be enforced as and where there is popular demand but at the same time the tourist potential of the area will be kept in mind.

The Autonomous District Councils under the Sixth Schedule of the Constitution will be given wider administrative and financial powers in consultation with the respective state governments.

Illegal infiltration into the region from the other side of the border will be effectively checked by strengthening the local border security force.

Efforts will be made to reopen and strengthen surface as well as river routes through Bangladesh with the rest of the country.

Special efforts will be made to develop forestry, tourism, handicrafts and other employment-oriented industries.

Public Distribution System

The Congress will ensure that only the poor and the needy have access to the PDS.

The PDS works well in the southern and in the western states of the country. But it is very weak in the poorest states of India. This anomaly will be rectified in cooperation with the state governments, local bodies and women’s’ organisations.

The efficiency of FCI’s procurement, storage and distribution operations will also be enhanced substantially

Population Policy

The rate of growth of our population has fallen below 2% per year. But it is still very high. Every year, we continue to add 1.5 crore to our population.

The Congress believes that the spread of female literacy, the empowerment of women, the provision of nutrition, the expansion in primary health facilities and an innovative communications campaign will all help in reducing the rate of growth of population.

A more determined effort is needed in north India and in the 150-odd districts where fertility declines are taking place at a very slow pace. The Congress will address the limitations of the current family planning programme in a systematic manner, involve the non-governmental and corporate sector in a meaningful way and will provide visible, explicit and sustained political support at all levels.

Housing

The Congress will remove all legal hurdles and ineffective Acts that stand in the way of accelerating housing and construction activity.

Fiscal incentives to promote housebuilding and rental housing will be introduced. Mortgage foreclosure laws will be enacted. Housing finance companies will be permitted to securitise their assets.

Technologies to promote low-cost housing and shelter to the urban poor will be deployed. Slums will be converted into livable habitations.

Private and foreign investment in urban infrastructure projects will be permitted.

Judiciary

The Congress will review all pending TADA cases in a time-bound manner.

The Congress will take steps to ensure open and easy access to courts by expanding legal aid facilities to the poor, by a campaign to inform people of their legal rights and by ensuring that delays in disposal of cases are eliminated. Delays in the Supreme Court have come down substantially but High Courts and lower courts are still clogged. Whatever is required to cut these delays will be done.

A National Judicial Reforms Commission will be set up to suggest the detailed blueprint of a judicial system that will meet the needs of our people, commerce and industry in a more effective manner. Such a Commission will also deliberate on the changing nature of the role of the judiciary vis-ŕ-vis the executive.

Responsive Administration

The Congress will take up administrative reforms immediately with the objective of transforming the civil service from being a regulator to being a catalyst for growth and social change.

Lateral induction of professionals and specialists at all levels on a contract basis will be encouraged in a substantial manner. Extensive training programmes will be introduced to keep the civil service up-to-date.

Accountability of officials to local bodies where local bodies have Constitutional responsibilities and functions will be ensured.

In keeping with the recommendations of the Fifth Pay Commission, the retirement age will be raised to 60.

The Congress will review the existing policy in regard to secrecy and confidentiality with a view to opening the doors of government to the wider public in a meaningful manner.

Environment

The Congress will identify those environmental management functions that could be delegated to states. The Congress will also ensure that environment and development go hand-in-hand and do not conflict with each other.

The Congress will ensure that the interests of workers affected by judicial rulings on polluting and hazardous industries will be fully protected.

The Congress is committed to effective relief and rehabilitation measures and resettlement programme for people affected by development projects.

The Congress believes that polluters must pay for the cost of abatement, mitigation and control.

Science and Technology

The Congress will transfer the revenue earned from the cess on technology imports to the Technology Development Board to support commercialisation of indigenous technology. Public-private partnerships in technology development in key areas like pharmaceuticals will be actively encouraged.

Rajivji had opened new challenges and frontiers for our scientists and technologists by launching technology missions in areas of national importance like water supply, immunisation, literacy, oilseeds and telecommunications. New technology missions will be launched in the areas of agriculture, health, animal husbandry, and energy.

Our laboratories and research institutions need infusion of new blood, new equipment and a whole new management culture. The Congress will initiate specific programmes for the modernisation of agricultural universities and of the laboratories forming part of the ICAR, ICMR and the CSIR network. ISRO and DRDO will continue to get priority and their linkages with the rest of the economy will be maximised.

There is a large brain bank of Indian scientists and technologists that is settled in other countries. Innovative methods of using this resource in areas of high-priority will be considered and efforts made to derive maximum benefit.

The Congress is concerned at the falling proportion of young men and women taking science as a career. Science education will be made more interesting and exciting.

Power

The Congress is committed to the implementation of the Common Minimum National Action Plan on Power.

The Congress will ensure that public investment in power will be restored to its proper place even as efforts are made to encourage greater private and foreign investment. The country must add at least 7000-8000 Mw of generating capacity every year during the Ninth Plan, that is 1998-2003.

The Congress government in Orissa has initiated far-reaching and radical reforms of the power sector that has won world-wide acclaim. The Congress will work with the states to ensure that similar organisational, financial and legal reforms are introduced all over the country.

Renovation and modernisation of existing power stations will be taken up systematically Measures will also be taken to eliminate theft of power and the growing menace of illegal connections.

The Congress will work resolutely to build a stable national grid to enable transfer of power from surplus to deficit regions. The Bill on private transmission will be converted into an Act. Distribution of power will be privatised. Independent tariff-fixing and regulatory bodies will be established.

Oil and Gas

The Congress will take immediate steps to augment oil exploration and production capability through both the public and private sectors and through joint ventures with foreign companies. All pending contracts will be awarded on a time-bound basis.

All efforts will be made to ensure that the waiting list for LPG connections is cleared quickly.

The Congress will ensure that the Administered Price Mechanism in the oil and gas sector is fully restructured by the year 2002.

The Congress will ensure that oil companies will undergo both technological and organisational change to make them globally competitive.

The Congress will establish a national gas grid. Flaring of gas will be brought to a halt.

Coal

The Congress will encourage massive investment in coal exploration, mining and production in a pragmatic manner.

The Congress will initiate a major programme of environmental management in the coal industry and for improving the quality of life in the coal mining areas. A clean coal technology utilisation programme will also be launched.

Fertilisers

The Congress will ensure that the availability of fertilisers is ensured fully at all times.

Imbalances have arisen in the use of nitrogenous fertilisers in relation to phosphatic and potassic fertilisers. Such imbalances will be rectified through appropriate price policies.

Communications

All sub-division and tehsil headquarters will be brought on to the national STD network by the end of 1998.

All gram panchayats will be provided with telephone facilities well before the turn of the century.

The Congress will use the latest technology to modernise the postal system. To speed up transmission of money orders, a satellite money order service will be launched to cover all villages and towns.

The Congress will diligently implement the National Telecom Policy of 1994 and take it further in light of the experience gained. Private and foreign investors will be given full opportunity for operating telecom services in competition with the DOT without any disadvantage or discrimination. DOT will be corporatised. The independence of the Telecom Authority of India will be fully respected.

The Congress will take immediate steps to establish, with the help of the private sector, a national multimedia information infrastructure.

Satellite television will also be used creatively to spread education and literacy.

Roads and Ports

All villages will be connected by all-weather roads by the year 2000. Adequate funds to ensure that this actually happens will be provided.

Over the next five to six years, high traffic two-lane national highways will be converted into four-lanes. Private and foreign investment will be actively encouraged in this programme. Expressways in high-traffic corridors will also be built with the participation of Indian and foreign companies.

The Congress will take steps to ensure that ports are run on modern business-like lines and new technologies like container terminals are utilised. New major ports will have a corporate structure. All assistance will also be provided to state governments wishing to develop new ports with the help of private investors.

Railways

There has been a marked deterioration in the safety of railways in the past eighteen months. The Congress will accord top priority to put systems in place that will ensure the safety of the lakhs of passengers who travel by rail daily.

There are still large parts of India that are not served well by the rail network. The Congress will bring these areas into the railway system in a time-bound manner.

Innovative means to enhance investment in and technological modernisation of the railways will be explored and adopted.

The organisation structure of the railways has to reflect the new and contemporary challenges that it has to face. No structure can remain frozen. The Congress will appoint a High-Powered Commission to suggest an effective management system for the railways in the 21st century.

Public Sector

The Congress believes that it is time to redefine fundamentally the role of the public sector given the growth of entrepreneurship in the country and the pressure on public expenditure from more essential social sectors like education and health.

Where the public sector has to continue as on security and strategic considerations, it must be reorganised and operate on commercial lines. For this, there must be adequate autonomy and accountability. This will be ensured.

The Disinvestment Commission has been making far-reaching recommendations on a number of PSUs. The United Front has ignored these reports. The Congress will seriously and systematically implement the recommendations of the Disinvestment Commission. The Commission itself will be given statutory status and made into a professional, executive body. The proceeds of disinvestment, strategic sale, etc will not be used to meet gaps in budgetary resources.

Small-Scale Industry

Small-scale industry is the backbone of the Indian economy. The Congress will provide all necessary support to make it competitive and efficient. Special financial, marketing, and technological promotion measures will be implemented. The Small Industries Development Bank of India will be strengthened.

Special bank facilities in 100 clusters of small-scale industry will be created. Common service facilities like testing and effluent control will also be provided in such clusters.

Measures to increase availability of venture and risk capital to first-generation entrepreneurs and small businesses will be taken. Working capital norms for SSI units will be introduced in banks and financial institutions, along the lines that exist for large industry.

The Inspector Raj which is a burden on all companies but particularly so on small enterprises will end. Voluntary compliance and self-regulation based on trust will be introduced.

Industry

The Congress will continue the process of industrial and trade liberalisation that it initiated in 1991. The Congress will ensure that competition is free and fair. It will also ensure that Indian companies are given every support to compete effectively with foreign companies at home and abroad.

The Congress will use the Tariff Commission as an institutional framework of helping Indian industry cope with competition and the transition to lower duties. The anti-dumping machinery will be strengthened and made more effective.

The Congress will delicense all industries except those in strategic and security-related areas. Restrictions that stand in the way of domestic production in areas where imports are easier will be removed.

The Congress will strengthen institutions that are meant to ensure that competition works to the benefit of consumers. This will mean effective checks on restrictive, unfair and monopolistic or oligopolistic trade and business practices.

The Congress will work closely with industry to enable it to cope effectively with the challenges posed by the WTO agreements in areas like intellectual property rights and phasing out of quantitative restrictions.

The Congress will actively support the establishment of Indian brands in overseas markets and will further liberalise overseas investment by Indian companies.

The Congress will give top priority to reviving the export momentum which it had generated between 1992 and 1996. All restrictions that stand in the way of faster exports in all sectors including agriculture will be speedily removed.

The Congress will ensure that a New Companies Act and a new Foreign Exchange Management Act come into force in 1998 itself. It will also recast the Sick Industries Companies Act. The takeover code will be implemented in a transparent manner.

Capital Market

The capital market, particularly the primary market, is very sluggish. Industry cannot raise adequate resources for growth and expansion.

The Congress will take immediate steps to restore the health of the capital markets. Institutions like the UTI, LIC and GIC will be equipped suitably to become effective market participants. The debt market will be developed. FIIs will continue to be encouraged.

Disinvestment of government shareholding in public sector companies and of financial institutions in private companies will be carried out to revive the capital market and offer new investment opportunities to the Indian people.

Regulation of the capital market to protect the interest of small, ordinary investors will be made more effective.

Banking and Insurance

The health of the financial system in general and the banking system in particular is key to the performance of any economy. Recent events in East Asia have demonstrated the disastrous consequences of a fragile banking system.

The banking system will be equipped to meet new challenges. Its transaction costs will come down so that interest rates for non blue-chip borrowers are lowered substantially.

Banks have to be given greater autonomy to introduce new technology, provide new services and offer new products, recruit laterally and restructure themselves.

Regulation and supervision of both banks and NBFCs will be strengthened and made more effective.

The non-performing asset ratio of our banks is still very high at around 15%. It must be reduced to no more than 5% by the turn of the century. Among other measures, debt-recovery tribunals will be made more effective to make this possible.

The job of bankers is to lend for productive purposes. Of late, there has been a marked reluctance to take normal commercial risks. The Congress will introduce systems that will instill confidence among bankers so as to accelerate the flow of credit to industry and trade.

Mergers and consolidation in the banking industry will be encouraged.

The Congress will make the Insurance Regulatory Authority a statutory body. The Congress will move to open up the health insurance and pensions businesses to other Indian companies both in the public and private sector. Over the next two to three years, the life insurance industry will also be restructured so as to expand the supply of long-term capital into infrastructure and enhance consumer choice. Joint ventures in the insurance businesses will be allowed with majority equity with Indian companies.

Fiscal Discipline

While there is no magic number for the appropriate level of the fiscal deficit, it is clear that present levels of the fiscal and revenue deficits of the Central and state governments are just not sustainable.

Fiscal discipline must, however, not be at the cost of investment expenditure. Non-development expenditure needs to be controlled tightly. The Congress will strive the utmost for a national consensus on all subsidies. Subsidies must be well-targetted and must only be for the poor, the needy and the disadvantaged.

The Congress will use all forums like the National Development Council and the Inter-State Council to bring a halt to competitive populism that is wreaking havoc on the economies of many state governments.

The Congress will provide full autonomy to the RBI to fulfill its objective of maintaining price stability.

Debt Management

Between 1991 and 1996, the Congress managed India’s external debt in a very prudent manner. The proportion of short-term, volatile debt was reduced to manageable levels. The Congress will continue to keep a close watch of the level of external debt in general and on the level of short-term debt in particular so that there is no pressure on our foreign exchange reserves.

Regarding internal debt, the Congress will formulate new methodologies for retiring its stock and reducing the level of interest payments.

Electoral Reforms

The Congresss will introduce a comprehensive electoral reforms Bill on the basis of agreements arrived at the All-Party meetings on the subject.

The system of state funding of elections will be introduced. The details of how such money would be allocated among parties will be worked out by the Election Commission.

Centre-State Relations

The Congress will ensure that institutions critical to close Centre-state relations like the Inter-State Council and the National Development Council meet regularly to discuss and decide on issues of national importance. The meetings of these bodies will be made more business-like.

Centre-state coordination is absolutely critical for better project planning and faster project implementation in the infrastructure sector. Concerned sectoral central ministries must become more proacvtive and emerge as troubleshooteers and problem solvers.

The 12th Finance Commission will be constituted quickly. It will also be asked to review the entire gamut of Centre-State-Local Body financial relations. The last time such a review was carried out was by the Sarkaria Commission during the mid-1980s much before the Indian economy underwent a transformation in the 1990s and before local bodies got Constitutional authority and sanction.

The Congress will work towards the introduction of a VAT system by the turn of the century. This will benefit trade and industry and also benefit consumers.

Where the state assemblies have already passed resolutions, as for example in the case of Uttarakhand in UP and Jharkhand in Bihar, the Congress will move expeditiously to create new states.

Non-Governmental Organisations

The Congress believes that NGOs, voluntary agencies and social action groups are very important elements of a civil society who need to be nurtured and given every support.

While a certain adversarial relationship between Government and these organisations is inevitable and even desireable, the Congress will ensure their full involvement in social mobilisation and in the implementation of all development programmes. The FCRA and other procedures will be reviewed to reduce control over development-oriented, professionally-managed NGOs

Foreign Policy

It is a great tribute to the foresight and wisdom of Jawaharlal Nehru that the foreign policy framework crafted by him remains intact in its basics and fundamentals. There is no parallel for this in modern history. For fifty years, there has been a national consensus on foreign policy.

No foreign policy can be meaningful, influential or respected if it is not supported by the vast majority of the people. A country cannot have an effective foreign policy if the domestic scene is incoherent and in disarray as is the case today.

The Congress will integrate our foreign policy with our economic priorities and concerns. Today, economics, commerce and trade are the new languages of diplomacy. Our foreign policy and foreign service that has stood us well in the past will be refashioned to suit the contemporary world.

The Congress is committed to creating a South Asian Free Trade Area by the year 2002. It will seek closer relationships with other regional trading agreements, particularly APEC. The Congress believes that our economic, trade, technology and investment policies will have to reflect the need for India to be an integral part of not only APEC but also the world economic system.

The Congress will, as always, work to improve relations with her neighbours. It will work closely with Nepal and Bangla Desh to launch a new initiative for the integrated development of the Himalayan river system. Cooperation in other areas like power and natural gas will be fostered and India will take the lead in ensuring that such opportunities result in specific projects.

Cross-border terrorism is a serious threat to peace and security of the world today. Its dangers are not confined to any single territory. It is closely linked with drug trafficking and arms smuggling. The international community must fight this menace. India has become a victim of this cross-border terrorism in Kashmir, Punjab and the North-East. The Congress is well aware of the nefarious role of Pakistan in this regard.

It will fight terrorism and insurgency within the country supported by Pakistan. At the same, however, it will seek to build closer economic, trade, cultural, educational and political ties with Pakistan. The Congress government had offered the hand of peace to Pakistan in 1989 and had proposed a series of confidence-building measures. These will be reiterated and revived.

India has close ties with all countries of the world. These will be nurtured.

India’s special relationship with Russia received a boost with the visit of President Yeltsin in 1993. India will continue to work for closer trade and defence ties with Russia. It will find a mutually acceptable solution to the debt problem with Russia.

The USA has emerged as India’s largest trade and investment partner. The Congress will consolidate on this and give a new momentum to Indo-US economic, commercial, scientific and technological relations. There have been a series of high-level exchanges since 1991. The Congress will engage the USA in a constructive dialogue on all issues of mutual interest and concern.

The European Union has been a trusted friend and ally of India. A second generation agreement has been signed with the European Union for expanding economic and trade links. The Congress will build on this.

Japanese companies are looking at India as a major investment destination. The Congress will mount a special drive for closer economic and investment ties with Japan to complement the close political and cultural links that already exist.

The Congress will continue its efforts for total and complete disarmament. Our nuclear policy will continue to be for peaceful, developmental purposes. But we will not be found wanting in case of any threat by hostile forces.