EXCLUSIVE| Congress manifesto: Rs 1 lakh cash, 10 gms gold to women, free internet, electric scooters to students

Hyderabad: Amidst confidence in a big win, the Indian National Congress (INC) is all set to announce a comprehensive election manifesto for the people of Telangana State. The Telangana Assembly polls are slated for November 30 and the results will be announced on December 3.

The manifesto, making promises of all things to all people, includes sops to students, youth, farmers, manufacturing industry, members of the SC, ST, BC and minority communities, women, journalists, poor, homeless, Telangana martyrs’ families, lawyers etc. besides revival of the popular ‘Praja Darbar’ daily in the CM’s camp office; all in all a democratic, people-friendly government, if voted to power.

Highly placed sources said the 16-member Congress manifesto committee headed by Manthani MLA Duddilla Sridhar Babu finalised the manifesto that the party is likely to announce in a day or two.

This is in addition to the six guarantees (Abhaya Hastam vows) already announced by the party.

Rs 1 lakh, 10-gram gold to women

Congress promise includes Rs 1 lakh cash and 10 grams of gold to all eligible women at the time of marriage under the Indiramma Gift scheme, free internet to all students, free electric scooters to all college-going women above the age of 18 years, Rs 100-crore journalist fund, waiver of Rs 2 lakhs crop loans to farmers etc.

The party also promises to order a judicial probe by a retired High Court judge into alleged irregularities and corruption in the Kaleshwaram Lift Irrigation Project, pillars of which had sunk recently leading to uproar from the Opposition, and other projects besides reviewing schemes.

Revival of Praja Darbar

Praja Darbar, an on-the-spot grievance redressal mechanism, was a big hit during the tenure of chief minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy in the undivided Andhra Pradesh, attracting people from all over the state seeking help and redressal of their problems: personal favours, free medicare, land issues and so on.

Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekar Rao has been facing flak from his own party leaders and workers besides people for being inaccessible and keeping his CM camp office cum residence Pragathi Bhavan like a fortress and out of bounds for the general public.

Sridhar Babu committee

The 16-member Congress manifesto committee headed by Manthani MLA Duddilla Sridhar Babu burnt the midnight oil for nearly a month to finalise the manifesto, ensuring all sectors and sections in the state are covered. The manifesto was approved by the Congress High Command.

Congress promises to restore democratic governance among other things in its manifesto which comprises nearly 40 items covering all sectors including education, employment, irrigation, farm, industry, health, law, and tourism etc, it is reliably learnt.

Here is a list of all the major promises in the manifesto:

- Rs 1 lakh and 10 grams of gold to all eligible women at the time of marriage under the Indiramma Gift scheme.

- Free internet to all students

- Free electric scooters to all women college-going students over the age of 18 years.

- Rs 5 lakhs to every college-going student under education Bharosa card to meet education expenses.

- Rs 10 lakhs under Arogya Sri covering all major ailments.

- Rs 100 crores for the journalist welfare fund.

- Rs 2 lakhs to family of deceased journalists, health cards and house sites for journalists.

- Free transport to all physically challenged persons.

- Free power up to 200 units for the poor.

- Modernisation of government hospitals and revival of Osmania General Hospital with heritage tag.

- 5 lakhs each to the homeless poor.

- Rs 6 lakhs for homeless SC and ST families if they have house sites for the construction of a house.

- Indiramma houses for every homeless poor.

- Filling up about 2 lakh vacant government jobs.

- Filling up all vacant teacher posts through a DSC.

- Announcement of a yearly job calendar by Telangana State Public Service Commission.

- Establishment of 4 IIITs on the lines of Basar.

- One-time waiver of Rs 2 lakh crop loans.

- Interest-free crop loan up to Rs 3 lakhs.

- Uninterrupted free power to the farm sector for 24 hours.

- Comprehensive crop insurance for all major crops.

- Direct deposit of Rs 2 lakhs to members of the Yadava and Kurma communities for the rearing of goats and sheep.

- Social security system for all unrecognised sector workers including construction workers, auto, cab drivers, Swiggy, Zomato workers etc.

- Reservations for SCs and STs in all private sectors who receive incentives from the government.

- The Sammakka Sarakka festival is to be recognised as a national festival.

- Transparent and a new version of the Dharani portal called Bhoomatha portal to cover all farmers affected by Dharani.

- Rs 15,000 per annum per acre to tenant farmers.

- Rs 12,000 per year to agricultural workers.

- Rs 25,000 monthly honorary pension to mother, father, and spouse of Telangana martyrs along with government job to their family members.

- Withdrawal of all pending cases against those booked during the Telangana statehood movement.

- Restoration of direct transfer of funds to grama panchayats development funds to sarpanch accounts.

- Restoration of ownership rights to farmers who were given 25 lakh acres of land under the land for landless poor scheme.

- One-time settlement of pending police challans with a 50 per cent discount.

- Closure of all belt shops.

- BC caste census across the state.

- New Minority welfare board with sufficient funds.

- Portal to receive public complaints and redress public grievances in a time-bound manner.

- Review of excise policy and ban on liquor shops around temples, churches, masjids, schools, colleges etc.