Congress' 'Rozgar Revolution': 30 lakh central govt jobs, Rs 5,000 cr start-up fund

Having already promised a nationwide socio-economic caste census and a legislative sanctity for the MSP regime if voted to power, the Congress party, on Thursday (March 7), unveiled a slew of “guarantees” to ameliorate crippling levels of unemployment among India’s youth.

From enacting new laws that guarantee apprenticeship to graduates and diploma holders, stringent legal framework to deal with frequent incidents of examination ‘paper leaks’ and social security of lakhs of gig workers to providing 30 lakh central government jobs and creating a Rs 5,000 crore corpus for encouraging youth-led start-ups, the Congress’s Yuva Nyay pitch envisions a “Rozgar (employment) Revolution”.

Yuva Nyay blueprint unveiled in tribal-dominated Banswara

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s alleged patronage to select crony capitalists, his inability to contain spiralling prices of essential commodities and his failure to create employment avenues for India’s youth have collectively been the perennial theme of the Congress’s attacks at the Prime Minister. As during his Kanyakumari to Kashmir Bharat Jodo Yatra, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi has stridently critiqued the Prime Minister on the fronts during his ongoing Manipur to Maharashtra Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra (BJNY).

The former Congress president, who had presented an alternative socio-political vision of Paanch Nyay (five pillars of justice that address issues of Kisaan, Naari, Yuva, Shramik and Bhagidari) as a counter to the Modi regime’s “Anyay Kaal (Era of Injustice)”, during the early days of the BJNY, has repeatedly stressed that “unemployment is the biggest issue facing India today”. The Yuva Nyay blueprint, unveiled by Rahul and Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge at a public rally in Rajasthan’s tribal-dominated Banswara, on Thursday, now offers insights into how the principal Opposition party plans to deal with the challenge of unemployment if it is voted to power following the upcoming General Elections.

The Yuva Nyay guarantees are part of the Congress’s draft manifesto prepared by an intra-party committee headed by former Union finance minister P. Chidambaram for the 2024 Lok Sabha poll campaign. Chidambaram, along with panel members Shashi Tharoor, Imran Pratapgarhi and K. Raju, had submitted the draft manifesto to Kharge late Wednesday evening.

Draft manifesto awaits CWC nod

While the nuances of the tall promises unveiled in Banswara will become clear once the Congress Working Committee (CWC) approves the draft manifesto for an official release, Kharge, Rahul and other party leaders have spelled out the broad strokes of these poll guarantees.

“Unemployment is the biggest challenge for our country. So today I want to tell you what the Congress wants to do for the youth of the country; for the poor, adivasi and Dalits of this country,” Rahul told a packed audience in Banswara.

“We have counted that there are 30 lakh vacancies in central government jobs and Modi is not filling these vacancies. The first thing we will do if we come to power is to fill these vacancies immediately,” Rahul said. Congress president Kharge also claimed that these vacancies will be filled up “as per a published examination-to-recruitment jobs calendar”.

For the past several years, Rahul has been leading his charge against the Narendra Modi government’s failure to address growing unemployment in the country despite lakhs of vacancies being available within the Centre’s job pool.

Right to Apprenticeship Act

The Congress, which during the Dr. Manmohan Singh-led UPA regime had rolled out the country’s first-ever employment guarantee scheme, the MGNREGA, has now promised to enact a Right to Apprenticeship Act if the INDIA coalition is voted to power. With unemployment being particularly severe among the teeming mass of new graduates and diploma holders that the country churns out year after year, the proposed Act guarantees to provide “a one year apprenticeship with a private or a public sector company to every diploma holder or college graduate below the age of 25 years”. Rahul said the proposed law will guarantee a monthly income of Rs One lakh annually (about Rs 8,500 per month) to each beneficiary.

Congress leader K. Raju told The Federal that the Chidambaram-led manifesto committee had carried out detailed discussions on the feasibility of such a law, particularly since it would also require willing participation of the private sector, and had also studied various global models of employment; including Germany’s dual vocational training programme that promises simultaneous on-the-job training at a company and classes at a vocational school.

The manifesto panel had also given much thought to ways in which the menace of ‘paper leaks’ can be curbed and interests of students affected by the aftermath of such leaks – cancellation of the exams or even recruitment – can be protected. Based on the draft recommendations of the panel, Rahul and Kharge have promised the enactment of a new law that will not just ensure “integrity and fairness in the conduct of public examinations” but will also provide for adequate remedial measures for youth who are left in the lurch when question papers for such exams are leaked.

It is, however, unclear as of now whether the Congress, in the drafting of such a law, will make a provision for financial compensation to affected students and for stringent penal provisions for those found guilty of the leaks. Party sources said these nuances will be shared by Chidambaram when the party officially releases its manifesto after the Election Commission (EC) announces the schedule for the Lok Sabha polls.

The Congress hopes that the promise of a deterrent law against paper leaks would help it to woo young voters given that the last few years have seen repeated instances of such leaks across the country, including in states ruled by the Congress or its INDIA allies, and massive protests by the youth who have found their future prospects jeopardised by these incidents.

The Yuva Nyay blueprint also includes a subject that has become a permanent leitmotif of Rahul’s poll campaigns and related promises – that of a social security net for the fast-expanding gig economy. Over the past few years, the Congress has rolled out guarantees for bringing gig workers – Zomato/Swiggy/Blinkit delivery staff, truck and taxi drivers, mechanics, etc – under a social security and safety net in almost every Assembly poll. Though the electoral dividend that the party has reaped from this push is yet indiscernible, Rahul, say Congress sources, remains deeply committed to the cause.

Rs 5,000-crore Yuva Roshni fund for start-ups

As such, Rahul’s 5-point Yuva Nyay programme too includes the guarantee of enacting a law that would ensure “better working conditions and social security for lakhs of youth who seek employment every year in the gig economy”.

What completes the highlights of Rahul’s Yuva Nyay roadmap, interestingly, is an idea straight out of Modi’s handbook of grabbing headlines by promising nattily named schemes with generous financial allocations. If, over the past decade of his reign, Modi has made Start-Ups and Unicorns a permanent pivot of his narrative of youth-oriented economic transformation, Rahul, perhaps, hopes to do one better with his promise of creating a Rs 5,000 crore corpus to bolster the Start-Up ecosystem.

The former Congress president announced that, if voted to power, his party’s government would create a Rs 5,000 crore fund, called Yuva Roshni, that will be “distributed across all districts of the country” for a period of five years. Congress communications department chief Jairam Ramesh said aspiring entrepreneurs aged below 40 years will be entitled to “avail start-up funding for their business enterprises in any sector” from the Yuva Roshni fund.