Rahul announces 5 'Mahila Nyay' guarantees: ₹1L for poor women per year, 50% quota in govt jobs
Party also promises to double the Centre's contribution to the monthly pay of ASHA, anganwadi, and mid-day meal workers and appoint an ‘adhikaar maitri’ in every panchayat to serve as a paralegal for women
Congress leader Rahul Gandhi on Wednesday (March 13) announced five guarantees for women including cash transfer of ₹1 lakh into the bank accounts of women from poor families and 50 per cent reservation in government jobs if the party comes to power in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Rahul announced the ‘Mahila Nyay’ guarantees while addressing a women’s rally in Maharashtra's Dhule district as part of his ongoing 'Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra'.
What are the 5 guarantees?
In a post on X, Congress’ secretary in-charge of communications, Jairam Ramesh, gave details of the five guarantees.
"Today @INCIndia President @kharge ji unveiled the five guarantees for Nari Nyay, which @RahulGandhi took forward at the Mahila Melawa Meeting in Dhule. Earlier, we had announced the guarantees for Kisan Nyay, Hissedari Nyay, and Yuva Nyay," Ramesh said in the post.
Under the first guarantee named ‘Mahalakshmi’, Congress assures a direct cash transfer of ₹1 lakh per year to the bank account of one women from each of India’s poorest families.
The party’s second guarantee, ‘Aadhi aabaadi, poora haq’ promises half of all new recruitments to central government positions to be reserved for women.
The ‘Shakti ka Samman’ guarantee assures to double the central government contribution to the monthly pay of ASHA, anganwadi, and mid-day meal workers.
‘Adhikar Maitri’ is the fourth guarantee of the party, under which it promises to appoint an ‘adhikaar maitri’ in every panchayat to serve as a paralegal to educate women and assist them in the enforcement of their legal rights.
The party’s fifth assurance to women is to double the number of working women’s hostels in the country with at least one hostel in each district under the ‘Savitri bai Phule Hostels’ scheme.
Our promises not 'jumla': Kharge
Before Rahul’s speech, Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge in a video statement said the 'Mahalaxmi' guarantee envisages depositing ₹1 lakh directly in the bank accounts of poor women annually.
The Congress guarantees were "pathar ki lakeer" and not a "jumla", Kharge said.
"This is our record from 1926 till now, when our opponents were being born, we have been making manifestos, and fulfilling those declarations. All of you keep giving your blessings to the Congress party and strengthen our hands in this fight to save democracy and the Constitution," Kharge said.