New Delhi: The Congress has laid out a ‘Nav Sankalp Economic Policy’ in its election manifesto for the 2024 general elections in which it has set a target of doubling India’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 10 years.
The manifesto, released Friday, outlines steps to increase employment, boost the share of the manufacturing sector in GDP, and rationalise India’s direct and indirect tax regimes.
Some of the promises include a Right to Apprenticeship Act that would guarantee a one-year apprenticeship that would pay Rs 1 lakh, a waiver of education loans, and a transfer of Rs 1 lakh per year to every poor family.
“The Congress is committed to rapid growth and generation of wealth,” the manifesto said. “We have set a target of doubling the GDP in the next 10 years.”
The manifesto added that India’s GDP in 1990-91, which was approximately Rs 25 lakh crore in constant prices in 1991, doubled over the next 13 years to reach Rs 50 lakh crore in 2003-04.
“In 10 years under the UPA, the economy doubled again and the GDP was at Rs 100 lakh crore in 2013-14,” it added. “A Rs 100 lakh crore economy was inherited by the BJP/NDA government but it wasted the golden opportunity.”
The manifesto said that, due to the BJP’s “mismanagement”, the GDP will reach Rs 173 lakh crore by the end of 2023-24, falling short of a doubling in 10 years.
In order to achieve this doubling of GDP, the Congress said it would focus on three goals of economic policy: work, wealth, and welfare.
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Steps to create work
The Congress said it would create “thousands of jobs” and outlined several steps to achieve this, including a guaranteed urban jobs programme, filling vacancies in central government posts, and introducing tax incentives to the private sector to create employment.
“The best creator of jobs is the private sector,” the manifesto said. “In particular, the MSME sector is the creator of the largest number of jobs, especially for workers with average education and average skills.”
“We will support the private sector and every kind of enterprise — large, medium, small and micro — in their endeavour to create jobs and produce goods and services,” it added.
One of these steps, it said, was to create an employment-linked incentive scheme for the private sector to earn tax credits for additional hirings.
The manifesto also promised to “fill the nearly 30 lakh vacancies in sanctioned posts at various levels in the central government, teaching and non-teaching posts in central educational institutions, posts of doctors, nurses, paramedics and other supporting staff in central government medical institutions, and vacancies in the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF)”.
The Congress, if voted to power, would also launch an urban employment programme guaranteeing work for the urban poor in the reconstruction and renewal of urban infrastructure, it said. In addition, it said it would formulate a law to specify and protect the rights of gig workers and unorganised sector workers, and also enhance their social security.
“We will introduce reforms in industrial and labour laws to restore the balance between labour and capital to meet our twin goals of full employment and high productivity gains,” the manifesto said. “The Labour Codes passed by the BJP/NDA government will be reviewed and amended.”
The number of anganwadi workers will be doubled, which will create an additional 14 lakh jobs, and a strategic mining programme will be launched to explore and mine rare earths and critical minerals. The aim of this mining programme would be to increase the share of mining in the country’s GDP and to create 1.5 crore jobs for unskilled and skilled workers in mineral-rich states.
“Congress will create a level playing field for all businesses,” it added. “We are opposed to monopolies and oligopolies. We will strengthen the Competition Commission of India in order to ensure that India will be an open and competitive economy.”
Taxation reforms
The Congress’ manifesto included a number of steps it would take to reform India’s tax system, beginning with the enactment of a Direct Tax Code, which will “usher in an era of transparency, equity, clarity, and impartial tax administration”.
The manifesto added that it would maintain a “stable” personal income tax regime throughout its term so as to provide the salaried class clarity over their finances. It also said it would eliminate the infamous ‘angel tax’ and all other “exploitative tax schemes that inhibit investment in new micro, small companies and innovative startups”.
An ‘angel tax’ is so called because it is a tax levied on unlisted companies on the investments that are made in these companies through the issue of shares. Such investors are often called angel investors.
“We will end the duplicitous ‘cess’ raj of the Modi government to deny states their rightful share of tax revenues by introducing a law to limit Union cess and surcharges to 5 per cent of gross tax revenues,” the Congress said.
This is of particular significance as a number of states have accused the central government of boosting its own revenues through the implementation of cesses — which do not have to be shared with the states — and shrinking the amount of taxes that have to be shared.
On the Goods and Services Tax (GST), the Congress said it would introduce GST 2.0, which will be based on a “single, moderate rate”, with a few exceptions. In addition, it said that small GST payers who fall below a certain threshold would come under the purview of state governments, instead of the Centre, as is the case at present.
“Congress will simplify the corporate taxation structure and end tax terrorism,” the manifesto said. “We will restrain the investigating agencies from misusing their powers to reward or punish corporates and ensure that they act within the strict limits of the law.”
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Enabling youth and women
“Congress resolves to launch a Mahalakshmi scheme to provide Rs 1 lakh per year to every poor Indian family as an unconditional cash transfer,” the manifesto said. “The poor will be identified among the families in the bottom of the income pyramid.”
The Congress said that this amount would be directly transferred to the bank account of the oldest woman of the household or, if there are no women in the household, to the account of the oldest member of the family.
“The scheme will be rolled out in stages and reviewed every year to assess the number of beneficiary families and its impact on alleviating poverty,” it added.
In addition, 50 percent of all central government jobs will be reserved for women from 2025 onwards.
“The Labour Force Participation Rate of women is an abysmal 25 per cent,” the manifesto said. “We will embark on a massive exercise to expand women’s participation in the workforce through measures such as fair and equal wages, safe places of work, childcare services, preventing sexual harassment and violence, and extending maternity benefits.”
For India’s youth, the Congress said it guarantees a new Right to Apprenticeship Act that would provide a one-year apprenticeship with a private or public sector company to all diploma holders or college graduates below the age of 25. The apprentices will earn Rs 1 lakh during their apprenticeship.
“The apprenticeship will impart skills, enhance employability and provide full-time job opportunities for millions of youth,” the manifesto said.
“Due to widespread unemployment, as a one-time measure of relief, the amount due including unpaid interest as on 15 March 2024 in respect of all student educational loans will be written off and the banks will be compensated by the government,” the Congress said.
Some of the other steps mentioned in the manifesto include a national minimum wage of Rs 400 per day, an increase of wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme to Rs 400 per day, and a legal guarantee to minimum support prices in accordance with the formula recommended by the Swaminathan Commission.
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