Why Congress for India?

• Vision of the Congress party is the all-round development of India with social responsibility.
• Congress party introduced the Five Year plans which brought about a revolution resulting in agricultural and industrial growth.
• Congress party was instrumental in nationalizing the banks to drive trade and commerce in India.
• Introduction of Panchayat Raj to develop democratic process at the grass root level.
• Empowered the younger generation with voting rights by reducing the eligibility to vote to 18 years, to ensure participation of youngsters in the electoral process, which is their social responsibility.
• Introduced and implemented economic reforms to make India economically strong, inviting and encouraging foreign investments through globalization and liberalization of the economy.
• Initiated technological development of India by giving importance to information technology, media and tele-communication industries, generating tremendous employment opportunities. The Indian IT industry has created a niche in the international market.
• Congress party was responsible for encouraging major breakthrough in Indian space technology and nuclear power.
• It has been contributing consistently to the fields of education, health, sports and culture.
• UPA government under the Congress party has introduced various pro-people policies and measures such as
  • MGNREGA: guaranteeing and providing at least 100 days of employment to the rural population.
  • Indira Awaz Yojana: ensuring the rural poor had a shelter over their heads.
  • Right to Information (RTI): a tool to fight corruption.
  • Right to Education (RTE): making quality education available to everyone.
  • Direct Cash Transfer (DCT): assuring the subsidy amount is credited directly to the bank account of the beneficiaries.
  • Women’s Reservation Bill: to amend the constitution to reserve 33% of the seats in the Lok Sabha and State Legislative Assemblies for women.
  • Land Acquisition, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Bill: to provide fair compensation to land owners in rural and urban areas for land acquired by the government for development projects.
  • Whistle Blowers Protection Bill: to provide a mechanism to receive complaints relating to disclosure on any allegation of corruption, willful misuse of power and discretion against any public servant, and to ensure that any person or public servant, who make a disclosure is not victimized. Disclosure of the identities of whistle blowers is prohibited under the bill.
  • Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill: to provide for stringent punishment for crimes against women, including rape. It also defines acid attack, stalking and voyeurism as criminal offences.
  • Setting up of an all-women bank to lend mostly to women, support women’s business, self-help groups and women’s livelihood.
  • Women’s Safety Bill: to protect women from sexual harassment and domestic violence.
  • National Food Security Bill: to provide food and nutritional security to the citizens by making sure that the poor and needy have access to food at affordable prices.

The social policy of the Congress party is officially based on the Gandhian principle of Sarvodaya i.e. upliftment of all sections of the society. Congress party emphasizes on policies that improves the lives of the socially and economically under-privileged sections of society.

The economic policy of India was centered on the public sector and aimed at establishing a “socialistic pattern of society”. The Congress Party initiated free market policies in the 1990’s liberalizing the economy, but ensuring the weaker sections of the society remain protected and unaffected by the changes brought in through liberalization.

Congress for India is the goal of every Indian to achieve the global aspirations of India and to make India a powerful country as a key player and decision maker at the global stage.