Anirban Chaudhuri - A rare communist

2013

UPA Achievements(2004 - 2009)

Report Card

Our accomplishments in office have been solid and substantial. They speak for themselves. They have given the people of our country a new hope, a new pride, a new sense of trust in the administration.

Creating the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act and extending it to all districts is historic. This programme is improving the lives of the poorest sections of our society.

The Right to Information Act has made administration at all levels transparent and more accountable. It has enabled the participation of a very large number of citizens in the processes of governance.

The national mid-day meal scheme in all primary schools of the country has given lakhs upon lakhs of under-privileged children better nourishment and health. It has made school-going more attractive.

Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, Navodaya Vidyalayas and Kasturba Gandhi Balika Vidyalayas are giving our children a new future.

The national rural health mission is ensuring that adequate health facilities are more accessible in remote and rural areas.

All states have received unprecedented funding from our government for development activities and schemes. Unlike the NDA, the Congress-led UPA government has not discriminated against any state. Non-Congress governments have been misleading the public by claiming the Centre’s programmes as their very own. It is here that all of you have a special obligation to make the people aware that we are responsible for these programmes.

Our farmers are the backbone of our country. Under Indiraji’s inspired leadership, they were thekhidmatgars of the Green Revolution. The massive loan waiver scheme, the reduction in interest rates, the huge expansion in irrigation and the hefty increase in procurement prices have made their lives and those of their families more secure.

Over 90% of our countrymen and women work in the unorganised sector. They do not have the benefit of trade unions or labour laws. For the very first time, we have legislated social security, in the form of life and health insurance and old age pensions. Programmes like the aam admi bima yojana and theIndira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme have begun to make a difference in their lives.

-Sonia Gandhi

2009 UPA MANIFESTO

The Congress president, Mrs Sonia Gandhi and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh released the party's manifesto in New Delhi on Tuesday. The manifesto lists some promises with special focus on Dalits and tribal communities.

Reiterating its National Rural Employment Guarantee Act scheme, the Congress has promised 100 days of work for Rs 100 a day, as an entitlement under the NREGA.

The Congress has also promised to enact a Right to Food law that guarantees food for all. It has announced that every family living below the poverty line will be entitled to 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs 3 per kg. The manifesto promises subsidised community kitchens, which will be set up in all cities for homeless people and migrants, with the support of the central government.

In the health sector, the Congress has declared that every family living below the poverty line will be covered by the Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana over the next three years.

The Congress manifesto Highlights:

** 25 kg wheat or rice for Rs.3 per kg

** Maximum possible security to each and every citizen

** Highest level of defence preparedness and also take further steps for the welfare of the defence forces and their families

** Acceleration in the process of police reforms

** To take the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme forward

** Enactment of a National Food Security Act

** Health security for all under Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana

** Comprehensive social security to those at special risk

** Implementation of a nation-wide skill development programme

** Expand schemes for improving well-being of farmers and their families

** Democratised and professionalised functioning of cooperatives

** Greater impetus to the empowerment of weaker sections of society.

** Elected panchayat institutions to be made financially strong

** Connect all villages to a broadband network in three years time

** Give special focus to the small entrepreneur and to small and medium enterprises

** Maintain the path of high growth with fiscal prudence and low inflation

** Introduce the goods and services tax from April 1, 2010.

** A completely new look to urban governance

** A new deal to our youth to participate in governance

** Protection of India’s natural environment and steps to rejuvenate it

** A massive renewal of science and technology infrastructure

** To pursue judicial reforms to cut delays in courts

** To continue to be sensitive to regional aspirations

** Energy security for the country

** To pursue an independent, pro-India foreign policy

** To intensify the involvement of overseas Indians in development