Poverty Alleviation and Rural Development

The eradication of poverty is the single most important objective of national development. The Congress commits itself to doubling the expenditure on poverty alleviation and social development programmes over the next five years. At the same time, it will take radical steps to improve the effectiveness of such expenditures by involving the communities, groups and individuals living in poverty and destitution towards which these programmes are targeted.

A sustained 4-5% annual rate of growth in agriculture is the essential pre-requisite for the time-bound eradication of rural poverty.

This must be reinforced by other programmes for the development and diversification of the rural economy. Moreover, programmes of agricultural and rural growth must be reinforced by special programmes and schemes directed at specific target groups below the poverty line.

As the rural landless constitute the hard core of poverty, the eradication of their poverty will be central to all anti-poverty programmes.

There is at present a plethora of anti-poverty programms relating to asset-creation and wage-employment in rural areas. This multiplicity of schemes needlessly adds to overheads, fractionates and sometimes duplicates the effort, and significantly reduces the share of anti-poverty funds actually reaching the intended beneficiaries. Therefore, the Congress will consolidate and rationalise existing poverty alleviation programmes to reduce administrative costs and substantially enhance the funding of anti-poverty and rural development programmes.

To ensure that a much larger proportion of the funds set aside for this purpose reach intended beneficiaries and identified projects at the village leave, the implementation of such programmes will be undertaken through the gram pancyayats and in consultation with the gram sabhas. This will also ensure transparency and the people’s involvement, both essential conditions for the success of these programmes.

All central funds for poverty alleviation and rural development will be credited directly to the funds of elected Panchayati Raj institutions. It will be ensured that financial institutions play a more significant and dynamic role in the implementation of beneficiary-oriented assets-creation programmes.

The nation-wide employment guarantee scheme will have a special focus on the most vulnerabledistricts of the country. The Congress will spearhead a massive programme of organising the rural poor for participation in poverty alleviation and rural development programmes.

Panchayati Raj

The Congress is deeply concerned at the level of general stagnation and lack of meaningful forward movement in the implementation of the scheme of Panchayati Raj envisaged in the Constitution. Panchayati Raj, conceived as development through democracy at the grassroots and aimed at Power to the people, is the single most important institutional reform to transform rural India and involve people in their own development. The Congress pledges to build on the fundamental significance accorded to the Panchayati Raj by Mahatma Gandhi and Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru with a view to realising the aims and objectives of the Constitution amendments brought by Shri Rajiv Gandhi.

Specifically, the Congress undertakes to implement and encourage the implementation of the following measures to enable panchayats and nagarpalikas to fulfil their Constitutional role as units of local self-government :

• The effective devolution, within the next five years, to the Panchayati Raj institutions of all subjects listed in the Eleventh Schedule and to the nagarpalikas of subjects listed in the Twelfth Schedule of the Constitution. Since devolution requires the decentralisation of functions, functionaries and finances, it will be ensured that budgets, staff, other resources and corresponding authority are integrated into the devolution package;
• The discouragement or prohibition of the establishment of parallel bodies to undertake functions entrusted to the panchayats by the Constitution or state legislation;
• The empowerment of the Gram Sabha as the foundation of the Panchayati Raj system by being statutorily required to give their approval for proposals prepared by panchayats, examine and pass accounts and authorise the issue of utilisation certificates;
• The vesting of sole authority with the Gram Sabha to identify beneficiaries for poverty-alleviation programmes and to determine community-oriented asset creation projects under such schemes;
• The election of District Planning Committees, in accordance with Constitutional and legislative requirements, to integrate into district plans the plans for their respective areas prepared by the panchayats ad nagarpalikas;
• The functionaries of the panchayats and nagarpalikas will be brought under the disciplinary control of the elected authorities to facilitate their Constitutional responsibility for the implementation of programmes for economic development and social justice;
• The direct transfer to panchayats and nagarpalikas of their share of central revenues as determined by the central Finance Commission, and expenditious action on the recommendations of state finance commissions;
• The direct crediting to panchayat funds and to the accounts of municipalities of central funds for rural development and anti-poverty programmes.
• The establishment of appropriate audit systems to ensure sound financial administration.
• The promotion of free, fair and representative elections to the local bodies, the expeditious resolution of legal suits which have delayed elections in some states, and the implementation of court directives in this regard;
• Ensuring the utmost respect for elected women members and women office-bearers of the panchayats and nagarpalikas; l Implementation of the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act, 1996 passed by Parliament in accordance with the Constitutional directive in this regard;
• The establishment of a composite Ministry of Panchayats and Nagarpalikas to establish a healthy and mutually reinforcing relationship between rural and urban development.
• Panchayati Raj institutions will not be allowed to used against the weaker sections of the society.

Co-operatives

Along with political democracy through the panchayats, it is essential to promote economic democracy through the co-operatives.

Co-operatives must be liberated from undue political and bureaucratic interference, and the co-operative movement freed of personal aggrandisement, corruption and misuse for political purposes.

To this end, the Congress will bring forward legislation designed to ensure Constitutional protection for co-operatives to function as democratic, autonomous and voluntary associations. Elections must be held regularly in accordance with the articles of association. Particular attention will be paid to ensuring the financial viability and creditworthiness of the co-operatives.

Population Policy

According to present demographic trends, India is expected to reach the critical transition point of a total fertility rate of 2.1 by the year 2026. A generation after this is reached, around 2050, the population would stabilise. There are, however, major state-level variations which must be taken into account in formulating population policy. Thus, Rajasthan is expected to reach the transition point in 2048, Bihar in 2039, Madhya Pradesh beyond 2060 and Uttar Pradesh beyond 2100. The objective of population policy will be to advance the date for the transition point for the country as a whole to 2015.

The Congress believes that the spread of female literacy, the empowerment of women, the provision of nutrition, the expansion of primary health facilities and an innovative communications campaign constitute the key components of a strategy aimed at drastically reducing the growth in our population - which is the most serious challenge with which we as a nation are confronted.

A more vigorous and determined effort will be launched in north India and in the 150 or so districts of the country where fertility decline is taking place very slowly. Non-governmental organisations and community organisations will be involved intimately. Sustained political support will be provided to these programmes. States which perform well in family planning will not stand to lose in any way in any future delimitation exercise for assemblies and Parliament.

Education

The Congress reiterates its commitment to investing at least 6% of the nation’s GDP in education and earmarking 50% of this expenditure on elementary education. We will strive to attain this target by the end of the Ninth Five-Year Plan.

A time-bound programme for universalising access to elementary education for all children upto the age of 14 by the year 2003 will be implemented and resources found for making this happen. Over a period of time, we must move towards making primary and secondary education compulsory as well. There are practical problems with making school education compulsory in India as it is in other countries but these problems have to be addressed in a systematic manner. The Congress recognises that panchayati raj institutions and municipalities are the most effective agencies for providing compulsory elementary education.

The National Mid-Day Meal Programme launched by the Congress in 1995 will be a key instrument for achieving increasing and retaining school enrolment, for improving the nutritional status of school-going children and for providing employment to women. The programme will be based on cooked food and will be implemented with determination particularly in the educationally backward states.

The New Policy on Education devised by Shri Rajiv Gandhi will be implemented with renewed vigour. Government schools suffer from lack of basic infrastructure. An intensive programme to fill these gaps in a time-bound manner will be launched. Operation Blackboard will be galvanised. The functioning of Navodaya Vidyalayas will be strengthened with a view to ensuring equity in access to quality education for all talented children.

The use of modern space and satellite technology can revolutionise the education system in the country, including the promotion of distant education in schools which is likely to be the most cost-effective way of reaching quality education to poor children in both urban and rural areas. The Congress will work towards harnessing the potential of this technology in the quickest possible time.

Special attention will be paid to the education of the girl child. Free education and maintenance scholarships for girls belonging to schedule caste, scheduled tribe, backward class and minority communities will be provided from the primary to university levels.

Tuition fees and maintenance allowance to every Schedule Caste and Schedule Tribe student admitted to any university will be guaranteed for a maximum period of six years. Education is a right, not a privilege. The right to primary education will be made a fundamental right. The Education Guarantee Scheme of Madhya Pradesh that is based on a partnership between local communities and the government will be replicated elsewhere, especially in educationally backward areas.

Literacy programmes run by voluntary groups will be given every encouragement. The National Literacy Mission has been an outstanding success and its work will be consolidated and expanded. Special incentives to enhance the economic and social status of schoolteachers will be provided. A special scheme for the modernisation of universities linked to organisational and financial reforms will be introduced. The development of centres of excellence in specific areas in different universities will be supported. Needy and poor students will be given liberal scholarships and provided with educational loan facilities.

Universities will not be allowed to be politicised and will be encouraged to be run completely on professional basis.