Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
Credit: PTI Photo
Jaipur: In a bid to lure the youth voters ahead of the general elections and to outdo Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s much-hyped 'Modi ki guarantee', Congress leader Rahul Gandhi today promised five guarantees for youth including the assurance of 30 lakh jobs and laws on paper leaks, apprenticeship and gig workers.
Rahul promised five guarantees while addressing a rally in Rajasthan’s Banswara as part of his Bharat Jodo Nyay Yatra. Congress President Mallikarjun Kharge, state President Govind Singh Dotasra and Sachin Pilot were also present.
He said that the Congress promises to provide 30 lakh jobs to youths on priority basis if they come to power, calling it 'Bharti Bharosa'. He assured of bringing out a yearly calendar, which would follow a certain time frame for filling up job vacancies.
Rahul said, “There are 30 lakh vacancies in the government sector in the country and we would fill these vacancies on priority basis, after assuming power.”
"The Congress also promises to provide at least one-year apprenticeship to every diploma holder and graduate in government and private sectors in their first year of passing, wherein they would earn a stipend of around Rs 1 lakh annually."
Rahul termed this guarantee as 'Pehli naukri pakki' and promised the guarantee of turning apprenticeship into a law like the MNREGA.
Speaking on paper leaks, as the guarantee of 'Paper leak se mukti', Rahul emphasised that his party would bring out a strict law against paper leaks, and the government would conduct all the exams without outsourcing, to do away with any chances of leakage.
He also promised stringent punishment for those indulging in paper leaks despite all the measures.
Rahul also talked about a law for the gig workers, who he said needed social security and better working conditions as lakhs of youths are engaged as gig workers and are part of the emerging gig economy.
Rahul also promised a Rs 5000 crore corpus fund for youths who want to venture into start-ups, and this would be applicable for youths across all districts for a period of five years.
Youths below the age of 40 can avail the start-up fund for their business ventures in any field.
In two of his promised guarantees, Rahul has taken a leaf out from Ashok Gehlot’s government which already passed two important laws on paper leak and gig workers, before they were voted out in December last year.
The Rajasthan Public Examination (Measures for Prevention of Unfair Means in Recruitment) (Amendment Bill), 2023, was passed in July last year to deter the paper leak mafia.
The punishment for the crime was increased from earlier 10 years in jail to life imprisonment. The offence has been made cognisable and non-bailable.
Rajasthan is also the first state to pass the Rajasthan Platform-Based Gig Workers (Registration and Welfare) Act, 2023, having a welfare board including registration of gig workers, aggregators and primary employers, notifying schemes for social security of registered gig workers.
The act also mandates welfare access to be deposited by the fifth of every calendar month up to maximum of 2 per cent and minimum of 1 per cent of the value of each transaction related to platform-based gig workers. However, rules have not been framed for these laws yet.
In context of the youth voters, at least two crore young electors in the age group 18-29 have been added in the voters list this time out of the whopping 96.88 crore voters, according to the Election Commission (EC).
The Congress is perhaps looking at them with these guarantees.