Congress poll manifesto promises 1 crore jobs, smartphones for college students

MANGALURU: Congress president Rahul Gandhi on Friday released the party's election manifesto for the Karnataka Assembly polls that promises creation of one crore jobs over five years and free smartphones for college students.

"We aim to create at least 15-20 lakh jobs each year in the state and provide programmes for skill development, encouraging entrepreneurship and increasing youths' employability quotient," said the manifesto.

The party also promised to provide free education to all students from grades 1 to 12 across all the state-run schools in the state. Presently, the state gives free elementary education to all children from class 1 to 8 in state-run and government-aided schools.


Information Technology (IT) will be made an important driver of the state economy by increasing the field's contribution from the current $60 billion to $300 billion, the ruling party said.

Gandhi described the manifesto as the "voice of the people of Karnataka" and not a document prepared by "three or four people in a closed room".

He also took potshots at Narendra Modi, saying while the prime minister likes to tell people his "mann ki baat", this manifesto contained the "mann ki baat" of the people of Karnataka.

Taking a dig at the BJP, Gandhi said the manifesto that the saffron party will release would not be for the people of Karnataka and reflect the views of the RSS.


The Congress president claimed the the Siddaramaiah government had fulfilled 95 per cent of the promises made in the manifesto released ahead of the 2013 polls after coming to power.

Here are the other promises in the Congress poll manifesto:

# Will constitute a statutory Farmers Income Commission to ensure basic livelihood for farmers, agri-labourers and agricultural households

# Every child in Karnataka will be guaranteed 12 years of school education of good quality, beginning in Grade 1. Government will be the guarantor and provide free education in government schools until Grade 12.

# Will ensure free and compulsory educaƟon to children up to the age of 14 as per the Constitution and as recommended by Kannada Development Authority Report

# All college going students between 18 and 23 will be given a smartphone

# Any sports person from Karnataka winning a medal in Olympics will be given a cash award of 1 crore and any sports person from Karnataka winning in any other international sports events will be given prize money.

( With inputs from agencies)