The Congress on Thursday offered five guarantees to the youth, promising to address not just unemployment but also paper leaks and the lack of social security for gig workers.
Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge and Rahul Gandhi announced the “Yuva Nyay” or “Justice for Youth” at a rally in Banswara as the Bharat Jodi Nyay Yatra trundled through Rajasthan.
Yuva Nyay is expected to be a key feature of the party’s manifesto along with the promises of legally guaranteed minimum support prices for farmers’ crops and a nationwide caste census as a step towards social justice.
“The Anyay-kaal of the last ten years has been defined by an unemployment crisis that has left millions of educated, aspirational youths without a viable economic future or a meaningful way to contribute to the nation. We will show the way to a future where every youth is able to secure his or her future, and build the nation,” the Congress said on Thursday.
The five guarantees are:
- Bharti Bharosa: The 30 lakh job vacancies in the central government, allied units and PSUs will be filled, according to a published jobs calendar.
- A new Right to Apprenticeship Act under which every diploma holder or graduate aged under 25 is guaranteed a one-year apprenticeship with a private or a public-sector company. The apprentices are to receive Rs 8,500 a month.
- New laws to ensure the highest standards of integrity and fairness in the conduct of public examinations and prevent paper leaks.
- Legislation to ensure better working conditions and social security for the lakhs of youths who seek employment every year in the gig economy. The law will be modelled on the one Ashok Gehlot introduced in Rajasthan.
- Yuva Roshni: A Rs 5,000-crore corpus, with allotments spread across all the districts for a period of five years, to help people aged below 40 start businesses in any sector.
The Right to Apprenticeship Act will try and ensure that young diploma holders and graduates will not have to worry about their immediate future as they will
earn Rs 8,500 every month while undergoing a year’s training. While they will learn skills and exposure to real work, industry will have an opportunity to look at the available talent.