New Delhi: The Communist Party of India on Friday released its manifesto for the coming Lok Sabha polls, which focused on providing the right to work as a fundamental right, implementation of the Swaminathan Committee’s recommendations for farmers and assurance of national pension of Rs 9,000 per month. National secretary of the CPI D. Raja unveiled the manifesto, which also promised enactment of the Bhagat Singh National Employment Guarantee Act (BNEGA) for all and giving unemployment allowance as part of social security to the unemployed. In the farm sector, it promised the implementation of the Swamina-than Committee recommendations, statutory assurance of remunerative prices (at least 50 per cent on C2 Cost of Cultivation) for all farm produce through expanded and decentralised procurement and one-time comprehensive loan-waiver, along with a National Debt Relief Commission and timely and effective relief from disaster-related distress.
The documents also assured reduction of the cost of inputs for farmers either by regulating industry price or offering subsidy directly to farmers, fixation of national minimum wages as per the recommendation of 15th Indian Labour Conf-erence and assurance of minimum pension of Rs 9,000 per month and indexed pension to all.
It also sought the scrapping of New Pension Scheme and restoration of the Old Pension Scheme. Abolition of contract labour system in perennial nature of job pending which strictly implement equal wages and benefits to contract workers doing the same job as permanent workers, prevention of crime against women, adequate budgetary allocation for strengthening institutions and strict implementation and monitoring of women-friendly legislation were some of the other promises.
It also called for increasing the number of courts and fast-tracking all cases of crimes against women in a time-bound manner, strengthening laws to prevent honour killings, derogatory comments against women and curbing the unconstitutional activities of parallel structures like Khaap Panchayats.
