By Liz Mathew, IANS
New Delhi : Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s coalition government is poised to unveil a string of welfare measures which some Congress sources say may be a way of preparing for elections despite announcements to the contrary.
After extending the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme that ensures 100 days of work in a year to rural households all over the country, the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government is set to launch a new Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme.
Although the government has said it would not push the India-US civil nuclear deal at the cost of the coalition’s future, Congress sources say many in the party feel an early election to parliament could still take place, more so if the Congress does well in Gujarat in December.
“We could introduce more welfare schemes,” a Congress general secretary told IANS. The welfare measures would be targeted at various sections of society, particularly the urban and rural poor.
The pension scheme for people over 65 years (men) or 60 years (women) and belonging to below poverty line households is to be launched next month and will benefit at least 50 million.
Party sources said the government had instructed the Sixth Pay Commission to expedite the process of finalising increased salaries and allowances for the 3.3 million central government employees by December.
The announcement was originally to be made by April next year.
The government would also soon notify the Scheduled Tribes and other Traditional Forest Dwellers (Recognition of Forest Rights) Bill 2006, which grants forest rights to tribespersons, who form eight percent of the Indian population.
Another welfare measure the government is preparing to unveil soon is the much-awaited legislation for the unorganised sector, which covers 362 million people. It was referred in August to the parliamentary standing committee.
The UPA government’s unwillingness to increase fuel prices, despite the steep hike in international crude prices, is also aimed at ensuring that nothing further aggravates anti-government sentiments, the sources said.
And Congress sources insist that the next budget would be “populist”.
“The next budget will be an absolutely a populist one. There will be more allocations in the education and health sectors,” insisted a Congress leader.
All these decisions do not necessarily mean the government will opt for elections but these are signs that it might if it feels, after the Gujarat outcome, that it is in a position to fare well nationally.
Last week, however, both Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress president Sonia Gandhi declared they did not favour early elections by sacrificing their government over the India-US nuclear deal following objections from the Left.
Congress sources say that while the statements certainly hold true for now, the Gujarat ballot could change the scenario.
The populist measures are also keeping in line with the feedback to the Congress leadership that the present situation is not very conducive to an outright win for the party or even its alliance in the event of a general election.
Not surprisingly, most opposition parties as well as the Left believe that the Congress might still go in for a snap poll though its two top leaders have publicly stated that they want the government to complete its five-year term.