Congress invites experts to help draft poll manifesto

Eager to shed its image of a party which thinks and lives in the past, the Congress is keen to be seen as a modern, all-inclusive entity whose focus is not only on politics but on life beyond that.

This time around the party's election manifesto committee which has already begun its meetings to prepare the draft for the 2009 Lok Sabha polls has decided to discard its usual cut and paste approach and instead listen and learn from the experts.

As it prepares its policy framework statement which would be the road map for the next five years in power, if it comes to power in the forthcoming polls the Congress has decided to take the views of the stakeholders, primarily those outside the government and outside the political field.

A senior leader who is a member of the committee said the party leadership felt it was high time that a "holistic view was taken for the integrated development of the nation" and who better than specialists to give that input to the high powered committee headed by Pranab Mukherjee.

The manifesto committee has called and interacted with experts like R.K.Pachauri, a Nobel Prize winner who specializes in climate change and heads The Energy and Research Institute, Dr Swaminathan the renowned agricultural scientist, Tarun Das the former director general of the Confederation of Indian Industry  and currently the chief mentor of CII, Amit Mitra, the secretary general of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Bhanu Pratap Mehta of the centre for policy research, Dr Pathak of Sulabh Sauchalaya and Ranjana Kumari an activist, involved with NGOs on women matters.

The other issues which are on the radar and where experts would be called are farm reforms, labour issues, minority welfare, trade unions, teachers and working professionals. It is expected to be a long drawn process before the manifesto is actually finalized.

So far the Congress had been relying on political inputs to formulate its election manifesto but for the first time it is stepping outside to garner a better perspective on key issues which impact the lives of millions.

Interestingly, the idea of calling in the field-specific people emanated from Rahul Gandhi who is a member of the election manifesto committee. He has attended the three manifesto committee meetings held so far and has shown a great deal of interest in asking questions.

Over the next few days, the Congress will put up an invite on its web site, soliciting people's ideas on governance and development. As one senior leader put it, "the ongoing interaction with experts and specialists would help to sharpen the focus as well as throw up new ideas".