Socialist Party (India)

PARTY OBJECTIVES

• The party opposes the western capitalist industrialisation model which is being forced upon the Indian people and aims to develop a socialist agro-industrial development model which will benefit the majority of the country’s population including its farmers and working-class people.
• The party believes that rural and Adivasi communities should have sovereignty over the water, land and forest resources they are dependent on. The party supports the right of the nomadic communities of India to their traditional livelihoods.
• The annihilation of the caste system is a prominent objective of the party. This would involve taking extensive measures to end the caste-based roles and hierarchies that continue to exist in the economic, political and social spheres of our country. Expansion and effective implementation of caste-based reservations is an important component in the fulfilment of this objective.
• The party believes in the right to employment for every adult and has the objective of providing employment opportunities to all people, so as to give everyone a dignified means of livelihood.
• Educational reform is high on the party’s agenda, and it aims to make education, both basic and higher, free and open for all. It envisions a common school system in which all children, irrespective of their social and economic background, study together in publically funded schools. The party opposes private, profit-making educational institutions.
• The party believes that quality healthcare is the right of every Indian and that government spending on healthcare should increase manifold in order to ensure universal access.
• The party believes that India must have a national wage policy which sets the national minimum wage at an amount which ensures the dignity and wellbeing of all working-class people.
• The party believes that comprehensive land reform, which ensures that no person engaged in agricultural activity is landless, must be implemented throughout the country. The land rights of Dalit and Adivasi communities in particular must be ensured and protected.
• The party is opposed to nuclear armaments and energy and recognises the need to create policies for the development of alternative, sustainable energy sources in India.
• The party strives to establish a new political culture, oriented towards the needs of common people, with the help of election reforms by ending the influence of money and muscle power on election outcomes.
• The party believes that comprehensive social security for those in the unorganized sector of the economy should be implemented urgently.
• The party supports the call for a universal public distribution system to ensure national food security.
• The party aims to mobilize public opinion for the passing of the Women’s Reservation Bill. It also supports the implementation of caste-based reservations within the women’s quota to ensure representation of women from all sections of society in the legislature.
• The party supports the recommendations of the Rajinder Sachar Committee and is working towards ensuring equity and equality of opportunity to all minority communities in India.