New Delhi: The Congress is launching a mobile application for its workers in Gujarat to give a fair assessment of members as well as boost their public outreach, in line with the focus areas identified by the party during the Chintan Shivir this month.
According to Congress’ Gujarat in-charge Dr Raghu Sharma, the first phase of ‘Satyagraha’ app will start from June 1. During this phase, the app will be made available for the use of Congress workers in 40 tribal areas of the state in six months.
For the assembly elections scheduled for December 2022, the app will also be used by the party for some other campaigns in its pipeline – targeted at the state’s youth and farmers – eventually covering all 182 constituencies in the state, party sources said. .
This outreach program will be run by volunteers of the party, who will go door-to-door in their booth areas and use the app to register the details of each household and their grievances. The party hopes to reach out to 1 crore households in the state before the elections.
Speaking at the Chintan Shivir, Congress MP and former party chief Rahul Gandhi had said Told That the party needs to revive its relationship with the people of India. Rahul also attended a rally held in Dahod, Gujarat on May 11, just two days before Shivr. announced Sharma said an empirical method would be used to reach homes and assess workers in the state.
He said that we would systematically go door-to-door to know the opinion of the people and the party would appreciate those who did good work. This project is fully supported by the high command and leadership,” Sharma told ThePrint.
The ‘Udaipur manifesto’ adopted at the end of the camp calls for better evaluation of party workers, for which a system is to be put in place under the Congress General Secretary (Organisation).
later, speaking in Press conference In Delhi on May 17, Congress general secretary Ajay Maken said that all people in organizational positions, regardless of their position, would be given “tasks” and assessed on the basis of whether they were able to perform these tasks properly. We do.
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pilot stage
The first phase of the Satyagraha app, Sharma said, will begin with a 15-day training period for worker-volunteers, about 120 in each constituency, on how to use the application.
A Congress functionary based in Gujarat, who is working on the ‘Adivasi Satyagraha’ campaign and will oversee the use of the app by workers, said there are 27 ST-reserved constituencies in the state and an additional 13 constituencies with “ST influence”. Shortlisted for a six month long campaign.
In this time, the party wants to reach out to 10 lakh tribal families and engage at least 5,000 dedicated workers who will use the app for the outreach programme.
The functionary, on condition of anonymity, said, “Our workers will go door-to-door in these 40 constituencies and give one to each tribal family.tribal letter‘, or letter. They will then note down the details of the families on the app, as well as their suggestions for better representation of tribal issues. ,tribal letter‘ Then everyone would go outside the house and be trapped.
letterHe said that he will list out the policies that the Congress promises to implement if voted to power and the issues the party will take up through its campaign.
These include proper implementation of the Forest Rights Act (FRA), which recognizes the rights of forest-dwelling tribal communities to forest resources, the Panchayats (Extension to Scheduled Areas) Act (PESA), which ensures self-governance in India’s scheduled areas. Is. A campaign against “illegal occupation” of tribal land by corporates, through traditional village councils.
The workers reaching the maximum number of homes will be “trained on the principles and working of the Constitution”, after which they will be expected to organize “Constitution”.Constitution Chaupal”, or public meetings, for outreach purposes in their booths. These chapel App will be monitored
In six months of ‘Adivasi Satyagraha’ campaign, party aims to organize 10,000 such events chapel
“Once this is done, just before the elections, the feedback we get from this outreach programme, and our vision for tribal welfare, made out of that, is re-disseminated to 10 lakh households through the ‘Indira Card’. Will go,” the worker said.
a common theme
The official added that the app will also be used for campaigns targeted at other social groups. ‘Satyagraha’ will be a common theme in all these campaigns, which is why the app is named the same.
“Satyagraha is a very ‘Congress’ idea. It is Gandhi YesThe idea is there, and since we don’t have the resources, we will fight it. like we have‘Adivasi Satyagraha’ Now, there will be one‘Youth Satyagraha’ for youth ‘‘Kisan Satyagraha’ for farmers and so on. By the end, we want to reach one crore houses in the state.
It also coincided with a wider discussion on Shiver by the Congress to return to its roots – to do so.”what will gandhi do,
“Usually, in politics, we see that decision-making is very personal, but this” [the app] is creating disruption in the sense that the output of a worker can now be estimated using the data. For workers, it gives a sense of security that no one will work for me (No one else will be able to take credit for my work),” said the worker.
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related to ticket distribution
A member of the All India Congress Committee’s (AICC) data and analytics department, which created the app and is handling the data received through it, told ThePrint on condition of anonymity that the data would be “directly linked to tickets” in the upcoming state. Will be” election.
“Since the app is GPS-enabled, the only way it can be duped is if the workers or ticket-aspirants don’t go themselves and send someone with a phone to their location. Still, one has to do the outreach on behalf of the party and that person has to fill up a questionnaire in the app that asks for details of households and their complaints,” said the department member.
To add an “extra level of verification”, an “in-call, out-call” campaign is being planned after the home registration period ends.
“Our target is to call all the families that we have registered to verify the concerns against their names and to verify whether a candidate has actually lived in that house or not. We will also get feedback on which candidate they like better or which appealed to them more,” said the department member.
“This feedback will be collected and the names will be sent to the Central Election Committee (CEC) of the party,” he said. A general survey conducted by the party will also recommend a name, as will a screening committee for ticket distribution in every election. If the name is unanimous, there will be no discussion by the CEC. If not, the final decision will be taken by them.”
A similar version of the app can also be used in Himachal Pradesh, which goes to vote in Gujarat as well as other states in the future.
increase the number
Registered in the electoral states of Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh very low membership numbers In the party’s digital membership drive which ended on 15 April.
Another source in the data and analytics department said the new app is an upgraded version of the one used for subscription campaigns. The new drive to recruit volunteers for outreach as well as the need for a revised app necessitated these low numbers in electoral states, the member said.
The party had said that those members (called nominators) who have registered the maximum number of people on the party’s membership app will be eligible for tickets in the upcoming Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC), AICC and state elections.
(Edited by Jinnia Ray Chowdhury)
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