Ten Point Programme
Topic: Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 5 "Challenges to and Restoration of the Congress System"
Meaning
The Ten Point Programme was a left-leaning plan adopted by the Congress Working Committee (CWC), the party's top decision-making body, in May 1967. Indira Gandhi used it to turn her power struggle with the Syndicate into a fight over ideas. The Syndicate approved it formally but had serious doubts. Morarji Desai was the main opponent inside the government.
Example
The programme included social control of banks, nationalisation of general insurance, ceilings (upper limits) on urban property and income, public distribution of food grains, land reforms and house sites for the rural poor.
Don't confuse with
- Bank nationalisation (1969): the full government takeover of 14 big banks. The Ten Point Programme asked only for "social control" of banks, which the moderates preferred as an alternative to nationalisation.