Only 4% of those eligible register for 'Yuva Nidhi' scheme in a week, 19,800 applications received

Karnataka government had identified 5.3 lakh candidates eligible for Yuva Nidhi scheme but only 19,800 applications were received in the last one week. Officials said the scheme has not received the response that the four previous guarantees recorded after they were launched.

Bengaluru:Around 19,800 candidates have registered for the Yuva Nidhi scheme in the last seven days. The scheme is the Congress government's fifth and last 'guarantee' aimed at providing financial assistance to unemployed youth.

Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah launched the registration of the 'Yuva Nidhi' scheme on December 26. Under this scheme, if a youth fails to get a job within six months of graduation then he would get an unemployment allowance of Rs 3,000 for 2 years while for diploma holders the amount is Rs 1,500. All graduates and diploma-holders who qualify in 2022-23 academic session in the state are eligible for the scheme.

The state government has earmarked about Rs 250 crores for this project in the current financial year. An official said that the expenditure for the next financial year has been estimated at Rs 1,250 crore. Beneficiaries have to register through Sewasindhu portal. The unemployment allowance is expected to be credited to eligible beneficiary's bank account on January 12.

Unlike the previous four out of five guarantees that recorded an unpredented response, the Yuva Nidhi scheme has got a somewhat lukewarm response. According to the Skill Development department data, seven days have passed since the registration for 'Yuva Nidhi' started and between December 26 to the evening of January 1, only 19,800 applications were received through the portal. A much higher number of applications were expected, said an official.

The state government has identified 5.3 lakh candidates who passed out in 2022-23 as eligible for the scheme. Among them, about 4.8 lakh are graduates and remaining 48,100 are diploma holders. But, only four per cent of the eligible candidates registered for the scheme.

On December 27, a total of 2,032 applications were received. On the next day, there were 6,062 applications followed by 10,834 and 14,071 applications on December 29 and 30 respectively. Till the evening of January 1, a total of 19,800 applications were received, which means that an average of around 4,000 applications have been submitted across the state. The applications are being examined and the eligible one would be selected, an official of the Skill Development Department said.

Among the districts, the highest number of 2,316 applications have been submitted from Belagavi followed by 1,974 applications from Bangalore city district, 1,126 in Raichur, 1,109 in Bagalkot, 973 in Vijayapur and 904 in Tumkur.

Kodagu district has the least number of 54 applications. Chamarajanagar district has 95 applications, Dharwad 820, Kalaburgi 800, Shimoga 844, Bellary 675, Koppal 638, Chikkaballapur 554, Bidar 544, Uttara Kannada 482, Chikkamagaluru 474, Davangere 457, Mysore 377, Bangalore Rural 330, Hassan 311, Mandya 292, Dakshina Kannada 170 and Udupi 101.

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