Raipur (Chhattisgarh): After Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel announced a monthly allowance for the unemployed youth in the state from the next financial year, the state's employment registration office is witnessing a rush of unemployed youth lining up to get registered.
According to the Deputy Director of the Employment Registration Office, there was a steep rise in the registration process after the announcement. The Chief Minister, on January 26, announced that unemployment allowance would be provided to youths who don't have jobs in the state. Peter Suman Tigga, Deputy Director of the Employment Registration Office, said, "After the Chief Minister announced unemployment allowance of the youth, there is an increase in the rate of registration. Earlier, 50 youths used to register in a day, but after the announcement, 130-150 young men and women get themselves registered in a day."
"1460 youth were registered in January 2023, of which, 650 were women. The youth are happy with this decision. The criteria for registration have not been set yet. However, according to the criteria of 2015, under which, registration must be done in the BPL list. Unemployment allowance will be given to only one member of the family and the applicant must be at least class 10th pass. The age of the applicant should be 18 to 35 years", Tigga added.
Also read: Chhattisgarh CM Baghel announces allowance for unemployed youth from next financial year
Targeting CM's announcement, BJP State President Arun Sao said, "there has not been a single recruitment drive in Chhattisgarh in the last 3 years. The government is showing misleading figures. Ever since the Congress government was formed, the unemployment rate has increased." Congress state spokesperson Dhananjay Singh Thakur reacting to Sao's statement said, "BJP has no right to speak on unemployment. Modi government had promised 2 crore jobs to the youth every year, but nothing of that sort happened."
Youths have also expressed happiness over the unemployment allowance. Ajit Kumar, a youth from Bilaspur who came for registration here said, "it is a good scheme, but this is not the permanent solution. Providing employment to the youth is the only permanent solution for this." Khushbu from Raipur said, "We are very happy with the announcement of the unemployment allowance."
According to sources, the government has set a target to provide employment to more than 78,000 people through MoU in the steel sector. "An investment of more than Rs 61,000 crore will be made in this sector. On the other hand, five MoUs have been signed in the defense sector. An investment of about Rs 600 crore is proposed in this sector," sources said.
