Unemployment dole for AP youth

Amaravati: In a decision that should come as music to the ears of the unemployed youth, the AP Cabinet which met here on Thursday approved a proposal to pay Rs 1,000 per month as unemployment allowance to each of nearly 10 lakh youths in the state.

The date of its implementation would be decided at the next Cabinet meeting after considering the feedback that the government would get for the guidelines that were released on Thursday. The Cabinet also considered providing incentives to the youths who would take part in programmes like adult literacy in their villages. The allowance money would be transferred to the bank accounts of the unemployed youths every month.

“Though the programme would place a burden of Rs 1,200 crore on the state government annually, the Cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, had decided to go ahead with the proposal which is different forms of unemployment allowance programmes in other states most of which had run into rough weather during the course of their implementation,” Information Technology and Panchayat Raj Minister N Lokesh told mediapersons after the Cabinet meeting.

According to him, the eligibility criteria would be that the youths should belong to the BPL family (should be in possession of white ration card), be a graduate or at least a diploma holder and should be between 22 and 35 years of age.  

The allowance would be available to all members in a family regardless of their number so long as they satisfied the eligibility criteria. Lokesh said besides paying Rs 1,000 to the youth, they could avail skill training in their areas of interest. 

The youth could register their names in the website that is going to be created. “The website will have the data of the unemployed youths and all those companies across the country who need manpower could look for the hands they are in need of from the data base,” Lokesh said.

The Information Technology Minister said the Telugu Desam government, by taking a decision on the unemployment allowance, has redeemed its promise made in the election manifesto ahead of 2014 elections. “We have studied the unemployment allowance models in 12 countries before deciding on the one has been approved in the cabinet,” he said.