New Delhi: In the final budget before the Assembly elections, Chhattisgarh chief minister Bhupesh Baghel announced an allowance of Rs 2,500 per month to unemployed youth in the state.
“A new scheme to give allowance to the unemployed will be launched. Under the scheme, unemployed youth in the age group of 18 to 35 years who passed class 12, and with an annual family income of less than 2.50 lakh, will be given an allowance of Rs 2,500 per month,” Baghel, who holds the finance portfolio, said in the Assembly on Monday, according to The Indian Express.
In fact, the Congress government in Chhattisgarh had promised unemployment allowance four years back in the run-up to the 2018 Assembly elections. The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the state has been slamming Baghel’s government for not living up to its promise thus far. The next Assembly elections in the state are scheduled for November this year.
A total of Rs 250 crore has been earmarked for the scheme.
The government also announced an increase in the amount given under the Social Security Pension Scheme by Rs 500 a month for benefit of destitute, elderly, disabled, widows and abandoned women.
Besides, Baghel said that the government would spend Rs 6,800 crore on input subsidy for major Kharif crops, mostly rice, under the Rajiv Gandhi Kisan Nyay Yojna. Several Congress leaders hailed it as a “masterstroke” coming in the wake of upcoming elections in the state.
Baghel also promised that the honorarium of Anganwadi workers will be increased from Rs 6,500 to Rs 10,000 per month. In the case of Anganwadi helpers, it will go up from Rs 3,250 to Rs 5,000 per month, he said.
The chief minister also said four new medical colleges would come up in Manendragarh, Geedam, Janjgir Champa and Kabirdham districts. A total of Rs 870 crore has also been earmarked for the education sector, with plans to start 101 new Swami Atmanand English medium schools in the state.
