Few takers, MP govt to revamp employment guarantee scheme
AN OFFICIAL SAID THAT CM KAMAL NATH WANTS A ‘RESULT-ORIENTED’ SCHEME WHICH COULD PROVIDE JOBS TO YOUTH ON A LONG-TERM BASIS.
BHOPAL: Only 3% of the urban youth in Madhya Pradesh who were offered 100 days of employment under a state job guarantee scheme have received their stipends, prompting the Congressled state government to revamp the programme, urban development department officials said.
The Kamal Nath government had in April this year rolled out its flagship ‘Mukhyamantri Yuva Swabhiman Yojana’ that guarantees 100 days of employment every year to young people from urban areas who belong to economically weaker sections.
According to data available on the Yuva Swabhiman Yojna portal, 423,000 people (in the agegroup of 21-30 years) were enrolled with urban civic bodies for training and jobs. Of them, only 27,000 were selected for jobs in the civic bodies, one of the officials cited above said on condition of anonymity.
Yuva Swabhiman Yojna offered people enrolling in the programme ₹4,000 stipend per month during the 100-days period. To become eligible for the stipend, a candidate had to have a minimum attendance of 30% on the job and 70% in training. Selected candidates were required to devote four hours to training and four hours to their assigned job every day.
“There are not many interesting trades available for training and job. Mandatory biometric attendance, verification linked to Aadhar and only 100 days of work were some of the reasons for the poor response,” the official added.
Candidates are more interested in jobs such as data entry operator, office assistant, contract supervisor, cleanliness assistant and electrician, but not in manual work such as glass fitter, mason, and construction vehicle driver, the official said. “So far, only 14,000 people have (been) given stipend,” the official said. As the scheme is linked with skill training facility, it is applicable only in 166 of the 378 urban local bodies in the state and therefore had a limited impact.
A second official familiar with the matter said that chief minister Kamal Nath had instructed officials to frame a “result oriented” programme. “He wants a scheme which could provide jobs to youth on a long-term basis,” the second official said.
Ahead of the 2018 assembly elections, the Congress had promised employment to the young. It announced a ‘Vivekanand Yuva Shakti Nirman Mission’ to provide ₹ 4,000 per month for 5 years to educated young people from economically weaker sections for doing any professional job or taking part in state government works.
Minister for urban administration and development Jaivardhan Singh and principal secretary Sanjay Dubey didn’t respond to phone calls and text messages seeking comment.
BJP state spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said, “Failure of the scheme showed how the state government and its administrative set up is chalking out plans from air-conditioned rooms while being completely cut off from the ground realities,” BJP state spokesperson Rajneesh Agrawal said.
MP Congress media in-charge, Shobha Oza, hit back and said, “Unemployment is a big challenge for the government, which was all-time high because of flawed policies of the previous BJP government.”