Maharashtra Cong promises unemployment allowance

MUMBAI: Aiming to woo voters with a populist announcement of unemployment allowance on the lines of similar ones made by Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh governments, the Maharashtra Congress has set a target of registering more than 16 lakh unemployed youth and assure them an allowance if the Congress is elected to power in the Lok Sabha elections.

The Maharashtra Youth Congress has begun a Yuva Shakti Card drive to enrol unemployed youths, with the assurance of an allowance. The Youth Congress has set the target of enrolling at least 10 lakh youth, while the Mumbai Congress has printed 6 lakh forms for similar registration in the city.

“Soon after we were elected to power in Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, our state governments had announced an unemployment allowance of ₹3,000-3,500 per month. It will be implemented in Maharashtra once we are in power in the state. The data will be handed over to the employment exchange run by the state government,” said Satyajeet Tambe, president of the youth wing. However, the Mumbai Congress has requested its central leadership to make it a national policy by incorporating it in the party manifesto for the Lok Sabha elections.

“During our meeting with our manifesto committee chief P Chidambaram on Saturday, we have requested him to incorporate the assurance of unemployment allowance at the national level.

We will begin the registration drive in a couple of days,” said Mumbai Congress chief Sanjay Nirupam.

The party wants the unemployment allowance scheme to be implemented as an extension of its minimum income guarantee scheme if elected to power in the Centre, and to be announced by party chief Rahul Gandhi.