The Congress government in Chhattisgarh launched two major initiatives – unemployment allowance for youth and a socio-economic survey intended at adding new beneficiaries to different welfare schemes – on Saturday, eight months short of Assembly polls in the state.
Both initiatives were launched by Chief Minister Bhupesh Baghel in separate programmes at his residence office in Raipur.
While launching the Unemployment Allowance Scheme, he handed over allowance approval orders to four youths. Under the scheme, eligible beneficiaries will get a monthly allowance of Rs 2,500 credited to their bank accounts. Unemployment allowance was a promise made by Congress in its 2018 poll manifesto.
Speaking on the occasion, Baghel said that the registration process for unemployment allowance has started and the eligible persons, who register online on any day in the month of April, will start getting the allowance with effect from April 1.
He further mentioned that a plan has also been made to provide employment-oriented training to the youth so that they do not remain unemployed forever and it would help them find work in future.
Agriculture Minister Ravindra Choubey said that the chief minister has started an ambitious scheme that will empower the unemployed youth of the state to better their future.
‘Lowest unemployment rate’
Later, the CM tweeted that for March 2023, Chhattisgarh posted the lowest unemployment rate in the country. “Unemployment figures for March 2023 have arrived. The lowest unemployment rate in the country is in Chhattisgarh. The unemployment rate for March is only 0.8 per cent, while that at national level is 7.8 per cent, which is a matter of great concern. We all have to fix it together,” Baghel said in the tweet. He quoted the latest report of the Centre for Monitoring of Indian Economy (CMIE) as the source of this information.
'Chhattisgarh Socio-Economic Survey-2023'
At the inauguration of the ‘Chhattisgarh Socio-Economic Survey-2023', Baghel flagged off teams who will visit various districts for the survey and extended best wishes for the success of the campaign. The survey would be conducted across the state from April 1 to April 30 and in rural areas, the teams will go door-to-door and conduct the survey using a mobile application.
Speaking on the occasion, the CM said the survey will be useful in developing new schemes and maximizing their benefits to the people through better implementation of existing ones. The objective of the survey is to assess the impact of government's public welfare schemes on the standard of living of the general public in the past years and use the data obtained for better implementation of the schemes and for the formulation of new ones.
Baghel also said that the beneficiaries who were deprived of various schemes will now also be able to join the new list compiled through the survey and get full benefits of various public welfare schemes run by the government according to their eligibility.
Baghel further said that continuous work is being done by the government in Chhattisgarh for the development of the people. “Under this, using innovation, new schemes are being implemented and executed in a better way according to the needs of the public, getting appreciation from other states of the country.”
CM mentioned that the good implementation of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana in terms of quality and operation has been appreciated by the central government and an incentive of Rs 100 crore has been announced. Panchayat and Rural Development Minister Shri Ravindra Choubey also addressed the programme.
