New Delhi: “We will prepare our youth for employment by not giving them an unemployment allowance,” Madhya Pradesh (MP) Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said Thursday as he launched the state’s youth policy and portal at Youth Mahapanchayat in Bhopal.
Announcing several youth-friendly schemes and initiatives ahead of the assembly elections scheduled to be held in MP later this year, Chouhan added, “I am against unemployment allowance. Several other political parties endorse it, for them it is only a political slogan …Why would anyone want money for free? The bird doesn’t provide its offspring a nest, it teaches them to fly.”
Describing a new vocational training scheme under the policy, the Mukhya Mantri Yuva Kaushal Kamai Yojana, which he claimed to be the world’s biggest apprenticeship scheme, the CM said the scheme will train those who do not find jobs after completing higher secondary or graduation.
Those registering for the scheme will also receive Rs 8,000 per month as stipend for the duration of the course, which will extend to a maximum of one year. Registrations is due to start on the youth portal, yuvaportal.mp.gov.in, from 1 June and registered youth — those between the age of 15 and 29 years — will start getting money from 1 July.
Talking about competitive exams, Chouhan said students of government schools are left out in National Eligibility cum Entrance Test (NEET) because of their Hindi medium background. “We will make two merit lists on the basis of NEET results. I am not against English, but we will not allow English to be a compulsory language in Madhya Pradesh,” he said.
He added that five per cent reservation will be given in state medical colleges to state government school students clearing NEET.
The Madhya Pradesh CM also announced that the Youth Commission will be reconstituted with new provisions in the state by 5 April, and a youth budget — where money will be allocated to all these initiatives announced — will also be included in next year’s budget.
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Jobs, funds for entrepreneurs
Unemployment is reportedly a big challenge in the state. An article published in The Times of India earlier this month quoted state Sports & Youth Welfare Minister Yashodhara Raje Scindia as saying in assembly that only 21 youth got government, semi-government jobs in the past three years.
While recruitment in state government posts currently requires aspirants to pay registration fee every time they sit for an exam, the CM said the government will be starting a one-time registration fee which will allow aspirants to appear for multiple exams for the same fee for the duration of a year.
He also announced a Student Innovation Fund amounting Rs 100 crore to encourage the youth to turn entrepreneurs at the university level.
During the event the CM virtually transferred Rs 17.94 crore in the accounts of 20,937 beneficiaries of Mukhyamantri Jan-Kalyan Shiksha Protsahan Yojana. The scheme provides education to the children of those enlisted as unorganised workers under the labour department.
He also distributed Rs 175 crore to 3,182 students under Mukhyamantri Medhavi Vidyarthi Yojana, which provides scholarships to needy, meritorious students, Rs 4.38 crore prize money to 132 players who won 66 medals for the state in the 36th National Games and Rs 12.9 crore to 25,800 girls under the Gaon Ki Beti Yojana which provides scholarships to girls from villages for higher education.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)
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