Bihar elections 2025: Nitish announces ₹1,000 per month for unemployed graduates

Eligible youths can use the allowance to acquire necessary training and prepare for competitive exams.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar on Thursday announced plans to expand the CM Self-Help Allowance Scheme, already in place under the state government’s ‘Saat Nischay’ (7 resolutions) programme for unemployed graduate youths.

Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar. (Santosh Kumar/ HT Photo)

“Under this Self-Help Allowance Scheme, previously offered to Intermediate-graded youth, has now been extended to unemployed graduates in Arts, Science, and Commerce. Graduates in the age group of 20-25 years, who are not studying and are seeking employment, are not self-employed, or are not employed in any government, private, or non-government sector, will also receive the Chief Minister’s Self-Help Allowance at the rate of ₹1,000 per month for a maximum of two years,” Kumar posted on X.

According to the CM, eligible youths can use the allowance to acquire necessary training and prepare for competitive exams.

He expressed hope that the financial support under this scheme will help youths become self-reliant, skilled, and employment-ready, contributing positively to the development of both the state and the country.

The NDA government has been relentlessly trying to win them over by promising/providing government jobs and employment to as many youth as possible and empowering them has been our priority. The government had set a target to provide government jobs and employment to 10 million youth in the next five years.

Earlier on Tuesday, CM Kumar announced interest waiver on the loan now given to all applicants for higher education under the Student credit card scheme.

“There was provision of repayment of loan up to ₹2 lakh in 60 monthly instalments (five years), which has now been increased to 84 instalments (seven years, while loans above ₹2 lakh could now be repaid in 120 installments (10 years), instead of 84 instalments (seven years),” Kumar had said.

One of the seven pre-poll resolutions of Nitish Kumar during the 2015 assembly elections, the student credit card scheme was launched on October 2, 2016, offering loans up to ₹4 lakh to students selected for admission to general or professional courses from recognized institutions in the state or outside. The scheme is estimated to have benefited over five lakh students so far for various courses, though it also encountered some problems as several students went missing after availing loans.

The CM had said the government’s objective was to ensure that more and more students could pursue higher education with greater interest to give a boost to gross enrolment ratio (GER), which still remains much below the national average.