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Varsity students hail jobless dole
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS welcomed the decision of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav to provide unemployment allowances to Rs 500 for graduates and postgraduates. But, a sizeable number of unemployed youth were unhappy that registration with an Employment Exchange had been made mandatory for being entitled to the allowance. As per records, only 32,000 unemployed youths of Gorakhpur and Basti division will get the allowance, while the real number of jobless youths is around 1.46 lakh in seven districts of both divisions.
UNIVERSITY STUDENTS welcomed the decision of Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav to provide unemployment allowances to Rs 500 for graduates and postgraduates.
But, a sizeable number of unemployed youth were unhappy that registration with an Employment Exchange had been made mandatory for being entitled to the allowance. As per records, only 32,000 unemployed youths of Gorakhpur and Basti division will get the allowance, while the real number of jobless youths is around 1.46 lakh in seven districts of both divisions.
Virtually, the State Government had started the exercise to introduce unemployment allowance in December 2005 and collected data from employment exchanges. The government realised that paying the allowance to registered unemployed graduates and postgraduates would not greatly burden the State exchequer.
Some said the chief minister had taken a populist decision.
Registration in Employment Exchange was suspended in 1998 by the then Kalyan Singh led government. At the time, the registered unemployed in both district was 63,000, but sharp fall was witnessed in registration and at present only 47,000 unemployed youth are registered at the office.
In Gorakhpur, there are 5,469 registered unemployed graduates and 2,329 postgraduates in the district. Similarly, there are 8,595 graduates and 838 postgraduates, In Deoria, there are 6,063 registered unemployed and 1,049 postgraduate. In Maharajganj district, there are 2,733 registered graduates and 1,750 postgraduates. In Siddharth Nagar, there are 1,409 graduates and 515 postgraduate are registered in Employment Exchange.
Regional Employment Exchange officer Sunil Kumar admitted that in last six years the exchange had provided employment to only 45 youths, however, if the state government would provide the allowances to the unemployed youth on the ground registration around Rs 19.61 crore yearly would have to paid to these unemployed youths.
