Unemployment allowance is not a free cake now in Rajasthan as the government has made it mandatory to do an internship in government offices to get the allowance. The unemployed youth will have to work for 4 hours a day in selected departments for which male employees will get Rs 4000 whereas a female employee will get Rs 4500 per month.
The Ashok Gehlot-led Congress government in Rajasthan had launched the scheme of unemployment allowance in 2019 after coming to power. Every year 1.50 lakh jobless youth were getting the allowance up to Rs 3500. Now, the government has recently amended the scheme and the condition of internship in government offices and three months skill training has been made compulsory to get the benefit. The allowance will be given for a maximum of two years.
Though there are more than 14.81 lakh registered unemployed youth in Rajasthan, the allowance will be given to only 2 lakh unemployed youth every year and those who will be selected will be allotted government departments to do internships according to their educational qualification and skill.
The order issued for the scheme says that these youth may be given any kind of job in selected 29 departments that include agriculture, health, education, forest, police, tourism, dairy and others. The selected youth will be given a special cap or a jacket to wear at the office so that these youth can easily be identified.
The need for this amendment was felt during the Covid-19 pandemic when the government was in need to have some extra workforce for the management in hospitals and the enforcement of Covid-19 protocols and lock-down rules.
Though the youth are not in favour of the scheme, Upen Yadav, president of Rajasthan Berojgar Sayunkt Mahasangh said, "The unemployment allowance was announced in the manifesto of Congress and it has no such condition. Besides this, the youth which is getting this benefit is preparing for his competitions also and this condition of working for 4 hours a day will adversely affect his preparations.
