Karnataka launches scheme offering unemployment stipend to graduates, diploma holders

SHIVAMOGGA: The Karnataka government on Friday launched the Congress party's fifth 'guarantee' offering monthly unemployment stipend of Rs 3,000 to graduates and Rs 1,500 to diploma holders. Chief Minister Siddaramaiah handed over cheques to six beneficiaries to symbolically kickstart the 'Yuva Nidhi' scheme, meant for the graduates and diploma holders who passed in the academic year 2022-23 and remained jobless even after 180 days of completion of their education.

The stipend will be given only for two years, and it will end soon after the beneficiary gets a job. Those who have enrolled for higher education and continuing studies are not eligible under the scheme. The state government has earmarked Rs 250 crore for the scheme in the current financial year. It expects that next year, it will cost Rs 1,200 crore to the state exchequer and, from 2026 onwards, Rs 1,500 crore annually.

Addressing people, the chief minister said, "Many people were questioning why the 'Yuva Nidhi' scheme has not started yet. Now we have kept our word." He said unemployment is increasing in the country, which made the state government launch the scheme. "Unemployment is increasing. It was 5.5 per cent in 2014-15 and now it has gone up to 10.5 per cent. Youths are worried that they don’t have a future. Shouldn’t we have a scheme like Yuva Nidhi? We must. That’s why our party, our government, started this programme," Siddaramaiah pointed out.

Explaining the four other guarantees, 'Shakti', 'Anna Bhagya', 'Gruha Lakshmi' and 'Gruha Jyoti', he said 1.5 crore families in Karnataka are getting relief somewhere between Rs 5,000 and Rs 6,000 every month. These guarantees are being implemented under a principle called the universal basic income in European countries. The same is being implemented here. Society will be equal only when everyone comes to the mainstream, he said.

Quoting Ambedkar, the chief minister said that mere political freedom is not enough. Social and financial freedom are a must for society. "We are the ones who believe in it," he said. The Congress government has already launched four guarantees -- ‘Shakti’, providing free rides to Karnataka women in non-luxury government buses, ‘Anna Bhagya’ offering 10 kg rice to BPL families, ‘Gruha Jyoti’ giving free electricity up to 200 units to household users, and ‘Gruha Lakshmi’ giving Rs 2,000 a month to women heads of families having APL/BPL ration cards.

Earlier speaking to reporters at the Shivamogga airport, Siddaramaiah said, "We will impart skill development training to the beneficiaries. The duration of this scheme (Yuva Nidhi) is for two years. If they get a job, whether private or government, the benefit will immediately stop. The skill development department will decide which training to be given."