look news india
There are lakhs of unemployed youth in Punjab, but at present no one is getting unemployment allowance. The reason for this is not that unemployment has been eradicated from the state. In fact, no one wants to take the trouble of taking it because the allowance is very low and the conditions are very strict.
As of August 31, 2023, 1,88,741 unemployed have registered in the district employment offices, of which 1,30,167 are boys while 58,574 are girls. According to the data, no youth in the state got unemployment allowance during the year 2022-23. This year also no unemployed tried to get the allowance. In the year 2021, only one youth got allowance in the state, to whom the government gave Rs 2025.
After the year 2006-07, the number of youth receiving unemployment benefits is continuously decreasing. During the year 2006-07, 4803 unemployed people had approached the government to get this allowance, to whom the Punjab government had issued Rs 65 lakh 32 thousand 68. After this, this number kept decreasing and reached zero. The Punjab government has made a provision to give unemployment allowance of Rs 150 per month to 10th pass unemployed, Rs 200 to 12th pass and Rs 250 per month to graduate unemployed. The age of the beneficiary should be more than 17 years and less than 40 years.
The family income should not exceed Rs 12,000 per year. It is proposed to give unemployment allowance to deaf, dumb and blind beneficiaries after 3 months of registration, to Divyang after 1 year and to others after 3 years. Just by following these rules, no one is interested in getting this allowance. The government is claiming that thousands of youth of Punjab have been given government jobs and this process is continuing.
It is true that everyone cannot be given government jobs, but taking steps to promote employment generating industries is the need of the hour. On the other hand, unemployed people from different sections are taking to the streets against the government demanding jobs. The unemployment rate is also high in the unorganized sector. Due to such reasons, there is a brain drain from Punjab.
Before the last assembly elections, the Aam Aadmi Party had given 6 guarantees to the people before coming to power, in which it was also promised to give unemployment allowance of Rs 3 thousand per month to unemployed youth. More than two years have passed since the AAP government came to power, but no concrete steps have been taken in this direction.
To stop the brain drain from Punjab and reduce the number of unemployed, the government should give unemployment allowance to the youth as per its promise till they get a job. For this, there is a need to relax the conditions imposed and rationalize the allowance according to inflation.
