The fledgling Akhilesh Yadav government finds itself in a catch-22 situation over how to disburse the unemployment allowance the Samajwadi Party had promised to jobless youth.
The fledgling Akhilesh Yadav government finds itself in a catch-22 situation over how to disburse the unemployment allowance the Samajwadi Party had promised to jobless youth in its manifesto before the assembly election.
The SP had promised an allowance of Rs1,000 per month to those who had attained the age of 35 but had remained jobless. (The upper age limit for anyone to get a government job in the state is 35.) The catch is that the SP manifesto did not mention the upper age limit for the jobless people who could apply for this allowance. So, as soon as the SP government took over in UP, there was a huge surge at the district employment exchanges to register for the allowance.
People even in their 50s and 60s have registered for the allowance as no upper age limit had been defined either in the manifesto or by the government. The crowds braved caning and water cannons to get themselves registered. The registration form, which was free, was reportedly sold for up to Rs50 at some places.
The SP apparently had no estimate of the number of jobless youth above the age of 35 in UP. Neither did the Akhilesh Yadav government seem to have had any idea in this regard. For, in his first press conference soon after the government took over, chief secretary Javed Usmani told the media that this number was around nine lakh and that it would cost the government about Rs1,100 crore annually to disburse the allowance of Rs12,000 each.
However, that estimate has gone awry as the number of such registrations up to March 31 had crossed 19 lakh, and the latest figure in April has shot across 40 lakh, though officials say a large number of those registered are not entitled to the allowance. But the problem is how to weed out the ineligible candidates in the absence of any clear guidelines. Vetting the lakhs of cases would also take a long time, delaying the delivery.
Another catch is the economic criterion which finds no mention in the manifesto. But, the Training and Employment Directorate which is in the process of framing new guidelines now, is reported to have proposed the allowance only for the economically deprived. Sources also say the upper age limit suggested by the Directorate in its proposal is 45. So, in effect, only the poor jobless between the age of 35 to 45 may finally get the allowance.
If the government now starts adding riders to its promise it may have to pay dearly in the Lok Sabha elections.
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