The Uttar Pradesh cabinet has decided to put a couple of riders on the unemployment dole announced by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav. Sharat Pradhan reports
Realising the impracticability of his populist announcement of giving an unemployment dole to every unemployed person above 35 years of age, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on Friday decided to revise the eligibility criterion for this largesse. The announcement apparently had contributed substantially to give his party - Samajwadi Party - a clean sweep at the March 2012 state assembly election.
Going against the initial announcement that was in keeping with the party's election manifesto, the monthly unemployment dole of Rs 1,000 will now be given only to unemployed persons between the age of 30 and 40 years, who are registered with their respective employment exchanges.
A decision to this effect was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet presided over by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav in Lucknow on Friday.
With a view to give the loosely declared scheme a concrete shape, the cabinet also decided to place a couple of riders on the eligibility. As such, the beneficiary would have to necessarily be a permanent resident of Uttar Pradesh and the annual income of his immediate family not above Rs 36,000. Even the gross annual income of the beneficiary's parents or in-laws (as the case may be) must not be above Rs 1.5 lakh.
The beneficiary would stop receiving the allowance as soon as he gets employment either in a government or private organisation. In case of concealment of such information or a false declaration, the beneficiary would be liable to face legal proceedings.
In another development The Akhilesh Yadav government has decided to do away with the practice of reservations in government contracts that was introduced by former chief minister Mayawati.
The state cabinet decided to discontinue the reservation of 21 per cent for scheduled castes and two per cent for scheduled tribes in all construction contracts under various departments and pubic undertakings of the UP government.
The practice was introduced in June 2009 for all contracts worth less than Rs 5 lakh, which was enhanced to Rs 25 lakh in January 2010.
