Unemployment allowance in focus as BRS eyes youth

HYDERABAD: After resolving several long-standing demands over the past few months, Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is reportedly working on fulfilling the pending unemployment allowance, which was a major BRS poll plank of 2018, according to party sources.

Over the past few weeks, the BRS fulfilled an array of promises, such as crop loan waiver, podu land patta distribution, VRAs regularisation, and absorbing TSRTC into the state government, to name a few.

The BRS is hopeful of garnering the support of youth and the unemployed for the upcoming Assembly elections if the unemployment allowance of Rs 3,016 per month is extended now. The government is likely to seek applications from unemployed youth, on the lines of ongoing application processes for BC Bandhu, Minority Bandhu, and Gruha Lakshmi schemes.

The development comes after the Chief Minister, in the recently concluded Monsoon Session of the Legislature, stated that he had ‘many weapons’ in his arsenal for the upcoming Assembly elections, referencing schemes such as BC Bandhu, Gruha Lakshmi, etc. Rao had made the statement in countering Congress, which promised to enhance Aasara's Pension from Rs 3,016 to Rs 4,016 if it was voted into power.

BRS sources said that while Opposition parties were targeting the Chief Minister for failing to keep the promises made during the 2018 Assembly elections, the Congress and BJP have been left clueless, given that the state government ramped up implementation of the promises over the past few months.

“Now, the time has come to fulfil another major poll promise, of unemployment allowance, which the CM is working on seriously. If the unemployment allowance promise is fulfilled, Opposition parties will be left with no major issue to attack the BRS government,” a BRS source said.

The Chief Minister is learning to be working on devising guidelines for accepting applications from unemployed youth and the norms that need to be prescribed, with regard to age limit, educational qualification, and specific criteria to identify the ‘unemployed’.

The state government announced filling up 80,000 vacancies in various departments through direct recruitment exams, which are in various stages of recruitment at present. The ruling party wants to reach out to youth and unemployed with these job notifications, as well as the unemployment allowance, sources said.