Telangana elections: BRS working on unemployment allowance to lure youth

The government is working on specifying the eligibility criteria to accept applications from unemployed youth with regard to age limit, educational qualification etc

Having fulfilled a number of long-standing demands in recent months, Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao (KCR) is reportedly preparing to fulfil the promise of unemployment allowance in Telangana, Deccan Chronicle (DC) has reported. Notably, unemployment allowance was one of the major poll promises of the Bharat Rashtra Samithi (BRS) during the last assembly elections in 2019.

In recent weeks, the BRS has implemented a series of poll promises which included crop loan waiver, podu land patta distribution, Village Revenue Assistant (VRA) regularisation, and absorbing the Telangana State Road Transport Corporation (TSRTC) into the state government, among others.

The BRS is counting on the votes of Telangana's youth and unemployed sections in the upcoming Assembly elections. Given this background, the announcement of a monthly allowance of Rs 3,016 per month to the unemployed can help BRS garner the support of the jobless youth.

To this end, the government is expected to invite applications from the unemployed just as it did for the BC Bandhu, Minority Bandhu, and Gruha Lakshmi schemes, the DC report said.

The news has come after the CM KCR had said in the recently concluded Monsoon Session of the Telangana Assembly that he had multiple weapons in his arsenal in the run-up to the Assembly elections. If voted to power, Rao responded to the Congres' promise of increasing Aasara's Pension from Rs 3,016 to Rs 4,016.

What is the Aasara pension scheme?

Telangana government website says that the 'Aasara' pension scheme is meant to protect the most vulnerable sections of society in particular the old and infirm, people with HIV-AIDS, widows, incapacitated weavers and toddy tappers who have lost their means of livelihood with growing age, in order to support their day to day minimum needs required to lead a life of dignity and social security.

"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 told DC.

As things stand, the government is working on specifying the eligibility criteria to accept applications from unemployed youth about age limit, educational qualification etc.