The Congress flag.
Credit: PTI File Photo
New Delhi: The Congress on Sunday unveiled its third guarantee—Yuva Udaan Yojana—for the Delhi Assembly elections, promising Rs 8,500 per month for jobless youthsfor a year, which it said is not an unemployment allowance but to help them gain job skills.
Congress General Secretary and former Rajasthan Deputy Chief Minister Sachin Pilot launched the guarantee and said it should not be seen as an allowance for unemployed youth sitting at home.
"We will provide financial assistance to youths who can show their skills in a company, factory or organisation. They will get money through these companies. This is not a scheme under which one will get money while sitting at home," he told a press conference.
He said a Congress government would try to ensure that these people are absorbed in those fields where they have received training and improve their skill set.
The Congress had on January 6 announced 'Pyaari Didi Yojana', promising a monthly financial assistance of Rs 2,500 for women, and on January 8, ‘Jeevan Raksha Yojana’ under which it promised to provide free health insurance of up to Rs 25 lakh.
Pilot said the party intends to encourage youth to showcase their skills and provide them an opportunity. "It is the government’s responsibility to create an atmosphere for job creation. It is people's money and we thought you should be given primacy," he said.
Accusing the governments at the Centre and Delhi for not providing jobs for youths, he said the youth are "frustrated and do not have hope" at present, as both ignore the educated youth.
"What is happening in Delhi is only media management. For both sides, the debate is about who is bigger and nothing else. The atmosphere in Delhi has become worse as both governments bicker a lot. There is ego clash," he said.