Madhya Pradesh chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan on Thursday announced a slew of measures for the youth in the state, including a 5% reservation for government school students in government medical colleges. For the unemployed youth, the CM announced a vocational training scheme where they will also be paid ₹8,000 a month.
The announcement comes ahead of the state assembly elections scheduled for late 2023.
Elaborating on the reservation scheme, Chouhan said, “A separate merit list will be made to give admission to those who qualify through NEET (The National Eligibility cum Entrance Test) as the government intends to allocate a 5% reservation for graduates from state government schools.”
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Additionally, he said, job aspirants from Madhya Pradesh can now fill as many job forms as they want in a year, with a fee charged only once.
“Rs. 8,000 a month will be given to them during the training. A separate portal will be formed named yuvaportal.mp.gov.in where the candidates can register themselves from June 1. There will be no time limit. The youth, who will register in June, will start getting money from July 1,” added the CM.
The CM further announced the ‘Mukhya Mantri Yuva Kaushal Kamai Yojana’. Under the scheme, youths who could not find work after graduation will be trained in different sectors such as industry, services, chartered accountancy, trade and technology.
Chouhan said that those between 15 to 29 years of age will be eligible for registration for this “learn and earn” scheme and a provision of ₹1,000 crore had been made for the programme in the state budget.
“A Youth Commission will be reconstituted in the state by April 5 and a youth budget will also be included next year,” he said.
Other government measures under the state’s youth policy include compulsory sports education with a playground in every village, and a 100 crore student innovation fund to encourage students to start businesses at the university level.
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“Vivekananda Youth Resource Centres will be set up at the district level in the state, in which arrangements will be made to help in providing benefits of various schemes, including career counselling, mentoring as well as a library,” said Chouhan.
Meanwhile, the opposition hit out the policy and the promises made for the youth in the state and called it a political stunt.
“The BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party)-the led state government has made many announcements in the past 20 years but unemployment is rising by the day. This is nothing but a political stunt of the BJP and the chief minister,” said KK Mishra, spokesperson, MP Congress Committee.
