State to introduce Karma Sathi Prakalpa for unemployed youths

Kolkata: The Bengal government will introduce 'Karma Sathi Prakalpa', a new scheme to provide loans to 1 lakh unemployed youths every year, so that they can start a venture.

State Finance minister Amit Mitra announced the scheme in the Budget and allocated Rs 500 crore for the next financial year for running the scheme smoothly.

The state government conceptualised the new scheme following the instruction of the Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee. The main purpose of the scheme is to make unemployed youths self-reliant.

Under the scheme, the state government has set a target of providing loans to one lakh youths every year. Each beneficiary can avail a loan up to Rs 2 lakh under the scheme. Apart from loans, the government will also provide subsidy for taking up new projects.

The loans will be provided by the state government-owned cooperative banks. It is expected that unemployed youths assisted under the scheme will be able take up small manufacturing activities and will therefore become self-reliant. This is one of the many schemes introduced by the Mamata Banerjee government to provide assistance to newcomers interested in new ventures. Employment generation had been one of the thrust areas of the present government and various schemes have already been launched in this regard.

The government has also announced the setting up of around 100 more MSME parks across the state in the next three years, which will create huge employment opportunities.

The Chief Minister has, on repeated occasions, expressed her concern over the ever-rising unemployment rate in the country and also criticised the Narendra Modi government for doing nothing to address the unemployment problem.

The state Finance minister, during the recent Budget session in the Assembly, stated that the unemployment rate in the country was on the rise while Bengal has created 9.11 lakh jobs in 2019-2020. As a result, the unemployment rate has been reduced by 40 percent in the state.