All unemployed persons in Uttar Pradesh above the age of 35 years, who have passed class 10, will now be entitled to an unemployment allowance of Rs 1,000 per month.
This was one of the first decisions taken at a Cabinet meeting of the newly sworn-in Akhilesh Yadav government, held here on Thursday evening.
Briefing reporters, UP chief secretary Anoop Misra said that the unemployment allowance would be payable from April 1 and will entail a burden of Rs 1,100 crores per annum. At present, there are around nine lakh unemployed persons registered at the employment exchanges in the state.
In its second major decision, the Akhilesh government has decided to give free laptops to all students who pass class 12 and free tablets to all students who pass class 10. This will be given to all students as soon as they take admission in the next class and the beneficiaries will be students in both government and private schools including “madarasas” and Sanskrit schools. The laptops and tablets will be given form this year onwards will incur an expenditure of about Rs 3,000 crores.
In another sop to minorities, the state government has decided to give Rs 30,000 to all Muslims girls who pass class 10, irrespective of their monetary status. This amount can be used by the girls for further education or marriage and will cost the state exchequer a sum of Rs 300 crores.
The state government has further decided to check encroachment and enhance security of Muslim graveyards across the state and for this; boundaries will be constructed around all graveyards. A budgetary provision will be made for this.
The chief secretary said that the government has decided to install CCTV cameras at all important crossings in Lucknow and has also simplified rules for posting of constables and had constables in places near their home districts.