BHOPAL: A day ahead of AICC president Rahul Gandhi’s visit to Bhopal , the Kamal Nath cabinet is likely to approve three major Vachan Patra promises — the biggest of them being unemployment allowance of Rs 4,000 per month.It’s the first time that the jobless will get such an allowance in Madhya Pradesh . Going by the manifesto, only BPL card holders who are MP residents can avail of the scheme.Strengthening the youth outreach, the Congress government will roll out on Thursday a scheme guaranteeing 100 days of work for urban youth — a promise made by CM Nath on Republic Day and reiterated in an interview to TOI only a week ago. Sources say that the government will also approve 2% hike in DA for state government employees and double social security pension for the elderly from Rs 300 to Rs 600. All three decisions were cleared by the chief minister and finance department on Tuesday.Sources said Nath has directed the administration to work out the modalities of the unemployment allowance scheme and present the proposal before the next cabinet meet. The chief minister’s office told TOI that the cabinet meeting could be called on Thursday, but till late Wednesday evening, there was no notification. Senior Pradesh Congress leaders said the cabinet meet could be called on Thursday evening so the decisions can be ratified before the Congress president’s rally in Bhopal on Friday.‘Unemployment allowance’ was one of the key promises in Congress’s assembly election manifesto as part of its youth empowerment vision. The Vachan Patra announced that the Congress government would launch a mission for jobless youth “who belong to Madhya Pradesh and are from BPL families”. “Under this, educated unemployed youth, including new legal practitioners and tourist guides, will be encouraged for startups. Towards this, they will be given a participation allowance of Rs 4,000 per month for five years, till they are able to establish a startup of get a permanent job or till they become IT payees, whichever is earlier, to strengthen and motivate them,” it said, naming the scheme ‘Vivekananda Yuva Shakti Mission’.Officials couldn’t give an estimate of the cost to the exchequer since the exact number of jobless youth falling in this category is yet to be identified. Also, the government needs to define ‘educated’ — will it mean 10th or 12th pass, or graduate?The other big promise is job guarantee for urban youth on the lines of MNREGA. On Republic Day, chief minister Kamal Nath had announced 100 days of guaranteed employment for jobless youth in urban areas. This too will be presented before the cabinet on Thursday.CM Nath has also instructed that the 2% DA hike, which is due since July 2018, be presented before the cabinet. This will benefit 10 lakh state employees and cost the exchequer Rs 1,098 crore a year. Another Vachan Patra promise that could be cleared on Thursday is increase of social security pension for the elderly to Rs 600. Government sources said that Nath wants to increase it gradually to Rs 1,000 a month. Senior citizens from BPL families, aged between 60 years and 80 years, will get this benefit. It will cost the state Rs 1,300 crore a year.

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