Thaindian News

Kolkata, March 22 (IANS) In a move to win over the urban youth ahead of next year’s assembly elections, West Bengal Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta Monday proposed an urban employment scheme with an initial outlay of Rs.250 crore as he presented a Rs.4 crore deficit budget for 2010-11.
“To begin with, I propose to allocate an amount of Rs.250 crore for this project in the next year,” Dasgupta said.

Dasgupta, quoting the national sample survey data in his last year’s budget speech, had said that there were 33.37 lakh unemployed in the state.

Other reports say the rate of educated unemployed in West Bengal is higher than the national figure. Economic research firm Indicus Analytics in February last year said that West Bengal had performed poorly as compared to other states and also the country as a whole in reducing unemployment.

Under the proposed scheme, an unemployed person can be engaged either as a worker or as a supervisor for implementation or maintenance of any project of the state government or the municipality or municipal corporation concerned.

The worker will be paid a daily wage of Rs.100 and the supervisor Rs.120.

“No contractor can be engaged under this scheme. The number of days of engagement of an individual will be decided on the basis of experience and available opportunities for work,” Dasgupta said in his budget speech in the assembly.

The scheme is being launched ahead of next year’s assembly polls, said to be the toughest for the Left Front since its uninterrupted rule began in 1977.

Dasgupta rued that despite demands from the state that the central government introduce an employment scheme for urban areas on the lines of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) being implemented in the villages, no decision had been taken.

Hence, “to reduce the problem of unemployment in urban areas, the state government has within its limited powers announced this scheme”, he said.

He said a notification announcing the scheme would be issued soon.