Around ₹38.55 crore has been disbursed to 1, 20,604 beneficiaries to date under the Karnataka government’s Yuva Nidhi scheme, aimed at providing financial support to educated unemployed youth.
According to Karnataka Skill Development Minister Sharan Prakash Patil, financial assistance is provided six months after an unemployed candidate completes his/her degree. “So far, ₹38.55 crore has been disbursed to eligible students through direct benefit transfer (DBT). The State government released a total of ₹39.54 crore for the beneficiaries, with an additional ₹99 lakh still pending to be distributed.”
“Once the other students registered for the scheme, graduate and complete six months, the allowance will be directly credited to their accounts,” he added.
Data shared by the skill development department in the Legislative Assembly shows that Belagavi district leads the Yuva Nidhi scheme with 14,717 registered beneficiaries of the total 1,63,264 who have registered. Bengaluru Urban follows with 11,638 beneficiaries. Kalaburagi has 11,528 beneficiaries, Raichur comes next with 10,512 beneficiaries, and Vijayapura rounds out the top five districts with 7,965 beneficiaries.
The five districts with the least number of beneficiaries under the scheme are Kodagu, Ramanagara, Udupi, Chamarajanagar, and Bengaluru Rural.
Under the scheme, the government has been providing ₹3,000 a month to degree holders and ₹1,500 a month to diploma holders who were unable to get a job in the past six months and are not pursuing higher studies. The aid will be paid for two years.
The data from the Karnataka Skill Development Department provides insights into the categories of Yuva Nidhi beneficiaries across various social segments. Out of the total beneficiaries, 14,134 belong to the general category. The OBC category has the highest number of beneficiaries at 77,550. The SC category has 20,485 beneficiaries while the ST category has for 8,435 beneficiaries.
The scheme was launched on January 12, the birth anniversary of youth icon Swami Vivekananda, by Chief Minister Siddaramaiah and Deputy Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar. It is the fifth poll guarantee of the Congress for educated unemployed youth in Karnataka.