Kolkata, February 16 – The Leader of the Opposition (LoP) in the West Bengal Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari, alleged on Monday that the new unemployment allowance scheme, 'Banglar Yuva Sathi', announced by the West Bengal Minister of State for Finance (Independent charge), Chandrima Bhattacharya, while presenting the interim budget for 2026-27 on February 5, was nothing more than a mere gesture aimed at misleading unemployed youth in the state.
Under this scheme, a monthly allowance of Rs 1,500 will be provided to secondary examination-passed youths aged between 21 and 40.
While presenting the interim budget on February 5, Bhattacharya stated that the scheme would come into effect from August 15 this year if the Trinamool Congress returned to power.
However, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee preponed the implementation date of the scheme and announced that payments under the scheme would be made from April 1 instead of the earlier announced August 15.
Accordingly, the state government has started receiving applications for the scheme through special camps opened at all the 294 Assembly constituencies in the state from February 15.
On Monday morning, the LoP, in a post on his social media handle, described the scheme as a mere gesture before the upcoming Assembly elections, and also expressed doubts about the actual number of genuine beneficiaries who would receive payments under the scheme.
According to him, the new scheme is simply a replication of the old 'Yuvashree' scheme, just with a different name.
"It is the same old tactic of reintroducing the same scheme with a new name. In a bankrupt state that is economically starved due to capital flight and lack of investment, there is no real appreciation of talent. Now, it is yet another ploy by the state government to make unemployed youths stand in queues to submit their applications at the designated camps," Adhikari said.
He also questioned the necessity for organizing camps for the submission of application forms when the same could easily be arranged online. He also questioned the police action at some of the designated camps on Sunday, which was the first day for the submission of application forms under the scheme.
"There was no need to deploy police at the camps. The West Bengal Police has developed the habit of harassing job seekers and unemployed youths," he claimed.
"Why did the police beat up unemployment allowance applicants again?" Adhikari questioned.
