Rajasthan CM Ashok Gehlot announces hike in youth unemployment allowance; girls to now get Rs 3,500, boys Rs 3,000

Jaipur: Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot on Thursday announced to raise the unemployment allowance for the youth of the state from 1 March. [caption id=“attachment_4291973” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] File image of Ashok Gehlot. Twitter/@ashokgehlot511[/caption] “Girls will get Rs 3,500 and boys Rs 3,000 as unemployment allowance for two years,” he said at a function at the Rajasthan University in Jaipur. Gehlot said that the Congress in its election manifesto had promised to raise the unemployment allowance for the youth of the state. “I had introduced the unemployment allowance during my last tenure. It began with Rs 600. Now, the girls will get Rs 3,500 and the boys Rs 3,000,” he added. Welcoming Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s announcement of minimum income guarantee to poor, Gehlot on Tuesday had said he has already started preparations to implement the scheme. Gehlot had said that the country is capable of providing such a guarantee to its citizens. Rahul on Monday promised his party would ensure minimum income guarantee for every poor person if it comes to power at the Centre, echoing the garibi hatao (“remove poverty”) slogan coined by his grandmother Indira Gandhi during the 1971 general elections that she won.