The Odisha Cabinet led by Chief Minister gave a nod to 27 proposals on Monday. These include interest-free loans for unemployed youth under the Swatantra Yuva Udyami (SWAYAM) scheme and one-time Rs 1,000 livelihood aid to ration card holders.
It has also decided to distribute two jute bags of 20 kg and 10 kg capacities free of cost. As many as 3,35,98,401 people of 95,90,526 beneficiary families under the public distribution system (PDS) in Odisha will get the benefits under the two initiatives.
The state government will spend Rs 959.05 crore to provide the one-time assistance and Rs 278.69 crore to buy 1,91,81,052 jute carry bags, said Chief Secretary Pradeep Kumar Jena.
The state government will launch a new scheme, Swatantra Yuva Udyami (SWAYAM) to facilitate self-employment among the young people in the state and the cabinet has approved a proposal in this regard.
Under the scheme, the state will provide interest-free bank loans of up to Rs 1 lakh to unemployed people in the age group of 18-35 years in both rural and urban areas of Odisha, said the Chief Secretary,
The bank loans will help unemployed youth to start new businesses or expand the existing ones.
For rural areas, the applicant’s family must be covered under the Krushak Assistance for Livelihood and Income Augmentation (KALIA) or Biju Swasthya Kalyan Yojana (BSKY) of the state. The government plans to cover at least 1 lakh rural young people under the scheme in two years.
It will spend Rs 448 crore for the scheme. The new scheme will be known as SWAYAM (U) in urban areas.
According to the guidelines, the applicant’s family’s annual income must not cross Rs 3 lakh, said Chief Secretary Jena.
(With inputs from Ajesh Mallick and Mahesh Nanda from Bhubaneswar)
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