Kashmiri youth benefit from government employment scheme

Pulwama (Jammu and Kashmir), Feb.26 (ANI): The Indian Government's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) scheme has helped Kashmiri youth in earning a livelihood.

Youth in Pulwama believe the MNREGA is helping them with farming activities.

"Yes, it is benefiting us a lot. On the one hand, this scheme of the government is benefiting the public, and on the other hand, it is helping to remove unemployment. We request the government to introduce more schemes that help the unemployed youth to find livelihoods," said Farooq Ahmad, a beneficiary of the MNREGA.

According to Nisar Ahmad, a block development officer in Pulwama, the response to the plan has been good.

"In our Pulwama block, till date we have registered 6,374 job calls so far. One job call is issued to one family when they demand it. At that, we can consider three volunteers from one family for working in the MNREGA (National Rural Employment Guarantee Act) job."

" Initially in MNREGA, the government used to pay Rupees. 70, and then the wages were increased as the Minimum Wage Act was revised. Then payments were increased to Rupees 110," he said.

He also said the scheme has helped in bringing down the unemployment rate in the province.

The MNREGA scheme, enacted in 2005, aims at providing employment to India's rural areas by guaranteeing at least 100 days of employment in a financial year to a rural household whose adult members volunteer to do unskilled manual work.

According to government records, the state of Jammu and Kashmir has atleast 400,000 unemployed educated youths. (ANI)