There was huge enthusiasm for the ‘Yuva Sathi’ scheme launched for unemployed youth before the assembly elections in West Bengal. As soon as registration started on Sunday, long queues formed even before sunrise. Thousands of youth were standing in the queue till the camp opened at 11 in the morning and by the evening around two lakh youth across the state stood in line for registration. This scheme has been started by the Mamata Banerjee led All India Trinamool Congress government. Under this, direct cash assistance of Rs 1,500 will be given every month to unemployed youth aged between 21 to 40 years who have not studied beyond class 10.
According to the IANS report, one physical camp has been set up in all the 294 assembly constituencies of the state, out of which 18 camps are in Kolkata. These camps will run daily from 11 am to 5 pm till February 26. Complaints of disorder were also reported at some places. There were brief protests at Chanchal in Malda district and Chopra in South Dinajpur district over the alleged delay, after which the police took control of the situation and registration resumed.
large participation of youth
29-year-old Souvik Porel reached a camp in Behala, Kolkata at 8:30 in the morning. He told that till 9:30 there were about 100 people in the line and by the time the gates opened this number reached around 400. He is a commerce graduate and is currently preparing for a government job by teaching tuition. According to him, this amount will support him till he gets a permanent job. Many other youth also said that this amount will help in everyday expenses and will give them an opportunity to reduce dependence on parents.
Provision of Rs 5000 crore
The Yuva Sathi scheme was announced on February 6 in the vote-on-account Budget for 2026-27. A provision of Rs 5,000 crore has been kept for this. The state government estimates that about 27.8 lakh youth will benefit from this scheme. Earlier the payment under this scheme was to start from August 15, but now it has been announced that it will be implemented from April 1.
opposition attack
The main opposition party Bharatiya Janata Party has termed this scheme as “vote dole” i.e. electoral greed. Leader of Opposition in the Assembly, Suvendu Adhikari raised the question as to why the application process was not made completely online. Citing a scheme of 2013, he asked what happened to the 17 lakh job applications made then and how many got employment.
Government’s response
State Finance Minister Chandrima Bhattacharya said that despite limited resources, the state government is continuing all the schemes. Accusing the Central Government of withholding the dues, he said that despite this, welfare schemes are being run. Meanwhile, BJP has indicated that Prime Minister Narendra Modi may hold a rally in Kolkata in March, where unemployment will be made an election issue.