Bengaluru : Karnataka Government’s ambitious Yuva Nidhi scheme which Launched recently with much fanfare in Shivamogga has so far seen only 85,000 out of an estimated 5.29 lakh graduates and diploma holders apply for the benefits of scheme. Worse still, out of these only 3,000 or a meagre 3.5% have so far met the stringent eligibility criteria set by the Siddaramaiah government.

Yuva Nidhi is one of the five poll guarantees made by Congress party in Karnataka in the run-up to last year’s assembly election. The scheme offers a monthly stipend of Rs 3,000 for graduates and Rs 1,500 for diploma holders. State government attributes the slow start to various factors, including delayed applications from students who graduated during 2022-23 academic year. The eligibility criterion that stipulates that graduates or diploma holders ought to be unemployed for minimum of six months to qualify for the scheme has put paid to the hope of many Yuva Nidhi aspirants because those who received their mark sheets degree certificates in June-July 2023 may not have fulfilled the mandatory six month unemployment period yet. Out of the estimated 5.29 lakh graduates and diploma holders, only 4.2 lakh mark sheets have so far been uploaded to the National Education Depository (NED). Government officials and academic experts point to a gap between the number of Yuva Nidhi applicants and the actual number of people unemployed in the state.