Life sustainability allowance only for genuinely unemployed people

Kathmandu, February 13

The government has said that the life sustainability allowance will be provided to only those who are genuinely unemployed for a year. As per the Prime Minister Employment Programme, the government will give unemployed identity cards to the unemployed and they will be deployed in government identified sectors.

According to Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli, if people who have been assigned to specific jobs do not attend their work then they will not receive the unemployment benefit.

PM Oli further said that the government has a target to graduate the country from the status of a least developed nation to a developing one and every policy that the government forms is towards that end.

The programme will ensure that all the unemployed people will get 50 per cent of minimum wage that it has set if they remain unemployed for 100 days and none of their family members are employed for a year.

The government had set a monthly minimum wage of Rs 13,450 for workers on July 9, last year. Hence, such families will receive Rs 22,417 annually.

The amount that the government will dole out will be equivalent to 50 per cent of the government-set minimum wage for 100 days.

As per the programme, the government will establish an Employment Service Centre at all local bodies to collect data of unemployed youths. The centre will deploy employees as per the concerned project’s needs.

Those who don’t report to work recommended by the employment coordinator will be removed from the government unemployed list.

Earlier, almost 24,000 people had applied for the post of employment coordinator at Employment Service Centre to be established at every local level. Vacancies were opened for the post for all 753 local level government units.

Moreover, the employment coordinator will work to collect data of the unemployed persons at the respective local level, update it and provide identity cards to the listed unemployed people. It will also facilitate employment opportunities for them while making recommendations for various kinds of skills-oriented training.

Minister for Labour, Employment and Social Security Gokarna Bista, said that the country has more possibilities in sectors like hydropower, forest, land and other development works but there is a lack of workers in the country. So, the government will deploy the unemployed youths in those areas, which will also help them generate income.