Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government announced a new scheme Monday that will facilitate self-employment among youths in the state, Chief Secretary PK Jena informed after a meeting of the Naveen Patnaik-led state Cabinet here. The scheme Swatantra Yuva Udyami (SWAYAM) will help unemployed youths in Odisha, Jena added. It was also decided during the meeting that the Odisha government will provide one-time livelihood assistance of Rs 1,000 to the beneficiary families under the public distribution system (PDS) in the state.
A total of 95,90,526 families will benefit from this one-time assistance, Jena informed. The state government will spend Rs 959.05 crore to provide the one-time assistance, Jena pointed out. Under the SWAYAM scheme, the Odisha government will provide interest-free bank loans up to Rs 1 lakh to unemployed youths in the age group of 18-35 years in both rural and urban areas of the state. The Odisha government will spend Rs 448 crore for this purpose, informed Jena and added that the loans will be provided to start new businesses or expand existing ones. For rural areas, the income of the applicant’s family should not be more than Rs 2 lakh while for urban areas the ceiling is Rs 3 lakh, the Chief Secretary informed.