Karnataka govt launches scheme offering unemployment stipend to grads and diploma holders
Shivamogga (PTI): The Karnataka government on Friday launched the Congress party's fifth 'guarantee' offering unemployment monthly stipend of Rs 3,000 to graduates and Rs 1,500 to diploma holders.
Chief Minister Siddaramaiah handed over cheques to six beneficiaries to symbolically kickstart the "Yuva Nidhi" scheme, meant for the graduates and diploma holders who passed in the academic year 2022-23 and remained jobless even after 180 days of completion of their education.
The stipend will be given only for two years and it will end soon after the beneficiary gets a job. Those who have enrolled for higher education and continuing studies are not eligible under the scheme.
The state government has earmarked Rs 250 crore for the scheme in the current financial year. It expects that next year, it will cost Rs 1,200 crore to the state exchequer and from 2026 onwards Rs 1,500 crore annually.
The Congress government has already launched four guarantees -- Shakti', providing free rides to Karnataka women in non-luxury government buses, Anna Bhagya' offering 10 kg rice to BPL families, Gruha Jyoti' giving free electricity up to 200 units to household users, and Gruha Lakshmi' giving Rs 2,000 a month to women heads of families having APL/BPL ration cards.
"We will impart skill development training to the beneficiaries. The duration of this scheme is for two years. If they get a job whether private or government, the benefit will immediately stop. The skill development department will decide which training to be given," Siddaramaiah told reporters here.
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Three company directors held in Rs 100-crore investment fraud in Kochi
Kochi (Kerala) (PTI): Police on Sunday arrested three directors of a firm accused of cheating hundreds of investors of over Rs 100 crore through a fake investment scheme linked to agricultural tourism here, officials said.
The accused were identified as Muraleedharan, Ashik Murali and Akhil Murali, all natives of Thrissur.
The arrests were made by the Kalamassery police in connection with a fraud involving ATCOS (Agri Tourism Cooperative Society), a firm headquartered at Pathadipalam here.
Police said the company had promised high returns by collecting investments from the public in the agricultural tourism sector, but allegedly cheated hundreds of people and fled with the money.
ATCOS was registered under the Multi-State Cooperative Societies Act and operated 13 branches across various districts in Kerala, besides a branch in Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu, officials said.
When investors failed to receive their promised returns or the invested amount, complaints were filed with the police.
Officials said around 54 cases have been registered against the firm in 32 police stations across the state, including 29 cases at the Kalamassery police station alone.
Following instructions from Kochi City Police Commissioner K S Mahesh Kumar, a special investigation team was formed under the supervision of Deputy Commissioner of Police (Law and Order) Shehensha and Thrikkakara ACP Manoj Kumar.
The team traced the accused to an apartment in Amala Nagar in Thrissur, where they had been hiding after secretly renting the flat, officials said.
The bank accounts of the accused have been frozen, and steps have been initiated to trace their assets, officials said.
Police also conducted a raid at the company’s office at Pathadipalam and seized several documents related to the case.
The accused were produced before the Judicial First Class Magistrate Court in Kalamassery, which remanded them to judicial custody and sent them to Kakkanad jail.
Police said they would seek the custody of the accused for further interrogation as the investigation continues.
