The Rajasthan government has introduced a major policy shift in its unemployment allowance scheme by setting the minimum eligibility age at 21 years. As a result, nearly 10,000 verified unemployed individuals below the age of 21 will be excluded from the beneficiary list.
Until now, graduate unemployed applicants were eligible for the allowance without any minimum age restriction. With the implementation of the new rule, eligibility criteria have been revised, impacting a significant section of young applicants. Currently, around 90,000 verified applications are pending, and a large number of these applicants are expected to be affected by the change.
Each year, approximately 200,000 unemployed individuals receive the allowance, including nearly 15,000 beneficiaries who are under 21 years of age.
In a parallel development, the Employment Directorate has temporarily shut down the EEMS 1.0 portal. A new platform, EEMS 2.0, is scheduled to be launched in May, and no fresh applications will be accepted until then.
Under the updated system, attendance tracking for beneficiaries will be conducted via a mobile application. As per the scheme, male beneficiaries receive ₹4,000 per month, while women, specially-abled individuals, and transgender applicants receive ₹4,500 per month for a maximum duration of two years.
According to the department, these changes have been implemented based on stakeholder feedback to improve the efficiency and targeting of the scheme.
