Unemployment Assistance Scheme - Tamil Nadu

What is the Unemployment Assistance Scheme in Tamil Nadu?

Unemployment Assistance Scheme is a welfare programme of the Department of Employment and Training, Government of Tamil Nadu, started in 2006, that pays a small monthly allowance to registered unemployed youth until they find work. The department runs it through the District Employment and Career Guidance Centres. The offices most people still call employment exchanges, and publishes the scheme on its portal, tnvelaivaaippu.gov.in.

The design of the scheme rests on one document: the employment exchange live register. A person registers at the district employment office, renews the registration at the prescribed intervals to stay "live", and after five continuous years on that register without placement becomes eligible to claim assistance. The five-year rule is what separates this from a general dole. Tamil Nadu is paying people whose registration proves a sustained, documented, unsuccessful search for work.

Monthly rates for general registrants, as published by the Department of Employment and Training:

Monthly rates for differently abled registrants, which form a separate and more generous track:

The differently abled track differs in four ways beyond the amount. The live register condition is one year instead of five. There is no parental income restriction. There is no age restriction. And the assistance is paid for ten years instead of three.

Payment in both tracks is made by Electronic Clearing Service into the beneficiary's bank account every quarter, so a graduate on Rs 600 a month receives Rs 1,800 in a quarterly credit rather than a monthly one.

Who is eligible for unemployment assistance in Tamil Nadu?

You can claim if:

• You are registered with a District Employment and Career Guidance Centre in Tamil Nadu and your name has been on the live register for five years or more: or one year or more if you are a differently abled registrant.
• Your family annual income does not exceed Rs 72,000. This condition does not apply to differently abled registrants.
• You are within 40 years of age, or 45 years if you belong to a Scheduled Caste or Scheduled Tribe. No age limit applies to differently abled registrants.
• You are not employed in any form, regular, casual or self-employed.
• You are not a regular student of any school or college.
• You are a resident of Tamil Nadu.
• You hold a bank account that can receive the quarterly ECS credit.

You cannot claim, or are not eligible, if:

• You are not registered at a district employment office, or your registration has lapsed because you failed to renew it. A lapsed registration breaks the continuity of the five-year period and is by far the most common reason a claim fails.
• Your registration is less than five years old in the general track.
• Your family income exceeds Rs 72,000 a year.
• You are above 40 years — or 45 for SC and ST applicants; in the general track.
• You are employed, including in casual or self-employment. Assistance already granted is discontinued if the registrant is placed in a job during the grant period, and the beneficiary is expected to report this.
• You are a regular student of a school or college.
• You have already drawn assistance for the full three years in the general track, or ten years in the differently abled track.

How to apply for the Unemployment Assistance Scheme

1. Check your employment exchange registration is live. Log in at tnvelaivaaippu.gov.in with your registration number, or visit the district office, and confirm both that the registration is current and that the original date of registration is at least five years ago. Renew immediately if a renewal is due.
2. Obtain an income certificate from the Tahsildar showing family annual income within Rs 72,000. Apply through an e-Sevai centre. This certificate is usually the slowest item, so start it first.
3. Collect the application form from the District Employment and Career Guidance Centre where you are registered. The form is issued free of cost.
4. Fill the form with your registration number, date of first registration, educational qualification, family income, age and bank account details.
5. Attach the documents: registration card, highest educational certificate, income certificate, age proof, community certificate where the higher age limit is claimed, disability certificate for the differently abled track, Aadhaar and bank passbook.
6. Sign the declaration that you are neither employed nor a regular student. This is a substantive undertaking, not a formality.
7. Submit the application at the same district employment office and take an acknowledgement with the date.
8. Watch the bank account for the quarterly ECS credit once the claim is sanctioned, and keep renewing the employment registration on time throughout, because assistance depends on the registration remaining live.

What documents are required?

How do I check the status of my claim?

• The District Employment and Career Guidance Centre where the application was filed holds the file and can confirm whether it is at scrutiny or sanction stage. Carry the acknowledgement.
• The employment portal tnvelaivaaippu.gov.in carries your registration status, renewal dates and the scheme rules, which is the fastest way to check the one thing that most often goes wrong. A lapsed registration.
• The bank passbook shows the quarterly credit. If a quarter is missed, take the passbook and the acknowledgement back to the district employment office.
• The District Collector's grievance day is the escalation if the district office is unresponsive.

Why unemployment assistance claims get rejected, and how to fix them

• Registration lapsed at some point during the five years. The single most common ground. Renew on time, every time; keep the renewal receipts, and treat renewal dates as fixed appointments.
• Income certificate above Rs 72,000. Where the certificate overstates household income, apply to the Tahsildar for a fresh assessment with correct particulars.
• Age above the limit. Not curable in the general track. Claim as early as you become eligible rather than waiting.
• Employment detected. Provident fund records, ESI records and departmental placement data can show employment the applicant did not declare, and a false declaration leads to recovery.
• Enrolled as a regular student. A registrant who is pursuing a full-time course is outside the scheme.
• Bank account not Aadhaar-seeded or closed, so the ECS credit fails. Update the account details at the district employment office.
• Educational certificate not produced, resulting in the claim being fixed at a lower slab than the applicant is entitled to.

What are the key figures?

• Started: 2006.
• General monthly rates: Rs 200 SSLC failed, Rs 300 SSLC passed, Rs 400 HSC, Rs 600 graduate.
• Differently abled monthly rates: Rs 600 up to SSLC passed, Rs 750 HSC, Rs 1,000 graduate.
• Live register condition: 5 years general, 1 year differently abled.
• Income limit: Rs 72,000 a year; none for differently abled registrants.
• Age limit: 40 years, 45 for SC and ST; none for differently abled registrants.
• Duration: 3 years general, 10 years differently abled.
• Payment: quarterly, by ECS.

Where do I raise a grievance?

• The District Employment and Career Guidance Centre where you are registered. Contact numbers for every district office are listed on tnvelaivaaippu.gov.in.
• The District Collector, through the weekly grievance day petition.
• The Commissioner of Employment and Training, Government of Tamil Nadu, Chennai, through tnvelaivaaippu.gov.in.

No fee is payable for the employment exchange registration, for the renewal or for the unemployment assistance application. Any demand for payment to process a claim should be reported in writing to the District Collector.