Youths of Uttar Pradesh, for whom a sea of opportunities has opened up in the last four and a half years, might turn out to be the trump card for the Yogi Adityanath government in the upcoming assembly elections scheduled early next year.
According to experts, a total of eight crore people, including around two crore youths and their six crore family members dependent on them, have benefitted from the Yogi government’s employment schemes for the youth. The youths have been at the centre of the Bharatiya Janata Party regime’s policies and decisions and benefitted from several measures undertaken by the government on the ground to get them the best of education and create job opportunities for them, cutting across caste and community lines.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath placed the youths on his priority list, whether it was providing government jobs, creating employment in the private sector, helping youths in setting up business ventures by facilitating loans or providing scholarships for students and now distributing tablets and smartphones to them.
Never before in the state did a government provide 4.5 lakh government jobs to the youth in a short span of four and a half years. Earlier, 50,000 to one lakh youths used to get government jobs in five years of a government’s term.
Similarly, the Yogi government provided contractual appointments to 3.50 lakh youths. Besides, two crore youths got employment through 82 lakh micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs), which were provided loans worth Rs 2.16 lakh crore.
Also in the ODOP (One District One Product) sector, loans worth more than Rs 8,875 crore were disbursed, facilitating employment for over 25 lakh youths of the state. A total of 11,296 ODOP products are currently available on Amazon's website, competing with the world's biggest brands.
Similarly, more than three lakh people have got employment in industrial units. Under the Yogi government’s Startup policy, five lakh youths have got jobs. All these are a hallmark of the visibly different style of functioning of the Yogi government compared to the previous governments. The figures were simply unimaginable during previous governments. It is indicative of the Yogi government’s performance and development-oriented approach towards governance.