By Viraj Sagar Das

Yogi Adityanath's appeal to young voters has reconfigured and transformed the political landscape of Uttar Pradesh. Young, vibrant, idealistic, intelligent and – there can be no doubts about that. Besides, Yogi has already earned the reputation of a decisive and non-corrupt leader.

This will count during the voting in the state, where a large chunk of the 24-crore population of Uttar Pradesh consists of youth. Thus, the investment in young people, who have been supported to develop their skills and talents is bound to count during the assembly elections.

The sea change in the Uttar Pradesh is out there in open, for all to see, except those who have surrendered their objectivity and are working for partisan interests.

Prior to 2017, unemployment was soaring, and the economy was tanking in Uttar Pradesh. But with the arrival of Yogi Adityanath and introduction of progressive policies, combined with a dose of entrepreneurial flair, young people are now forging a formidable future.

While the government’s schemes like PM Mudra, Start-up, stand up, PM Yuva Swarozgar, ODOP, Vishwakarma Shram Samman have given impetus to the youth, Yogi wants young people to not just get jobs but also become “job generators.” Yogi is of the vision that the youth’s positive energy should be tapped for constructive work and providing avenues, leveraging the benefits of the digital age.

The action plan prepared by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath for the development of the state after assuming power that the youth have enough space to develop skills, talent and a spirit of competitiveness. If we look at some figures, it will become clear that the Uttar Pradesh government has provided a large number of jobs, employment and self-employment opportunities to the youth in government and private sector.

Uttar Pradesh government has given more than 4 lakh government jobs till now, which is more than triple of what the previous governments managed to do. If the corona pandemic had not occurred, this number would probably have been much higher than this. Out of this, around 1.5 lakh jobs have been given in Basic and Secondary Education Department alone and around 1 lakh 40 thousand in Police Department.

While ensuring special participation of women in each department, adequate steps have been taken to give them respect as well as make them self-reliant. The government has appointed 58,000 Banking Correspondent Sakhi to take advantage of banking facilities in the villages. Community centres in the rural areas has also appointed women to carry out public service, such as assistance in paying electricity bills.

Recently, the state government distributed smartphones and tablets among 1 crore students to enable them to have access to digital content for free. The youth will have access to information about employment schemes by just a click.

The state’s small, micro and medium industries (MSMEs) have proven to be the backbone of the state’s economy and have provided much more opportunities than this. UP’s MSME sector has gained the first position in the country in investment and providing employment and in the past 4.5 years has added nearly 90 lakh MSME units in the state which have brought in investment of more than Rs 5 lakh crore and provided employment to 3 crore people.

To further make this sector dynamic, the process was simplified with the introduction of a single window system—an initiative that was recognised when Uttar Pradesh ranked 14th in 2017 in Ease of Doing Business jumped to the top spot in this category.

Apart from this, 1.25 crore people have been given employment under the Self-reliant Uttar Pradesh Employment Programme. The government also started 'Mission Rozgar' from 05 December 2020 to create special opportunities for employment and self-employment based on skill training and apprenticeship in a coordinated manner. Consequently, more than 50 lakh youth can be readied for employment and self-employment.

About 33 lakh people have got employment in the industrial projects which have been started with an investment of about Rs 3 lakh crore. An investment of Rs 50,000 crore in the Defence Corridor will not only lead to development of infrastructure in the state but will also move towards defence manufacturing and defence economy.

Last year, when the deadly covid Delta variant was on loose, the state government ferried thousands of youths from Kota, Rajasthan where they were preparing for competitive exams. More than 500 buses were mobilised for this exercise. Moreover, with 'Abhyuday' coaching both in online and offline mode was provides so that young aspirants will not be required to travel to other states to study.

When people bring change, it always comes with the threat from people who want to obstruct it on account of their vested interests. But the silver lining is that Uttar Pradesh’s youth is smart enough to keep its faith in Yogi and nail those who pander to superficial assurances and fake promises.

(Viraj Sagar Das is the chairman of the UP-Badminton Association and President of the state Olympic Association. Views expressed are personal)

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