UP embarks on a journey to ‘sarvodaya’ from ‘antyodaya’

Today, we are completing four years of our pledge of presenting Uttar Pradesh, a state which has the blessings of nature and the Lord almighty, as a safe, developed and prosperous state able to achieve the aspirations of its 24 crore people on the global stage.

We have dedicated these four years to tackling infinite challenges, exploring endless possibilities and realising your dreams. On 19th March 2017, our honourable Prime Minister Narendra Modiji gave us the path of 'Sabka Saath-Sabka Vikas-Sabka Vishwas'. Today, when the State Government is completing four years, I am personally satisfied that we have been successful in implementing our policies in line with this goal.

Our glorious PM Modiji has dreamt of a 'self-reliant India' to overcome the economic crisis unleashed by the corona pandemic. He is pursuing the great goal of making the country a US $ 5 trillion economy. Uttar Pradesh is committed to making a significant contribution towards achieving this goal and will play a leading role in realising his dreams. Studies reveal that Uttar Pradesh is the state with greatest possibilities in terms of demographic dividend.

The only thing needed was to explore and realize these possibilities through coordinated policies and clear intentions. Our efforts have exactly been in this spirit during the last four years. The government identified barriers in the path of industrial capital investments and facilitated investment procedures by introducing a single window system.

Our government took concrete steps to provide world-class connectivity in the state and brought the government's plans and other benefits to the last person in the queue. It was not an easy task to rise to number two in the national ranking of 'Ease of Doing Business' within four years, but we did it.

Uttar Pradesh today has become the best business and investment destination in India and ranks second in terms of economy, playing the role of the growth engine for the national economy. The story of Bundelkhand women working tirelessly to achieve a profit of Rs 2 crore in milk production with the total annual turnover of Rs 46 crore is truly inspiring.

In the Corona period itself, as many as 67,000 members of self-help groups stitched 1 crore and 28,000 school uniforms for children of council schools, earning more than Rs 100 crore. All these are just examples, many such innovative efforts are becoming the cornerstone of realising the dream of 'Self-reliant Uttar Pradesh'.

The saying in Sanskrit "Udayamne siddhayanti karyani na manorathaih" is very true in this context.

Moving forward on the path of development, this is the same Uttar Pradesh where 40 lakh families got housing and 1.38 crore families got electricity connection in just four years, while connectivity of every village has improved significantly and work is going on war-footing to lay optical fibre in the countryside of the state.

Today, with our continuous collective effort we have strengthened interstate connectivity. Five expressways are getting ready to accelerate development whereas defence corridors are being built to make the country self-sufficient in the field of defence production. We have to remember that this is the same UP where the per capita income in the year 2015-16 was just Rs 47,116. Today it is Rs 94,495. The state with a GDP of 10.90 lakh crore in 2015-16 has emerged as the second largest economy in the country with a GDP of 21.73 lakh crore today. This is change.

Under the Jal Jeevan Mission, work is underway to ensure availability of safe tap water in every household across the state. The State Government is working on a comprehensive action plan in this context in Bundelkhand, Vindhya region and 30,000 revenue villages. Piped drinking water scheme is also being implemented in all these villages. We are thankful to the Prime Minister for making necessary arrangements in the Union Budget to connect villages and cities under Jal Jeevan Mission. The State Government is providing benefits of the schemes to all without any kind of discrimination.

There has been unprecedented development in Musahar, Tharu and Vantangia villages. In eastern Uttar Pradesh, Japanese encephalitis and AES disease, which have been the cause of untimely aging of innocent children for the past three decades, have almost been eliminated. It has been a great learning experience during the pandemic.

The suffering of students and their parents who went to other states to prepare for competitive examinations was one such experience. We experienced this closely during the lockdown period. It set us thinking why despite being the largest state in the country we can't prevent our meritorious students from fleeing the state. Why can't we have a system to retain our youths? Finally, we decided to find a permanent solution to this problem and came up with the 'Mukhyamantri Abhyudaya Yojana'.

The Yojana seeks to provide excellent preparation opportunities for competitive exams to the youth of the state by engaging excellent teachers, subject matter experts from within the state and outside as well as administrative officers to hold classes.

Until now, these youths were either deprived of guidance due to lack of money or they had to wander in places like Kota and Delhi. Many youths, whose parents were poor, either could not afford to get coaching in good institutions or their parents had to sell their property. These conditions put a negative psychological pressure on the youth. It is my spiritual satisfaction that this scheme has been accepted wholeheartedly by the competing students and their parents alike.

Today's era is not about youngsters becoming 'job seekers', but 'job generators'. Keeping this in mind, the Mukhyamantri Yuva Swarozgar Yojana was started. Under this, the Uttar Pradesh government is providing financial assistance of up to Rs 25 lakh to provide self-employment for the youth of Uttar Pradesh. These efforts have proved their utility in providing huge support to the youth.

We embarked on our public welfare journey four years ago with the waiving of the loan of farmers. The State Government did not hold its first cabinet meeting until the action plan for loan waiver of small and marginal farmers was prepared. Today, farmers in the state are becoming progressive and with the support of advanced technology are moving towards agricultural diversification.

The last four years have witnessed creation of the New India's New UP. Our political rivals also recognize that in the last four years, there has not been a single scheme which differentiates among people on the basis of caste or religion.

Yes, we are not following the policy of appeasement. It is quite clear. Farmers, youth, women and the poor are at the centre of our policies. The policies and the intention of the government are crystal clear and that is why the people are with the government. The state is the same, the resources are the same, the workmen are also the same, but the work culture has changed. This transparent work culture with dedicated and committed workforce is the hallmark of this brand new Uttar Pradesh.