Here’s How CM Akhilesh Yadav Has Taken UP On Fast Track

CM Akhilesh Yadav has taken Uttar Pradesh on the fast track, here’s how.

It was just five years ago that the Samajwadi Party was credited with a stunning victory in the 2012 elections. Basing the party's foundation on socialism, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav has ever since been governing the politically crucial state of Uttar Pradesh with maturity.

Given the welfare schemes and landmark development projects, citizens of the state have had many reasons to celebrate in these five years. UP has witnessed various sustained efforts and their encouraging results that have made the society more socialist, advanced, and self-sufficient.

Apart from developing crucial sectors, such as agriculture, energy, creation of infrastructural facilities, development of human resources, health and medicare, urban and rural development, and social security for weaker sections, the Akhilesh government has proactively been formulating schemes to benefit youth, women, children, and poor of the state.

The following are some schemes that have strengthened Akhilesh Yadav’s ‘Agenda of Development’ and hence the people of Uttar Pradesh:

Digital Development through Free Laptop and Smartphone Distribution

To put the youth of UP technically at par with the world, Samajwadi Party has distributed over 15 lakh laptops for free to meritorious students. This has opened new avenues for them to pursue higher education and who in turn have fueled the state’s buildout. Due to this scheme, UP has seen a boost in Science and Technology, growing leaps and bounds.

To replicate the runaway success of this scheme, Akhilesh government will start the historic 'Samajwadi Smart Phone scheme' where it will distribute free smartphones to create a two-way communication between the government and the people. It will be kick-started in the months after 2017 elections on first come/registration, first serve basis and will provide people with a medium to give direct feedback on the various schemes of the government.

Infrastructural Development through Samajwadi Awas Yojna and Agra- Lucknow Expressway

Aimed at boosting the welfare of commuters, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's pilot project, Agra-Lucknow Expressway was inaugurated in November last year. The 302 Km long highway has 6 lanes, which can be extended up to 8 and has reduced the distance between the two major cities to 3-4 hours from the previous time of 7 hours. Being the longest green field expressway, it hosts 4 development centres, freight centres, 2 Kisan Mandis, a goods washing centre, schools.

Aprat from this, most of Uttar Pradesh’s 75 major districts are linked by four-lane roads. So far 50 districts have been connected via four-lane roads. Work is underway to connect the remaining districts.

As a step focused on improving the delivery, maintenance, and operation of physical infrastructure, Samajwadi Party came up with the ‘Samajwadi Awas Yojna’ that provides affordable housing to the people in urban areas as per their financial situation. The houses under the scheme consist of 2 rooms, a kitchen, bathroom, toilet and a balcony and stretch in a carpet area of 75 metre square. The best part is that these houses cost between Rs. 15 lakhs to Rs. 30 lakhs.

Women Safety And Empowerment Through 1090 Women Power Line and Kanya Vidya Dhan

'We cannot progress without education,' believes Akhilesh Yadav, the CM of the state. And putting this thought to implementation, Samajwadi Party has worked out many initiatives, most of which aim at empowering women.

For example, ‘Kanya Vidhya Dhan’ educational initiative has been improving education amongst academically proficient girls from lower income families by giving Rs 30,000 each. With a total of 6,43,466 young girls benefiting from this spectacular initiative, UP has made impressive growth in primary education in the last half decade, according to the UNICEF India Annual Status of Education Report, 2015.

Also, the ‘Uttar Pradesh Women Powerline 1090,’ a round-the-clock helpline was launched to ensure women safety and self-reliance. Following the success of this initiative, the UP government also launched Women Security App 1090 which can be used to lodge complaints online.

Additionally, Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav introduced a new policing scheme called 'UP 100', which has 3,200 Innovas and Boleros with a total of 22,275 policemen to reach out to complaints made by people to its control room. The police team reaches the spot in 20 minutes in rural areas and 15 minutes in cities. He also plans to build hostels for working women across the state.

Financial Security through Jobs and Skill Development

Another of Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav's dream project, the IT City development project in collaboration with HCL technologies has been focusing on empowering the youth. It does so by conquering the digital divide and generating new establishment for skill development. With tremendous technical and infrastructural growth, job opportunities have been ample and youth need not leave their hometown in search of work.

Akhilesh Yadav has actually been sculpting most of his initiatives to focus on youth - key being his "Skill Development Mission" that provides vocational training in order to empower the youth of the state. In 2015, the state government signed MoUs and exchanged documents with MNCs under which thousands of young men and women have already been given vocational training and hence opening new job avenues. Honouring this initiative, Uttar Pradesh was awarded as the "Best State” for Skill Development by ‪UNESCO and Central Government.

Another exhilaration for youth is the multiple state-of-art facilities in the field of sports made available by Samajwadi Party. The state proudly owns an international cricket stadium, football stadium, Olympic sized pool and numerous other sporting facilities.

And all of this is just the tip of an iceberg. The development done by Akhilesh Yadav Government is visible and appreciated by everyone. All key projects initiated by him, such as highways and roads and the Lucknow Metro are doing well. The Chief Minister has also been generous with doles and loan waivers.

With the first two phases of UP elections over and the next five scheduled in the coming 20 days, it is to be seen if all this development will work in Akhilesh’s favour as much as the citizens of Uttar Pradesh have profited. For sure, he must be keeping his fingers crossed.