Presenting the state budget on Wednesday Yogi Adityanath government proposed Rs 3600 crore for distributing tablets and smart phone to students under the Swami Vivekanand Yuva Shashaktikaran scheme in the Budget for the fiscal year 2023-24.
To encourage young entrepreneurs to set up agri-tech start-ups in rural areas of the state, the government also proposed Rs 20 crore for an Agriculture Accelerator Fund.
In the Budget, Finance Minister Suresh Khanna, claimed that the unemployment rate in UP was 14.4 per cent before 2017 and it has come down to 4.2 per cent now.
In a major expenditure on infrastructure, the government allotted a budget of Rs 21159 crore for the development of roads and bridges, and an additional fund of Rs 6209 crore will be spent on the maintenance of existing roads.
Finance Minister Suresh Khanna said that a proposal of Rs 235 crore has been made for the development of the initial stages of the Jhansi link-expressway and Chitrakoot link-expressway. He also said Rs 550 crore has been proposed for the Bundelkhand expressway and Defence Corridor projects.
In his Budget speech on Wednesday Khanna announced a Rs 7248 crore proposal under the old age and farmers pension schemes and Rs 1120 crore for the Divyang pension scheme.
An allocation of Rs 25,350 crore was also proposed for the Jal Jivan Mission in the new fiscal 2023-24 with a goal of providing domestic tap water connection for clean drinking water supply in all 2.26 crore households.
Khanna said Rs 2491 crore has been proposed for setting up and operating 14 new medical colleges in the state. At present, there are 8528 seats of MBBS in the government and private-run medical colleges and universities in the state.
To set up unity malls to promote the marketing of One District-One Product (ODOP) and handicraft products, the government proposed Rs 200 crore.
The government also proposed Rs 750 crore for taking care of stray cattle and Rs 120 crore for setting up cow conservation centres.
“Undoubtedly, this Budget will fulfil the interests of every section of the society, including villages, poor, farmers, youth, and women of the state as per the vision of the respected Prime Minister,” said Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.
