Major Schemes of the Uttar Pradesh Government: Facts and Figures

Uttar Pradesh is the most populous state in India, so the schemes its government runs reach more people than those of any other state. UPPSC, UPSSSC, UP Police, Lekhpal, VDO and SSC papers ask about them every year, and the questions follow a fixed pattern: the year a scheme began, the department that runs it, who is eligible, what it gives and the portal on which it is applied for. This chapter collects the schemes that are actually asked about, grouped by the people they serve, and keeps to the design of each scheme rather than to amounts, which the state revises from time to time.

Schemes for girls, women and families

Mukhyamantri Kanya Sumangala Yojana, launched in 2019 under the Department of Women and Child Development, pays a girl assistance in six stages: at birth, after the full course of vaccination in her first year, on admission to Class 1, on admission to Class 6, on admission to Class 9, and on admission after Class 12 to a degree course or a diploma of at least two years. The money goes into the account of the mother or the guardian, and up to two daughters of a family may be enrolled. Mission Shakti, begun in the Navratri of October 2020, is a campaign rather than a cash scheme; it runs in phases and joins three words, safety, respect and self-reliance, by combining awareness drives, women help desks at police stations, action on crimes against women and links to self-help groups. Mukhyamantri Samoohik Vivah Yojana bears the cost of mass marriages of the daughters of poor families, with a fixed grant per couple that the state revises from time to time. Mukhyamantri Bal Seva Yojana, framed in 2021, pays monthly assistance for the care and education of children who lost their parents. Pensions for destitute women and for the old are paid directly into bank accounts by the same department.

Students, youth and employment

Mukhyamantri Abhyudaya Yojana was started on Basant Panchami, 16 February 2021, and gives free coaching for the civil services, state services, NEET, JEE, defence and other examinations at centres in every division, with serving officers taking some classes and the material also available online. Swami Vivekananda Yuva Sashaktikaran Yojana distributes free smartphones and tablets to students of degree, diploma and technical courses, and their records are kept on the DigiShakti portal. Mukhyamantri Yuva Swarozgar Yojana, run through the Khadi and Village Industries Board and the MSME department, finances a new unit of an educated unemployed youth with a project cost of up to Rs 25 lakh in the industry sector and up to Rs 10 lakh in services, with a margin money subsidy of a quarter of the project cost. The Mukhyamantri Yuva Udyami Vikas Abhiyan, announced in the 2024-25 budget, adds interest-free loans of up to Rs 5 lakh for a first venture. Mukhyamantri Bal Shramik Vidya Yojana pays the families of working children to keep them in school, and the Chief Minister Fellowship Programme places young researchers in the state’s most backward development blocks.

One District One Product and the artisan schemes

One District One Product (ODOP) was announced on Uttar Pradesh Diwas, 24 January 2018. It identifies one traditional product for each district and supports it with common facility centres, design and packaging help, marketing at fairs, and credit through the MSME department, so that a craft cluster is treated as one economy. The Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana of 2018 gives traditional artisans about six days of training and a free toolkit, and the Nivesh Mitra portal is the state’s single window on which an investor files one application for all the clearances a unit needs.

Farmers, villages and animal husbandry

The Kisan Karj Rahat Yojana, cleared at the first cabinet meeting of the state government in April 2017, waived crop loans of up to Rs 1 lakh of small and marginal farmers, that is, those holding up to two hectares. The Mukhyamantri Krishak Durghatna Kalyan Yojana of 2019 pays up to Rs 5 lakh to the family of a farmer who dies or is permanently disabled in an accident, and covers family members who cultivate the land and not only the recorded holder. The Free Boring Yojana of the minor irrigation department sinks tube wells for small and marginal farmers, the Mukhyamantri Sahbhagita Yojana pays a maintenance amount to anyone who takes a destitute cow into care, and the Nand Baba Milk Mission works on dairy development through milk unions and producer groups. The Kisan Kalyan Mission of 2020 holds block-level fairs at which farmers meet the agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry and credit departments at one place.

Health, housing and service delivery

The Mukhyamantri Jan Arogya Abhiyan extends health cover of the same design as the central health insurance scheme to families of the state that were left out of its beneficiary list, and the cost is borne by the state. Mukhyamantri Arogya Swasthya Mela holds health camps at primary health centres on Sundays. Operation Kayakalp equips basic schools with toilets, drinking water, floors, furniture, blackboards and electricity against a fixed list of parameters. Mukhyamantri Awas Yojana builds houses for families left out of the central rural housing list, and the Family ID, Ek Parivar Ek Pehchan portal gives every family one identity number so that a scheme can be matched to the household that needs it. For examinations, remember which scheme belongs to which department, because that is the second half of most questions.