Lucknow: The BJP manifesto released by party president Amit Shah in January this year ahead of the Uttar Pradesh assembly polls made a raft of populist promises, including free laptops for all college students with 1 GB free internet per month.
No budgetary provisions, however, were made by the Yogi Adityanath-led government in Uttar Pradesh on Tuesday to make good on the promise. An allocation of just Rs 50 crore was made for free Wi-Fi services for students of universities and degree colleges across the state.
“This is strange. Distribution of free laptop with 1 GB free data was one of BJP’s poll promises but no mention was made of it in their first budget. Is this another jumla by the state government?” asks Amit Rai, an undergraduate student of Lucknow University.
{{/usCountry}}“This is strange. Distribution of free laptop with 1 GB free data was one of BJP’s poll promises but no mention was made of it in their first budget. Is this another jumla by the state government?” asks Amit Rai, an undergraduate student of Lucknow University.
{{/usCountry}}“The party had promised to give free laptops to all young people seeking admission in universities and colleges with 1 GB free internet a month. The youth of UP is feeling cheated,” said a university teacher who did not wish to be identified.
Part of the Samajwadi Party’s (SP) win in 2012 could be attributed to its poll promise of giving free laptops to students passing Class 12 and seeking admission in UP colleges. In five years, Akhilesh Yadav distributed 18 lakh laptops to meritorious students.
SP also promised fee smartphones if it won the 2017 polls and had also started registrations for the same, but scrapped the plan after the party lost power.
In this year’s budget, the current government has allocated Rs 21.12 lakh for free education of girls up to graduation level under the Ahilyabai Free Education Scheme.
Also, under vocational educational scheme, a target to 70 lakh employment and self-employment opportunities have been set for the next five years.
In addition to this, self-owned buildings for all government industrial training institutes will be constructed and those being built will be completed.