Security force

UP to raise special armed force on lines of CISF

Virendra Singh Rawat
Lucknow / June 28, 2020

Uttar Pradesh government will raise a special armed force on lines of Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) to safeguard the vital and sensitive installations.

In the first phase, the state will raise 5 battalions of the Uttar Pradesh Special Security Force (UPSSF), which will be deployed to protect metro rails, airports, industrial enclaves, banks, financial institutions etc.

Headquartered in Lucknow, it will also provide security to the religious and tourist places, district courts etc. The decision to raise the armed wing was taken at a meeting chaired by chief minister Yogi Adityanath here recently.

Instructing officials to take the necessary steps, he stressed the imperative for a specialised armed force, which could discharge such functions in a professional manner.

The force will be provided with special training and equipped with modern security and safety equipment.

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PM Modi

Modi unveils UP job scheme to benefit 12.5 million workers

Virendra Singh Rawat
Lucknow / June 26, 2020

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today launched a mass employment scheme, which is touted to benefit 12.5 million migrant and other workers in Uttar Pradesh.

Modi unveiled the programme virtually from New Delhi in the presence, over video link, of UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath.

‘Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rojgar Abhiyan’ is a bottom of pyramid programme to help those who lost their regular jobs following covid-19 lockdown in March 2020. More than 3.5 million migrant workers have since returned to UP, especially from Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Delhi etc.

The Abhiyan aims at providing jobs, promoting entrepreneurship and firming partnerships with industry chambers for creating job opportunities. A total of 25 categories of works have been identified under the flagship scheme.

It will cover 31 districts and function under the Centre’s Garib Kalyan Rojgar Abhiyan that Modi had unveiled on June 20 for 116 districts spanning 6 states.

Currently, the state is conducting the skills mapping of the migrant workers. Recently, the government had signed memorandums of understanding (MoU) with 4 industry bodies viz. Indian Industries Association (IIA), FICCI, Laghu Udyog Bharati (LUB) and National Real Estate Development Council (NAREDCO), to provide jobs to 1.1 million workers.

EOM

Covid-19

UP jails manufacturing covid-19 PPE kits, face masks

Virendra Singh Rawat
Lucknow / June 23, 2020

Amid the spread of covid-19 infection, the prisons in Uttar Pradesh have become mini manufacturing hubs for the personal protection equipment (PPE) kits and face masks to protect against the pandemic.

Following the lockdown, the state jail administration had set up production facilities to manufacture covid-19 masks, PPE kits and even hand sanitiser for both captive use and external supplies.

These production units, manned by the prison inmates, have so far manufactured more than 1.6 million face masks and 2,125 PPE kits.

UP additional chief secretary, home, Avanish Kumar Awasthi claimed the government had successfully controlled the spread of the disease in jails due to pre-emptive measures taken by the authorities, including sensitising inmates and sample testing.

According to UP Director General of Police (DGP), prisons, Anand Kumar, random sample testing of the inmates and jail staff was conducted on a regular basis. So far, the samples of 8,272 inmates and 926 jail staff were tested, of which 37 inmates were found to be covid-positive. They were shifted to hospitals for treatment.

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Migrants

UP maps skills of 3.4 million migrant workers

Virendra Singh Rawat
Lucknow / June 22, 2020

In the backdrop of the influx of over 3.5 million migrants following covid-19 lockdown, the Uttar Pradesh government has completed the skills mapping of almost 3.4 million workers.

This corresponds to nearly 95 per cent of the registered migrant workers, who have returned to UP after the lockdown was imposed in March 2020.

According to UP additional chief secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi, the skills mapping had covered about 2.75 million male and 287,000 women workers. It also included 346,000 migrants aged less than 18 years, he informed.

The skills mapping exercise had been undertaken to create a composite database of these people, so that they could be provided with jobs according to their professional skills, apart from social security benefits, such as insurance.

Last month, the Yogi Adityanath government had signed pacts with 4 industry chambers representing different sectors viz. real estate and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME), to facilitate employment generation for these workers, who have mainly returned from industrialised states viz. Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab, Delhi etc.

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Migrants

UP to offer career counselling to migrant workers

Virendra Singh Rawat
Lucknow / June 19, 2020

Facing the arduous task of providing jobs to 3.5 million migrants, who have returned to Uttar Pradesh following covid-19 lockdown, the state government has decided to offer career counselling to these workers.

Special career counselling and help desks are proposed to be set up at the district levels to disseminate information to the migrant workers regarding the employment opportunities in the different government schemes suited to their skills profile.

The respective chief development officer (CDO) of the district will be responsible for the functioning and monitoring of these career counselling and help desks.

UP chief secretary R K Tiwari has already issued orders to the senior state and district officials for the speedy implementation of this plan.

The district level committees headed by the CDO will also comprise representatives of different departments, apart from the local lead banker.

The idea is to channelise all the resources and information regarding jobs and self employment opportunities at the local level for the benefit of the labourers.

Recently, the Yogi Adityanath cabinet had passed the proposal of setting up of a commission to look after job and social security issues of the migrant and other workers.

Covid-19 beds

UP targets 50% jump in covid-19 beds to 150,000

Virendra Singh Rawat
Lucknow / June 18, 2020

Amid the growing coronavirus cases, especially after the influx of migrant workers from other states, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath today directed officials to increase the number of covid-19 beds by 50% to 150,000 beds by the month end.

Currently, the covid-19 beds across the different level 1, 2 and 3 hospitals stand at more than 100,000 in the state.

Besides, the CM set the target of increasing the capacity of daily covid-19 sample testing from 15,000 to 20,000 samples by Saturday.

Presiding over a review meeting here, he underlined the need for creating mass awareness regarding the pandemic and installing public address systems at the vantage locations.

Meanwhile, a special secretary level officer will also be appointed to directly take feedback from non-covid and covid hospitals, while the respective chief medical officers (CMO) have been mandated to inspect and monitor arrangements in these facilities.

Yogi also stressed on forcefully enforcing the facemask rule in the state to prevent the spread of the infection.

Organic farming

UP government to mark 15,000 acres for organic farming

Virendra Singh Rawat
Lucknow / June 17, 2020

To promote organic farming, the Uttar Pradesh government will identify nearly 15,000 acres of land across the state.

Under the proposal, the state will mark 200 acres in each of the 75 districts for organic farming after preparing a holistic roadmap for the purpose.

Presiding over a meeting here today, UP chief secretary R K Tiwari issued necessary instructions to officials. He also underlined that high quality plant varieties be prepared in the state tissue culture labs.

Meanwhile, he stressed on the imperatives of developing central warehousing facilities instead of constructing separate warehouses for different state departments for better cost, space and logistics management.

Meanwhile, the meeting also cleared proposals of 75 projects totalling Rs 871 crore, pertaining to agriculture, sugarcane, horticulture, silk, animal husbandry, fisheries, state agricultural and research institutions.

Mango

Yogi wants global marketing push for UP mango brands

Virendra Singh Rawat
Lucknow / June 16, 2020

Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath has laid stress on mounting an international level marketing push to popularise the mango varieties grown in the state.

Observing that UP had an enviable basket of mango brands, yet there was a need to promote them with superior marketing and publicity tools in the national and international markets.

UP is among the top mango producing state in India with annual production estimated at more than 4 million tonnes (MT). The prominent mango varieties grown in UP comprise dussehri, langda, chausa, ramkela, rataul, safeda, gaurjit, amrapali, mallika etc.

Presiding over a review meeting on mango here recently, Yogi directed officials to take suggestions from mango farmers and exporters for fine tuning the existing policy framework to promote the crop. He asked officials to ensure adequate provision for cold room, pack house etc, apart from rejuvenating mango orchards for high quality yield.

Meanwhile, he asked for leveraging the Rs 20 trillion economic stimulus package announced by the Centre to boost the agricultural and horticultural sectors in the state.

The CM talked about promoting organic farming and the high demand for such crops in the market, both domestic and abroad.

Last month, Mango Growers Association of India had written to the UP government demanding a slew of measures to insulate the mango farmers from losses in the backdrop of the covid-19 lockdown.

India is among the top mango producers, corresponding to 40 per cent of global output followed by China, Thailand and Pakistan. Mango is widely exported to the Gulf and South East Asian countries from India.

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Covid-19 infra

UP to boost covid-19 health infra in NCR districts

Virendra Singh Rawat

Lucknow / June 15, 2020

To mitigate the spread of covid-19 pandemic in the National Capital Region (NCR), Uttar Pradesh chief minister Yogi Adityanath today instructed officials to strengthen the health infra in the NCR districts.

These districts comprise Gautam Buddh Nagar (Noida), Ghaziabad, Meerut, Baghpat etc. The level 1, 2 and 3 covid hospitals in these districts will be further spruced up and prepared to deal with potential influx of positive cases due to the cross-border movement of people, UP additional chief secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi said in Lucknow this evening.

Meanwhile, the CM underlined that just like lockdown, unlock 1.0 was also conditional subject to the espousal of the standard social distancing and safety protocols by the people, including wearing masks, refraining from public spitting, maintaining distance, avoiding crowding, observing night curfew etc.

He has directed the respective district magistrates and police chiefs to enforce the social distancing norms strictly and slap fine on those not wearing masks in the public spaces.

Meanwhile, the number of coronavirus active cases in UP stood at 5,064, while 8,610 patients had been discharged after treatment, thus raising the recovery rate to over 61%. So far, 417 covid-19 patients have died in the state.

To engage the migrant workers, the state has provided jobs to more than 5.7 million people, including migrants and other workers under the flagship Mahatma Gandhi  National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA).

The CM has directed officials to engage a million more workers soon, while reiterating the target of creating more than 10 million jobs under different schemes and projects in the state in the coming weeks.

Nearly 3.5 million migrant workers have returned to UP from other states viz Gujarat, Maharashtra, Punjab and Delhi, by Shramik Special trains and roadways buses.

Now, the state is sending back migrant workers of Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha and Chhattisgarh employed in the UP-based brick kilns to their native states by trains.