CM directs rollout of Bal Shramik Vidya Yojana in all 75 dists of UP

Lucknow: Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Saturday said that labourers are the biggest force behind the state’s development and ensuring dignity, safety, quality education and better employment opportunities for them is the govt’s top priority.Reviewing various schemes and proposed plans of the labour and employment department, the CM directed officials to expand the Bal Shramik Vidya Yojana to all 75 districts of the state while simultaneously pushing for technology-driven employment generation, modern labour facilitation centres and global job placements for youth.Launched in 2020, the scheme aims to bring working children back into the education system. The scheme currently operates in 20 districts and provides financial assistance to children in the 8-18 age group after enrolling them in schools.“Workers are the driving force of the state’s progress. There is a need to ensure dignified living conditions, safe workplaces, quality education and employment opportunities for labourers, youth and weaker sections,” Yogi said.The CM directed departments to run special drives in child labour-prone areas to identify children out of school and connect them with formal education. He also asked officials to prepare skill development plans for rehabilitated children in collaboration with private companies.Yogi also reviewed progress under the Seva Mitra platform — a technology-based service system that connects skilled workers with households through a mobile app, web portal and call centres.Officials informed the CM that the platform currently has 1,097 service providers, 5,049 registered Sevamitras and more than 54,000 skilled workers.Describing the initiative as “an innovative employment model,” the CM said that the govt departments could also utilise the Seva Mitra system wherever required.The meeting also highlighted the state’s industrial expansion and labour reforms. According to official data presented during the review meeting, Uttar Pradesh has registered 32,583 factories so far, including more than 18,400 new units since April 2017. During the 2025-26 financial year alone, 4,860 factories were registered.Officials said the labour department received recognition as a “top achiever” for implementation of Business Reform Action Plan (BRAP) reforms and was honoured at Udyog Sangam 2025 for excellence in the labour sector.The govt is also planning to establish modern labour facilitation centres, commonly referred to as “labour addas,” in industrial cities across the state.The CM stressed the need for safe and organised housing facilities for migrant labourers working in urban industrial clusters.He also reviewed the progress of the upcoming industrial workers’ training institute and hostel project in Kanpur.Officials said a training institute with a capacity of 200 trainees was proposed in Vishnupuri, where training would be offered in trades such as carpentry, electrician work, fitting, plumbing, painting and building construction. A separate hostel facility for 200 trainees has also been proposed in Benajhabar.Officials informed the CM that the Uttar Pradesh Rozgar Mission, constituted in July 2025, has intensified efforts to connect youth with jobs both within India and abroad. The mission has already obtained a recruitment agency licence from the ministry of external affairs.According to data shared during the meeting, employment drives in Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Varanasi and Kanpur led to the selection of 27,555 candidates, including 2,300 for overseas jobs.Officials said that during 2025-26, around 3.74 lakh candidates secured employment opportunities through 3,030 job fairs and campus placement drives organised across the state.Yogi directed officials to ensure that job fairs are aligned with actual industry demand and linked with the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Industrial and Employment Zone. He also reviewed efforts to identify overseas employment opportunities in countries such as Germany, Japan and Slovakia.The govt has also signed agreements for language training programmes in Japanese, German and English to prepare youth for global employment markets.Officials said the state was planning to modernise the employment department into a digital platform powered by artificial intelligence, with stronger online counselling systems and AI-based job matching through the Rozgar Sangam portal.