Viksit UP: Agriculture, education emerge as lead focus areas

Lucknow, Oct 10 (IANS) The “Samarth Uttar Pradesh – Viksit Uttar Pradesh @2047: Centenary of Prosperity” campaign, envisioned to transform Uttar Pradesh into a fully developed state by 2047, is gaining remarkable momentum.

Across all 75 districts, nodal officers and prominent local representatives are actively engaging with students, teachers, entrepreneurs, farmers, business leaders, voluntary organisations, labour unions, media representatives, and citizens through interactive sessions to discuss the state’s development journey and gather inputs for its future roadmap.

So far, the campaign has received over 3.5 million feedback entries and suggestions, with the largest share coming from rural areas, approximately 2.8 million from rural and 0.75 million from urban regions. Youth participation has been particularly encouraging, accounting for nearly half of the total feedback.

Among the suggestions, the most discussed topics include agriculture, education, social welfare, and rural development. Around 800,000 suggestions pertain to agriculture, 900,000 to education, and nearly 700,000 to rural development, along with significant inputs on health, livestock, IT, tourism, industry, and security.

In terms of district-wise participation, Sambhal, Jaunpur, Bijnor, Gorakhpur, and Sonbhadra rank among the top five contributors. At the same time, comparatively fewer suggestions were received from Firozabad, Mahoba, Etawah, Bulandshahr, and Fatehpur.

From Azamgarh, government employee Ramdarsh Yadav proposed developing the district as an agro-processing and textile hub, setting up processing centres for millets, pulses, and oilseeds, and promoting the export of Mubarakpur silk sarees. He also recommended introducing a single-window system to facilitate industrial investments.

In Firozabad, Rona Sagar emphasised the promotion of adventure and medical tourism, suggesting the launch of a global tourism branding initiative for Uttar Pradesh modelled on the “Incredible India” campaign, with greater community participation in tourism activities.

From Lalitpur, Raja Pratap encouraged farmers to adopt modern agricultural technologies, such as drip irrigation and crop diversification, while also stressing the importance of agricultural research, insurance coverage, and expansion of organic farming.

To ensure widespread public involvement, thousands of meetings and seminars have been organised at various levels, municipal corporations, town councils, district councils, and gram panchayats. So far, dialogue sessions have been held in approximately 150 municipal corporations, over 120 town councils, and more than 40 district panchayats.

Additionally, direct community interactions have taken place across 27,000 gram panchayats, making this campaign one of the largest participatory development initiatives in the state’s history.

--IANS

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