In a recent speech, Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the earlier perception for India. He said earlier when there were talks about India, it used to start with a question mark and conclude with one as well. But such a perception has now changed. Now, the first question mark has been replaced by trust (vishwas), and the last question mark by expectation (apeksha). We can say the same in the context of Uttar Pradesh as well where under the leadership of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath, not only has the perception towards the state changed, but a new belief has been born.
About six years ago, both the beginning and the end of any conversation about UP were marred with a question mark. In the last six years, these question marks were converted into conversations of development, faith, and aspiration. This is the belief of good governance, security, peace, stability, development, capability, and the aspiration is to make the state a $1 trillion economy.
In the last six years, CM Yogi Adityanath, under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has converted resolutions into achievements with vision and mission. I remember that in February 2018, when the Uttar Pradesh Investors Summit was being organised, PM Modi had said in his address that Uttar Pradesh has values and virtues but no value addition. This matter was taken seriously by CM Yogi who with a firm commitment ensured value addition in every field. He reformed and transformed the state in line with PM Modi’s ‘3C’ —Clarity, Conviction, Confidence— along with his own ‘5T’ —Talent, Trade, Tradition, Technology, Tourism— mantra. As a result of this, today Uttar Pradesh is not only known for a model of good governance in front of the country and the world, but also for an economic model for development and welfare. The model adopted by him to safeguard both the life and livelihood of the people of the state from the global Covid-19 pandemic became an example to be followed by the world and was highly appreciated at both the national and international levels.
The vision with which CM Yogi has worked to take the state forward in the last six years resulted in investment proposals worth about Rs 35 lakh crore at this year’s Global Investors Summit. This shows that entrepreneurs and investors of the country and the world have full faith in Uttar Pradesh today. In other words, we can say that Uttar Pradesh has become the best destination for business and investment.
Anyone who understands the basics of the economy would know very well that the smallest or primary unit of the economy is the family. From this point of view, it is logical and factual to say that in order to advance the factor of happiness in the economy, it is most important that there should be household economy-centric development. Family-centred development of the economy is necessary because many horizontal dividing lines drawn in the social economy are erased by happy and prosperous families. As soon as these lines are erased, society becomes free from internal conflicts and creates psychology to move forward in the direction of development and prosperity. Moving forward under the leadership of CM Yogi, Uttar Pradesh has succeeded in drawing a broad line of development by eliminating many such dividing lines.
Women power —matri shakti— is at the centre of the household economy. A woman has to manage the income earned by the family, which is a big responsibility to coordinate and balance various types of social responsibilities along with food, education, and health. She is worried that no thread of relations should become weak and no string of relations should become short. Therefore, if the schemes of the state reach directly to the woman of the family or if a woman becomes a beneficiary in true sense, then the element of harmony and sensitivity becomes effective in the economy. If the women of the family move towards self-reliance, then the family as a unit not only becomes strong but also becomes cultured. Due to this, a harmonious society can become an ally of the government in giving new heights to the state.
Under the guidance of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, CM Yogi has achieved success in taking Uttar Pradesh forward in the direction of a harmonious society. This is the reason why the continuous efforts of Opposition parties to divide the society on caste lines could not succeed and the people of Uttar Pradesh looked towards CM Yogi's development and welfare-based economic model, believed in him, and voted Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) back with a thumping majority. A mandate was given to form the government. The result of this model is that the triangular development of women's safety, empowerment, and self-reliance is most effective today.
The economic model with which Uttar Pradesh moved ahead in the last six years from March 2017 includes the above features as well as other factors. The first is rapid growth as well as a balance between the forward and backward linkages of the economy.
The second is development, happiness, and ease of living along with security and good governance.
The third is the creation of an environment for investment and investment attraction along with basic needs.
The fourth is the creation of opportunities on a wide scale along with better arrangements and management for the merit, talent, and skills of Uttar Pradesh.
The fifth is to provide a broad spectrum to micro, small and medium industries by giving additional financial assistance and incentives, by making the rules simple and transparent, and by bringing changes in the work culture. Keep in mind that micro, small and medium enterprises (MSME) are not only the backbone of the economy of Uttar Pradesh but also the biggest source of employment after agriculture. This not only stopped the migration of the people of Uttar Pradesh towards other states but also provided employment to the labourers and workers of the state coming back from other states.
The sixth is the promotion of start-up and entrepreneur culture in the state. Due to this, the youth of the state moved forward from being job seekers to job creators.
The seventh is to give a new dimension to the cultural and spiritual economy. This not only resulted in the revival of the cultural heritage of Uttar Pradesh, along with the upgradation of religious tourism and value addition in the tourism economy. The work being done by the government in this direction will give a new height to the cultural economy and expansion of the tourism economy in the coming times.
The eighth is to trace the religious-spiritual importance of cows and Ganga as well as their economic importance and to add value to the economy by making it a decisive factor in the state gross domestic product (GSDP).
The ninth is upgrading the traditional components of the economy and connecting them with the market so that the rural economy can expand and basic changes in rural income can be possible. 'One district, One Product' is the most important example of this.
The tenth is connectivity because highways, expressways, waterways, and airways are representative of the growth engine of the economy as well as ease of living.
The eleventh is the creation of additional opportunities for half the population of the state, connecting them with various productive activities. Under this, providing financial assistance to 1 crore women through 10 lakh women self-help groups (SHGs), connecting them with various economic activities, the appointment of banking correspondent Sakhi in each gram panchayat, and giving pensions to 1 crore old people, disabled and destitute women. For example, within Kanya Sumangala Yojana, the girl child is linked with financial assistance as soon as she is born. There are many such initiatives that have been implemented effectively in the direction of making women strong and self-reliant.
The twelfth component of this economic model is innovation, transparency, ease of delivery, assessment, information, etc, which is very important in terms of initiative, management, and result.
Here one more thing is worth noting. While maintaining financial discipline, Uttar Pradesh has succeeded in maintaining the pace of development along with saving lives and livelihood of people even during the Covid-19 period. With the assumption of leadership in 2017, the Yogi Adityanath government prepared the Budget in a planned manner to maintain the continuity of development. With this in view, CM Yogi Adityanath’s first Budget in the year 2017-18 was dedicated to farmers, year 2018-19 to industrial and infrastructure development, year 2019-20 to women empowerment, year 2020-21 to youth and infrastructure development, year 2021-22 self-reliance to empowerment, year 2022-23 to self-reliant Uttar Pradesh, and the concept of 'Antyodaya', and year 2023-24 to overall, inclusive, and rapid development. Not only this, the size of the state budget has increased more than two times in six years. This shows the growing volume of the state's economy on the one hand and the ambition for development, commitment and self-confidence on the other. The result of this is that the per capita income has more than doubled in the last six years.
The state has witnessed extensive changes in the field of infrastructural development. It has on the one hand given impetus to the economy, attracted and landed large-scale investments, and on the other hand created a record in generating large-scale employment for the youth.
Overall, the essence of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanth’s economic model —Yoginomics— is the same as was in the thoughts of Mahatma Gandhi, Vinoba Bhave, and Pandit Deendayal Upadhyay, which was in the basic sense of social harmony and social justice as well as social upliftment of Nathpanth. These features are actually like a peaceful revolution, which is sometimes named as renaissance, sometimes as a fundamental change, or a socio-economic movement. Today, Uttar Pradesh is making a decisive contribution in building a self-reliant India by moving towards its goal of a $1 trillion economy while completing such a peaceful evolutionary revolution.
(Views expressed are personal opinions of the author.)
