This Article is From Feb 24, 2015

Akhilesh Yadav Brings Back Free Laptops, But Only For A Select Few

Akhilesh Yadav Brings Back Free Laptops, But Only For A Select Few

Akhilesh Yadav's free laptop scheme was discontinued last year.

Lucknow:

In the budget for 2015-2016 presented today, the Akhilesh Yadav government of Uttar Pradesh said it would reintroduce the Kanya Vidya Dhan scheme - a scheme to encourage education of girls. And free laptops will make a comeback for a select few - the meritorious students.

The Samajwadi Party government, however, will continue to do without one of the key schemes promised in its election manifesto- the unemployment allowance.

All three schemes were dropped last year. This time, Rs 100 crore has been allocated for laptops and Rs 300 crore for Kanya Vidya Dhan.

The free laptop scheme was launched with much fanfare after the party won the 2011 assembly elections, with the Chief Minister often distributing the laptops to students. But soon, the scheme became riddled with debts and the government ended up owing crores to Hewlett Packard, the company supplying the laptops.

This time, with an eye on assembly elections due next year, the government has announced an ambitious Rs 3.02 lakh crore budget - 10% higher than last year's proposal.

A chunk of the money has been earmarked for new schemes, Rs 9300 crore. More than Rs 4000 crore will be spent on schemes announced by the Samajwadi Party - the pension scheme for the rural poor, Lohia Gram Vikas Yojana and the Samajwadi Swasthya Sewa.

The state government has also proposed to put Lucknow metro rail on the fast track with an allocation of Rs 425 crore. Also, a provision of Rs 3,000 crore has been made for the six-laning of the Agra-Lucknow Expressway.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Clean India campaign has been made a priority with an allocation of Rs 1,533 crore - the funds for each toilet has been increased from Rs 10,000 to Rs 12,000.

An outlay of Rs 25,764 crore has been made for the power sector - the government has promised complete electrification for 1 lakh villages and 24-hour power for urban areas. For rural areas, the target is provision of 16 hours of electricity.

In the agri sector, Rs 1152 crore has been allocated for paying dues for sugar to farmers.

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