UP Budget: Employment generation, youth empowerment, key focus areas

The Uttar Pradesh government has highlighted employment generation, youth empowerment and large-scale recruitment across departments as key achievements and priorities in the 2026-27 state Budget presented by the Finance Minister Suresh Khanna on Wednesday.

According to an official statement, the Uttar Pradesh Skill Development Mission has trained and certified 9.25 lakh youths under various short-term programmes over the past five years, out of which 4.22 lakh have been placed in reputed companies.

Under the Chief Minister Abhyudaya Yojana, more than 23,000 aspirants are currently receiving free coaching at 163 centres across the state. The government is also running the Chief Minister Fellowship Programme in 108 aspirational development blocks to ensure youth participation in policy-making and implementation.

The Swami Vivekananda Yuva Sashaktikaran Yojana has so far distributed 49.86 lakh tablets and smartphones free of cost to students. Additionally, sports kits have been provided to 90,000 'Mangal Dals' in the state to promote youth engagement in sports activities.

Highlighting recruitment in the police department, the minister said that since 2017, over 2.19 lakh personnel, including 1,83,766 men and 35,443 women, have been recruited, while 1.58 lakh personnel have been promoted. Training is currently underway for 60,244 newly selected constables, and recruitment for 83,122 non-gazetted posts is in progress.

Under Mission Rozgar, the government has completed the appointment process of 8,966 candidates in government secondary schools, including 1,939 lecturers, 6,808 assistant teachers and 219 principals. Since 2017, a total of 34,074 teachers have been selected in aided secondary schools.

The Chief Minister Yuva Udyami Vikas Abhiyan aims to establish one lakh new micro-enterprises annually by providing collateral-free and interest-free loans to young entrepreneurs, with scope to increase the target if required.

Under the MGNREGA scheme, against a target of 20 crore person-days for the financial year 2025-26, the state had generated 20.19 crore person-days as of January 13, 2026, the highest in the country, benefiting 47.11 lakh families so far this fiscal, the minister said.