UP Budget 2022: More MBBS seats; 14 new medical colleges; smartphones to 2 crore youths

NEW DELHI: In the first budget since re-election, the Yogi Adityanath government allocated Rs 500 crore to increase the number of MBBS and postgraduate medical seats in Uttar Pradesh which currently has 65 medical colleges, 35 of them government. Another Rs 2,100 crore have been earmarked for new medical colleges in 14 districts including Bijnor, Kushinagar, Gonda, and Sultanpur. It has also set out Rs 25 crore for a new nursing college.

The UP government’s Mukhyamantri Abhyuday Yojana – the scheme through which the state supports coaching for competitive examinations including the JEE Main (engineering), NEET UG (undergraduate medicine) and UPSC Civil Services (central government jobs) – has been allocated Rs 30 crore.

Under a new scheme launched last year, over 12 lakh youths received smartphones or tablets. The government plans to give these to two crore youths over the next five years.

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UP Budget 2022: School education

The largest outlay in school education is toward the main scheme which supports elementary and secondary education – Rs 18,670.72 crore have been allocated to Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan. Under this scheme, Rs 836.80 crore has been earmarked for the construction and infrastructure development of government schools. For the academic year 2022-2023, the Yogi government targets two crore student enrollments in the council schools under the school enrollment scheme.

The outlay for the mid-day meal scheme, now called PM POSHAN, is Rs 3,548.93 crore. These school meals will be accessed by two crore students across 144 lakh primary and upper primary schools across the state. Another Rs 166.71 crore has been proposed for the distribution of fruits in these schools.

Both SSA and the school meal scheme are centrally-sponsored schemes for which funding is shared between the union government and the state in a 60:40 ratio. The amounts budgeted for by the state is the 40 percent state share.

The nutrition component of the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), now also subsumed within PM POSHAN, gets Rs 1675.29 crore.

The UP government has also proposed Rs 324.41 crore for Sanskrit schools functioning in the state.

For the direct benefit transfer of students studying in classes 1-8 in the government schools to buy free uniforms, sweaters, school bags and shoe-stocking, a Rs 370 crore is allocated in the budget for the financial year 2022-2023.

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Uttar Pradesh: Medical, AYUSH universities

The 14 new medical colleges will be established as public-private partnerships.

For the establishment of an AYUSH University in Gorakhpur, the government has proposed Rs 113.52 crore; another Rs 100.45 crore to set up Atal Bihari Vajpayee Medical University, Lucknow; Rs 50 crore for autonomous state medical colleges and and Rs 25 crore for new nursing colleges in the state.

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UP Budget 2022-23:Agriculture and sports

For the completion of buildings under construction of 75 government colleges Rs 200 crore is proposed in the state budget.

Started in January 2022, Major Dhyanchand Sports University in Meerut district has been given Rs 50 crore for the establishment of the university.

Further, Rs 10 crore is proposed for Agriculture College, Lakhimpur campus and other construction works under Chandrashekhar Azad Agricultural and Technological University, Kanpur.

Considering the rise of smart classes in-state colleges, Rs 10 crore is proposed for the establishment of smart classes in-state colleges.

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Skill-oriented courses

The UP government has proposed an online Sanskrit training centre at Sampurnanand Sanskrit Vishwavidyalaya, Varanasi to offer free online Sanskrit training and employment courses to the students.

Further, to inculcate new-age skills in students to make them employable, four new courses like data science and machinery, internet of things, cyber security and drone technology have been proposed. Further, the establishment of four state industrial training institutes (ITI) are also proposed.

Under the Purv Dasham Dashamottar Chhatravriti Yojana Scholarship Scheme for the students belonging to minorities, Rs 600 crore is allocated. The modernisation plan of Persian and Arabic madrassas has been allocated Rs 479.07 crore.