'Govt jobs to 1 lakh youths in 6 months,' says Adityanath

Lucknow: More than one lakh youths will get government jobs over the next six months, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said on Saturday.

He was speaking at a function organised in Lucknow to distribute appointment letters to 818 candidates selected for various departmental posts by the UPPSC and UPSSSC.

Adityanath claimed that the previous Samajwadi Party government appointed someone as chairman of the UP Public Service Commission (UPPSC) who was not eligible for the post.


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"To those who created a mess regarding the distribution of appointment letters before 2017, I want to say this: Take note -- we are distributing appointment letters starting today, and over the next six months, we are going to provide government jobs to more than one lakh young people. Let them count; we will keep on delivering," he said.

Criticising the SP, the chief minister said without naming anyone, "Such a person, who was not eligible for the post, was made the chairman of the UP PSC. The court had to intervene, and young people had to take to the streets to demand that this person be jailed for life and left to rot in prison."

In October 2015, the Allahabad High Court quashed Anil Kumar Yadav's appointment as chairman of the UP Public Service Commission, calling it "illegal". The court also rapped the SP government for breaching its constitutional duty by appointing him without properly inquiring into his "integrity and competence."

While setting aside Yadav's appointment, a division bench of the court comprising (the then) Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice Yashwant Verma held that the appointment was "arbitrary", "illegal", "ultra vires of Article 316 of the Constitution", and made "without application of mind, ignoring the suitability and availability of other candidates."

Yadav, who took over in April 2013, was selected from among 83 candidates who had submitted their biodata for the post.

The court pointed out several improprieties in the selection process, including that Yadav's biodata was "sent to the state government by fax from an office of the Samajwadi Party."

Adityanath said that when recruitment boards and 'aayog' (service commissions) avoid government politics ('shaasan') and conduct examinations through transparent, upright processes, the results are evident.

"What was the public perception of UP before 2017? Riots occurred every other day, curfews lasted for months, and no one was safe. Incumbent governments had appointed their own kin to the recruitment boards and service commissions, completely discrediting the entire process. Not a single recruitment drive was conducted with integrity," the chief minister said.

He said the young people were forced to migrate, caught "between the devil and the deep blue sea". There were no jobs within UP, yet outside the state, they faced an identity crisis, he said.

Without taking their names, Adityanath attacked SP chief Akhilesh Yadav and his uncle Shivpal Yadav: "Now, jobs abound. But think how the 'uncle-nephew' duo used to brazenly engage in plunder over these very jobs. Today, they play the role of preachers, but after 2027, they won't even remain preachers."

The chief minister alleged that in the past, contracts were awarded the very moment advertisements were issued, and the "business" of corruption would begin immediately upon the release of a notification. There were instances during the SP regime where appointment letters were distributed to individuals who had not even applied.

The BJP leader alleged that this was the height of anarchy.

The state will never tolerate, nor should it, those who harmed the youth of UP and turned a state known for its festivals ('utsav pradesh') into a hotbed of unrest; this was not merely a case of error; it was an act of mischief, a black stain from which we have now freed ourselves, Adityanath said.

"Uttar Pradesh became a 'BIMARU' state due to the 'Bimaru' mindset of that government. UP was not 'bimar' (sick); it was the mindset of the governments -- their corrupt and discriminatory mode of working that failed to give due respect to the strength and talent of UP's youth, viewing them as a problem," he said.

"We recognised this strength of UP as an economic opportunity. We endeavoured to unlock their potential, which previous regimes had locked away. The results are before you today," he added.

The acronym 'BIMARU' (which means sick in Hindi) was coined by demographer Ashish Bose in the mid-1980s, formed from the first letters of the names of some of the country's then poorest states: Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

Adityanath said UP has, since 2017, consistently been a revenue-surplus state. "We are no longer lagging," the chief minister said.