JOIN USUttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav appears to have shelved his pet schemes, including providing free laptops to every intermediate pass out, after the rout of his Samajwadi Party (SP) in the state in the Lok Sabha elections.
Though there was no official word on the end of the schemes, including providing free laptops and tablets to every Class 10 pass out, unemployment allowance and the “kanya vidyadhan” scheme, the speculation is confirmed by the fact that no fresh monetary provisions have been made for these schemes in the state budget tabled by Akhilesh in the state Assembly on Friday. There was no word either on how the government would arrange funds for the schemes, if at all it wants to continue them.
Free laptops and tablets to the students, who cleared Class 12 and 10 respectively, and the unemployment allowance were among Akhilesh’s pet projects and the SP’s thumping victory at the 2012 Assembly polls in the state was attributed to them.
Though the opposition parties had raised doubts over the funding and said the government would not be able to continue the schemes for long, Akhilesh had stood firm.