Lucknow, Dec 16 (IANS): Amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the Yogi Adityanath government has challenged its critics claiming that 26,62,960 people have been provided employment in the last eight months. An action plan was prepared on the instructions of the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister. Acting on this action plan, 26,62,960 people have been employed in 6,65,740 new units under the 'Aatmanirbhar' package.

Apart from this, 5,25,978 people have been provided employment through the 'Employment portal' created on the instructions of Yogi Adityanath.

During the Covid-induced lockdown when lakhs of poor migrant workers became jobless, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath began efforts to provide employment to these workers. Due to such efforts, lakhs of migrant workers got employment in the Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector.

The government's 'One District One Product Scheme' (ODOP) has proved to be quite a game changer in terms of providing employment to migrant workers. In every district of the state, the 'Aatmanirbhar' package has helped people to get employment and has also generated self-employment opportunities.

According to the data released by the MSME department, 6,65,740 new units were started in the state in the last eight months, in which 26,62,960 people have been provided employment. Of these, there are 2,57,348 migrant workers who have been provided employment in the units which were already operating in the state.

During the corona pandemic, the Yogi government helped employment generation by giving a loan of Rs 1,092 crore to 4,24,283 units set up previously under the 'Aatmanirbhar' package. Apart from this, , the Chief Minister also started the 'Employment portal' through which nearly 5,25,978 people got jobs till December 13 this year.

As soon as the lockdown was implemented, heavy industries were shut down and the workers employed in these industries started migrating. During the lockdown period, consultations were held with the owners of the Small, Medium and Micro-industries and the government arranged raw materials for these industries. Arrangements were made for the workers to remain in the small-scale industries. As a result, by the second phase of the lockdown, nearly 4,000 small scale industrial units were started in the state.

In the third phase of the lockdown, plans were made to further expand the small-scale industries. After implementing this scheme, work was begun to revive nearly 2.5 lakh micro and cottage industries lying closed in the state. Along with this a 'skill mapping' campaign was launched for nearly 40 lakh migrant workers who had returned to Uttar Pradesh from other states.

Of these migrant workers, 1,14,466 migrant workers were provided employment in the real estate sector. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has also lauded the efforts of the state government to provide employment to lakhs of poor labourers and migrant workers. According to the RBI, Uttar Pradesh is listed among the top five states in the country in generating employment through the MSMEs.