(The writer is chief minister of UP:

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Challenges and opportunities aptly chronicle the three years that our government in Uttar Pradesh completes today. It was truly a historic day when the state was blessed with the nationalist ideology of the Bharatiya Janata Party to serve and nurture it.These past years were a mixed bag, wherein expectations fuelled by aspirations put forth numerous challenges before the UP government. While it was a colossal task to streamline a highly unorganized governance structure, there was also the challenge to bring the downtrodden, marginalised and the poor to the mainstream of society. From illegal mining to illegal slaughterhouses, the challenge was to save both the state and nature. Then there was the urgent need to enrich education, right from basic to higher level.Also, the prevailing anarchy and gundaraj that our government inherited had to be firmly dealt with the motto of ‘Paritranaya Sadhunam, Vinashaya Cha Dushkritam’. There was also the requirement to bring about a revolutionary change in the entire work culture. The challenge was huge, but firm determination made things happen in UP.Our first step was to give ‘khadi’ due respect. The next was to bring the law and order situation under control. This was also made possible by shutting down illegal slaughterhouses.Unnecessary government holidays were scrapped and victims of triple talaq were given due respect and necessary government help.The mantra of ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas and Sabka Vishwas’ was made a ground reality with changes in the madrassa education system for Muslim students, bringing them to the mainstream of society.On the noble path of unity, the journey of development is rather smooth and now visible across the state too.While the investors’ summit brought global investment, the underdeveloped and developing regions were given infrastructure development projects like Poorvanchal Expressway (340.82 km), Bundelkhand Expressway (296.07 km) and Ganga Expressway (596 km).Not only are new roads being constructed, also on our priority list is air connectivity. Before 2017, only two UP cities were connected by air. Our government is working on 12 new airports.While construction work of Metros has been expanded in Lucknow, work is in progress in other cities like Kanpur, Jhansi, Varanasi, Agra, Prayagraj and Gorakhpur. The Jewar International Airport will lead to growth and prosperity in NCR, besides global recognition to UP. Improved connectivity and better law and order have resulted in an increase of 18.6% in investors’ interest.The ‘Uttar Pradesh Investors’ Summit 2018’ bagged investment proposals worth `4.28 lakh crore, out of which 371 projects have been implemented. All these will generate more than 33 lakh employment opportunities. In order to speed up industrialization, the government will organize ‘UP Global Investors’ Summit 2020’.In the past three years, the biggest challenge and priority was to bring smiles on the faces of UP’s farmers, who were on the verge of committing suicide. Cane farmers were waiting since ages for someone to solve their problems, or at least understand them. In a short span of three years, the BJP government solved many big problems.A system has been developed to resolve problems related to payments lingering since 1917. The collaboration of empathy towards cane farmers and the execution of planned work, done brick by brick, helped in waiving pending payment dues of more than `92,000 crore. UP topped in sugarcane and sugar production in the country and a record payment of sugarcane worth `92,000 crore was made to farmers. Expansion and crushing capacity of Munderwa, Pipraich and Ramala sugar mills has been increased and the capacity of 11 sugar mills was expanded.For the first time in 25 years, licences of 105 new Khandasari units were approved, which led to 27,850 TCD additional crushing capacity. Similarly, UP has become the largest ethanol supplier in the country. Also, six dozen UP mills are producing 2,000 megawatt of energy, making this industry self-sufficient too.Working in tandem with the prime minister’s resolution to double farmers’ income by 2022, UP has implemented several schemes. The UP government got soil health cards issued to more than 4 crore farmers.Thousands of farmers have been provided 40 to 90% subsidy through a custom hiring centre for purchasing agricultural machinery. Through ‘The Million Farmers’ Schools’, farmers have been imparted training in improved farming at the nyaya panchayat level. This apart, 14 new Krishi Vigyan Kendras have been established. Six new science centres are proposed. Minimum support price, which was a far-fetched dream in previous governments, has been implemented and farmers have been given the benefit at the grass roots level for pulses and oilseeds along with wheat and paddy.So far, under the Prime Minister Kisan Samman Yojana, Rs 12,000 crore has been sent directly to farmers’ accounts and their loans of Rs 36,000 crore have been waived.. The plan to benefit 50 lakh farmers by irrigation of 18 lakh hectare additional land in this financial year will work with projects like Arjun Sahayak, Bhavani and Bandai Dam projects in Bundelkhand region and Saryu Canal, Madhya Ganga Canal, Uttar Pradesh Water Sector Restructuring etc in the plains.In Bundelkhand, more than 8,000 ponds have been built on private land under the ‘Khet Talab’ scheme. This year, 6,000 local ponds will be constructed. Aapi river in Gorakhpur, the Odi in Lalitpur, Gomti river in Ayodhya and the Ganda in Pilibhit have been revived. The Ganga-yatra was a journey from faith to economy, the invocation of farmers and rivers was the same. Under the Namami Gange project, Sisamau sewer point in Kanpur, which used to be a point of flow for 14 crore lt of sewage into the Ganga daily, has been closed, greatly reducing pollution levels in the river in Kanpur. The far-reaching results of the work done by the state government for water conservation on the Ganga and its tributaries will be seen in future. In order to shake off the ‘sick state’ tag, it was essential to provide a prana vayu of good governance to this ‘not-so-good-administration’.In 76 years after Independence, only 12 medical colleges existed in UP. We established 7 new medical colleges and started MBBS classes in them in just 3 years. We laid the foundation stone of 8 medical colleges. Approval was also received from the Centre for establishment of 13 medical colleges. In this way, UP will get the services of 28 medical colleges. Also, AIIMS is coming up in Gorakhpur and Rae Bareli.As a result of improved health services and activities under Swachh Bharat Abhiyan, the number of encephalitis patients has decreased by 56% and deaths have decreased by 90% in eastern UP.We have started organizing ‘Mukhyamantri Arogya Mela’ at primary health centres for active and enhanced medical services as a more constructive experiment to make the state healthy.Since February 2, lakhs have received free medical facilities in these fairs. Today, our health department is fully prepared to deal with any emergency like coronavirus infection. From launching awareness campaigns to the setting up of isolation wards, from blocking border areas to the installation of thermal analyzers, no effort has been spared.A society can move on the development path only with education. So, we freed education from the clutches of cheating mafia. Through ‘Operation Kayakalp’, basic facilities like boundary wall, toilets, drinking water, electrification are being provided in more than 92,000 primary schools. Also, 45,383 teachers have been recruited and recruitment of 69,000 teachers is in the last phase. Similarly, 55 new government inter colleges have been approved for secondary education.The process to set up Atal Residential Schools has been expedited in circle headquarters for children of labourers and deprived kids.The Vantangia, Kol, Musahar and Tharu tribes, which remained marginalized for centuries, were brought into the mainstream of the society. We declared all their villages as revenue villages and covered them with all government public welfare schemes. They got the right to vote for the first time since Independence.Our government has also focused on women empowerment . Under Mukhyamantri Samuhik Vivah Yojana, more than 1 lakh poor girls were benefited. Effective action was taken against miscreants by establishing ‘Anti-Romeo Squad’. Apart from Beti Bachao-Beti Padhao campaign, ‘Mukhyamantri Kanya Sumangala Yojana’ was also implemented. The result of effective implementation of programmes of health department and women welfare department is that the sex ratio has improved significantly in various districts of the state. There has been a considerable increase in the number of beneficiaries in the Nirashrit Mahila Pension Yojana. Women battalions are being established in Lucknow, Badaun and Gorakhpur. ‘Pink Bus Service’ has been started. In these buses, security personnel along with women conductors are being deployed and CCTV cameras are being installed.On the law and order front, we inherited a helpless police. The places that should have been ‘safe zones’ were ‘safari zones’ of criminals. Our government tried hard to bring law and order back on track. Today, either criminals are fleeing the state or are imprisoned. For better policing, 41 new police stations and 13 new check posts were established in the state. While 1.37 lakh police personnel were recruited, the police commissioner system was also implemented in Lucknow and Gautambudhnagar.Crime figures have dropped to a considerable extent. While dacoity cases decreased by 59.7% in 2019 as compared to 2016, there was a decrease of 47.09% in murder cases in the same period.Due to effective measures taken by the administration and police, no incidents of violence were reported at the time of the order for abrogation of Article 370 in Kashmir and at the time of the verdict on Sri Ram Janmabhoomi dispute in Ayodhya.In opposition to the Citizenship Amendment Act, some anti-social elements unsuccessfully tried to disturb law and order, but this too was later effectively controlled. After identifying the miscreants, the damage done to property was recovered from them. This effort of governance also gained widespread support throughout the country. The Punjab and Haryana High Court appreciated the improved law and order in the state and said that stringent law should be enforced against criminals on the lines of UP.It is only because of efficient planning that the per capita income is continuously increasing in the state. While per capita income in 2014-15 was `42,267, it has increased to `70,419. It is the achievement of our transparent system that the jobs provided by the state government to 3 lakh people in the last three years are dispute free.It is a matter of personal satisfaction for me that in these three years the state has reached the top in the country in many areas. UP became the first state in the country to implement skill development policy, state health policy and declare human-wildlife conflict a disaster. It also secured the first place by winning the top award for making the most purchases under e-market (Gem). It bagged 9 awards in Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana, 7 in MNREGA, 2 in Rurban Mission, 1 in Livelihood Mission, 1 in Gram Swaraj Abhiyan and 1 in NIRDP.Within three years, the rate of maternal mortality declined by 30%. While the state received the highest award for nutrition month, 14 bodies of the state were honoured in the cleanliness survey and received the Krishi Karman Award for highest oilseed production. It was commended to implement an innovative experiment like the Million Farmers’ School (Kisan Pathshala) scheme in the country and abroad, while ‘one district-one product scheme’ was lauded by the central government and was considered good enough to be implemented in every district.The state also got Nari Shakti Puraskar for setting up One Stop Centre under Women Empowerment, National e-Governance Award for Digital Land System, Saubhagya Yojana Award for more power connectivity and 3 national awards for Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. The state also ranks first in milk, sugar, sugarcane and food production. The state is also a leader in establishment and operation of most medical institutions in the country.UP, with a huge population of 23 crore people, is moving towards becoming a one trillion dollar economy as envisioned by Prime Minister Narendra Modi.Our ideological vision, which embodies the concept of Rashtrodaya from Antyodaya is relentless in order to satisfy the desire of Awadh, the hope of Poorvanchal, the expectation of Bundelkhand and the aspirations of Paschimanchal. The action being taken by our system under zero tolerance on everyone involved in corruption and malpractices, has been successful in conveying the message of ‘changed system’.For inclusive development, we have presented a budget of Rs 5,12,860.72 crore, which is the biggest budget in the history of the state. In this historic budget dedicated to youth, schemes like Chief Minister’s Apprenticeship Promotion Scheme and Youth Entrepreneurship Development Campaign (YUVA) will prove to be milestones in the field of self-employment and self-reliance.It is the first step of the resolve to take the holy land of Lord Shri Ram and Shri Krishna to the highest glory with the inspiration of the prime minister. I am confident that the remaining 2 years will be in the direction of progress, public welfare and democracy.Yes, on the basis of the fulfilment of the promises made in 2017 elections, the foundation of a new UP has been laid.