On Taxpayers' Money, UP Govt To Hire 824 'Lok Kalyan Mitra' At Salary Of Rs 25,000 To Propagate Its Work

Ahead of 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the Uttar Pradesh Government has decided to appoint ‘Lok Kalyan Mitras’, workers who will circulate and spread information about “developmental programmes” of the government.

According to the New18, these ‘Lok Kalyan Mitras’ will be getting a monthly salary of up to Rs 25,000, and the workers will be employed on an annual contract.

The employee’s contract will be renewed based on how well a ‘Mitra’ performs and their performance will be assessed by the Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath himself. A written exam will also be conducted by the government, after which 822 Lok Kalyan Mitras will be appointed for each block (822) of the state. Two Lok Kalyan Mitras would be recruited at the state level.

On Monday, the decision for the new appointments of ‘Lok Kalyan Mitras’ was taken after a cabinet meeting in Lucknow.

Opposition’s reaction

The decision that came last week has drawn ire from the opposition parties.

Uttar Pradesh Congress spokesperson, Anshu Awasthi told The Logical Indian that in the name of ‘Lok Kalyan Mitras’ the government is planning to give away public money to their RSS and BJP workers.

“The government is planning to provide them public money, so that those workers can propagate the government’s ideology. Right now, the condition of the education sector is really poor in the state. The government teachers are getting a salary of 10,000 but these ‘Lok Kalyan Mitras’ will be provided 25,000. How is this fair? The BJP government is misusing our money,” says Anshu Awasthi.

Ghanshyam Tiwari, national spokesperson of the Samajwadi Party told us that, the government has all the right to make policies in any state which is fine, but the Uttar Pradesh Government is mixing policy with propaganda. “Previously, the government in the state has introduced many policies to give employment to the youth, but rather than completing their old promises, the government is resorting to propaganda.” he said.

Uttar Pradesh has approximately one crore unemployed people, as per the estimates of officials at the state’s employment exchange. The Bharatiya Janata Party, when it came to power in March last year, had announced to provide jobs to 70 lakh people in five years, that is 14 lakh jobs a year.

The Logical Indian Take

In the last one year, BJP government introduced many schemes to provide jobs for the youth but failed to create any actual jobs. Now, as the elections are approaching, the government is planning to use taxpayers’ money to publicise its developmental schemes. It would be better if they invested the money in actual developmental work, rather than publicity.

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