Akhilesh Yadav announces free smartphones from mid 2017

Under the scheme, all those with an annual income below Rs 2 lakh will be eligible for registration.

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Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav

With Assembly elections in the state due next year, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav Monday announced a plan to provide smartphones to people under the ‘Samajwadi Smartphone Scheme’. The online registration for the scheme, which will be on first come, first serve basis, is set to open this month. However, the beneficiaries are likely to get their smartphones post elections only.

“The decision has been taken following the overwhelming response towards the laptop distribution scheme…The new scheme would help create two-way communication between the government and the public. It would not only help in making common public aware of the government schemes, but would also help in getting timely feedback from the public in the age of information technology,” the CM said in an official communication.

Under the scheme, all those with an annual income below Rs 2 lakh will be eligible for registration. As per the eligibility criteria, the applicants will be required to have cleared Class 10 exam, apart from being a resident of UP and at least 18 years of age as on January 1, 2017. Moreover, applicants would be asked to attach a scanned copy of their high-school certificates with the application. Government employees and their children have been kept out of the scheme.

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According to the plan, these smartphones will come equipped with specially designed applications to give information about government schemes in text, audio as well as video formats, and provide agricultural information about best practices, dairy related information, along with prevailing market prices.

The smartphones will also have a special application for those wishing to apply for different jobs by giving them updated information about the openings. For students, the phone will have applications giving information about admissions, results as well as study material.

The Chief Minister further stated that in order to keep the entire process of selection and distribution free from corruption, his government was working to ensure online registration and then delivery directly to the residential addresses of the beneficiaries.

Akhilesh claimed that the SP government had so far distributed about 18 lakh laptops without any complaints of corruption.

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