CM Fellowship: Scholars will get weightage in administrative services, announces CM

Chief minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday announced that researchers enrolled in the recently-launched CM Fellowship programme will get weightage in administrative services.

Stating that ‘talented youth’ will help Uttar Pradesh elevate its economy as he gifted tablet computers to 100 newly-enrolled scholars in the programme, the CM observed: “The research scholars will help fast-track development of aspirational blocks. The 100 research fellows will be given preference in administrative services.”

He asked the researchers to work in the blocks for the next two to three years. “A majority of the researchers hold PhD, M.Tech and M.Phil degrees. They can produce well-researched books on rural development. All research scholars should be given proper accommodation in their assigned development block,” he added.

Twenty-seven of the 100 scholars are women. All of them are expected to begin work in November. “The CM Fellowship researchers who have received their appointment letters will visit 100 aspirational development blocks in the state and help in documenting their growth.”

“With around one lakh revenue villages, 58,000 gram panchayats and 826 development blocks, U.P. is the most populous state. More than 75 per cent of its population live in villages.”

Adityanath said that eight Uttar Pradesh aspirational districts had found a place in the top 20 after the ranking of 112 aspirational districts in India.

Stating that the inspiration for ‘aspirational’ blocks came from the idea of aspirational districts, the CM said, “A dashboard has been created by the planning department. More than 26,000 people applied for the CM’s Fellowship programme, out of which only 100 got their appointment letters today. They must have to work as a team. The government will give them a fixed honorarium to the scholars, who must upload their daily progress reports regularly.”

Highlighting the importance of documentation work, the CM said that a Group of Ministers was constituted which visited districts and reported on the development and works in progress there.” The CM praised his deputy, Brajesh Pathak, and said that the latter produced reports on 25 districts.

What did the researchers say

We will get opportunities to work in policy-making, their implementation, and monitoring the workings of the government of U.P. It is an opportunity to implement various schemes and develop an environment that is favourable for all residents of Uttar Pradesh.

Neha Seth, PhD, Banaras Hindu University

We will be working with block development officers and their teams. We have to go on field visits to villages and monitor the implementation of government schemes, and identify the bottlenecks. Our reports will be sent to the planning department, which will take corrective measures.

Shweta Singh, a finance scholar awaiting her PhD award