UP government to launch zero poverty drive benefiting 30,000 families

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s Zero Poverty campaign is set to officially launch in the last week of April, with benefits from several central and state welfare schemes being distributed to around 25,000–30,000 families during the event. 

The initiative is part of a larger goal declared by the CM to make Uttar Pradesh a zero poverty state within the next three years.

Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar Singh said the campaign will include benefits from both the PM and CM Awas Yojna, in addition to a separate housing scheme for those not covered under either. “The CM had allocated ₹200 crore for this special housing scheme,” he said.

Other schemes to be integrated into the campaign include Ayushman Bharat, Antyodaya ration cards, pensions, skilling programs, and the CM Yuva Udyami Yojna. Singh explained that the government is using the multi-dimensional poverty index to identify beneficiaries, a process already underway across the state.

In a recent meeting with divisional commissioners and district magistrates, Singh emphasized the urgency of completing the identification and verification of eligible families.

“So far, we have identified 10.46 lakh families who do not have a permanent house. Out of these, 9.73 lakh families have been validated by the block development officers. All CDOs should ensure that the identified eligible families receive the benefits of the PM and CM Housing Scheme,” he said.

The Chief Secretary also pointed out that several families, despite being eligible, have yet to receive benefits under various welfare schemes. Departments are using Aadhaar and Family ID databases to identify such individuals and prioritize them for assistance under programs like Antyodaya cards, PM Kisan Samman Nidhi, Ayushman Bharat, and old-age pensions.

The government’s long-term goal is to increase the minimum annual income of these families to ₹1.25 lakh. "The Skill Development Mission will play an important role in this. A planned approach should be taken for skilling and upskilling the identified families under various schemes. A certificate should be provided to persons after skilling or upskilling so that they can be helped in getting employment. In addition to this, youth should be assisted in getting loans through schemes like CM Yuva Udyami Yojna," Singh added.