New Delhi: In a bid to connect technology with education, the Yogi government is providing free tablets and smartphones to the youth in Uttar Pradesh.
In the year 2021-22 till March 31, 12,31,983 devices were distributed. The state government has given instructions to supply the remaining 5,38,017 tablets and smartphones in the next two months.
This tablet and smartphone will be handed over to the eligible students.
The government aims to provide 20 lakh tablets and smartphones to the youth in the next five years. For this, the government is continuously making efforts. Under this scheme, implemented in the year 2021-22, bids for 2.5 lakh tablets and 2.5 lakh smartphones were published on the GeM portal.
The selected supplying entities had committed to deliver 7.20 lakh tablets and 10.50 lakh smartphones (total 17.70 lakh devices) in 90 days, but only 12,31,983 devices were delivered till March 31, 2022.
Under the scheme, the state government has decided to restart the supply of remaining 5,38,017 devices for the total 17.70 lakh targeted and contracted students who are studying in the final year of a course or whose duration of the course is more than one year.
The government has also directed the officials to ensure that the supply is finalised within the next 60 days. The budget for the scheme will be used from the budget of the financial year 2022-23.
In order to maintain the continuity of the scheme in the year 2022-23, instructions were given to increase the contracts of the supplier organisations by increasing the target/contracted quantity by 25 percent as per the provision of the GeM portal.
Along with this, it was directed that by conducting a market survey of the rates of tablets and smartphones, it should be ensured that the rates of these devices have not fallen below the contracted rates.
