Road to AtmaNirbhar Bharat goes through UP: MoS Rajeev Chandrasekhar

New Delhi [India], December 28 (ANI): The road to AtmaNirbhar Bharat goes through Uttar Pradesh, said Union Minister of State for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship and Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar as he inaugurated the 5th Software technology park in Meerut on Tuesday.
"The State is evolving as a technology and investment hub. Technology is transforming lives of people and the youth is willing to adopt technology for a better living thereby creating a whole ecosystem for Digital Uttar Pradesh" said Chandrasekhar.
He cited an example of a 9th class student, Nandini Kushwaha, daughter of a farmer from Lalitpur who participated in the AI for Youth challenge organized by the Ministry of Electronics and IT in partnership with Intel. She worked out an artificial intelligence (AI) solution titled "mitti ko jano fasal pahchano".
The Minister announced a made in India Smartphone for her to enable her to access online classes and to sponsor her education up to the college level.
"These are the Brand Ambassadors of Digital Uttar Pradesh and the Narendra Modi Government Stands firmly with them," said the Union Minister of State.
He highlighted how the state has taken rapid strides towards Development over the last 5 years under the twin leadership of PM Narendra Modi at the Center and CM Sh Yogi Adityanath. Law and Order have improved significantly and the proactive policies of the State Government have positioned it as amongst the top states in ease of doing business.
According to the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Uttar Pradesh has witnessed massive improvement in terms of connectivity as new airports, railways, expressways/highways and most importantly i-ways have come up thereby connecting people and giving a boost to local business.
STPI-Meerut centre will play a catalytic role in empowering the tech start-ups and MSMEs of the region to boost software exports and create employment opportunities while attracting FDI and realising the vision of Digital Uttar Pradesh, said the ministry.
As per the ministry, under the jurisdictional directorate of STPI-Noida, the Meerut centre is the 54thcentre of STPI in Tier-2/3 cities. STPI-Meerut will play a significant role in expanding the IT footprint of Uttar Pradesh and empowering the budding tech entrepreneurs and innovators of Tier-2/3 cities to translate their unique ideas into innovative products. In FY 2020-21, STPI-registered units contributed Rs. 4,96,313 crore to IT/ITeS exports in which Uttar Pradesh contributed Rs. 22,671 crore, said the ministry.
The ministry further stated that with a total built-up area of 25,074 sq. ft., the state-of-the-art Incubation facility at STPI-Meerut provides Plug-n-Play space of 3,704 sq. ft. with 133 seats and raw incubation space of 2,021 sq. ft. while warranting high-speed data communication facilities.
The facility will also offer a vibrant ecosystem for creating a maker culture among the young techno-entrepreneurs and startups while empowering them to develop innovative software products to address the challenges of India and the world at large. It will help in boosting the IT exports from the region and generating direct and indirect employment opportunities for the youth of the region, the ministry added. (ANI)