Uttar Pradesh Sardar Patel Skill Training and Employment Scheme Launched in Lucknow by CM Yogi

Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has launched a major new state scheme for skill training and employment, named after Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. The Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel Skill Training and Employment Area Development Scheme was launched in Lucknow on 31 October 2026, on the birth anniversary of Sardar Patel, with the Chief Minister presiding over the launch event announced live by the Chief Minister’s Office of Uttar Pradesh.

The scheme is designed to expand vocational training infrastructure across Uttar Pradesh and to create structured employment zones in the state. Its focus is on unemployed youth and skill trainees, linking their training directly to the demand of local industry rather than leaving trained young people to search for placements on their own. In this way, training, placement and local employment are meant to work as one connected system.

The framework for the scheme was approved by the state Cabinet earlier in October. Under that framework, Uttar Pradesh will be divided into nine zones, covering all 75 districts of the state, with an integrated skill training and employment ecosystem built on a hub-and-spoke model. The total expenditure under the scheme has been estimated at Rs 1,725 crore over the next three years, with the stated aim of developing Uttar Pradesh as a hub of skilled manpower.

In the first phase, skill training and employment centres are planned at five key locations: Lucknow, through the Department of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises; Kanpur, under the public-private partnership model; Gorakhpur, through the Gorakhpur Industrial Development Authority; Gautam Buddha Nagar, with the joint support of the Noida, Greater Noida and Yamuna Expressway authorities; and Jhansi, through the Bundelkhand Industrial Development Authority.

The launch on Sardar Patel’s birth anniversary underlines the scheme’s name and purpose: building a skilled workforce that can meet industry needs within the state. The launch-day announcement did not publish fresh centre-by-centre rollout dates beyond the Cabinet-approved framework, but the scheme itself now stands launched, with its nine-zone structure and first-phase centres forming the base for the work ahead.