New Delhi, Aug 27 (IANS) Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) chief Mayawati on Thursday welcomed the Uttar Pradesh government's announcement to provide government jobs to one lakh youths over the next six months, describing it as a belated but correct step. However, she said the move appeared to be more of an electoral manoeuvre ahead of the upcoming Assembly elections.Taking to social media platform X, Mayawati said the government's announcement to provide employment to one lakh youths within the next six months, coinciding with the period leading up to the Assembly elections, raised questions about its timing and intent."The announcement by the Uttar Pradesh government to provide government jobs to one lakh youth in the next six months (i.e., until the Assembly general elections) was, although taken belatedly, a correct step, yet it seems more like an electoral maneuver; nevertheless, if these appointments are completed on time, free from the curses of paper leaks, corruption, and the like, it will be right, so that this does not turn out to be mere electoral deception," she said.Mayawati further said that people were eagerly awaiting an announcement regarding the recruitment process to fill the backlog of reserved posts for Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes.

Referring to the recruitment of 69,000 teachers in Uttar Pradesh, the BSP chief said that around 6,800 candidates from reserved categories had been protesting over issues related to reservation rules and their appointments."Not only this, but here, in the recruitment of 69,000 teachers, 6,800 candidates from these categories have been continuously protesting, hungry and thirsty, for their appointments over issues related to reservation rules," she said in the post.She urged the government to consider their concerns with empathy, stating that only the government could provide them real relief.Mayawati also highlighted the condition of school education in Uttar Pradesh and across the country. She said the BSP had consistently demanded meaningful reforms to improve the education system."Along with this, the BSP, including in UP and across the entire country, continuously demands proper improvement in the dismal state of school education, but perhaps under the pressure of 'Gen Z' and 'Gen Alpha', whatever little reluctant stir is visible at the government level is minor, yet if it stems from the right intent to reform school education, it would be appropriate; and in this sequence, if the government immediately arranges to reactivate in a proper manner the approximately 30,000 government schools that have been closed here, that too would be in the public interest," she added.

The former Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister also stressed the need for governments to go beyond welfare measures such as free bus travel for elderly women."Moreover, beyond arrangements like free travel for elderly women in buses, there is a greater need for governments to work with the right intent and policy to protect women from exploitation, atrocities, harassment, and the like in every field, while also addressing women's safety, dignity, and self-reliance," she said.Meanwhile, on Tuesday, Mayawati announced that the BSP would contest the upcoming Assembly elections in Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Uttarakhand independently, ruling out any electoral alliance with other parties.The decision was announced after Mayawati reviewed the BSP's organisational position and support base in Punjab during a meeting. She directed party workers and office-bearers to intensify preparations for the upcoming elections and work towards securing a stronger electoral performance.

/IANS