Uttar Pradesh Swami Vivekananda Youth Empowerment Scheme

What is the Uttar Pradesh Swami Vivekananda Youth Empowerment Scheme?

Uttar Pradesh Swami Vivekananda Youth Empowerment Scheme, commonly written as Swami Vivekanand Yuva Sashaktikaran Yojana: is the state government's free smartphone and tablet programme for students in higher and technical education. It is delivered on the DigiShakti platform at digishakti.up.gov.in, which the Uttar Pradesh government built for exactly this purpose and which describes itself as the portal for the tablet and smartphone distribution scheme for the technical empowerment of youth studying in the state.

The scheme's premise is straightforward. A very large share of course content, examination forms, scholarship applications, internship listings and skill certification in Uttar Pradesh now lives online, and a student without a personal device is dependent on a shared family phone or a cyber cafe. Giving each enrolled student a device of their own removes that bottleneck at the point where it does the most damage; during a degree or diploma.

Uttar Pradesh Swami Vivekananda Youth Empowerment Scheme was expanded by a state cabinet approval in August 2023, with a budget outlay reported at around Rs 3,600 crore and an intent to reach roughly 1 crore students in a phased manner over the following years. Distribution runs in batches, institution by institution, rather than as a single statewide event.

Key features

• One free smartphone or tablet per eligible student, at no cost.
• Covers graduation, post-graduation, diploma, technical, skill development, paramedical and nursing courses.
• No individual application form; institutions upload student data.
• Delivered through the DigiShakti portal, digishakti.up.gov.in.
• Distributed at camps held at or through the institution.

Who is eligible for the free tablet and smartphone scheme?

A student can receive a device if:

• The student is currently enrolled at a recognised educational institution located in Uttar Pradesh.
• The course is one the scheme covers: graduation, post-graduation, diploma, technical courses, skill development programmes, paramedical or nursing.
• The student's details have been uploaded by the institution on the DigiShakti portal for the relevant session, with a valid Aadhaar number.
• The student's record passes Aadhaar and enrolment verification on the portal.

A student is not eligible, and cannot apply independently, where:

• The student is a resident of Uttar Pradesh studying in another state. The scheme follows the institution, not the domicile, so studying outside the state puts a student outside the scheme even if their family lives in Uttar Pradesh.
• The student is not currently enrolled — a passed-out or discontinued student is not on the institution's live roll.
• The institution has not uploaded the student's data, or has exhausted the allotment given to it for the batch.
• The Aadhaar record does not match the enrolment record, which stops the issue at the verification stage.
• The student has already received a device under the scheme. It is one device per student, not one per year of study.

Because the process is institution-driven, there is a distinct and common category of disappointment: a student who is fully eligible on paper but whose college simply did not upload them, or uploaded them with a wrong Aadhaar digit. The remedy in both cases lies with the institution, not with any government counter.

How to apply for the UP free tablet and smartphone scheme

There is no application form for a student to fill. Uttar Pradesh Swami Vivekananda Youth Empowerment Scheme is institution-driven, so "applying" means making sure your institution enters you correctly on DigiShakti. These are the steps that actually get a device into a student's hands.

1. Confirm your details with your institution. Ask the office who the DigiShakti nodal officer is, and check that your name, Aadhaar number, enrolment number and mobile number are recorded correctly on the college record. This is the only step a student genuinely controls.
2. Wait for the institution to upload the data to the DigiShakti portal. Colleges and universities upload batch-wise against the allotment given to them by the department.
3. Check the DigiShakti portal at digishakti.up.gov.in using the student login to see whether your record appears and what its verification status is.
4. Watch for the SMS announcing the distribution camp. The message goes to the mobile number the institution uploaded, which is why an outdated number is a real risk.
5. Attend the distribution camp on the notified date with your Aadhaar card and institution identity card, complete the on-the-spot verification, and collect the device against a signed receipt.

There is no online form for a student to fill and no fee at any stage. Any website asking you to "register for the UP free tablet" and charging for it is not connected to the state government.

What documents does a student need?

How to check your DigiShakti status

1. Open digishakti.up.gov.in and select the student login option.
2. Sign in with the credentials or the registered mobile number your institution recorded against your enrolment.
3. Read the record for your verification status and, once distribution is scheduled, the camp details.
4. If your record is missing or shows an error, go to your institution's nodal officer; student records on DigiShakti are edited by the institution alone.

Common reasons a student does not get a device

• Data never uploaded by the institution, or uploaded after the batch allotment was closed.
• Aadhaar mismatch. A wrong digit, or a name spelt differently on Aadhaar and on the college roll.
• Wrong or dead mobile number on the record, so the camp SMS never arrives and the student misses the distribution date.
• Course not covered, for example a short certificate course outside the categories the scheme lists.
• Student not on the live roll because of a break in study, a transfer, or arrears that removed them from the current session list.
• Institution allotment exhausted for that phase, which defers rather than denies. The student's case moves to a later batch.

Every one of these is fixed at the college office. Students often spend weeks searching for a government helpline when the correction takes ten minutes with their own nodal officer.

Why the scheme is delivered this way

Uttar Pradesh chose an institution-driven model rather than an individual application model for a practical reason. With a target in the range of 1 crore students, an open application portal would have to verify enrolment claims one by one; routing the process through institutions means enrolment is verified at source, against records the college already maintains for examinations. The trade-off is the one described above, the student's outcome depends on their institution's diligence.

It also explains why there is no personal last date. A student cannot miss a deadline in the ordinary sense; what a student can miss is the window in which their own institution collects and uploads data, which is why the single most useful action is to ask the college office early rather than to watch the portal.

Help and grievance redressal

• DigiShakti nodal officer at your institution. The first and usually the only effective point of contact for data, Aadhaar and camp issues.
• DigiShakti portal, digishakti.up.gov.in, for status and departmental notices.
• Integrated Grievance Redressal System at jansunwai.up.nic.in, where an institution refuses to act on a genuine correction request.

The device is free, and the receipt you sign at the camp is your proof of delivery. Keep it. Where a device is later found defective, the warranty route runs through the vendor named on that receipt, not through the college.