Lucknow, Aug 8 : The Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh will felicitate 21,000 skilled workers on August 15 by giving them toolkits and awards as part of the Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojna. The Chief Minister will also interact with some of them during an event in Lucknow to mark Independence Day. The scheme was launched on December 26, 2018, with the aim of honing the skills of workers through training and providing them with advanced toolkits to improve their productivity. Beneficiaries under the programme have included barbers, washermen, tailors, cobblers, blacksmiths, goldsmiths, potters, basket weavers, among others. Additional Chief Secretary (MSME) Navneet Sehgal said that the scheme has been linked with other Central and state government programmes. For instance, workers are not just given kits but also access to loans on liberal terms under Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana or Mukhyamantri Swarojgar Yojana. In 2020-21, applications for loans worth about Rs 222 crore were sent to various banks by 10,161 trained beneficiaries under the Pradhan Mantri Mudra Yojana. "Under the Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana, workers are selected for a week-long training and given an honorarium of Rs 250 at per day. In the past three years, about 68,000 workers have been provided with advanced toolkits for self-employment in various traditional disciplines," Sehgal said. The Vishwakarma Shram Samman Yojana has become a lifeline for the skilled workers of Uttar Pradesh living in large numbers in villages, towns and cities and has given them respect in society. The state-level Bankers Committee meetings aim to ensure that loans are provided to all eligible candidates. In this context, the district-level departmental officers keep in constant touch with the district level bankers committee officials. The Chief Minister believes that workers play vital role in the development of a state and, therefore, accords top priority to the interest of workers. Atal Residential Schools are being built in every circle of the state for the children of labourers. /IANS