New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi today said Uttar Pradesh, with a population size the same as four European countries badly hit by the Covid-19, had only a fraction of their death count because of its singular efforts in fighting the deadly contagion.

‘England, France, Italy and Spain – these countries at one time had conquered the world and were the biggest powers of the world, but if you add up the populations of all these countries it comes to 24 crore, but in India, UP alone has 24 crore. How effective UP has been can be seen from the fact that the four European nations together had 1,30,000 deaths due to Covid-19. But in UP, the number of deaths is 600. It shows that UP has been tacking the issue proactively and effectively,’ he said.

He launched the ‘Atma Nirbhar Uttar Pradesh Rozgar Abhiyan’ which seeks to promote local entrepreneurship and create partnership with industrial associations to provide employment opportunities.

At the virtual launch, Modi interacted with villagers from six districts of Uttar Pradesh. Villages across all districts of the state joined the event through Common Service Centres and Krishi Vigyan Kendras.