LUCKNOW, June 15 -- A fellowship scheme attracting PhDs, MTech graduates and MBAs as Chief Minister's Fellows (CM Fellows) is proving useful to the government in achieving its governance objectives and accelerating development in Uttar Pradesh. The CM Fellowship scheme is aimed at involving young professionals in policy formulation, governance, coordination and feedback mechanisms, besides assisting the government in connecting with industry and attracting investment to the state. As of now, nearly 500 CM Fellows are working at different levels under the state's planning department (108 aspirational development blocks), industrial development department (108 Entrepreneurship Mitras), urban development and tourism department (100 fellows under the Aspirational Urban scheme) and MSME department (160 fellows under the entrepreneurship development scheme). The appointment of 150 more One Trillion Dollar (OTD) CM Fellows is underway to strengthen OTD cells in districts and help the state government achieve its goal of making Uttar Pradesh a trillion-dollar economy. Chief minister Yogi Adityanath, who has held three online interactions with the CM Fellows, is consistently reviewing the work being done by them at various government levels. Those aware of the implementation of the scheme listed the works being done by the CM Fellows. Principal secretary (planning) Alok Kumar-III, who is the state government's nodal officer for the OTD economy initiative, said, "Yes, the CM Fellowship scheme has given some excellent results. We see improvement in various development indicators in our aspirational blocks. The scheme has shown improvement in all departments where the fellows have been deployed." Uttar Pradesh State Transformation Commission CEO Manoj Kumar Singh said the commission is in the process of appointing 150 OTD Fellows who will work with district magistrates across the state to help the government achieve its objective of making UP a trillion-dollar economy. Another senior officer said the work being done by the CM Fellows has been recognised by the NITI Aayog too. He said the state government initially appointed CM Fellows for UP's 108 aspirational blocks and NITI Aayog subsequently implemented a similar scheme appointing aspirational block fellows in 500 blocks, including 68 UP blocks, across the country. Citing examples, he said the CM Fellows are bringing about improvement in online reporting, helping the Van Gujjars get benefits of government schemes, making a health centres functional, increasing the enrolment in a smart classes, setting up 200 kitchen gardens to help pregnant women and connecting the groups of women entrepreneurs to the respective local markets to increase their income. The CM Fellows have also played an important role in the implementation of investments worth Rs.10 lakh crore at the GBC 4.0, ensuring resolution of issues and removal of doubts for ease of doing business and better follow-up at various levels. They are also helping in implementation of various schemes of tourism development in 25 districts without a tourism development officer and also providing suggestions by carrying out a study of best practices. Besides getting an honorarium of Rs.40,000 per month the CM Fellows also get housing facility or HRA and a tablet. The fellows have a tenure of three years and they get weightage and age relaxation (maximum three years) in recruitment to various government posts....