Lucknow, Aug. 28 -- : Dishonest parties had made the once prosperous Uttar Pradesh a sick state in the past as corruption pushed it into an identity crisis, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Wednesday.

He was addressing a gathering at a programme at the Lok Bhavan auditorium. The event was held to distribute appointment letters to 2,425 Mukhya Sevikas and 13 pharmacists selected by the Uttar Pradesh Subordinate Services Selection Commission.

Before 2017, qualified candidates were victims of discrimination and corruption, the chief minister said.

From 1947 till 1960, UP was the leading state of the country with an over 14% contribution to the GDP. But the decline started after 1960 and became rapid after 1990 so much so that UP's c...