LUCKNOW, Aug. 4 -- As many as 8.5 lakh government jobs were given to the youth of the state in the past eight years, chief minister Yogi Adityanath said on Sunday. The police department saw the highest recruitment, with 2,17,500 young people joining the force since 2017, he said while addressing the appointment letter distribution ceremony for 1,494 newly selected assistant operators in UP Police telecom department. "Before 2017, nepotism in police recruitment weakened law and order in the state and corruption dominated the recruitment process in the state. Under previous governments, recruitment was marred by bribery and bias, ruining the future of the youth," he stressed. "Post-2017, police recruitment reflects transparency and public trust, not just numbers," he added. He recalled how past practices led to riots, terrorist attacks and a climate of fear, citing incidents in Ayodhya, Kashi, Lucknow and Rampur. He personally handed over letters to several recruits during the event at Indira Gandhi Pratishthan. "After the double-engine government came to power in 2017, the first major step was to make the recruitment process transparent and fair. The Police Recruitment Board was strengthened as part of this effort. As a result, Uttar Pradesh now ranks first in the country for police recruitment and providing government jobs," he added. The CM added that transparency in recruitment also boosted investments, creating local employment opportunities for nearly 2 crore youth in their own districts. With support from outsourcing, technology, and policy-making, UP has now emerged as one of India's fastest-growing economies, he said. He also highlighted that when the first recruitment was conducted in 2017-18, the state had very limited training capacity. Earlier, only around 3,000 police personnel could be trained, but now training arrangements for 60,244 recruits are being managed within UP Police's own training institutes. The long-pending police commissionerate system, pending since 1971-72, was implemented by the double-engine government and seven new commissionerates have been created so far, improving both modern policing and accountability, he asserted. The CM added that UP Police at present has become a model force, symbolising a riot-free, law-abiding and safe state....