The Uttar Pradesh government will commence the free distribution of smartphones and tablets to students from the second week of December.

A dedicated portal 'DG Shakti' has been created for this and it will soon be launched by Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

Through this portal, distribution of smartphones and tablets and content will be given to the students. Apart from this, information about smart phones and tablets will be given to the students from time to time on their mobile numbers and mail addresses.

As a relief to students, they will not be required to register anywhere to get the free smartphones and tablets. The process, from registration to smartphone and tablet delivery, is free.

The data of the students is being given to the universities by colleges and the data feeding of the same is being done at university level itself. Till Monday, the data of about 27 lakh students has been uploaded on the portal and the process of data feeding of remaining students is being expedited.

The biggest ever tender, to the tune of Rs 4,700 crore, has been floated by the state government on the GeM portal for the purchase of smartphones and tablets. Many major companies like Vishtel (Iris), Samsung (Vision) and Acer (Celkon) for tablets, Lava, Samsung (Celcon) and Samsung (United) for smartphones have submitted tenders. The financial bids of eligible firms will be opened after technical scrutiny and it is expected that the work order will be issued by the first week of December.

Around 2.5 lakh tablets and five lakh smartphones will have to be distributed in the first lot. The companies selected in the tender will have to supply at least 2.5 lakh tablets in the first lot. The companies selected for the smartphones will have to supply at least five lakh smartphones in the first lot.