In Rudyard Kipling’s story ‘Toomai of the Elephants’ from The Jungle Book, 10-year-old Little Toomai discovers how surprisingly fast and deftly his elephant Kala Nag can move, especially when handled well by a master mahout.

Uttar Pradesh under Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath could be an extended metaphor of that.

For decades, UP stayed as a paradox in India’s economic imagination. Too large to ignore, too complex to reform swiftly, and too politically important to risk bold changes.

The Economic Survey of Uttar Pradesh 2025-26 suggests that Yogi is furiously rewriting this narrative.

What stands out in the survey is not just growth figures or rankings, but the transformation in the UP’s economic self-image. India’s most populous state no longer presents itself as welfare-dependent, demographically heavy, and forever seeking central assistance. Instead, it frames itself as an execution-oriented, scale-driven growth engine, one that believes its sheer size can now work in its favour.

The clearest signal of this shift lies in logistics and infrastructure. For the........

© News18