Lucknow, July 1 (IANS): Conceding that times have changed since he was a young boy, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav said on Wednesday that the new generation is smarter and it seeks selfies, not autographs.

At a function held to felicitate the top 10 meritorious students in the Classes 10 and 12 Uttar Pradesh board exams, the 43-year-old chief minister said young boys and girls earlier used to seek autographs but now it is the time for selfies.

"The young generation is much more advanced and tech-savy," Akhilesh Yadav said while pointing out how celebrities earlier were flooded with requests of autographs, which has now been replaced with selfie demands.

Among those honoured by the chief minister were Jyoti Rathore, Mansi Jaiswal, Mohd Kasif Ansari, Divyanshi Tiwari, Anjali Tiwari, Aishwarya Dutt, Tripti Gupta, Sachin Shukla, Kalpana Verma and Ikra Anjum.

Besides certificates, the chief minister also gifted the meritorious students a bicycle each.

The Samajwadi Party (SP) government in the state has been gifting laptops and bicycles to encourage students.