Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy wished the people of Andhra Pradesh and Telugus all over the world a happy, peaceful and prosperous New Year. The Chief Minister, in a special message on the eve of the New Year, hoped that 2014 will bring peace, joy and cheer to the people and hoped that Andhra Pradesh will progress in all sectors.
The Chief Minister said that even in the difficult situation prevailed in the State, Andhra Pradesh made rapid strides in all sectors in the last three years, particularly in 2013. He said it was a matter of pride and satisfaction that Andhra Pradesh bagged the “Best Performing State in Governance” award at the prestigious India Today ‘State of the States’ conclave in New Delhi. He said Andhra Pradesh also stood first in citizen services and people’s welfare schemes in the country.
Kiran Kumar Reddy said Andhra Pradesh also stood 2nd in spending on education resulting in better performance in education and also 2nd in overall performance among the States next only to Kerala. He said law and order was maintained with peace and harmony without using even a single rubber bullet in spite of several disturbances. The Chief Minister said crime rate also reduced in Andhra Pradesh compared to an increase at the national level.
The Chief Minister said that Andhra Pradesh emerged as the best in governance because of performance. It may be recalled here that the State had mounting dues to the tune of Rs.9,000 crs towards students scholarships, pavala vaddi subsidy for farmers and SHG women etc. He said his Government ensured a turnaround in financial management. This has helped the State to give interest free loans to farmers and 1.45 crore women. This is more than half of that is borrowed by all the women groups across the country. The State Government ensured that only the targeted beneficiaries gain from the schemes. The Chief Minister said that all this was made possible because of a team of dedicated and committed employees and officials and with the unstinted cooperation from the people. He said the State was able to perform well in spite of the political turbulence.
India Today Survey of States was based on objective data gathered by government agencies and research institutions and is therefore is considered most credible. The Chief Minister said the awards were based on an objective data surveyed for the years 2011-12 and 2012-13. He said the State Government not only fine tuned the existing welfare schemes but also introduced new ones to make a mark in office. Andhra Pradesh is also ranked No.2 in education while it is No.4 in attracting investments. However, Andhra Pradesh is the best among the southern States in attracting investments.
He said Andhra Pradesh was also awarded for the Most Investment Driven State in India. The award was constituted by ‘Mint’ financial newspaper and the Institute of Competitiveness, India, an affiliate of Harvard Business School’s Michael Porter Institute of Competitiveness and provide a detailed description of the 29 Indian States and their competitiveness levels pertaining to business environment, infrastructure, technology, etc. The awards are based on a detailed study wherein the States are critically evaluated on various parameters of Microeconomic Competitiveness based on in-depth research and analysis done by the Institute for Competitiveness.
Andhra Pradesh has emerged as the Most Competitive Investment driven Economy in the country in 2013. As per the study the decision criterion for which Andhra Pradesh won the State shows exemplary performance on physical infrastructure, innovative capacity and depth of firms because of strong economic clusters. Andhra Pradesh has a diverse industrial base—key industries in the State include Agro and Food based Industries, engineering goods, Biotechnology, IT and ITES, Mines and Minerals, Textiles, Leather and Tourism. The State has a robust physical infrastructure and is particularly strong in ports and airports. There are 15 ports and 9 airports in the State. The State also has transformational energy infrastructure with an installed capacity of 16,817 MW as of January 2013. The State is making rapid strides in development with 100 ongoing PPP projects. Out of these 100 Projects, 41 are road projects, 24 are tourism projects and 13 are urban development projects.
The Chief Minister said his Government launched new path-breaking initiatives and welfare schemes like Indiramma Kalalu, Amma Hastham, Bangaru Talli etc. in 2013 for the first time in the country to help SCs, STs, BPL Card holders and Girl children. Now this initiative is being replicated by other States in the country. Bangaru Talli scheme is yet another revolutionary initiative to help the girl child right from her birth till her marriage or completing education like graduation or post graduation. Through Amma Hastham, 9 essential commodities are being supplied through ration shops for just Rs.185/- to BPL ration card holding families. He said the Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu was launched through which lakhs of youth have been provided job-related training and placed in the private sector in the last three years. He said the goal is to take jobs in the next three years by creating unlimited opportunities for the youth.
An important achievement in governance is the Mee Seva programme. The Chief Minister unveiled the revolutionary fast track delivery of public services through a single window called ‘Mee Seva’ on November 4, 2011 with 12 services. This is a transparent and secured citizen-centric web based service that provides easy and quick access to getting birth, death, income, caste and a host of other certificates and entries from records of different departments for a nominal fee without having to do the rounds of government offices. As many as 225 services are now available through the 7,000 Mee Seva centres across the State and record an average of 75,000 transactions a day. Now the total number of transactions crossed a staggering over 3.40 crs.
A State Wide Area Network was also launched recently through which Hyderabad is connected with all 23 district headquarters and 1,126 mandal headquarters by a video conferencing facility. It will ease the administration by enabling Hyderabad-based officials to share and discuss views on various aspects of development and welfare with officials at the mandal level. It also makes Andhra Pradesh the first State in the country to have the HD video link.
The Chief Minister said under the Jala Yagnam programme, 86 major and medium irrigation projects were taken up to irrigate 120 lakh acres including stabilisation with an outlay of Rs.1.85 lakh crs. Out of this, 16 projects are fully completed and 23 partially completed providing irrigation facilities to 21.43 lakh acres at an expenditure of Rs.85,622 crs. Meanwhile the State Government has also taken up State Milk Mission with an outlay of Rs.5,300 crs in order to give a boost to the dairy sector in the State and the ultimate aim of the mission is to increase the overall milk production in a sustainable manner. The milk production of the State has been increased to 496.31 lakh litres per day.
Kiran Kumar Reddy said many path-breaking schemes for the uplift of the common man, weaker sections of the society, SCs, STs & BCs, Minorities, Women, Children, Farmers, unemployed youth and others have been initiated and with its ongoing flagship programme – ‘Indiramma Baata’, it is ensuring that these schemes are effectively implemented. (INN)