AP Made Rapid Strides In 2013: CM

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 would bring peace, joy and cheer to the people, and hoped that Andhra Pradesh would progress in all sectors.

The Chief Minister said that even in the difficult situation prevailing in the state, Andhra Pradesh had 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 that Andhra Pradesh also stood first in citizen services and people's welfare schemes in the country.

He also cited AP's 2nd ranking in spending on education resulting in better performance in education, and its 2nd ranking in overall performance among the states (with AP standing next only to Kerala).

He took pride while stating that law and order was maintained with peace and harmony without even a single rubber bullet being fired in spite of several disturbances. He claimed that the crime rate had reduced in Andhra Pradesh, compared to an increase at the national level.

The CM said that AP emerged as the best in governance because of its performance. It may be recalled here that the state had mounting dues to the tune of Rs. 9,000 crore towards students' scholarships, the Pavala Vaddi subsidy for farmers, and subsidied for self-held groups, among others. Reddy said his government ensured a turnaround in financial management.

"This has helped the state give interest-free loans to farmers and 1.45 crore women. This is more than half of what is borrowed by all the women groups across the country. The state government ensured that only the targeted beneficiaries gain from the schemes," he said.

The Chief Minister said that all this was made possible because of a team of dedicated and committed employees and officials, and the cooperation from the people. He said the state was able to perform well in spite of the political turbulence.

Referring to the India Today "Survey of States", he said it was based on objective data gathered by government agencies and research institutions, and that it is therefore considered "most credible". The Chief Minister said the awards were based on objective data surveyed for the years 2011-12 and 2012-13.

He said that 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, he said.

"However, Andhra Pradesh is the best among the southern states in attracting investments," he pointed out.

He said that Andhra Pradesh was also awarded for being the "Most Investment Driven State" in India. The award was constituted by the financial newspaper Mint, and the Institute of Competitiveness, India, an affiliate of Harvard Business School's Michael Porter Institute of Competitiveness. The survey provides a description of the 29 Indian states and their competitiveness levels pertaining to business environment, infrastructure, technology and other parameters of microeconomic competitiveness.

He added that 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 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, including 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," he said in his message.

The Chief Minister said that his government had launched new path-breaking initiatives and welfare schemes like Indiramma Kalalu, Amma Hastham and Bangaru Talli 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. The Bangaru Talli scheme is yet another revolutionary initiative to help the girl child right from her birth till her marriage or completion of her education. Through Amma Hastham, 9 essential commodities are being supplied to BPL ration-card-holding families through ration shops for just Rs. 185," he said.

He said that over the last 3 years, Rajiv Yuva Kiranalu has been giving lakhs of youth job-related training, and helping them get placed in the private sector.

The CM also cited the Mee Seva program, a system that sees fast-track delivery of public services through a single window. Mee Seva was launched 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 crores," he said.

"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," he said.

The Chief Minister said that under the Jala Yagnam program, 86 major and medium irrigation projects were taken up to irrigate 120 lakh acres, including stabilisation with an outlay of Rs. 1.85 lakh crore. Out of this, 16 projects have been fully completed, and 23 partially completed, providing irrigation facilities to 21.43 lakh acres at an expenditure of Rs. 85,622 crore.

"Meanwhile the state government has also taken up the State Milk Mission with an outlay of Rs. 5,300 crore in order to give a boost to the dairy sector in the state. 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," he said. (INN)