Heralding 'Bangaru Telangana'

Hyderabad: The story of Telangana has been very symbolic and heroic one. The state came into existence on June 2, 2014 with the slogan of Neellu, Niyamakalu and Nidhulu.

In six years, despite facing administrative and financial challenges, Chief Minister K Chandrasekhar Rao has succeeded in making the state a model state in the country and has introduced never-before kind of schemes with special focus on welfare, agriculture, irrigation, education and industrial development. The state Cabinet and the ruling TRS exude confidence that the state which had efficiently handled the Covid-19 situation would soon come out of the financial crisis due to national lockdown.

The efforts of the government came in for appreciation from Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan as well. In a message, she said: "People's happiness quotient is the barometer to measure the success of any government." She is confident that the combination of the State government and the people of Telangana will prove its mettle and will realize the most cherished goal of "Bangaru Telangana" soon." Incidentally, Tuesday happens to be the birthday of the Governor as well.

Listing out its achievements, the government said Telangana is the first state in the country which launched Rythu Bandhu - cash incentive scheme for farmers, Mission Kakatiya for revival of 50,000 abandoned water bodies, Mission Bhagiratha aiming to provide potable drinking water to every household and India's biggest lift irrigation project Kaleshwaram.

In tune with its slogan of Neellu (water), the state government from day one had laid focus on creating irrigation facilities and going in for re-engineering of the ongoing projects. The committed efforts made by the Irrigation department had now turned its dream of Kaleshwaram into a reality. Other projects, including Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation project, are on fast-track and once completed, the target of the Chief Minister to provide irrigation facility to one crore acres would be achieved and all this has been done by spending Rs 2 lakh crore in the last six years.

According to the Government, revolutionary decisions like providing Rs 10,000 per acre every year to farmers had brought down the number of farmers' suicides. The recently introduced regulated farming is set to give a big boost to the farmers who are struggling for remunerative price to their agriculture produce.

In Ease of Doing Business (EoDB), Telangana has been maintaining top position by attracting global investments in electronics, IT and manufacturing sectors. More than Rs 1 lakh crore investments were pumped in Telangana in the manufacturing, construction and service sectors in just five years after Telangana launched TSiPASS industrial policy.

The Chief Minister also accorded priority to education. The state is poised to achieve 100 per cent literacy. The establishment of residential schools on par with corporate standards helped poorer sections to access quality education. On the welfare front, KCR introduced Aasara pensions benefiting more than 40 lakh people. Kalyanalaxmi and community-based development programmes like sheep distribution, aqua farming and cattle farming empowered certain sections in Telangana. On the health sector, the government has been making efforts to strengthen the health care system.

Economically, Telangana has registered double digit growth in the revenues but the growing debt burden is major cause of concern in the present crisis. The government will have to pay Rs 3000 crore as repayment of loans and interests every month. The other major challenge is water disputes with the neighbouring Andhra Pradesh which lodged complaints against all projects, including Kaleshwaram. The Chief Minister will have to put more energies to address such issues in the coming days.

The reforms in the state administration, mainly the reorganization of districts and new Panchayat Raj and Municipal Acts and creation of new zonal system, helped in administering the state hassle-free and has ensured that the pink party won all the elections that took place since the formation of the TRS government.