Andhra Pradesh Celebrations by Nadimidoddi Prasad

Page No: 6 Andhra Pradesh Resurgent at Fifty Four Every year November 1st brings a new enthusiasm and new energy as this is the most important day in the annals of Andhra Pradesh state. This year too, the state will be celebrating its 54th formation anniversary.

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Committed to Welfare

Agriculture

The heavy baton of unfinished task left by the visionary leader Dr. YSR, though looks tough and challenging, Dr. K. Rosaiah is definitely confident of completing it

Andhra Pradesh has time and again proved to be dominant state especially in the agriculture sector.

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Irrigation

Housing

Health

Jalayagnam programme continues to be the ﬂagship programme of the Government of Andhra Pradesh.

During the past 3 decades 96 lakh houses constructed in the state under different Central & State fully and partially subsidized schemes.

The health sector support provided over the past few years was aimed at increased use of quality health services

DESIGN 4

CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD : VIVECK GOENKA, ASST. VICE PRESIDENT : BIJU MATHEWS, CHIEF MANAGERS : ANTHONY DANIEL, Y. S. VENKAT SWAMY, SR. MANAGER : A.K. SHUKLA, MANAGERS : L. FRANCIS FARIAS, VIJAY KULKARNI, REPORTER : AMGUTH RAJU, & LAYOUT : N. PRASAD, PRODUCTION & CIRCULATION : M.E.A. MUJAHID, PHOTOGRAPHER : M. VIDYA SAGAR RAO, Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010 EXECUTIVE : B. NARESH, SUPPORT & CO-ORDINATION : M. NARENDER, IT SUPPORT : R. SUMAN KUMAR

Contents

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Industry

Infrastructure

Tourism

Ever since the era of liberalization Andhra Pradesh has been providing a conductive environment for Industrial growth.

The state offers a world class infrastructure base for the growth of Industry, Transportation, Agriculture and Irrigation sectors.

Andhra Pradesh will delight you. With its numerous hills, lakes, beaches, valleys, parks and gardens – get ready for an escape of a lifetime.

Page No: 60 Infotech

The IT sector contributes to about 49% of total exports from the State and accounts for to 0.57% share of national GDP

Page No: 78 Power

Power sector in Andhra Pradesh met the highest demand of 235.8 MU and peak power demand of 10880 MW during March 2010 as against 173 MU last year.

Page No: 86 Education

The aim is to achieve cent per cent literacy rate having set this, the education department in the state is working towards achieving it in the next ten years period

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Andhra Pradesh

Resurgent at Fifty Four

EVERY YEAR NOVEMBER 1ST BRINGS A NEW ENTHUSIASM AND NEW ENERGY AS THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT DAY IN THE ANNALS OF ANDHRA PRADESH STATE. THIS YEAR TOO, THE STATE WILL BE CELEBRATING ITS 54TH FORMATION ANNIVERSARY AND IS SEEN AS THE MOST SIGNIFICANT MOMENT IN ITS HISTORY IN THE BACKDROP OF THE RAPID ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND REGIONAL TRANSITION HAPPENING AMONG THE PEOPLE . THIS YEAR, TO CELEBRATE ON THE ECONOMIC FRONT, ANDHRA PRADESH HAD RECORDED A POSITIVE GROWTH OF 8.3 PER CENT, THANKS TO RAPID STRIDES IN FARM, INDUSTRIAL AND SOCIAL SECURITY SECTORS WHICH HAVE NOT ONLY ENABLED SATISFACTORY PERFORMANCE OF THE MID-TERM PLAN BUT HAVE ALSO IMPROVED THE LIVING STANDARDS OF THE COMMON MAN IN THE STATE. 6

Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Inclusive growth is the mantra Keeping something united for over more than half a century means a lot. For Andhra Pradesh, the union of people from both Andhra and Hyderabad states, way back in 1956 was a great boost. It had given a whopping opportunities for the Telugu region to grow and record its unique identity beyond boundaries. Today, having experienced the intricate journey of many upheavals, Andhra Pradesh is sounds stable, strong and resurgent. It has garnered all its energies, experiences and most signiﬁcantly the maturity of its governance to resolve any kind of problem it may face. It could be witnessed during the past one year how meticulously the government had handled most volatile and sensitive issues touching the hearts of common man, intellectuals, philosophers, professors, students, advocates and politicians. Hats off to the system we have evolved. It is still perfectly working even in the times of volatile situations. With few exceptions and reservations amongst the population what more can we ask for, but peace and inclusive growth of all the regions with similar equations. Let us all come forward to celebrate our growth and achievements so far. Let us come forward to resolve our differences, let us come forward to devise a concrete path of progress for the Telugu land irrespective of region, religion, caste or creed. Let us celebrate with full fervor and enthusiasm the 54th formation of the State and pave the way for a resurgent Andhra Pradesh. If we analyze the situation in Andhra Pradesh during the past one year, there had been a host of unexpected sequences of events that had virtually stalled the administration and the government machinery. Never before in the History of the state had the people of Andhra Pradesh faced such a pain and turmoil as that had been witnessed during the past one year. The year 2009 in all sense was Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

rather one of the worst periods the state had ever witnessed in the midst of its peak growth in the recent past. All that began with the worst trigger of the unfortunate death of late Dr.Y.S.Rajashekara Reddy, the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. Soon after followed by heavy rains and ﬂoods that killed thousands of people and cattle and damaged vast areas of standing crops. With a slight gap of two months or so, when every one was just analysing and recollecting the events, and even when the government was slowly coming out of the leadership crisis, taking advantage of the situation began the Telangana uproar which was earlier thought to be subsided had totally paralyzed the state. If on one side the state was burdened and ransacked by social disturbance, political uncertainty and natural disaster, on the other hand the State was already reeling under tremendous pressure of unemployment, poverty, law and order, health and crime and other social evils. In spite of all such happenings, the usual planned road map of the government did not stop. In many instances we have seen things change tremendously with time, money and political power, but thanks to our matured politicians, bureaucrats and the people at the core, who all cooperated moving cautiously keeping in view the interest of the state as a whole in mind and thanks to our system and values which we had imbibed that have led us to see this day to Celebrate the Andhra Pradesh formation day on November 1st, the 54th anniversary of our union and solidarity. Having strode past 54 years united we have gained remarkable achievements which otherwise wouldn’t have been possible.

Social welfare. Be it Agriculture or Irrigational development. Be it Information Technology or Biotechnology, Andhra Pradesh has created its own niche in every sector. All through the days of formation to till date, the state had moved forward with inclusive development as the mantra. Every successive government had worked to the best of its ability to develop the state in every sector it had touched upon and stood in the forefront as a pioneer. Today, despite under intense regional disparities and pressure of separatist whirlpool the state has yet turned resurgent, back on the ramp of growth with an accelerated pace. The present government had left no stone unturned to fulﬁll aspirations and ambitions of every person of the State. The mid-term appraisal of the Eleventh Five Year Plan (2007-08 to 2011-12), prepared by the State Government, corroborates the Government’s efforts in making rapid strides in agriculture, industry and service sectors. Despite the global recession which had an impact on the State, Andhra Pradesh witnessed a reasonably positive growth rate. The State has performed well in all the sectors, particularly the service sector. The overall performance of the State during the last three years has

Even in the hard times, Andhra Pradesh has retained its best which are worth celebrating. Be it the Temples of worship, or the enticing tourist’s spots. Be it education or sports. Be it Industrial growth or 7

been quite satisfactory. A perusal of the progress achieved thus far during the 11th Five Year Plan suggests that much greater efforts are needed for improving implementation of social sector programmes. Good governance agenda that mitigates leakages in the delivery system is critical to achieve the goal of inclusiveness. To keep the growth momentum alive, discussions should be continued among the government circles on various aspects of the development agenda and the measures to further streamline the delivery systems to ensure that no genuine beneﬁciary is denied his share in the welfare and development programmes of the Government. The economy of Andhra Pradesh showed strong performance in terms of aggregate growth during the 10th Five Year Plan (2002-03 to 200607). The average growth rate of GSDP at 8.3 per cent during the 10th plan period was higher than the allIndia average GDP growth rate of 7.8 per cent. Despite the global economic slowdown, which had impacted some sectors during 2008-09, industry and service sectors showed resilience and bounced back in 2009-10. Though the economy had bounced back, it could not fully recover because the effect of recession persisted and moreover unprecedented ﬂoods and drought in various districts as well as the agitation incurred huge losses to the State exchequer. A 7 per cent GSDP growth rate is estimated up to March 2011. In anticipation of

the Planning Commission, GOI, MidTerm Appraisal of the States for the Eleventh Five-Year Plan Performance, the Andhra Pradesh has itself conducted a mid-term appraisal of its performance in the first three years of 11th five-Year Plan(2007-2012). It is pertinent to note that this is the first time such a Mid-term appraisal is prepared for financial and physical performance of 23 different flagship development Programmes supported by the centre and State. On the agriculture front Andhra Pradesh had performed quite well. The State had record food-grain production of 204.21 lakh tonnes aided by good rainfall during 200809 and also this year too, the agriculture sector had received a good boost with adequate rains. The government is planning to achieve record food grain production of over 208 lakh MTs in 200910. Various poverty alleviation and employment generation programmes being implemented along with better delivery systems and safety nets in the State in the recent times have helped the people in achieving a better standard of living. Over the years, the Industrial sector in the State has gained in strength. It has become possible due to policy initiatives put in place by the State. Establishing world class infrastructure and more importantly, making available power at cheapest industrial tariff helped a great

deal. The determination to accelerate manufacturing sector growth by aggressively pursuing investor-friendly policies has started paying dividends to the State. To achieve a GSDP growth rate of 9.5 per cent, the Industry sector needs to grow at a much higher pace with the manufacturing sector contributing to the bulk of the growth. It would require world class facilities like Ports, Airports, Expressways, quality power supply, water supply and Telecommunication and the latest agreement signed with Larsen & Toubro for the prestigious Hyderabad metro rail project, a one of its kind project with highest ever investment of over Rs. 12,132 crore, is a firm step in this direction to enhance competitiveness of the State capital. All this would need substantial resources and surely requires Central support in the nature of adequate viability gap funding due to the long gestation of these projects. Andhra Pradesh has already completed a good number of projects, some are under implementation and a few more are in the pipeline. The effort shall continue to do better and better. Within the resource limits and the proactive role of private entrepreneurs in the State, these projects are being planned and executed in a time-bound manner. Special Economic Zones are being promoted in different regions of the State to generate employment in export oriented manufacturing sector. Andhra Pradesh is making all-out efforts to ensure rapid growth which are centered on inclusiveness and the Government is committed to promote financial inclusion through a large number of programmes aimed specifically at the weaker sections, like MGNREGA, PMGSY and other Centrally-sponsored schemes in addition to the State-sponsored employment generation programmes. Development Mantra and Good Governance are key to the holistic development of the State. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

COMMITTED TO

WELFARE

loans or supplying 1500 crore units of free power per annum to the farmers is not a step of less significance. Since its formation, the Congress government had always worked for the welfare of the poor, it had sanctioned construction of more than 65 lakh houses for the poor living under BPL. Out of which it had completed 35 lakh houses for the weaker sections, 30 lakh more houses are under various stages of completion. Reimbursing the entire tuition fees for about 25 lakh post-metric students and subsidising interest by more than 4 per cent per annum in respect of crop loans and 6 per cent per annum in respect of loans to women SHGs, entailing a budgetary expenditure of more than Rs.1600 cores. Another important feat worth telling is its gigantic spending of Rs. 41,000 crores on the massive irrigation programme called ‘Jala Yagnam’, creating a new irrigation potential for about 15 lakh acres in a five year period. Significant improvement in the standards of living of the people in the State in the recent past is attributable to a number of strategic initiatives put in place by the Government over the years. The strength of the fundamentals of the economy is evident from the remarkable transition to a high growth path during the 10th Five Year Plan period.

Dr. K. Rosaiah, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh

NOW, HAVING GOT A STERN HOLD ON GOVERNANCE, DR. K. ROSAIAH, THE CHIEF MINISTER OF ANDHRA PRADESH IS CONFIDENT OF DELIVER FULL FLEDGED WITH ALL HIS ENERGIES FOCUSED ON THE WELFARE AND OVERALL DEVELOPMENT OF THE STATE. THE HEAVY BATON OF UNFINISHED TASK LEFT BY THE VISIONARY

YSR, THOUGH LOOKS TOUGH ROSAIAH IS DEFINITELY CONFIDENT OF COMPLETING IT. LEADER

AND CHALLENGING,

ndeed the road ahead is challenging, because the gravity and density of the projects undertaken by the former leader are of complex magnitude both in terms of volumes and economics. It is a daring step even to think of sanctioning 55 lakh enhanced pensions to the aged and physically handicapped in the state. Covering 80 per cent of population Rs. 2 a Kg rice scheme is another grand step forward to feeding the starving masses. Waiving of thousands of crores of rupees of Crop

Growth is a pre-requisite for development as it provides the basis for expanding incomes and employment necessary for social uplift. With the spirit and objective of ensuring that growth is widely spread so that its beneﬁts are adequately shared by the poor and weaker sections of the society, the Government has geared up for meeting the challenges during the 11th Five Year Plan. Government of India has focused on rapid and inclusive growth in the 11th Five Year Plan. The main emphasis is on the Social sector and delivery of services therein. Education, in particular, has been accorded utmost priority during the 11th Five Year Plan period. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

On the back of the impressive record of economic growth coupled with a certain positive upsurge in the living standards of the people as reﬂected by the growing Per Capita Income, the State along with the Nation has entered the Eleventh Five Year Plan period on an optimistic note. A brief year wise review of the performance of the state during the three year period of the 11th Five Year Plan in respect of the overall economy and sectoral plan performance and the overall consolidated performance of the state during the 3-year period focusing on the achievements under important programmes/ initiatives is discussed.

Economic growth The ﬁrst year (2007-08) of the 11th Five Year Plan witnessed a healthy momentum in the economy as the State, as per the Provisional estimates and at constant (1999-2000) prices had registered an impressive GSDP growth of 10.75%, ahead of the Nation’s GDP growth of 9.01% for the same period. The three sectors of the State economy, namely, Agriculture, Industries and Services grew most impressively at rates of 16.86%, 10.45% and 8.01% respectively. The respective Sectoral growth rates of the Nation during the same period

are 4.86% for Agriculture, 8.10% for Industries and10.85% for Services sector. The per Capita income of Andhra Pradesh at current prices during 2007-08 was Rs. 35,600, while the corresponding ﬁgure for All India was Rs. 33,283. A part of the consistent rise in economic growth of the state is attributable to sustained increases in Plan outlays. During 2007-08, the Planning Commission had approved the Annual Plan of Rs. 30,500 Crores for Andhra Pradesh. The Actual expenditure was Rs. 27,171 crores and this works out to 89.08% of the allocation. It can be analyzed that, Economic Services accounted for 69.71% of the total expenditure, while the Social Services and General Services respectively work out to 30.03% and 0.26%. Under Economic Services, Irrigation sector with an outlay of Rs. 12,974 crores (42.54% of the total Annual Plan outlay) emerges as the largest stakeholder during Year 2007-08. Transport, Rural Development and Agriculture and allied sectors respectively account for higher allocations under Economic Services category.

Under Social Services category, Housing gets the lion’s share, followed by Welfare of SCs, STs, BCs and Minorities and Urban Development. Housing accounted for over 10% of the total Plan expenditure during 2007-08.

Performance during 200809 In spite of the global ﬁnancial and economic crisis, the GSDP(Q) of Andhra Pradesh for 2008-09 at constant prices could grow at a modest rate of 5.04% against all Indias Growth of 6.70% during the same period. While the three sectors of the state economy, namely, Agriculture, Industries and Services respectively grew at rates of 1.20%, 0.22% and 9.58%, the respective Sectoral growth rates of All-India during 2008-09 are 1.60% for Agriculture, 3.88% for Industries and 9.67% for Services sector. The per capita income of Andhra Pradesh at current prices during 2008-09(Q) was Rs. 40,902, while the corresponding All India’s per capita income was lower at Rs. 37,490. The Planning Commission had approved the highest ever amount of Rs. 44,000 crores as Annual Plan outlay for Andhra Pradesh state during the year 2008-09. The priority sectors of Irrigation, Rural development, Power and Agriculture & Allied sectors together accounted for about 51% of the total plan outlay. The total expenditure was Rs.30,618 crores and this nearly works out to 70% of the allocation. Expenditure under sectors of Economic Services accounted for 59.32% of the total expenditure while the shares of Social Services and General Services respectively work out to 40.25% and 0.44%. Under Economic Services, Irrigation sector with an outlay of Rs. 16,472 crores (37.44% of the total Annual Plan outlay) continued to be the largest stakeholder during year 2008-09 also. Under Social Services category it was, Housing with 13.43% of total share in the outlay followed by Wel-

Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

fare of SCs, STs, BCs and Minorities and Urban Development. The housing sector accounted for over 13% of the total Plan expenditure during 200809, bettering its performance over the previous year.

Performance during 200910: Notwithstanding the unfavourable seasonal conditions and the fury of ﬂoods that have adversely impacted the state during the last couple of months, the economy is expected to grow moderately during the year 2009-10. Signaling certain signs of recovery, the GSDP of Andhra Pradesh for 2009-10 as per the Halfyearly estimates at Constant(19992000) prices, is projected to grow at 7.28%, as against all-India growth rate of 6.99% during the same period. Due to inadequate and untimely rainfall besides natural calamities, the Kharif agricultural production is expected to be less than that of the previous year. The onus would be on the Industry and Services

sectors to lift the growth performance. The Planning Commission has approved an amount of Rs.33,497 crores as Annual Plan outlay for the Andhra Pradesh state during the year 2009-10. The priority sectors of Irrigation, Rural development, Housing and Urban Development together account for about 67% of the total plan outlay. The total expenditure till the end of December 2009 was Rs.17,936 crores. Out of this, Economic Services accounted for about 70% of the total expenditure.

Overall performance Three years have gone by so far under the 11th Five Year Plan. The overall and comprehensive picture of the average plan performance during the ﬁrst 3 years under the 11th Five Year 12

Plan and performance of various Flagship programmes being implemented in the state is quite commendable and more than expected. The state economy (GSDP), on an average grew at 7.89% during the ﬁrst two years of the 11th Five Year Plan period (2007-08 and 200809) - a few notches above the All India GDP growth of 7.86% for the same period. Regarding sectoral average growth rates for this period, agriculture sector in the state grew at 9.03%, much better than its All India counter part of 3.23%. For the two-year period, the Industries sector in the state grew at 5.33% as against 5.99% of All India. Similarly, the Services sector in the state grew at 7.89%. Record food grain

production of 204.21 lakh tonnes aided by copious rainfall during the year 2007-08 has helped the State to record impressive performance in agriculture. The performance of All India in respect of the Industry and Services sectors is better when compared with the state performance. However, the average Per Capita Income (PCI) of the state of Rs. 38,251 is comparatively better than that of All India’s average (for two years) PCI of Rs. 35,387, indicating a relatively better standard of living of the people in the state. It is likely that the various poverty alleviating and employment generating programmes being implemented along with better delivery of welfare and safety nets in the state have helped the people in maintaining relatively better standards.

As mentioned above, the GSDP of Andhra Pradesh for the year 200910 as per the Half-yearly estimates, is projected to grow at 7.28%, as against all-India’s growth rate of 6.99% during the same period, signaling great resilience despite the devastation of drought and ﬂoods in latter part of 2009. The Planning Commission had approved a total amount of Rs. 1,07,997 crores as Annual Plan outlay for Andhra Pradesh during the years 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10. An amount of Rs. 75,725 crores has been spent as on December 2009. On the average, for the three year period, Economic Services accounted for about 64% of the total outlay, while Social Services accounted for a little over 35% and General Services under 1 percent of the total outlay. Irrigation sector with an outlay share of 41.57% and Housing with 11.64% share are the major stakeholders in the total outlay.

Ensuring Equity and Social Justice Consistent with the recommendations of the Planning Commission to adhere to allocations for SCs and STs in proportion to their shares in State population, on the average, the respective shares in the total outlays have been maintained under SCSP and TSP in the Annual Plans.

Priority initiatives programmes As already mentioned in the foregoing paragraphs, the innovative and bold initiatives put in place by the state government in the last ﬁve to six years have not only lifted the standards of living of the people but were also instrumental in accomplishing the targeted growth. Besides the achievements under the priority sectors like irrigation, agriculture and rural development, the state is committed to focus on increasing public spending on social sector - especially on Housing, Urban Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

development and welfare of SCs, STs, minorities etc. besides the new initiatives like Arogyasri and 104/108 medical services, Abhaya Hastam, and others so as to ensure that the beneﬁts of economic development and technology reach the needy. The following is the outcome of some of the programmes /initiatives implemented during the 3 years of the 11th Five Year Plan.

Agricultural Renaissance

in most parts of the state and subsequent floods, the state may experience a slump in production during this financial year. The massive programme of ‘Jalayagnam’, of creating 98.41 lakh acres of new irrigation potential and stabilizing 22.26 lakh acres by constructing a total number of 86 irrigation projects-which include 44 major, 30 medium projects, 4 flood banks and modernizing 8 projects

The growth in agricultural sector in Andhra Pradesh, after reaching a peak in the eighties started decelerating in the nineties only to recover and gain momentum in the recent periods. The growth rate of agricultural sector during the tenth plan period was higher than the targeted growth rate. The prospects of the State in meeting the 11th Five Year Plan target of 4% also seems achievable.

The area, production and productivity of food grains have increased considerably. After an impressive food grain production of 198.17 lakh tonnes during the 1st year of 11th Five Year Plan, i.e 2007-08, the state has registered a record food grain production of 204.21 lakh tonnes during 2008-09. However, due to the adverse seasonal conditions prevailing Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Health Initiatives Arogyasri One of objectives of the Eleventh Five Year Plan is to achieve good health for the people, especially the poor and underprivileged. To provide ﬁnancial protection to families living below poverty line for treatment of serious ailments, the Arogyasri Health Care Trust was set up to implement a Community Health Insurance scheme – Arogyasri. Since its inception in April, 2007, in all, 15,353 medical camps were held in network hospitals in rural areas wherein 26.81 lakh patients have been screened. Of these, 7.2 lakh patients have been treated as outpatients and 5.7 lakh as in-patients. 4.94 lakh patients underwent surgery/therapy at a cost of Rs. 1478.56 crores.

The state has been implementing a number of farmer-friendly initiatives to encourage farming in the state. These include supply of free power to Agriculture, insulate farmers from financial losses and to restore their credit eligibility in the event of crop loss through Agricultural insurance, disbursement of agricultural credit, debt waiver encouraging farmers to adopt integrated pest management practices. During the first three years of the 11th Five Year Plan so far, an amount of Rs. 9617.20 crores has been given as subsidy (tariff and cross subsidies) towards providing free power thereby benefiting nearly 20 lakh farmers every year.

crores) of the total plan outlay during 2007-09 to 2009-10.

Emergency Transport (108) and Health Information (104) Services Toll Free 108 (EMRI): To enable rural poor easy access to hospital services, free of cost, in times of emergency. 652 ambulances are operating round-the clock. Further, a Caller-free Telephone service(104) for the rural and urban population of the State to disseminate information, advice and guidance related to any health problem have been undertaken by the Government. has been mounted since 2004-05. 12 projects have been completed and water released during 200405 to 2008-09. During the 3 years (2007-08 to December, 2009) of the 11th Five Year Plan 12.26 lakh acres potential including stabilization of 2.20 lakh acres, was created. Huge budgetary allocations have been provided for the irrigation sector during the period. In fact, irrigation sector alone has accounted for 41.57% (amounting to Rs. 44,898

Medical and Health sector has been adequately funded. During the 3 year period(2007-08 to 2009-10), an amount of Rs. 3,489 crores (about 3.24% of total plan outlays) has been provided in the Plan Budgets.

Housing & Pensions under INDIRAMMA Andhra Pradesh has been the pioneer in implementing “Housing for All” duly making it a reality on saturation basis. During 1st three years of the 11th Five Year Plan, (2007-08 to 13

2009-10), 26.51 lakh houses have been constructed. In order to accomplish saturation on the housing front, sizable budgetary allocations have been made during the recent past. In fact, housing accounts for 11.64% (amounting to Rs. 12,569 crores) of the total plan outlay during the 3 year period of the 11th Five Year Plan. Incidentally, Housing sector happens to be the 2nd largest shareholder of Plan budget, only falling behind the massive irrigation sector. Largest ever social security net target is to provide pensions every month to around 71.79 lakh persons comprising old-aged, disabled and widows across the state. Substantial budgetary allocations provided in the plan budgets and pensions have been distributed to 66,36,465 pensioners upto November, 2009.

Self Help Groups (SHGs) The concept of Indira Kranthi Patham has been evolved with an objective of enabling all the rural poor families in 22 rural districts of Andhra Pradesh to improve their livelihoods and quality of life. All households below the poverty line, starting from the poorest of the poor are the target group of Indira Kranthi Patham. As of December, 2009, 9.34 lakh SHGs covering 1.07 crore rural women are functioning in the state

with nearly 53% of them covered under Bank linkage.

Online Scholarships From the year 2008-09, applications for scholarships and sanction of Scholarships to S.C, S.T and B.C students were made ONLINE to ensure that scholarships reach the students by the 1st of every month and also to ensure transparency by keeping all the information in the public domain.

Urban Development Economic growth, substantially driven by Industries and Services sector is witnessing accelerated demographic expansion of urban population, not witnessed during last century across the state. The emerging challenge needs to be tackled on multiple fronts simultaneously. Service providers in urban areas normally inhabit low-lying slums. Government have started working on providing shelter with individual water supply and adequate drainage facilities to all such poor slum dwellers. Progress, hitherto is on track.

Information Technology Information Technology and Communications continue to thrive in our State. I.T. exports worth Rs.12,521 crores during 2005-06 have increased to Rs.18,582 crores during 2006-07 to Rs. 32,509 during

2007-08 and further to Rs. 31,470 crores during 2008-09. Similar upward surge in IT exports is expected to continue during 2009-10 also.

Performance of Flagship programmes With a view to impart greater momentum to the efforts being made in various sectors, the Government has launched a number of programmes under sectors of Rural Development, Urban Development, Health and Sanitation, Agriculture, Education etc.. The sector-wise performance of various ﬂagship programmes during the 11th Five Year Plan period is briefed hereunder.

Rural Development The Government has launched a number of flagship programmes during the last few years. The Department of Rural Development implements these programmes for generating self-employment and wage employment, providing housing, rural roads and assets to the rural poor and social assistance to the destitute. A brief assessment of four flagship programmes, namely, National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), Indira Awas Yojana (IAY), Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) and National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) sponsored by the Central Government. National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (NREGP) The National Rural Employment Guarantee Act 2005 came into force on 2nd February 2006 According to this Act, workers are entitled to 100 days of wage employment for their households in a financial year. Government of Andhra Pradesh has adopted the Central Act and formulated the Andhra Pradesh Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (APREGS). This scheme was implemented in 1098 mandals across the state in the 22 districts excluding Hyderabad.

A women leader addressing the gathering of a Self Help Group 14

Since inception of the scheme, an Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

amount of Rs.7567 crores had been spent up to 9th October 2009. This has resulted in the generation of 73.41 crore person days of employment. This programme has so far covered 1.19 crore households through issuing job cards in 22 districts of Andhra Pradesh. The implementation of the scheme in Andhra Pradesh has been improving over time.

A child is being treated at the Arogyasree health camp

Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) Good infrastructure is necessary not only for the economic development of rural areas but also for overall human development and an acceptable standard of living. Infrastructure like rural roads can enhance connectivity and offer better marketing possibilities. A 100% Centrally Sponsored Scheme “Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana (PMGSY)” was launched on 25th December 2000 primarily aiming to provide all-weather road connectivity to unconnected habitations.

tribution besides the Central allocation. Under the IAY scheme, 6.33 lakh houses have been constructed during the three year period 2007-08 to Dec. 2009.

2009 totaling to Rs. 619.88 crores towards implementation of the above mentioned 4 components. The utilized amounts are out of the allocations of GoI.

Under this programme, amounts of Rs. 386.59 crores, Rs. 495.59 crores and 672.15 crores were spent respectively in 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10, till Dec. 2009. In all, a total amount of Rs. 1554.33 crores has been spent during these 3 years, a total road length of 5059.19 km. has been upgraded and another 12.60 km length of new connectivity has been provided.

National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) The National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP), sponsored by the Ministry of Rural Development (MoRD), Government of India, came into effect from August 15, 1995 with the purpose of providing social assistance to the rural poor in India. It aims at improving the quality of life of the rural poor.

Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) Indira Awas Yojana (IAY) is the most signiﬁcant rural housing scheme among the central schemes.

The programme has four components, namely:

Health, Nutrition and Drinking Water The National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) launched in the country during April 2005 is an articulation of the government’s commitment to increase public spending on health. The main focus of this programme is to make all health facilities a fully functional, community owned, decentralized health delivery system with an emphasis on inter-sectoral convergence with sanitation, water, education, nutrition, social and gender equality besides strengthening all health facilities according to Indian Public Health Standards (IPHS).

Indira Awas Yojana is a Centrally Sponsored scheme being implemented in the state with a sharing pattern of 75:25 between the centre and the state.

National Family Beneﬁt Scheme (NFBS)

Under the IAY programme, amounts of Rs. 468.39 crores, Rs. 734.34 crores and 994.16 crores were utilized respectively during 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10, till Dec. 2009 totaling to Rs. 2197.29 crores. The amounts include the state con-

Indira Gandhi Disability Pension (IGDP).

Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

National Old Age Pension Scheme (NOAPS)

Indira Gandhi Widow Pension Scheme (IGWPS)

Under the NSA Programme, amounts of Rs. 129.10 crores, Rs. 240.92 crores and 249.86 crores was utilized respectively during 200708, 2008-09 and 2009-10 till Nov.

For implementation of various items subsumed under NRHM, amounts of Rs. 422.22 crores, 733.97 crores and Rs. 626.90 crores have been allocated during the years 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10. Against these allocations, amounts of Rs. 281.00 crores, Rs. 522.88 crores and Rs. 304.73 crores have been spent respectively during the above 3 years. The scheme covers several health parameters. 15

Integrated Child Development Services (ICDS) The ICDS is a Centrally Sponsored scheme and is the single largest integrated programme of child development in the country and in the state. ICDS is one of the important programmes of the Women Development and Child Welfare department which is headed by a Commissioner/Director in Andhra Pradesh. At the block level, the Child Development Project Ofﬁcer (CDPO) implements all ICDS services. One or more Anganwadi Centres (AWCs) are functioning in each village, with one Anganwadi Worker (AWW) and one Anganwadi Helper (AWH) to manage the AWC. The main activities of ICDS centres are: 1) Provision of supplementary nutrition for children in the ages of 6 months to 6 years and pregnant and lactating mothers 2) Education for children between 3 to 6 years (Early Childhood Education) 3) Immunization of children and women in collaboration with the health department (ANM in the village) 4) Health checkup for children and women 5) Referral services for children and women 6) Nutrition and health education to mothers and adolescent girls. For undertaking various ICDS, amounts of Rs. 292.50 crores,

420.20 crores and Rs. 350.18 crores have been spent during the years 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10. For supplementary Nutrition, additional amounts of Rs. 350.18 crores, 245.70 crores and Rs. 132.33 crores have also spent during the period. A total of no. 385 ICDS projects have been implemented with 73, 944 AWCs operational in the state. With regard to physical achievements under Supplementary Nutrition, the number of children (6 months to 6 years of age) benefitted during the 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 are 40.77 lakhs, 41.31 lakhs and 40.05 lakhs respectively. Similarly, the no. of benefitted pregnant and lactating women for the same period are 10.01 lakhs, 10.78 lakhs and 10.43 lakhs. Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) At present, about 72 % of water supply schemes are based on ground water as the source and 28% are covered by surface sources. Further, there is no safe source in about 1,647 habitations, of which 1,064 are fluoride affected. Apart from providing treated surface water to fluoride affected habitations, Rural Water Supply Scheme (RWSS) has tried various options for de-fluoridation including

reverse osmosis for supplying safe drinking water. Accelerated Rural Water Supply Programme (ARWSP) is a Centrally Sponsored scheme implemented under Bharat Nirman programme. An amount of Rs. 207.37 crores was spent under the Bharat Nirman programme for providing drinking water to 31,312 habitations against a target of 33,133 habitations during the last three years (2007-08 to 2009-10).

Education The education sector in the state had got a good push with the implementation of SSA. Sarva Siksha Abhiyan (SSA) is a comprehensive and integrated ﬂagship programme of the Government of India, to attain Universal Elementary Education (UEE) in the country in a mission mode. Launched in partnership with the State Governments and local selfgovernments, SSA aims to provide useful and relevant education to all the children in the 6-14 age groups by 2010. Under the SSA programme, amounts of Rs. 466.26 crores, Rs. 945.00 crores and 411.93 crores were spent respectively during 200708, 2008-09 and 2009-10 (till Dec. 2009) totalling to Rs. 1823.19 crores. The amounts include the state contribution besides the Central allocation. Under this scheme, during the 3-year period, 128 new school buildings have been constructed, 166 primary schools and 167 Upper Primary schools have been made operational. Further, 760 schools have been provided with adequate drinking water facility and 1504 schools have been provided with toilet facility. Due to the infrastructure facilities and academic support, there has been an improvement in enrollment as well as reduction in drop out ratios.

Children at Bridge School 16

Mid Day Meal Scheme (MDMs) Midday Meal scheme (MDM) is being implemented from January 2003 in the state. Under the scheme, Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

a minimum content of 450 calories and 12 grams of protein content is provided per child on each working day of the school for classes I to V and 700 calories and 20 grams of protein content is provided per child on each working day of the school for classes VI to X. Primary School, Upper Primary and High School Children of Classes I – X studying in Government/ Local bodies and Aided institutions are covered under this scheme. Under the Mid-Day Meal programme, amounts of Rs. 177.41 crores, Rs. 206.61 crores and 144.00 crores were spent respectively during 2007-08, 2008-09 and 2009-10 (till Dec. 2009) totaling to Rs. 528.02 crores. The amounts include the state contribution besides the Central allocation. Under the scheme, 54.30 lakh students during 2007-08, 68.87 lakh students during 2008-09, and 86.07lakh students during 2009-10 have been covered under the scheme.

Urban Development Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewable Mission (JNNURM) The Government of India had launched the Jawaharlal Nehru Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for a period of 7 years beginning from 200506. The Mission, in effect, seeks to ensure sustainable infrastructure development in select cities of the country, selected on 2001 population criteria. The JNNURM Urban Reforms Mission has two Sub-Missions, viz., Urban Infrastructure & Governance (UI&G) and Basic Services to the Urban Poor(BSUP). Besides these two sub-missions, two other components viz., Urban Infrastructure Development Scheme for Small & Medium Towns (UIDSSMT) and Integrated Housing and Slum Development Programme(IHSDP) are also associated with the development of the select cities, together making the Package of JNNURM. Major ﬁnancial support under JNNURM would be given by the GOI, in the form of Central Assistance. So far, an amount of Rs. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Urban Infrastructure in progress

1375.75 crores under UI&G scheme, Rs. 1088.98 crores under UIDSSMT, Rs. 926.60 crores under BSUP and Rs. 328.93 crores under IHSDP has been spent.

Rs. 5834.17 crores has been spent during the 3 years of the 11th Five Year Plan(2007-08 to 2009-10) so far under various AIBP projects in the state.

Water Management The government of India has initiated assistance under AIBP to complete the ongoing Major and Medium Irrigation projects taken up with Central Water Commission and Planning Commission clearances, since 1996 – 97 to create Irrigation Potential at Optimum cost.

State Horticultural Mission (SHM) Horticulture is the most important of agriculture sectors which has a great potential in Andhra Pradesh.

While 22 projects have been approved under AIBP during the 10th Five Year Plan, 3 more have been approved during the 11th Five Year Plan period so far. During the 3-year period(2007-08 to 2009-10), 6 AIBP projects have been completed. During the 1st two years of the 11th Five Year Plan, 2.00 lakh hects. of irrigation potential has been created under the AIBP projects. A total amount of

The project envisages development of Horticulture sector focusing on Plantation Infrastructure Development, Rejuvenation, post-harvest management techniques, conducting awareness programmes and others. For carrying out the said activities, amounts of Rs. 128.84 crores, Rs. 66.18 crores have been spent during the two years 2008-09 and 200910 under the scheme. The Mission has beneﬁted 3.71 lakh farmers during the 11th Five Year Plan period so far.

AGRICULTURE

CTURE U R T S INFRA

IND

INFOTECH

ION T IGA R IR TR Y

R WE

Prime Sectors EVEN THOUGH THE STATE HAD BEEN REELING UNDER PRESSURE DUE TO VARIOUS EVENTS, THE STATE STILL MANAGED TO MAINTAIN ITS GROWTH TRACK AND NOW AS IT MOVES AHEAD OF THE HALFYEAR, ANDHRA PRADESH SEEMS TO HAVE FOUND THE RIGHT TRACK TO THE WAY FORWARD. WE LOOK AT EACH SECTOR AND HOW IT FARED IN THE LAST ONE YEAR EVEN WHEN TURMOIL WAS STARAndhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010 18 ING AT EACH OF THEM.

G SIN

HOU

M RIS

TOU

EDUCATION Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

AL TH

Agriculture HAVING CROSSED MORE THAN HALF A CENTURY OF ITS JOURNEY SINCE FORMATION,

ANDHRA

PRADESH HAS TIME AND AGAIN PROVED TO BE DOMINANT STATE ESPECIALLY IN THE AGRICULTURE SECTOR.

EVEN

TODAY, WHEN THE STATE IS CELEBRATING ITS

54 AN-

NIVERSARY OF FORMATION AGRICULTURE IS BEING GIVEN TOP PRIORITY AS IT IS PLAYING A VITAL ROLE IN THE ECONOMIC GROWTH OF THE STATE. IT IS SUPPORTING THE LARGEST NUMBER OF PEOPLE AND GENERATING THE LARGEST VOLUME OF PRODUCTIVE EMPLOYMENT IN THE STATE.

Blooming paddy yield

hough much has been done, there is still a lot to be done as there is an acute need for the faster agricultural growth to provide the raw materials needed for successful industrialization. So far, the Stateâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s agricultural strategy has achieved remarkable success over the past decade and it is pursued with greater vigour in the Eleventh Plan. The Plan represents a comprehensive strategy for agricultural development aimed at achieving a remarkable growth rate in agricultural production. The growth that has been

witnessed so far can be attributed to the major institutional changes, including land reforms, in the rural economy. As agriculture is the core sector behind the growth of every sector, the State of Andhra Pradesh had come out with a new Agricultural action plan for the year 2009-10. As it is witnessed, there has been a consistent increase in agricultural production and the sector is contributing around 13.4 percent to the GSDP over the past few years . The consistent increase in agriculture proAndhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

duction is mainly attributed to several innovative strategies followed by the government coupled with favorable weather conditions. The year 200809 had been exceedingly favorable and Andhra Pradesh had achieved an all time high record food grain production of about 205 lakh MT. For increasing the productivity and production of various crops, the department of agriculture had formulated an action plan during the year 2009-10. Carrying forward the momentum the State government had given top priory to agriculture even for the year 2010-11. Every possible measure has been initiated to extend the technology to farmers by the agriculture authorities in the state. Timely input deliveries and effective regulations are enabling the farmers to reap a bumper harvest in all important crops. All these initiatives have enabled the State to achieve 4 percent growth rate as set by the planning commission. To encourage the farmers in the rural areas to catch up with the modern techniques of farming and various methods in cropping patterns the state government had introduced the Adarsha Rythu progrmamme. About 50,000 Adarsha Rytus were engaged by the government to bridge the gap between the farmers and extension staff and facilitate the effective implementation of the programme. The State had planned to enhance the food grain production levels of 214.87 lakh MTs for the year 200910. Unfortunately, rainy season was not in favor of Agriculture last year. The country as a whole had witnessed a decreased rainfall of 28.9mm from the average, while the same trend has been observed in the southern state of the Indian peninsula with a deﬁcit of 17.25mm rainfall from the average. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

The decreasing scenario in the rainfall had adversely affected the crop sown area, which in turn affects the agriculture production. The sowing area during kharif as on 18th September 2009 for Rice had decreased to 61.09 lakh hectares from 376.51 lakh hectares in 2008 to 315.42 lakh hectares in 2009. Similarly, the sowing areas of Sugarcane and Oilseeds crops have reduced to 1.29 and 12.35 lakh hectares respectively during the same period.

areas during 2009-10. The total targeted area in the country for the year 2009-10 is set at 30.57 lakh hectares with an increase of 5.80 lakh hectares for the previous year’s target. The available seed for Rabi is 148.39 lakh quintals while the requirement is only 130.87 lakh quintals which is a surplus of 17.52 lakh quintals. Similarly there is no short fall in the seeds of cereals, major pulses, oil-seeds, ﬁber and fodder in the country.

“The government allocations have gone up to Rs 1,322.81 crore during 2010-2011 compared with Rs 253.92 crore during 2003-04,” said, Raghuveera Reddy, the Minister for Agriculture Andhra Pradesh.

Adding more to agriculture, Andhra Pradesh continues to be one of the leading agrarian States in the country with a sizeable presence in the crop sector, horticulture, sericulture, and livestock and ﬁsheries sectors. The State continues to be the third largest producer of food grains in the country with a second position in respect of rice production. The agricultural GSDP was Rs.91,000 Crore for the year 2008-09 and this constitutes 24.5 per cent of State’s GSDP and about 11 per cent of Country’s agricultural GDP. In the current ﬁscal, a sum of Rs.18,300 Crore was distributed as crop loans till 31st December 2009 and it had gone up to Rs.20,000 Crore by 31st March, 2010.

Production of rice is likely to be adversely affected due to lower crop area and delayed sowing. Productivity of other cereals crops will also be affected due to delay in sowing. Due to poor coverage of groundnut, the oilseed production will slide down. The Pulses production is not likely to be adversely affected. Lower coverage of Kharif rice will lead to more available area for timely planting of wheat / other crop. Terminal end rainfall has improved moisture level. Sufﬁcient seed is available, 20 lakh quintal more seed for Rabi. The sowing areas for other crops like Jowar, Bajra, Maize, Cotton and pulses have increased considerably during the period. The government of India is planning to compensate the losses to kharif production by improving the Rabi production. The government is planning to increase the area for Rabi Maize and Jowar in the state and improve the production by promoting hybrid seeds and higher doses of fertilizers. The central government had put higher targets for Rabi/summer Rice

A farmer preparing his ﬁeld for the kharif 21

Agriculture farm loans The State had achieved an average annual growth rate of 8.9 per cent in quantitative terms for food grains production. Agricultural credit at affordable interest rate is an important input in the development of agriculture. The crop loans in Andhra Pradesh has doubled in the four year period 2004-2008 and have reached a level of Rs.16,469 crores in 2008-09. The total agriculture loans in the State outstanding as on 31st December 2009 was Rs.62,005 Crore, which approximately accounts for 17.5 per cent of total agricultural loans in the country and in absolute terms this is the highest for any State in the country. The rural credit de-

22.50 lakh quintals of quality seed to farmers at 50 per cent subsidy amounting to Rs.320 crores during the current ﬁscal year. This scheme is sought to be strengthened during the year 2010-11 with a subsidy of Rs.375 crores. The other programmes viz., the Rythu Chaitanya Yatralu, Polam Badi and Rythu Sadassulu are being actively pursued. The Integrated Pest Management (IPM) programmes in Polambadi have contributed in scaling down the consumption of pesticides to 1381 MTs during 2008-09 which was as high as 4,000 to 5,000 MTs earlier.

Crop Insurance Farmers have been well protected against the natural calamities such as ﬂoods, droughts through the insurance schemes initiated by the government. Crop Insurance scheme is operational in 22 districts with village as the unit. This has been introduced for higher accuracy in assessment of losses. As regards compensation for Kharif 2008, an amount of Rs.801.20 crores has been released and paid to the affected farmers.

posit ratio of the commercial banks in the A.P continues to be highest in the country.

Quality Seed Availability of quality seed is very important for improving the farm productivity. In recognition of this, the government is not only effectively implementing the seed village programme but have also supplied 22

Besides implementing the National Agriculture Insurance Scheme (NAIS) for the ﬁrst time in the State, the Government has also implemented a new scheme namely “Weather Based Crop Insurance” during Kharif 2009 season for Red Chilly Crop in Guntur District on a pilot basis and it is being implemented successfully. The Government is implementing the Rashtriya Krishi Vikas Yojana (RKVY) in the State with 100% Central assistance. Under this scheme, seed management, extension services, farm mechanization, induc-

tion of milch animals etc., are being implemented.

Animal Husbandry Animal Husbandry is another important allied agriculture sector which is improving gradually and equally supporting the overall agriculture sector. There are about 92.54 lakh families are engaged in livestock and livestock related activities in the state. 23.63 lakh families are directly dependent on livestock for their livelihood. Andhra Pradesh with annual milk production of 95.69 lakh metric tonnes stands second in the country surpassing Rajasthan and Punjab. Andhra Pradesh continues to be at ﬁrst position in egg and broiler production. The Government has been actively promoting live stock activity in the State through the programmes like Pasukranti and Jeevakranti for insulating the income of the farmers against the vagaries of drought. Under the Prime Minister’s Package, Government of India has sanctioned Special Livestock and Fisheries Package under Animal Husbandry Sector and also government had provided rehabilitation to farmers in 16 distressed districts of Andhra Pradesh, with a view to provide supplementary avenues of income to the farmers. The package has been initially sanctioned for 3 years from 2006-07 with a ﬁnancial outlay of Rs.247.07 crores, and subsequently extended till September 2011. As part of this programme, so far about 44,000 milch animals have been distributed to farmers in the aforesaid districts. The budget allocated by the State government towards Agriculture and allied sector for the year 2010-11 is Rs.3028 crores. This massive allocation is expected to meet all the requirements of the agriculture sector. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Agricultural Marketing

Spacing Agri Markets DESPITE THE MSP OF COMMODITIES TO SAFEGUARD THE INTEREST OF THE FARMERS AND PROVIDE JUSTICE TO THEM, STILL ENOUGH JUSTICE IS NOT BEING DONE TO THE FARMERS IN THE STATE.

NOW THE GOVERNMENT IS PLANNING IN TERMS OF STRENGTHENING

AMCS. ALREADY ABOUT 6 MARKET YARDS THE

HAVE BEEN TAKEN UNDER

NABARD AND ANOTHER 66 MARKET YARDS WILL BE TAKEN UNDER

MSACP (MULTI STATE AGRI COMPETITIVENESS PROJECT) COSTING ABOUT RS 600 CRORES. THE DEPARTMENT OF MARKETING IS PLANNING TO DEVELOP THE AVAILABLE MARKET INFRASTRUCTURE IN NEARBY VILLAGES WITH

5-6 KM DISTANCE RANGE. SMALL MARKET YARDS ARE BEIN A RANGE OF

ING ENCOURAGED AND DEVELOPED WITH BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE.

ndhra Pradesh is regarded as the Major agricultural state in the country. Though the State had made strides in IT and other Pharma industry Agriculture and Marketing continue to be the major sectors influencing the economy of the state. In fact, the Agricultural Marketing is the key area of Agriculture department influencing the common man today. As the demand for daily agricultural commodities is increasing manifolds, the government had took initiatives to enhance a better governance in the field of Agricultural marketing during the past one year. At this back drop, focus on improving the effective marketing delivery and vigilance system in the rural and urban areas the was given priority. To improve the condition of Agricultural Marketing sector in the state the government had brought in amendments to the Marketing act. Andhra Pradesh (Agricultural Produce and Livestock) Markets Act was amended in May, 2005 incorporating certain new provisions on private markets, National Integrated Produce Markets, Special Markets, Contract Farming etc., in accordance with the provisions of the Model Markets Act communicated by Government of India to meet the challenges taking place in the agricultural marketing sector in the world. The status of these new provisions after the amendment to the Act are: Private Markets: A provision of SubSection (7) of Section 7 of the Market Act was incorporated for establishment of Private Markets in the State with the participation of private entrepreneurs for enhanced market infrastructure and for more competitiveness. Relevant Market Rules were also amended and incorporated at Rule 53-A of Andhra Pradesh Agricultural Produce & Livestock Market Rules, 1969. A minimum investment provision of not less than Rs.10.00 crores is prescribed for

Damodar raja Narasimha, Minister for Marketing & Warehousing

establishment of a private market. The following companies have come forward for establishing private markets in the State. (a) M/s Metro Cash and Carry India Private Limited:- Government have issued a license to this multinational company under 7 (7) of the AP Markets Act for establishment of a private market at Hyderabad in November, 2006. It established a private market on Hub and Spoke Market concept with an initial investment of about Rs.100 crores. National Integrated Produce Markets: A provision is made in the Act under Sections 7 – A and 7 – B for establishing a National Integrated Produce Market and exempted the NDDB from the provisions of the Act. And the NDDB is formulating to establish the integrated produce markets for fruits and vegetables in important metros in the State. Special Markets: A provision is also made in the Act under Sections 4(1-B) and 5-A establishing commodity specific c markets for cotton, chillies, turmeric etc., in the State. Government have already initiated action in this regard for chillies in Guntur, Cotton in Adilabad, turmeric in Nizamabad etc. Contract Farming: Though a provision is made under Section 11-A of the Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Act, the contract farming transactions have yet to take place into the tripartite agreements among contract farming buyers and sellers and the Market Committees. Steps are being taken to bring these transactions into the fold of the Markets Act. E-Market/Spot exchange: Necessary act and rules are under active consideration to enable a person for establishing Spot Exchange for trading through electronic media. Terminal Markets: To provide an alternative marketing structure that provides multiple choices to farmers for sale of produce, along with comprehensive solution to meet key needs of stakeholders, the Scheme of Terminal Markets Complex have been conceptualized and introduced as a new item under NHM, which may be implemented in a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode. Being the lead State in production of perishables the Government of Andhra Pradesh have identified four centers Hyderabad, Visakapatnam, Tirupathi and Guntur for setting up of Terminal Markets. In this regard necessary steps are being taken for acquisition of land for setting up of Terminal Markets at Guntur, Tirupati,Visakhapatnam & Hyderabad. Rythu Bazars: Rythu Bazars are planned for direct interface between the farmers and the consumers eliminating middlemen. Rythu Bazars will operate outside the purview of Markets Act 1966. Rythu Bazars are located on Government land convenient to both the farmers and consumers. Across the State 105 Rythu Bazars are functioning in Andhra Pradesh. Prices of the vegetable are fixed through a committee of farmers and the departmental officer. The prices of vegetable of Rythu Bazars are generally 25% above the wholesale prices and 25 % less than the local retail price, thus reducing the gap between farm gate price and retail price. A total quantity of 18 lakh metric tones of Vegetables are traded through Rythu Bazars during the year 2008-09. The Marketing Department is undertaking Market Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Intervention to make the vegetables available at reasonable prices when the prices of Tomato, Onions and other vegetables increase / decrease abnormally. These vegetables made available in Rythu Bazars through Self Help Groups. Computerization of AMCs: So fare 82 Market Committees have been computerized in 1st phase by ECIL. 54 more Market Yards were computerised by DMI, Govt. of India in collaboration with NIC. The details of arrivals and prices of various commodities are being reported to Head Office through this network. During the past few year 50 major market yard are provided with Automatic Audio Video Display Announcement System which displays the arrivals and prices of commodities of different market yards. Other information benefiting the farmers such as education, health, soil conditions, etc., is also displayed through the above Announcement system. Rytu Bandhu Pathkam: To prevent farmers from resorting to distress sales, Rythu Bandhu Pathakam has been introduced in the Agriculture Market Committee to provide finance to the farmers against pledge of their produce. There is no budgetary restriction for giving advances under Rythu Bandhu Pathakam. The Advances are limited to 75 % of the value of goods pledged subject to a ceiling of Rs.50.000/- per farmer. Every farmer shall be eligible for the Pledge Loan subject to a maximum of Rs.50,000/- or 75% of the value of the produce pledged whichever is less. Interest will not be charged on the loans sanctioned under Rythu Bandhu Pathakam for the first 90 days. From 91st day onwards, simple interest is to be charged on the loans.

shall have to give an undertaking to the Agricultural Market Committee that they will not allow the farmers to remove or sell the stocks without the speciﬁc and prior approval of the concerned Agricultural Market Committee Cold Storage Units : Andhra Pradesh Capital Intensive Subsidy Scheme for Cold Storage has come into force from 1-7-1999 and was in operation for a period of 2 years i.e., upto March 2001. Subsidy was given to the private entrepreneurs to the extent of 25% of the ﬁxed capital investment subject to a maximum of Rs.50 lakhs per unit of the cold storage set up by them. Under the scheme applications were received from 70 Cold Storage Units. Training programmes: Training classes are organized to farmers at all Market Committees to educate the farmers on the crops to be raised, application of manures and pesticides, storage problems of food grains and other allied subjects with the cooperation of other concerned Departments such as Agriculture Department/APAU/ Horticulture Department etc. So for, 6.50 lakhs of farmers have been trained. The training is basically on agricultural operations in Kharif and Rabi seasons. The number of programmes are 4 per year. These programmes are being conducted every quarter to educate the farmers on crop pattern with the help of Agriculture Department to impart training for 300 farmers at a time in the jurisdiction of every Market Committee.

Pledge loan is sanctioned to farmers who store their produce in the Godowns of State/Central Warehousing Corporation where Agrl., Market Committees do not have their own Godowns or due to non availability of space in their godowns. The Warehousing Corporations concerned 25

Horticulture

Booster of Agri Economy ANDHRA PRADESH IS ENDOWED WITH VARIED AGRO CLIMATIC ZONES, VARIETY OF SOIL TYPES COUPLED WITH ENDEMIC IRRIGATION SOURCES, ENTERPRISING FARMING COMMUNITY, SKILLED AND PRODUCTIVE WORK FORCE, LOW PRODUCTION COST AND A MORE SO PROACTIVE GOVERNMENT IS A FRONT RUNNING PRODUCER

HORTICULTURAL WEALTH. OF A VARIETY OF

orticulture sector in Andhra Pradesh has seen a blooming growth during the past few year. The government has taken lot of initiatives to improve this part of agriculture as it is the most potential and high value generating sector of Agriculture in the state. The state with an area of 19.91 lakh hectors and a production 205.26 lakh M.Ts is accounting for 29.56 per cent of production under spices and 17 percent of production under fruits in the country. Andhra Pradesh leads in the production of Oil Palm, lime/Lemon, Papaya, sweet Orange, Chillies and Turmeric in the country. It is also one of the main producers of Mango and Tomato in addition to crops like Tapioca, Pomegranate, Sapota, Grapes, Banana and Bhendi. Horticulture is a significant contributor to the economy in the state. The sector’s contribution to the total state GSDP has shown a steady improvement in the past few years. While the GSDP growth for the sector in 2001 was 2.84 per cent it increased to 3.38 percent during the year 2007-08. The efforts in terms of better technologies and efficient resource management area expansion in 2.35 lakh hectors in the last few years through use of improved varieties and hybrids, improved agro techniques and rejuvenation of old and senile orchards in 0.70 lakh hectors., yielded results in terms of improved production. Micro irrigation in an area of 6.54 lakh hectors, in the last few years has also played an important role in achieving vertical enhancement in production. The state has been striving towards self sufficiency in edible oil production with an area of 1.02 lakh hectors under Oil palm cultivation which is the highest in the country. The state has promoted

A.K.Goel, IAS, APC & Special Chief Secretary to GOVT , Horticulture & Sericulture

use of Hybrids in vegetables on a large scale in the last two years by providing 75 per cent assistance on seed cost to bridge the demand and supply gap. Cluster Based Integrated Approach in vegetable cultivation promoted through RKVY programmes. High quality production to meet the challenges of sustainability and competitiveness has been stressed up on. Supply of genuine and quality plant material which is a pre requisite for horticulture development has been facilitated by establishing 142 nurseries in the public and private sectors besides strengthening the nurseries of the department. Crop speciﬁc INM/IPM practices and organic farming have been promoted in an area of 1.22 lakh hectors. Promoted good management practices (GMP) in pomegranate to combat bacterial disease and quality produce for sustainability of the Orchards. There have been 3 disease forecasting units, 10 Bio control labs, 6 plant health clinics and leaf analysis lab have been established. To strengthen the means of technology transfer and 8 skill up gradation regional horticulture training institutes were established all over the state. 200 APMIP resource centers have been Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

started across the state with a view to provide direct interface between the farmers and the departmental functionaries of MIP and SHM. Toll free facility has been installed for easy access to the farmers. The state has promoted the creation of Post harvest infrastructure to match the enhanced production levels by providing assistance to set up 13 Cold storage, 23 Ripening Chambers, 3 Processing units with functional infrastructure and 13 cashew processing units. Established two integrated Pack houses with vapor heat treatment facility with an assistance of Rs. 26.64 crores to encourage Mango exports to countries like JAPAN and USA. To provide better opportunities to the farmers, steps were initiated by strengthening of Horticulture marketing infrastructure, arranging tie-u[ between production clusters and private players and encouraging formation of Growers Co-operatives / SHG for focus Crops Mango, Sweet Orange and Banana.

Policy initiatives A pro-active government with its farmer centric polices has played a key role in development of Horticulture sector in Andhra Pradesh. Exclusive University was established for Horticulture in the state in 2007. The Government has framed the Andhra Pradesh Oil palm (Regulation

Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

of production and processing) Rules 2008. To protect the interests of the farmers the A. P registration of horticulture nurseries regulation ACT 2010 was enacted in 2010. The government to assist the food processing units and to adjust a competitive market has evolved a policy of food processing industries in the state covering Horticulture sector among others. The APMC Act 1966 was amended for facilitating contract farming and setting up of terminal markets. The Government has exempted Fruits and Vegetables grown in the state and purchased by exporters in the state from payment of markets fee. The Government has focused attention on the need for efﬁcient water use and has enhanced assistance of MI systems to 100 per cent for SC /ST farmers and 90 per cent for other farmers. Andhra Pradesh endeavors to take development to the doorsteps of BPL families by providing sustainable income through NREGS - Horticulture convergence programme. With a view to minimize the risk for Oil palm farmers the state government has implemented the market intervention scheme (MIS) for Oil palm for the months of March and April 2009 by paying Rs. 5000 per M.T of FFB. Introduced Weather Based Crop Insurance Scheme for Chillies, Coriander, Sweet orange and Oil Palm.

Government’s Assistance State Government is extending about 50 percent to 80 percent additional assistance on the CRF norms to farmers affected due to Natural calamities. The scale of relief for Horticulture crops damaged due Natural calamities is enhanced by 6 times for Banana and by 3 times for other crops in the last 4 years. A pilot project on horticulture census has been taken up to develop data base on Horticulture crops in Andhra Pradesh which is crucial for further development of the sector. The Government of Andhra Pradesh has taken up an initiative to protect the natural right of Banaganapalle farmers over the Banaganapalle Mango through registration of “Banaganapalle Mango” for Geographical indication. Focused attention on this sector with a substantial increase in assistance extended to farmers from Rs. 119.70 crores during 2003-04 to Rs 870.11 crores during 2009-10 have resulted in impressive achievements in terms of overall growth of Horticulture in the state. With the initiatives of the Government the sector is marching ahead and is poised to play an important role in achieving accelerated and inclusive growth of the State’s economy.

to 50 percent. Water consumption is reduced by 20 per cent to 50 percent enabling to cover more area with available water resources.

Export Revenue

Mukteswar Rao, IAS, Commissioner, Horticulture

Contributory factors for increase in Growth rate The area under Horticulture crops has increased from 15.97 lakh hectors in 2003-04 to 19.19 lakh hectors by 2008-09 which is a considerable increase of 24.7 per cent. An additional area of 2.40 lakh hectors has been brought under horticulture crops by introduction of new crops having potential demand in domestic and international markets since 2003-04. Productivity enhancement is done through rejuvenation of old and senile orchards in an areas of 69944 hectors with an increase of 35 to 45 increase in yield. Enhancement of production and productivity of vegetables through supply of hybrid vegetable seed on subsidy has also contributed for the growth of horticulture. Vegetable seed is supplied to cover an areas of 50,000 hectors annually in the state.

Export revenue of Horticulture produce has been increased from Rs 335.25 crores in 2003-04 to Rs. 2111.30 crores in 2008-09. enhancement of quality of produce and higher levels of income through organic farming, INM, IPM, etc in an area of 1.24 lakh hectors. Assistance is provided for establishment of two integrated pack houses to encourage mango export to countries like JAPAN and USA. Assistance for establishing Plant Health Clinics to test Viral and Bacterial problems in Citrus, Banana and Papaya.

Milestones from 2004-05 to 2009-10 Andhra Pradesh Ranks first in production of spices and fruits and 3rd in production of flowers. Crop wise the state ranks first in production of Oil Palm, Leme, Papaya and Sweet Orange. Area under Horticulture is considerably increased from 15.97 lakh hectors to 19.91 lakh hectors since 2003-04 to 2008-09. The state

Horticulture Mission was launched in 2005 to bring in holistic development of Horticulture in the state. Rastriya Krishi Vikas Yojana was launched during 2007-08 to bring about quantiﬁable changes in the production and productivity of various components of Agriculture and allied sectors. Enhancement of quality of produce and higher levels of income through organic farming , INM, IPM etc in an area of 1.22 lakh hectors. Organized 8330 training and exposure visits to beneﬁt 2.50 lakh farmers to upgrade their skills and knowledge through 8 regional training centers and 1 state level training center. The scale of Horticulture crops damaged due to Natural calamities is enhanced by 6 times for Banana and by 3 times for other crops. Under the National Agricultural insurance scheme crop insurance for Banana is extended to Kadapa District from 2009-10 in addition to East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna and Guntur districts. An amount of Rs. 211.733 crores is extended as relief to the Horticulture farmers affected due to Natural calamities from 200607 onwards. Substantial increase in assistance is extended to farmers from Rs 119.70 crores during 2003 to 870 crores during 2009-10

Transfer of Technology Through newly established 8 regional training centres and existing 1 state level training were organized to the farmers to upgrade their skills and knowledge. Effective utilization of extension system for addressing the farmers concerns. Assistance is also provided for installation of Drip and sprinkler irrigation systems has been enhanced and increased yield form 25 per cent 28

Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Nabard

The key behind Agriculture and Rural infrastructure NABARD’S (NATIONAL BANK FOR AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT) CONTRIBUTION TOWARDS THE RURAL INFRASTRUCTURE IS IMMENSE. SINCE INCEPTION OF RIDF, NABARD HAS SANCTIONED 25,456 PROJECTS AS ON DATE

(INCLUDING RIDF XVI) WITH A LOAN COMPONENT

RS.12,729 CRORE GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH. OF

TO THE

overnment of India had in the year 1995-96 created a fund popularly known as Rural Infrastructure Development fund (RIDF) and entrusted the responsibility to NABARD to dispense the same to State Government for completing / creating infrastructure in Rural Areas.

NABARD’s Role in Agriculture National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) in its efforts to realize its mission of sustainable and equitable agricultural and rural prosperity, undertakes several multi functional and multi-dimentional initiatives. In the sphere of rural credit, NABARD provides refinance support to banks to enable availability of adequate, affordable and timely credit to farmers, rural enterprises and rural artisans. For crop production NABARD extended Rs. 25.661 Cr. Refinance (sanctions) during 2009-10, of which the share of Andhra Pradesh was Rs. 2397 Cr, In investment credit, the total refinance disbursed in 2009-10 was Rs. 12009 Crore, of which Andhra Pradesh’s share was Rs. 3440 Cr.

P. MOHANAIAH, CGM, NABARD

India package for revitalization of rural credit co-operatives and NABARD is the agency facilitating effective implementation of this transformation process. Most of the DCCBs in Andhra Pradesh have improved their ﬁnancial health after implementation of the Government of India package and are likely to become effective institutions for credit delivery in rural areas in the years to come.

Another major activity of NABARD is funding Governments for creation of Rural Infrastructure under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF). Under this a sum of Rs.15,630 Crore was sanctioned to various states of which Rs 1186 crore was to Andhra Pradesh. A major part of this funding goes towards creation of irrigation potential, construction of roads and buildings in rural areas, beneﬁting the rural economy. Other areas of funding under RIDF includes Schools and Junior Colleges, Anganwadi Centers, hospitals, veterinary centers etc.

In order manage and protect natural resources NABARD is implementing Watershed Development Programmes across the country, under partnership with non governmental organizations by organizing village communities into local level community level institutions called Village Watershed Committees. The programme also incorporates livelihood component to address the needs of the landless poor, who may not directly beneﬁt from the watershed programme, through promotion of appropriate economic enterprise. Agricultural productivity enhancement is also an integral part of this programme.

One of the important areas engaging the attention of NABARD has been revitalization of the co-operative credit structure. Andhra Pradesh was the ﬁrst state to accept and implement Govt. of

In Andhra Pradesh the programme covers 16 Districts with a total area aggregating 4.8 lakh hectares with a ﬁnancial commitment of the order of Rs. 400 Crore. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Umbrella Programme in Natural Resources Management UPNRM is another initiative of NABARD to extent comprehensive need based funding to the poor in vulnerable areas for sustainable development. Under this progamme, in Andhra Pradesh there are total 9 projects under implementation as on date with a total ﬁnancial commitment of close to Rs. 22 crores, of which the grant component is around Rs. 1 crore. NABARD also has a dedicated prgramme of extending grant support for the development of tribals. This is based on the WADI model, where each tribal family is provided funding support for development of Orchard in one hectare, from which the family could generate adequate returns to increase their incomes and improve their standard of living. As on date, in Andhra Pradesh there are 39 ongoing TDF projects beneﬁting 31331 tribal families involving funding support from NABARD to the extent of Rs. 11915.65 lakhs. Other initiatives of NABARD for rural areas include extending necessary marketing grant support for construction of Haats. These Haats are expected to provide necessary marketing infrastructure to market rural produce in an organized way. A total of 50 Rural Haats have been sanctioned in Andhra Pradesh till date with the support of NABARD. Though modern agriculture is increasingly becoming knowledge intensive, to improve incomes of farmers, it is essential that there is a continuous process of farmers education and technology transfer for which NABARD has created a Technology Transfer Fund under which funding support is extended for development, training and transfer of improved and modern technology practices. Under this initiative, NABARD has funded 10 projects in Andhra Pradesh for activities such as promoting the SRI cultivation, introduction of new varieties of paddy, creating awareness about farm implements Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

and machinery, technology transfer of sterile carps and introduction of new red gram varieties.

Bharat Nirman from RIDF-XII to XV being implemented by National Rural Road Development Agency.

Disbursement position as on 31 March 2010

(Rs. in crore)

All India

Andhra Pradesh

Percentage

Sanctions

103718.00

12000.65

11.6%

Disbursements

68440.00

8086.65

11.8%

Farmers Clubs is an initiative of NABARD to organize farmers into groups to enable them to network with banks. As on date, there are more than 4800 Farmers Clubs in Andhra Pradesh supported by NABARD. NABARD has taken initiatives to provide accurate and reliable price information to farmers under its various programmes through a tie up arrangement with Reuters Market Light (RML). Under this, farmers receive daily alerts on their mobiles about the current market price in the mandis, for various agriculture produce. Rueters also provides weather and other agricultural alerts to the farmers. NABARD is also supporting small farmer institutions ensuring economic returns and sustainable livelihood. NABARD extends support to banks and other institutions which would organize and facilitate formation of Joint Liability Groups. NABARD proposes to organize about 7500 such groups in the current year, which will enable about 0.50 lakh tenant farmers to access credit from the banking system.

NABARD’s Role in Rural Development Began with a small corpus of Rs. 1906.21 crore in 1995-96, RIDF-I has grown to Rs. 14000 crore under RIDF-XV. The tool of RIDF played a major role in unlocking the sunk cost as well as employment generation both recurring as well as non-recurring and to name a few bringing a large area under ayakat by way of irrigation as well as connectivity through roads. Under RIDF-XVI the GoI has earmarked an amount of Rs. 16000 crore. In addition to above NABARD has also sanctioned an amount of Rs. 18500 crore for dispensation under

The share of Andhra Pradesh as regards sanctions is the highest in the country 11.60%. Andhra Pradesh continues to maintain a unique status in the country with innovative projects to name a few AP Micro Irrigation Project, Comprehensive Land Development Programme, Soil Moisture Conservation etc. The major sectors which received ﬁnancial support from NABARD for creation of infrastructure in the State include rural connectivity(Roads & Bridges) Rs.4880 crore (38.4%), irrigation Rs.3990 crore (31.4%), conservation of natural resources Rs.1567 crore (12.3%), Safe drinking water Rs.1140 crore (9%), Education sector Rs.855 crore (6.7 %) and other sectors Rs.294 crore (2.3%). The ﬁnancial assistance under RIDF would add a road length of 29,822 km, construction of 46,623 m of bridge length, create additional irrigation potential of 20.54 lakh hectare of agricultural land, watershed potential of 2.58 lakh hectare, forest cover of 2.75 lakh hectare under Joint Forest Management, Comprehensive Land Development to the tune of 1.90 lakh hectare and provision of safe drinking water to 33.50 lakh population besides infrastructure support to Anganwadis, Schools, Junior Colleges, Primary Health Centers and Animal Husbandry projects. NABARD has made a normative allocation of Rs. 890 crore under RIDF XVI for Andhra Pradesh and so far sanctioned Rs.727.15 crore for various purposes including rural roads, bridges, safe drinking water, anganwadi centres, polytechnic colleges and construction of godowns for Girijan Coop. Corporation. 31

Irrigation JALAYAGNAM PROGRAMME CONTINUES TO BE THE FLAGSHIP PROGRAMME

GOVERNMENT OF ANDHRA PRADESH. IT OF THE

IS NOW SUBSTANTIALLY

86 PROJECTS WITH A CAPACITY OUTLAY OF 1.79 LAKH CRORES. THE PROGRAMME EXPANDED TO COVER

ENVISAGES CREATION OF ADDITIONAL IRRIGATION POTENTIAL FOR

100.38

LAKH ACRES BESIDES STABILIZING

21.75 LAKH

ACRES.

Stunning outﬂow from Srisailam Dam

ver since independence irrigation was thought of as one of the priority requirements for the growth of India’s economy and social well being and was undertaken on an extensive scale throughout India. And in Andhra Pradesh, the visionary leader, Late Dr. Y.S.R, the former Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, the gigantic Jalayagnam programme wouldn’t have taken place in the state. The irrigation programme started had initially set a target of irrigating 15 lakh acres in a span of just 5 years, a target which no one

could have thought even in their wildest imagination. In the later days, the state had witnessed dramatic changes in its approach towards irrigation and had left no stone unturned to make ‘Jalayagnam’ a big success. Aiming high on the returns of irrigational investment, the State Government had allocated a total budget of Rs. 68074 Crores since 2004-05 to 2010, of which Rs.53,206.29 Crores have been spent on 86 projects. So far, 12 Irrigation projects have been Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

fully completed and 20 of them are partially completed. The total IP (irrigation potential) created under the major and Medium projects since 2004-05 to 2009-10 is 19.26 lakh acres. After Y.S.R’s sad demise, taking the baton, K.Rosaiah, the present Chief Minister had never let his vision down and had carried forward the leftover work studiously with the support of Ponnala Lakshmaiah, his able Minister for Irrigation. Over the past 6 years, Government of Andhra Pradesh had taken up Major, Medium and Minor Irrigation projects in a big way under the “Jalayagnam” programme to utilize every drop of water in the State for agriculture and drinking water purposes. Where it is not possible to command the area by gravity, lift irrigation schemes are being taken up to beneﬁt the backward and drought prone areas. The State Government aims at completing 86 Major and Medium Irrigation Projects besides taking up programmes for raising Flood Banks, Modernization of Delta and Lift Irrigation Schemes with an ultimate objective of creating new Irrigation Potential of 98.41 lakh acres, besides stabilization of 22.26 lakh acres. During 2004-05 to 2008-09, as part of “Jalayagnam” programme an additional irrigation potential of 19.26 lakh acres was created in addition to providing stabilization of 3.09 lakh acres. Earlier during 1996-97, the then Andhra Pradesh government had taken 33 Major and Medium Irrigation projects were included under the Accelerated Irrigation Beneﬁt programme (AIBP). Out of these projects, 22 projects comprising 12 Major and 10 Medium were included after 2005-06. Central Assistance is fully received for 11 projects and these Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

projects are treated as completed. Out of the 22 ongoing projects, 15 projects are covered under the Prime Minister’s Relief Package and the balance 7 projects are covered under normal AIBP. Efforts are being made for inclusion of 8 new projects under AIBP i.e. 6 projects under PMRP and 2 projects under Normal AIBP. For the development of backward and tribal areas Minor Irrigation is considered as a major instrument in the State. Works are in progress to create new ayacut of 7.47 lakh acres and modernization of 9.75 lakh acres with an outlay of Rs.3,423 Crores. Total projects:

Major Irrigation Projects:

Medium Irrigation Projects:

Flood Banks:

Modernization:

Completed Projects:

Ongoing Projects:

Jalayagnam Projects: Under AIBP scheme, for the ﬁrst time Government of India has approved 90 Minor Irrigation and Lift Irrigation schemes at a cost of Rs.434.00 Crores to create new ayacut of 90,000 acres in the state. A Pilot project for restoration and rehabilitation of Minor irrigation tanks was implemented with the assistance of Government of India in two districts and it has been scaled up to 3000 tanks with 25% grant from Government of India and 75% loan from World Bank. In addition to the above, 3000 Minor irrigation tanks are proposed to be restored with the ﬁnancial assistance of Government of India under a new Renewal, Repair and Restoration Programme.

The lift irrigation projects is mainly affected because of the lack of sufﬁcient power requirement. In order to meet the requirement of power for running the lift irrigation schemes, Hydroelectric Schemes at Polavaram, Dummugudem, Kanthanapally and Pulichintala are being taken up with an installed capacity of 1850 MW Power, apart from other power projects. An allocation of Rs.15,011 Crores is proposed in the budget 2010-11 for Irrigation sector. Administrative sanction of Rs. 1,79,891 Crores have been given by the government for all the irrigation projects taken up since 2004 to 2010 so far, and the total agreement value is set at Rs.1,21,615 Crores. The total expenditure incurred from 2004-05 to 2010 is Rs. 53,206 Crores. There are 35 other projects under Jalayagnam that are under various stages of their completion. The government had spent Rs. 10,721.12 Crores on them so far. Elaborating on the expenditure incurred on the Jalayagnam projects, “there have been 12 major irrigation projects fully completed with a cost of Rs. 1,389.6 Crores to create a new IP of 3,20,633 acres in the state since 2004-05 to 2009-10. we have taken up works on 39 projects on priority with an expenditure of Rs. 30,382.80 Crores. 75 per cent of the works have already been completed and water is also released to 20 projects which has an IP of 14,07,678 acres,” said Ponnala Lakshmaiah, Minister for Irrigation, Andhra Pradesh. Since 2004 budget had gone up almost three folds during the year 2007-08 to Rs. 13014 Crores. Not ending there, the budget for the next consecutive years had increased to Rs. 16512 Crores and Rs.17887 Crores in 2008-09 and 2009-10 respectively. 33

Completed projects under Jalayagnam PROJECTS

ADMINISTRATIVE SANCTION (RS. CRS.)

EXPENDITURE FROM 2004-05 2010 (RS. CRS.)

DISTRICTS BENEFITED

IP(IRRIGATION POTENTIAL )

IP (STABILIZATION)

22846

(N ANDHRA REGION EW) CHAGALNADU LIS

70.77

75.03

(STABILIZATION PEDDAGEDDA RESERVOIR)

73.19

91.89

VIZIANAGARAM

7500

4500

K.V. RAMAKRISHNA SURAMPALEM RESERVOIR

51.38

52.21

EAST GODAVARI

14207

132.17

152.51

SRIKAKULAM

15000

9700

38.41

50.02

VISAKHAPATNAM

9601

9721

68.1

60.87

WEST GODAVARI

15000

44.93

PRAKASAM

72874

52.04

55.4

NELLORE

9100

208.72

173.46

KADAPA

24000

MADDUVALASA TENNETI VISWANDHAM PEDDERU RESERVOIR KOVVADAKALVA PROJECT

EAST GODAVARI

RAYALASEEMA REGION SRI MAGUNTA SUBBARAMI REDDY RAMATHEERTHAM BR SWARNAMUKHI BARRAGE VELIGALLU PROJECT TELANGANA REGION 261.3

248.09

NIZAMABAD

53792

ARUGULA RAJARAM-GUTHPA LIS

ALISAGAR LIS

204

184.7

NIZAMABAD

38792

GADDENA-SUDDAVAGU PROJECT

186.68

146.34

ADILABAD

14000

1389.76

1335.45

131254

189379

GRAND TOTAL TOTAL IP CREATED

131254+189379=320633

Budget Expenditure from 2008-09 to 2009-10 TYPE OF PROJECT .

2008-09 Budget (Rs. In Crores)

2009-10 EXPENDITURE (RS. IN CRORES)

BUDGET (RS. IN CRORES)

TOTAL FROM 2004 TO 2010 EXPENDITURE (RS. IN CRORES)

BUDGET (RS. IN CRORES)

EXPENDITURE (RS. IN CRORES)

Jalayagnam Projects

12329

7808

14050

9596

50319

42494

Other Major & Medium Projects (completed)

901

822

843

605

5446

3430

Minor & other Expenditure

3282

1373

2994

1953

12309

7282

Total

16512

10002

17887

12155

68074

53206

A bridge barrage on River Krishna 34

Apart from irrigation projects, provision of drinking water facilities to thousands of villages across the state is also envisioned as another major aspect which was taken up on priority by the state government. Realizing the acute need for the supply of fresh drinking water, the Andhra Pradesh government is parallely executing the drinking water projects along with irrigational projects. Since the launch of Jalayagnam, the state government had utilized 65.141 TMC of water for drinking and 29.021 TMC for industrial purpose, beneямБting 425 mandals and 6310 villages covering a population of 2,11,25,601 across the state. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Housing TIMES HAVE CHANGED, UNLIKE IN THE PAST EVERY INDIVIDUAL IS PLANNING TO OWN A HOUSE OF HIS OWN NOW. IN THE PAST THE DREAM OF OWNING A HOUSE COULD BE ACHIEVED ONLY BY THE RICH, BUT NOW, SINCE PAST

6 YEARS WITH A

POSITIVE INITIATIVE OF THE STATE AND CENTRAL GOVERNMENTS THE POOREST OF THE POOR CAN ALSO DREAM OF OWING A HOUSE TODAY. THANKS TO

YSR, THE FORMER CHIEF MINISTER FOR HIS VISION AND TO DR. K. ROSAIAH, WHOSE ABILITY TO TACKLE PROBLEMS WITH PATIENCE AND CARRY FORWARD WELFARE PROGRAMMES OF SUCH A MAGNITUDE INSPITE OF INVOLVING INTRICATE FINANCIAL PROBLEMS AND OTHER HURDLES IN THE DELIVERY SYSTEM.

uring the past 3 decades 96 lakh houses constructed in the state under different Central & State fully and partially subsidized schemes. Propagates cost effective and Eco-friendly construction materials and technologies in the construction of houses Imparts training for skills upgradation through Nirmithi Kendras. Encourages insitu production of alternative construction materials. Recovers loans from beneﬁciaries in installments by motivation.

The Andhra Pradesh housing corporation has been bestowed the responsibility of delivering the housing schemes to the rural poor in the state. In fact Andhra Pradesh is the ﬁrst State in the country which has established an exclusive organisation to achieve the objective of providing shelter to all. Mobilizes loans from various Financial Institutions for implementation of Housing Programmes. Plays the role of facilitator in the construction of houses by providing technical and ﬁnancial assistance. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

As the government has devised various housing schemes like the Indiramma Housing, Rajiv Gruha Kalpa and Rajiv Swagruha, the Housing Department is busy in implementing these schemes at the ground level. Indiramma House is one among these schemes which has been of a great success in the state. “we can not see Housing in isolation. It is an integral part of the family’s development. A family with a better house is likely to take more interest in the health and education of its members and will have a longer perspective for its future. If one looks at the scenario in Andhra Pradesh the total population of the state is 75.7 millions with a density of 275 persons per square kilometers. 16 percent population is living below poverty line. There are about 46 percent people residing in kutcha houses in the state. Recognizing the right to adequate housing as a basic right of the poor, housing schemes in Andhra Pradesh are being taken on a priority by the government since past few years.” says, Samuel, Principal secretary, Department of Housing Andhra Pradesh. Today Andhra Pradesh stands in the forefront in providing large number of houses to the poor. The commitment for serving the poor can clearly be assessed, as the government has constructed a massive total of 31 lakh houses in just 3 years since 2007 while it was only 65 lakhs before the said year. The state Government had launched INTEGRATED NOVEL DEVELOPMENT IN RURAL AREAS AND MODEL MUNICIPAL AREAS (INDIRAMMA) in the year 2006 to develop Model Villages and Towns with a saturation approach, Indiramma Housing Programme is a ﬂagship programme of the State Government aimed at providing pucca houses for rural and Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

urban poor and to make the State hut free. This programme was launched in 2006 which was aimed at covering 1/3rd of state each year with a saturation approach. Initially the state government had provided budget allocation up to Rs 5000 Crores for two years. So far, under the INDIRAMMA housing scheme, the government had so far registered 64.59 lakh housing proposals from the people. Of which 30.79 lakh houses have been completed and 15.19 lakh houses are under various stages of progress. There are still 18.60 lakh houses yet to be started which are programmed to be taken up in the course of next two to three years from now. The role of housing corporation is very important in the state. Andhra Pradesh state housing corporation limited was formed in the year 1979 with an aim to provide pucca houses, drinking water supply, individual sanitary latrines, drainage, power supply to every household, Road facilities for transport, pensions to eligible old age persons, weavers, widows and the disabled, primary education to all, special nutrition to adolescent girls/ pregnant and lactating women and better health facilities in all the villages over a period of three years in a saturation mode. If everything goes as planned, it is believed all the efforts of the government will improve the living standards of the people in the state significantly. Government provides financial assistance from the budgetary allocation for implementation of Housing Programmes and play a facilitator role in construction of houses by providing technical and financial assistance, propagates cost effective and eco-friendly construction materials and technologies in construction of

houses, imparts training for skills up gradation through Nirmithi Kendras, encourages institutional production of alternative construction materials. The Central and State government schemes implemented by APSHCL are:

State Schemes Rural Permanent Housing Urban Permanent Housing

Centrally Sponsored schemes Indira Awaas Yojana Housing for Weavers, Fishermen, Beedi Workers, etc. VAMBAY in Urban areas JNNURM, IHSDP As mentioned earlier, the Indiramma programme is aimed at the poor to shelter them and protect them. The eligibility criterion for being selected as a beneﬁciary of Indiramma is any body who is living in Kutcha house as a single family or joint family. Beneﬁciary living as a single family in fully dilapidated semi Permanent House constructed with government assistance before 1993-94 are also eligible. A person or an individual can also become eligible if his annual income are equal or less than normal average standards as mentioned by the government for the scheme.(usually below Rs. 10000 or less per annum) BPL (Below poverty Line) Families living in rented accommodation in urban areas are also eligible for the programme. Unlike in the past the government had evolved a new strategy and involved the people directly to monitor the auditing and implementation of the works and make the INDIRAMMA programme more successful with accountability. Peoples participation is 37

key and all sanctions are in the name of women. The main implementation work is bestowed on the Self Help Groups who are more accountable and reliable. Beneficiaries become the main actors & also the agencies for construction. There is no involvement of contractors (except in G+ structures). The focus areas of the scheme are motivation and mobilization of the beneficiaries. Cement is supplied at concessional rates as the Cement companies have agreed for it as a good will gesture to the programme. The Nirmithi Kendras are extended for supply of building material at reasonable rates to the beneficiaries. The state government had waived Seignorage charges on Sand and quarry material for INDIRAMMA housing.

place. (Totally open system, public scrutiny). Deputy Executive Engineer proposes payment only after verification of the Beneficiary Meeting minutes. DMs confirm payment online. The disbursement will take place only through individual accounts.

First time it was given during November 2008 for Phase I programme. It has resulted in further performance with reference to completion of SC/ ST houses. This facility was extended for Phase II and III houses during January 2010. Since then almost 20,000 houses are being completed per month which is helping the state in achieving the objective of providing

E-governance for total transparency: The execution, payment and monitoring of more than 60 lakh houses done through E-Governance system that facilitates making payment easier. Internet banking, Monitoring house wise progress and complaint follow ups are also made through Internet and online system.

Payment system (per house Rs)

Rajeev Gruhakapla Housing colony in Nizamabad

INDIRAMMA - At a glance

RURAL

URBAN

Registered: 64.69 lakh

URBAN

Completed: 30.79 lakh

PAYMENT

26750

35500

SUPPLEMENTATION

20000

30000

Under progress: 15.19 lakh

TOTAL

54250

73000

Yet to start: 18.60 lakh

Implementation arrangement including disbursement

Additional amount for SC / ST beneﬁciaries

AE visits all villages himself personally once a fortnight as per a predrawn Programme. Fixed day in each village every fortnight. He calls for a ‘Beneﬁciaries’ Meeting after completing veriﬁcation of houses. Then announces the list/amount payable in the open which will be pasted in the Gram Panchayat & one other public

Permission has been accorded for additional amount of Rs 20,000/- in rural areas and Rs 30,000/- in urban areas for all SC/St beneﬁciaries under Phase I,II and III INDIRAMMA housing. 2,27,713 Sc/St houses have been completed after issue of additional loan.

pucca houses to SC/ ST beneﬁciaries on priority basis. The budget allocation for Indiramma housing programme during the year 2009-10 was Rs 2563 Crore, and the total number of houses constructed during the period were 7.52 lakhs. So far, out of a total of 64.69 lakh houses which are taken up, 28.09 lakh houses have been completed and the balance are at various stages of completion. All the taken up houses will be completed in a time bound manner. An amount of Rs.1800 crores is allocated for Housing Programme in 2010-11 Budget which is to be spent on the construction of a target of 6.92 lakh houses for the period.

Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Health THE HEALTH SECTOR IN ANDHRA PRADESH HAS BUILT SYNERGY WITH THE

NATIONAL RURAL HEALTH MISSION (NRHM) WHICH IS A HEALTH SECTOR REFORM PROGRAM OF THE CENTRAL GOVERNMENT FOR DECENTRALIZATION, PRO-POOR FOCUS AND STRENGTHENING SERVICE DELIVERY. THE HEALTH SECTOR SUPPORT PROVIDED OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS WAS AIMED AT INCREASED USE OF QUALITY HEALTH SERVICES, ESPECIALLY BY THE POOREST PEOPLE AND IN UNDER SERVED AREAS. THE YEAR

DURING 2010-11 THE

STATE GOVERNMENT HAD PROPOSED A BUDGET

RS. 4295 CRORES, WHILE FOR ‘AROGYASRI’ RS. 925 CRORES IS ALOF

LOCATED EVERY YEAR FOR TREATING THE POOR LIVING UNDER

A neuro Surgen analysing Brain images

BPL.

t is well said that ‘Health is wealth’ and of course it is, because without proper health it is impossible for anyone to achieve success in life. In fact maintaining good health is the ﬁrst step towards success in life. Realizing this fact, the government of Andhra Pradesh had come out with a novel health insurance scheme called “Arogyasri” for the poor people living below the poverty line. Thanks to the great visionary leader, Late Dr. YRS, the former Chief Minster 40

of Andhra Pradesh, who had envisioned this novel scheme to cater for the health care needs of the poor people and pull them out of suffering from disease and unable to get the treatment because of the very high treatment cost. During the past 6 years, the Congress government had done quite a great service for the welfare of the poor people especially in the health sector. The 108 and 104 ambulance services have done a commendable job in saving millions of lives of the poor and people Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

who met with unfortunate accidents and other ailments. The services of 104 are further more helpful especially for the women folk in the villages. The service has penetrated deep into the rural areas. The 104 ambulance service is supposed to go in to the rural villages accompanied by a nurse and a specialized doctor. Despite the excellent primary and secondary health infrastructure, in the public and private sector in Andhra Pradesh, health outcomes are not commensurate with the investment made. While timely access to quality and affordable health care, reduction in maternal mortality, infant and under 5 mortality, universal coverage under the T.B. Control program, eradication of leprosy or containment of malaria and other infectious diseases continue to be problematic, the disease burden in 2015 on account of non communicable diseases is also estimated to reach unsustainable levels. Illness continues to be a major cause of rural indebtedness. The Health care services in Andhra Pradesh are financed in two ways – out of pocket by households and through the state budget out of taxes. User fees which used to fund one third of the non salary expenditures have since been abolished. Insurance as a form of financing is restricted to a small segment of upper middle class households under voluntary, private, commercial insurance programs. Due to rapid increases in the prices of inputs and technology, shifts in perception and disease profiles towards illnesses that are more expensive to treat, a critical concern is the need to sustain the present system of health care and ensure access to quality care. In view of the increasing importance of providing risk protection against illness, several departments are planning schemes and models Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

for their own target groups. This has the danger of segmenting the target population, creating scope for policy contradictions and also duplication effort. Besides, in merging risk pools, the potential for getting a balanced mix of high and low risks would enable a more affordable premium. This will also ensure a more comprehensive approach to the development of a social health insurance system for the State.

Arogyasri Rajiv Aarogyasri Health Insurance Scheme is being implemented in Andhra Pradesh to assist poor families from catastrophic health expenditure. The scheme is a unique PPP model in the ﬁeld of Health Insurance, Tailor made to the health needs of poor patients and providing endto-end cashless services for identiﬁed diseases through a network of service providers from Government and private sector. The scheme was introduced in 2007 in three backward districts of Mahboobnagar, Anantapur and Srikakulam on pilot basis and was subsequently extended to the entire state in phased manner to cover 20.4 million BPL families encompassing 70

million population spread across 23 districts of the state from 2008. Initially the scheme started with a coverage of 163 identified diseases in 6 systems and was gradually extended to 330 diseases in 13 systems under Aarogyasri-I. The coverage under the scheme was extended to 942 procedures in 31 systems with addition of 612 procedures through Aarogyasri-II. The scheme was formulated in consultation with specialists in the field of Medicine, Health and Insurance to address the needs of catastrophic health expenditure among the BPL families of the state and at the same time not to sideline the existing infrastructure in government hospitals. However the scheme is designed in such a way that the benefit in the primary care is addressed through free screening and outpatient consultation both in the health camps and in the network hospitals as part of scheme implementation.

Progress on Arogyasri Arogyasri Scheme has been acclaimed at national and international levels. Cashless treatment is being provided for major ailments in net-

A tribal women treated under Arogyasri health scheme 41

work hospitals for all white card holders in the State. So far, over 5 lakh surgeries have been performed under Arogyasri. Efforts are being made for continuously improving the share of Government hospitals in Arogyasri scheme. A budget provision of Rs.925 crores has been made for the ﬁscal. The Government is also implementing Emergency Transport Service (108) with 752 ambulances and Fixed Day Health Service (104) with 475 mobile health vans for the beneﬁt of the

needy. This will also beneﬁt those who are living in the remote and interior areas of the State. Other initiatives taken up and in progress for expanding medical services include construction of Super specialty and Trauma blocks at NIMS, Hyderabad, NIMS University Campus at Bibinagar, Visakhapatnam Institute of Medical Sciences, Visakhapatnam, Millennium Block at Guntur General Hospital with participation of the alumni of the Guntur Medical College, upgradation of Community Health Centres. The Budget allocation for Medical and Health department for 2010-11 is proposed at Rs.4295 crores. The latest poverty headcount ratio of the state stands at 16 per cent, compared to 23 per cent for India. Andhra Pradesh was the ﬁrst Indian state to receive a multi-sector Bank operation – the Andhra Pradesh Economic Restructuring Program for US$ 550 million in 1997 – aimed at 42

helping the state accelerate policy and institutional reforms across a wide range of sectors under a common ﬁscal framework. Within AP there are regional, social and gender disparities. Health outcomes are worst among Scheduled Castes (16 per cent of population) and Scheduled Tribes (7 per cent of population), and for women, especially those living in under-served areas in North tribal and

South drought prone districts. Effective delivery of quality basic health services is hampered by demand and supply side issues, including poor health infrastructure and staffing. Agencies like World Bank and DFID are supporting the reform process in the State. The Bank supported the AP Economic Restructuring Project which included improvement of primary health care as one of the component. The priority reforms focus on improved access to quality and responsive health services, strengthened governance and management in health sector, improved institutional mechanisms for community participation and systems for accountability; and strengthened financial management systems. The government of Andhra Pradesh [GoAP 1999] Vision 2020 document identifies a seven-point set of priorities for health sector reform:

providing universal access to primary healthcare; encouraging private investment in tertiary healthcare; focusing on specific programmes to promote family planning; focusing on improving health levels in disadvantaged groups and backward regions; ensuring a strong prevention focus; enhancing the performance of the public health system; and formulating a state information education and communication (IEC) programme to broadcast information on preventive healthcare. The Government of Andhra Pradesh is embarking on a major health sector reforms to improve health care delivery in the State. D.F.I.D. has expressed its willingness to support these initiatives with a grant of 100 Million pounds during five years (20062011). The reform initiative will include measures to improve the effectiveness and accountability of public health services, measures to focus on community centric preventive healthcare system and enhance access to quality healthcare for the poorer sections of the population. DFID had provided up to £40 million health sector budget support to the DoHMFW, GoAP, during 2007 – 2010. The health sector in the state has build synergy with NRHM which is a health sector reform program of the central government for decentralization, pro-poor focus, strengthening service delivery. The health sector support provided over three years (2007-08 – 2009- 10) aims at increased use of quality health services, especially by the poorest people and in under served areas. Establishment of Andhra Pradesh Vaidya Vidhana Parishad Strengthening of referral institutions and fixing of service norms Improvement in drug supplies Formation of Andhra Pradesh Health, Medical & Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (APHM&HIDC) Strengthening of Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

PHCs as 24-hour MCH centers Establishment of Comprehensive Obstetric & Neonatal Care centers.

Reorganization and restructuring of existing government health care system The Vaidya Vidhana Parishad by Andhra Pradesh was created (APVVP) by enacting an Act in the Legislative Assembly in 1986(8). This was done with the objective to lay greater emphasis on development of both preventive as well as curative health care and to strengthen necessary linkages at appropriate levels to ensure comprehensive medical and health care services. APVVP has undertaken World Bank assisted Andhra Pradesh First Referral Health Systems Project (APFRHSP) in 1994 for a period of seven years. This has been one of the major projects undertaken by APVVP. The objectives of the project included improvement of efficiency in the allocation and use of health resources through policy and institutional developments and enhanced performance of health system by improving the quality, effectiveness and coverage of health services at the first referral level. It also aims at strengthening of referral institutions and fixing of service norms. Basic service norms for various categories of hospitals under the administrative control of APVVP have been fixed thereby creating a hierarchy of hospitals according to services and facilities. This system of service norms and referral linkages had been developed with a view to optimise utilization of resources, avoid duplication and wastage of resources, regulate patient flow and reduce cost of treatment by reduction of patient burden at tertiary hospitals. The district hospital has been prescribed to provide services in eleven specialties for which 9 civil surgeon specialists, 18-20 civil assistant surgeons, 54-84 paramedical staff and other supporting staff have been Posted. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Improvement in drug supplies Centralized drug procurement system under which the institution has been allotted drugs worth a particular amount based on bed strength (Rs 2000 per bed per quarter); an emergency provision for drugs (Rs 100 per bed per month) has been made to every institution from where emergency procurement of drugs is made; drugs which are in short supply and for which regular rate contract suppliers are not available have been stocked at the ofﬁce of District Coordinators of Health Service. Under the APFRHSP, construction and repair of 160 hospitals including 81 CHCs, 58 area hospitals and 21 district hospitals had been undertaken.

Formation of Andhra Pradesh Health, Medical & Housing Infrastructure Development Corporation (APHM&HIDC) A separate corporation has been set up in 1987 exclusively for developing housing and other infrastructure for medical and paramedical staff and constructing sub centers, PHCs, hospitals, dispensaries, clinics and other health care centers One of the major projects undertaken by APHM&HIDC has been the World Bank assisted

India Population Project-VIII launched for improving the medical care facilities in urban slums in 74 municipalities. Strengthening of PHCs as 24-hour MCH centers In a move to make available maternal and child health care at all times, 470 PHCs in backward districts have been designated as round the clock Mother and Child Health Center (earlier called women health centers). One staff nurse, one ANM and three support staff have been appointed in each center on contractual basis. Staff nurses have been trained to conduct normal deliveries and refer emergency cases. Additional facilities like telephone and vehicle have been provided to the PHCs in order to assist communication and transport for referral of emergency cases. Provision has been made to conduct fortnightly specialist clinics of Gynaecology and paediatrics in these centers to detect high risk pregnancies and neonates for referral to FRUs.

Establishment of Comprehensive Obstetric & Neonatal Care (CEmONC) centres The State Government has decided to establish 108, CEmONC centers spread across every district so that

pregnant mothers requiring emergency care do not have to travel more than 40-50 kms to receive specialist care. Training of MBBS doctors in anesthesia, neonatal care and blood transfusion is also planned to support this scheme.

Changes in health system organization, delivery and management Formation of Hospital Advisory Committee/ Hospital Development Societies for all PHCs and FRUs/ teaching hospitals: Hospital Development Societies have been constituted in all tertiary hospitals under the control of Directorate of Medical Education and after implementing NRHM rogi kalyam samithi (RKS) at every PHC was formed to ensure the participation of local institution, with an aim to improve effective and efficient services within allowed flexible financial powers. These societies are examples for decentralization. Activities of the society include maintenance of the hospital (including sanitation & water supply, electricity, building & civil works and equipment), purchase of drugs & medicine supplies and equipment. The government has set norms and limits for undertaking these works which are to be adhered to by the Society.

Provision of free travel bus passes to pregnant women for antenatal check ups The Government of Andhra Pradesh has started an innovative scheme in order to enable pregnant women in rural areas to avail antenatal checkups at the nearest PHC/area hospital or FRU. It has tied up with the State Road and Transport Corporation to issue free transportation bus tickets pass to be utilized for three visits. The ANM issues the bus passes to the pregnant women on her house visits.

Public-Private partnership Management of Urban Health 44

Centers by NGOs Under the World Bank assisted Andhra Pradesh Urban Slum Health Care Project (APUSHCP), 192 urban health centers (UHCs) have been established in 74 municipal towns in 21 districts covering 1848 slums. After withdrawal of support by the World Bank, the project has been funded by the state government since 2002.

Emergency services The 108 health service has become one of the most successful healthcare service in the state. The State government has tied up with GVK (earlier Satyam Computers) to provide emergency transportation which proved to be most successful programme and many states are following the same like Gujarat. The objective of 108 Ambulances is to save people in life emergency . One ambulance is given for three mandals. Each ambulance ﬁtted with equipment worth Rs.17 lakhs renders its services in life emergencies, road and ﬁre accidents.

Sukhibhava Scheme The Sukhibhava Scheme provides a cash assistance of Rs.300 (Rs 200 towards transportation charges and Rs 100 for food and incidental expenses) to pregnant women belonging to below poverty line families who come to government hospitals/ APVVP hospitals/ teaching hospitals/ PHCs/CHCs for delivery services. This assistance is payable only to those women with no living children or with one living child.

key components of ASHA A woman, usually a daughter-inlaw of a house who has studied upto 7th class and preferably from SC/ST community has been selected as WHV by the Gram Panchayat Health Committee. The selected WHV has been given one month training in health care aspects of pregnancy, antenatal, delivery, post natal and new born care, immunization, diarrhoea, acute respiratory infections, ﬁrst-aid and treatment of minor ailments. The health sector reforms are only a part of drastic reforms in other major sectors undertaken as a part of Andhra Pradesh Economic Restructuring Project (APERP) and the overall impact on the health conditions of people and their access to medical care depend more on the changes proposed outside the health sector. For instance, while exempting the white ration card holders i.e. the poor from the user charges in the government hospitals, it proposes to drastically reduce the number of white card holders to half in the state. The net affect would be to reduce the percent of population eligible for free treatment. On the other hand the success of 108 EMRI services and overwhelming response from Rajiv Arogyasri scheme are the examples for HSR success.

A medical camp in progress

Involving community in health service delivery and Provision One of the key components of the National Rural Health Mission is to provide every village in the country with a trained female community health activist – ‘ASHA’ or Accredited Social Health Activist. Selected from the village itself and accountable to it, the ASHA will be trained to work as an interface between the community and the public health system. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Industry EVER SINCE THE ERA OF LIBERALIZATION ANDHRA PRADESH HAS BEEN PROVIDING A CONDUCTIVE ENVIRONMENT FOR

INDUSTRIAL GROWTH. THE INDUSTRIAL SET UP IN THE STATE IS DEEPLY ROOTED AND HAD DEVELOPED ALL THE NECESSARY INGREDIENTS FOR SETTING UP ANY KIND OF INDUSTRY. THE

ANDHRA PRADESH IS ENCOURAG-

GOVERNMENT OF

ING AND ATTRACTING MORE AND MORE FOREIGN AS WELL AS DOMESTIC ENTREPRENEURS TO SET UP THEIR BUSINESS. FURTHER THE STATE GOVERNMENT HAD EVOLVED A NEW INDUSTRIAL POLICY WHEREIN IT IS PROVIDING INCENTIVES TO THE NEW ENTRANTS LIKE SUBSIDIZED POWER, LAND AT REASONABLE COST, TAX HOLIDAY AND OTHER RELATED BENEFITS.

Cement Inductry

Industrial policy 2010-2015 Recently Andhra Pradesh had announced a new industrial policy for the next ﬁve years, aiming to attract Rs.15,000 crore investment annually and create 500,000 jobs every year. The policy has set a target of 17 percent growth in manufacturing and increased investment subsidy for micro and small enterprises from Rs.15 lakh to Rs.20 lakh. The state cabinet, chaired by Chief Minister K. Rosaiah, approved the policy for 2010-2015, which offers a 46

series of incentives, especially for micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). Information and Public Relations Minister J. Geeta Reddy said, “It is one of the best industrial policy in the country with potential to transform Andhra Pradesh into the top investment destination.” The policy, which came into effect from July 1 2010, focuses on MSMEs and food processing units. It is also aimed at facilitating reduction of regional and sub-sectoral imbalances. The government will promote industries Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

along the gas pipeline laid in the state to take advantage of the availability of natural gas. The policy has also changed the deﬁnition of a mega project by enhancing the existing limit of Rs.100 crore investment to Rs.250 crore. “However, any project creating employment for more than 2,000 persons is also proposed for consideration of special package of incentives under mega projects,” said the minister. The policy offers 75 paise reimbursement of power cost for each unit. The present electricity tariff for industry is Rs.3.53 per unit, the lowest compared to other industrially developed states. The government will provide Rs.100 crore every year for promotion of industrial infrastructure for micro and small enterprises. The other highlights of the new policy includes 25 percent of VAT (value added tax) reimbursement for large and medium enterprises, 50 percent VAT reimbursement for small enterprises, 5 percent additional subsidy to women entrepreneurs, 10 percent of plots to women entrepreneurs in the new industrial estates, special incentives for entrepreneurs belonging to scheduled castes and scheduled tribes. The new industrial policy is the best when compared with the new industrial policies of other industrially advanced States like Gujarat, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Tamil Nadu. The ultimate objective is leverage the existing sectoral strengths as well as the natural resources for value addition. To take maximum advantage of the Natural Gas availability, industries would be promoted along the gas pipeline. The new policy ensures creation of quality infrastructure in the Industrial Clusters, Industrial Estates, promotion of Manufacturing Investment Regions along National Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Highways to capitalize the strengths in line with GoI initiatives for value addition within the State; Encouraging industrial estates in backward revenue divisions in PPP mode and provides differential rate of incentives to MSMEs in backward revenue divisions to reduce regional imbalances. It also provides sector speciﬁc Policies/Focus to capitalize the sectoral strengths like Textiles, Cement, Pharma, Food Processing, Steel, Granite etc.; alignment of policy incentives to ensure optimum utilization of GoI Schemes; Skill Development Policy to meet the industry requirement; build brand Andhra Pradesh as a benchmark for quality; streamlining the single window clearances system; encouraging anchor industries in thrust sectors to increase the ancillary base and comprehensive policy for revitalization of MSME sector. MSME Development Act 2006 of GoI changed the nomenclature of Industry as enterprise; enterprises are deﬁned as Micro, Small, Medium as per the Investment in plant and machinery of Equipment and as per the Act, any manufacturing, servicing and business activities are called as Enterprises. It has been decided to change the limits of various sections of industries. Micro Enterprise - manufacturing up to Rs.25 lakhs; service up to Rs.10 lakhs; Small Enterprises – manufacturing above Rs.25 lakhs up to Rs.5 crores, service above Rs.10 lakhs up to Rs.2 crores; Medium Enterprise - manufacturing above Rs.5 crores up to Rs.10 crores and service above Rs.2 crores up to Rs.5 crores. Under this act, any activity can be registered as Enterprise with Industries Department. However, service enterprises related to industrial activities are proposed to be made eligible for incentives Municipal Corporations; the activities proposed to be covered include Material Test-

ing Centre, power laundries linked to the textiles industries, weigh bridges, seed grading etc., and the complete list of such activities would be worked out separately and eligible Service Enterprises related to industry will be provided investment subsidy in urban/ municipal areas linked to employment generation. Andhra Pradesh provides the maximum power tariff incentives in the country. The new industrial policy aims to strengthen and revitalize the District Industrial Centres (DICs) in tune with the recommendations of Prime Ministers Task force Committee to ensure that the DICs act as a genuine agency for providing support to MSMEs like information on policies, programmes, project proﬁles, Facilitation Cell for sick unit revival, Skill Development, Market support etc. Infrastructure would be created taking the advantage of Prime Ministers Task Force Committee recommendations. For easy ﬂow of credit to MSMEs, the policy proposes certain active measures to enhance the loan rendering capacity of banks through various schemes and also by lowering the interest rates on PLR. Initiatives have been proposed in the policy for

Workers at Steel Inductry 47

providing marketing assistance to brand building, quality certiﬁcation and creating platforms for domestic and global markets.

Industrial policy 2005-2010 Earlier policy (2005-2010) the industries department in the state had provided 100 per cent reimbursement of Stamp duty and Transfer duty paid by the industry. On deeds executed for lease of land/shed and building in favour of industrial units, the government is giving 100 per cent reimbursement of Stamp duty paid by the industry, similarly 100 per cent

Over the past few years development of quality infrastructure for industrial growth had been given highest priority through private participation. In line with this objective, Government has constituted Infrastructure Authority (IA) for the rapid development of physical and social infrastructure in the State and to attract private sector participation in the Designing, Financing, and construction of, operation and maintenance of infrastructural projects. Overall the state Government is committed to provide world class infrastructural facilities to make

Printing press sanctioned under small scale industry

businesses to carry on their operations by simpliﬁcation of procedures, rules, inspections, registrations, Single Window clearance Systems, etc. In the industrial infrastructure front, the state has taken lot of initiatives for development of industrial infrastructure for the consistent growth. Government in association with APIIC has initiated a set of prestigious projects that include industrial infrastructure, social infrastructure and infrastructure for the speciﬁc sec tors. The state owned corporation APIIC has already set up 272 industrial estates and specialized parks like ICICI knowledge park, SP Biotechnology Park, Agri Bio-tech park, special Economic zone, Pharama city, Hardware Park, HITEC city, leather park, food processing Park, Agri Export zones etc. There have been 48 large Industries with an investment of Rs.8,399 crores set up in the State, creating employment for 8,116 persons during the year 2009-10. In addition to this, proposals for 353 new large Industries have been received with an investment of Rs.81,092 crores which are expected to give employment for 1,11,328 persons.

Small scale Industries reimbursement of the Stamp duty and Transfer duty are paid by the industry on execution of deeds by the industrial units for securing loans, advances, mortgages and hypothecation from ﬁnancial institutions/ Nationalized Commercial banks. Reimbursement of 25 per cent of the land cost purchased for industrial purpose limited to Rs.5 Lakhs in case of Industrial Estates/Industrial Development Areas of APIIC. The units availing this beneﬁt should implement the project within a period of 24 months from the date of purchase of the land. The extent of the land will be limited as per the statutory norms. 48

Andhra Pradesh a manufacturing hub for national and international companies. Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are being promoted in different regions to generate employment in export oriented manufacturing sector. So far, the central government has approved 103 Special economic zones in the state, of these, 73 of them are notiﬁed, 40 have already become operational creating jobs to 54,776 people in the state. The state government recognizes the fact that for a faster growth of the state’s economy, the industrial sector must remain vibrant and growing. Efforts are also being made to make it easier for industries and

For the small scale industries the state has an exclusive financial institution APSFC for providing financial assistance. Apart form this, 5288 commercial banks are functioning in the state in rural and urban areas. The state has a good network of specialized SSI branches for extending assistance. Today, the small Scale industries form a significant part of Andhra Pradesh economy. The sector contributes around 6 per cent of GSDP and employs close to 2.5 lakh people in the state. Many of the growth engines selected for focused development, example, construction of pharmaceutical, will give rise to many opportunities for small scale industries. The sector will thus be a major focus in the strategy to Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

create rapid growth in the state. By 2020 Andhra Pradesh will have many dynamic and profitable small scale industries. Propelled by the technological development and capability building small scale units will flourish all over the state. The proliferation of these industries will provide opportunities for entrepreneurship and employment leading to significant rise in income for state’s people. The approach to developing small scale industries will focus on building skills and promoting technological development, providing infrastructure and credit, reforming policy and simplifying procedures, providing assistance with marketing and encouraging the development of special categories of entrepreneurs.

PCPIR Another important development during the past one year is, the Central government has accorded approval for development of Petroleum Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (AP PCPIR) in Visakhapatnam-Kakinada Region spanning an extent of 603.58 square kilometers. A Special Development Authority by name Visakhapatnam–Kakinada Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region Special Development Authority (VKPCPIRSDA) has been constituted for planned growth of the area by making master plan, providing civic amenities, etc. The Krishna-Godavari Basin, located on the eastern coast of Andhra Pradesh, is one of the most promising areas for exploration and production of oil and natural gas. It is projected to be one of the largest oil / gas ﬁelds in the world. Keeping this in view Andhra Pradesh Gas Infrastructure Corporation has been created with APIIC.

Textile Industry The government of Andhra Pradesh had given a visible thrust to the textile Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

industry during the year 2009-10. With an out lay of Rs.47.87 crores 39 Integrated Handloom Development Clusters have been approved by the Central Ministry of Textiles which are being implemented with an inclusive approach to cover weavers, both, within and outside Cooperative fold, for skill up-gradation, common facilities, supply of basic inputs, design intervention, market support etc. to make the clusters self sustaining. The Pochampally Handloom Park with an outlay of Rs.34.00 crores has been set up in Kanumukkala village of Nalgonda district under PPP mode which is providing employment to 300 weavers. 1,17,866 hand loom weavers have been enrolled under Mahatma Gandhi Bunkar Bima Yojana which not only provides risk cover but also provides scholarships at Rs.1,200/- per annum to children from 9th to 12th standard, for four years covering 10,250 children.Under PMRY, Rajiv Yuva Shakti Scheme the state Government of Andhra Pradesh has agreed to one time waiver of loans sanctioned to the weavers cooperative societies and individual weavers duly making a provision of Rs.312 crores in 2010-11 Budget.

by increasing the number of industrial training institutes polytechnics, engineering colleges and other skill building institutions. The focus is on ensuring the training in these institutions is oriented towards the needs of industry. This will be achieved in many ways through collaboration with research institutes, setting up a technology exchange and setting up a technology development and modernization fund. Since technology transfer to small units is currently restricted by 24 per cent limit on equity participation by large units, the state government is lobbying with the central government to increase the limit by at least 49 per cent. So far, small scale industries in Andhra Pradesh have received Rs 1.5 Crore through technology development and modernization fund provided by the Industrial Development Bank of India.

Technological investment The state government had identiﬁed the need for meeting the demand of skilled manpower in the industries. As a part of this, government is investing as well as attracting private investments in vocational education and training 49

Bharathi Cement

Cementing the Base FOUNDED BY SAKSHI GROUP, BHARATI CEMENT HAS BEEN PERFORMING ON PAR WITH ITS COUNTER PARTS IN

CEMENT

INDUSTRY. THE GROUP IS CONTRIBUTING CONTRIBUTING UP TO

5 MIL-

LION TONNES TO INDIA’S GROWING DEMAND. HAS ALREADY SETUP

IT 2.50

MILLION TONNES OF PRODUCTION IN THE YEAR

2009. THE SECOND PHASE OF 2.50 MILLION TONNES WILL BE READY IN THE LAST QUARTER OF

2010.

ement has become the major component in the construction industry. Given the boost in the economy, the infrastructure sector is growing rapidly, because of which the demand for cement is rising on the ramp. In order to meet the growing demand for cement, Bharati Cement is contributing its share in the state and has also made its mark in the country at large. The manufacturing unit at Nallalingayapalli, in Kadapa district is a major boost for the company. Today the company is established in eight states by supplying the cement to Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Maharashtra, Pondicherry, Andaman Nicobar and Goa. Bharathi Cement is having a strong network of 1470 dealers and more than 2500 sub-dealers in these eight states. Bharati Cement has been co-promoted by India Cements Ltd., Dalmia Cement Ltd and N.Prasad, Vice-chairman and founder of Matrix laboratories Ltd. The Sakshi group brought Raghuram Cements in 2007 and renamed it Bharathi Cement. Today the Cement giant has opened 58 warehouses in the eight states and also appointed C&F Agents to service the dealers / customers with a commitment to deliver within 24 hours from the time of order placed. The company is using tamper proof imported PP laminated bags for supplying cement. These are specially designed bags which prevent the adulteration and loss of cement thus promising the total quality and correct quantity to the customer. To begin with Bharati Cements has invested in building a state-of-art technology plant using FLSmidth & LOESCHE. A Robotic Lab has been setup to analyze the raw material to ﬁnished products to make sure cement is of superior quality and the consis-

M Ravinder reddy, Director-Marketing-Bharathi cement

tency is maintained. The company has also invested in Vertical Roller Mills from Loesche, Germany for Coal Mill, Raw Mill and Cement Mill. These Mills will consume low power. In fact, the Cement Mill in the plant is the largest in the world with a capacity of 360 million tonnes per hour grinding capability. The Cement plant has good infrastructure to dispatch cement both in packed and bulk form. Bharathi Cement produces all varieties of cements like Ordinary Portland Cement – 43 Grade, Ordinary Portland Cement – 53 Grade, Portland Pozzolana Cement and shortly planning to start Portland Slag Cement. The Company has already tied up with Rayalaseema Thermal Power Plant (RTPP) in the state for Fly Ash which is used for the producing Portland Pozzolana Cement and Slag from Jindal Steels, Tornagal, Karnataka for producing Portland Slag Cement. The Road and Rail links are extensively used for connecting the plant directly for long distance transportation. Cement is also dispatched in Bulk tankers for major projects and RMC Plants. Bharathi Cement offers after sales service by deploying Mobile Vans (Mobile Construction Advisor). These Mobile Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Vans are being utilized to visit construction sites and advice consumers about good construction practices and offer testing facilities at customers’ door step. The Technical Team with Mobile Vans also educates Masons and Engineers about the technology and usage of Bharathi cement. As a social responsibility, Bharathi Cement is also giving Rs.1.00 lakh policy to Masons who participated in awareness programme. The company provides employment to 350 families directly and 1700 families indirectly in the country. The company had entered in to a Joint Venture with VICAT, a France based company. The Joint Venture is helping Bharati Cement to get the latest innovations, and state of art of technology for its facilities in the state.

Advancement in Technology The Plants at Bharati Cements has installed the most advanced German Technology the Vertical Roller Mill (Type 63.3) from LOESCHE, Germany. This mill has a capacity of producing 360 tonnes per hour and is equipped with a 6,700 KW gear box. The mill is designed to produce a range of high quality cements such as Ordinary Portland Cement (OPC), Portland Pozzolona Cement (PPC),Pozzolona Slag Cement (PSC) and Ground slag at varying ﬁneness. It has a rated capacity of 360tph OPC at 3000 Blaine and 300tph of ground slag at 4000 Blaine.

output and wear. The product quality can be enhanced by altering the classiﬁer speed. All Loesche mills can be started with grinding rollers raised. Metal to metal contact between grinding parts does not occur. Their quiet, smooth operation is appreciated. The most advantageous part for Bharathi Cement is that it has got abundant mining land at Nallalingayapally and its infrastructure is the best in the industry to explore the natural resource. Facilities like Railway Siding inside the Plant have also been created to facilitated.

Robotic Labs Exhibiting its technological excellence in the cement industry, Bharathi Cement has established a Robotic Lab at the Factory, which tests all Raw Materials, Clinker and Finished Product of Cement at regular intervals. This facility is ﬁrst of its kind in India.

QCX/RoboLab A typical QCX/RoboLab conﬁguration consists of a standard industrial robot placed in the center of a circular arrangement of sample preparation and analytical equipment. Samples normally arrive automatically from the connected automatic sample transport system, but may also be entered via operator sample conveyors or

special input/output magazines. QCX/ RoboLab offers a very high flexibility in terms of the number and types of equipment handled by the robot. Supported, fully automated preparation & analysis disciplines relevant to the cement industry include powder or fused bead preparation for X-ray analysis, particle sizing by laser or by conventional sieving, colour analysis, Carbon/Sulphur/Moisture combustion analysis, physical testing and collection of shift/daily composites. For the typical cement lab project a throughput capacity of 10-20 samples will apply; but higher numbers in one robot cell are achievable. The QCX computer integrates the system components. It identifies incoming samples, downloads the relevant samplehandling specification and controls all intelligent devices in the configuration. Sequence control includes priority handling, intelligent handling of equipment failure situations and much more. QCX/RoboLab (and QCX/AutoPrep) provides high quality in sample preparation and analysis. Quality not only meets the performance of ‘the very best lab technician’, but is highly consistent over time. Thus, there are no fluctuations from shift to shift in analytical levels due to small differences in the practical procedures undertaken by human operators.

The Largest VMR Cements Today Bharati Cement is incorporating the Loesche vertical roller mills, the most efﬁcient mills in the world. These mills achieve very high through puts. They are extremely maintenance friendly. Service tasks can be carried out quickly. Down times are reduced to a minimum. The Loesche grinding principle combines a horizontal grinding table with large tapered roller under hydro pneumatic loading- the best possible compromise between Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Infrastructure OVER THE PAST FEW YEARS, ANDHRA PRADESH HAD DEVELOPED REMARKABLE ADVANCED INFRASTRUCTURE IN ALL SECTORS. THE STATE OFFERS A WORLD CLASS BASE FOR INDUSTRIAL GROWTH WITH ALMOST MORE THAN

73 SEZS, WELL

CONNECTED HIGH SPEED ROADS, INTERNATIONAL

AIRPORT AND IT IS MOVING AT A RAPID PACE TO ENHANCE ITS INFRASTRUC-

RURAL AREAS PROVIDE UNINTER-

TURE IN THE TO

RUPTED ROUND THE CLOCK POWER, WATER AND OTHER FACILITIES IN THE STATE.

Punjagutta ďŹ&#x201A;yover

Industrial Infrastructure Right from the days of economic liberalization, Andhra Pradesh had grabbed every opportunity that came in its way and has proven time and again as the best destination for doing business in the world. Having developed a strong industrial base the state government is not only attracting more and more software industries but also trying to hook up the growth of manufacturing sector and moving forward to provide world class infrastructural facilities to make the State a manufacturing hub for national and international companies. 52

Bestowed with the responsibility of building infrastructure in the state the Andhra Pradesh Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd. (APIIC) was incorporated in 1973 with Authorized Capital of Rs.20.00 crores and paid up capital of Rs.16.33 crores. APIIC is a wholly owned Undertaking of Government of Andhra Pradesh. The Corporation has so far developed more than 300 industrial parks areas spreading over an extent of about 1,21,655 acres(including allotted area). Besides, the Corporation is also developing sector focused parks like apparel park/food processing parks/ Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

leather parks, Special Economic Zones in the state. The Corporation has also constructed 3500 industrial sheds, 4800 dormitory units, 466 commercial shops during the past few years in the state. Special Economic Zones (SEZs) are being promoted in different regions in different sectors such as manufacturing, food processing, agriculture, Information technology, textiles and various other higher degrees of specialization like pharmacy, biotechlology and electronic fabrications. These SEZs will not only generate employment in export oriented manufacturing sector but also produce high quality products on par with the world standards. Government of India has given approvals to 103 SEZs in Andhra Pradesh. Out of these, 73 SEZs are notiﬁed, 40 SEZs have already become operational. APIIC is developing IT / ITES SEZs at Visakhapatnam, Vijayawada, Kakinada, Tirupati, Kadapa, Warangal and also Ranga Reddy districts. The Government of India has accorded approval for development of Petroleum Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region (AP PCPIR) in Visakhapatnam-Kakinada Region spanning an extent of 603.58 sq. km. A Special Development Authority by name Visakhapatnam–Kakinada Petroleum, Chemical and Petrochemical Investment Region Special Development Authority (VKPCPIRSDA) has been constituted for planned growth of the area by making master plan, providing civic amenities, etc. The Krishna-Godavari Basin, located on the eastern coast of Andhra Pradesh, is one of the most promising areas for exploration and production of oil and natural gas. It is projected to be one of the largest oil / gas ﬁelds in the world. Keeping this in view Andhra Pradesh Gas Infrastructure Corporation has been created with APIIC and APGENCO holding the equity in the ratio of 51:49 respectively. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

APGIC joined the ONGC led consortium considering their extensive presence in the K.G. basin area and past experience in the ﬁeld. This consortium has participated in the bidding of all 5 blocks (1-deep water block, 4-shallow water block) and won 4-blocks i.e. 1-deep water block, 3-shallow water blocks in KG Basin in NELP-VIII round of bidding.

Transport Infrastructure To achieve accelerated growth of the State economy, major initiatives in the infrastructure sector are required. Accordingly, Government has taken up several projects in Road and Ports Sector. Andhra Pradesh Road Sector Project is being implemented with World Bank assistance for up gradation and improvement of roads. A prestigious project for construction of the second bridge across river Godavari near Rajahmundry including approaches, connecting road has also been taken up under PPP mode at an estimated cost of Rs.808.00 crores. Three more roads with a length of 520 km are proposed to be taken up for widening to four lanes under PPP mode with an estimated cost of Rs.3083 crores duly availing Viability Gap Funding (VGF) from Government of India. The Government has initiated some major infrastructure projects in the greenﬁeld sea ports as well as airports sector, under Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode, attracting huge private sector investments. India’s deepest Port Gangavaram Phase-I and Krishnapatnam Phase - I developed under PPP model have commenced commercial operations. The Government has also proposed to develop Vadarevu and Nizampatnam Ports. The ports are expected to handle an estimated cargo of 100 million tonnes per annum by 2011-12.

“We have taken up improvements of Rural Roads carrying low density trafﬁc in the year 2009-2010 with assistance from National Bank of Agricultural and Rural Development (NABARD). So far NABARD has sanctioned 2035 Road and Bridge works costing Rs.2452.72 crores under Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF), out of which 1829 Road and Bridge works costing Rs.1991.31 crores have been completed. Remaining works are under various stages of construction. An amount of Rs.3104 crores is provided for Transport sector in B.E 2010-11.” said, Galla Aruna Kumari, Minister for Roads and Buildings, Andhra Pradesh.

Power Infrastructure The Government accords highest priority for the development of power sector in the State. The present installed capacity in the state is 14,047 MW. All the existing gas based power projects have become fully operational with the commencement of supply of gas from the D6 block of KG basin. The stage 4 unit of VTPS has also been operational recently. With this, APGENCO’s installed capacity has reached 7587.9 MW, accounting for 40% of total energy requirement of the State. Keeping in view, the future power demand of the State, the Government has allowed the APGENCO to take up massive capacity addition programme of adding 17,558 MW. Of this APGENCO is already in the process of implementing 10 projects with a total installed capacity of 3946 MW. Besides, 10 more projects with a capacity of 13612 MW are also planned. APGENCO has bagged the “Indian Power Award-2009” instituted by Council of Power Utilities for overall utility performance in thermal generation. High Voltage Distribution System has also been implemented in 5.85 lakh Agricultural services with a 53

total expenditure of Rs.1,838 crores for reduction of losses and improvement of voltage proﬁle. The State Government is implementing Backward Regions Grant Fund (BRGF) with Central Government assistance. The main objective of the programme is to correct regional imbalances in development by providing funds for bridging critical gaps in local infrastructure. This programme is being implemented in thirteen backward districts in the State. An amount of Rs.383 crores is allocated for this scheme in the 2010-11 budget.

Infrastructure in Rural Water Supply The Government accords highest priority to provide pure and sufﬁcient drinking water to people residing in rural areas of the State. There are 72147 habitations, of which 51222 habitations have achieved full coverage. 16316 habitations are partially covered, 3571 habitations are uncovered while the balance 1038 habitations still have water quality problems. During the year 2009-10, 13,375 works were taken up with a cost of Rs.3019.75 crores to cover 9,513 habitations covering ﬂuoride affected habitations in rural areas and schools, with safe drinking water facilities. Out

Cranes installing power cables 54

of the targeted coverage of 8500 habitations, works in 6259 habitations have been taken up with an estimate of Rs.414.00 crores. The State Government is implementing the ﬁrst year of the National Rural Drinking Water Programme (NRDWP), a ﬂagship programme introduced by Government of India with an aim to provide adequate drinking water to every person in rural areas on a sustainable basis. The State Government have recently concluded a loan agreement with the World Bank to take up CPWS, PWS, solid and liquid waste management schemes in 6 Districts at a cost of Rs.864 crores. An amount of Rs.595 crores is allocated for Rural Water Supply in 2010-11 budget.

Urban Infrastructure Many policy decisions and initiatives have been taken to facilitate holistic growth of urban areas. The Government has taken initiatives to access funds under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM). The State has so far been sanctioned 268 projects with an estimated cost of Rs.12,525.45 crores. “Andhra Pradesh Municipal Development Project” is being launched with an objective to improve the civic infrastructure, particularly roads, drainage and water supply in the urban areas of the state at a projected

cost of Rs.1670 crores with World Bank loan. Government has completed the P.V. Narasimha Rao Expressway project with a cost of Rs.600 crores to connect the new International Airport with Hyderabad. Works are afoot for construction of Outer Ring Road (ORR) which is estimated to cost about Rs.6786 Crores. The state Government has been giving top priority to provide protected drinking water in all urban local bodies by strengthening the existing infrastructure and service levels. During last ﬁve years, 140 water supply schemes with an estimated cost of Rs.3320.21 crores have been taken up so as to achieve the per capita water supply as per norms in urban areas by 2010-11. The Government is also committed to bring in the Godavari waters to meet current and future demands of Greater Hyderabad. Besides planning infrastructure improvement in cities and towns the state government has worked towards making them inclusive and pro-poor. Under Indira Kranti Patham - Urban, urban poor families are being organized into 1.80 Lakh self-help groups in slums and were provided over Rs.2000 crores bank credit in the last two years to help them achieve better quality of life and to come out of poverty. Due to the growing number of vehicles and migration from surrounding rural areas, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam Cities are likely to face congestion if pro active measures are not taken quickly. Therefore, Government has decided to implement Bus Rapid Transit System (BRTS) under JNNURM in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam Cities. The cost of providing required infrastructure for BRTS in Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam cities has been estimated at Rs.152.64 crores and Rs.452.93 crores respectively. An amount of Rs.4313 crores is allocated for urban development in Budget Estimates 2010-11. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Tourism CAN’T GET ENOUGH OF THE LUSH GREENS AND THE PRISTINE BLUES? WELL, ANDHRA PRADESH WILL DELIGHT YOU. WITH ITS NUMEROUS HILLS, LAKES, BEACHES, VALLEYS, PARKS AND GARDENS – GET READY FOR AN ESCAPE OF A LIFETIME. IF ONE SEES THE OVERALL SCENARIO IN THE COUNTRY TOURISM IS THE LARGEST SERVICE INDUSTRY IN INDIA, WITH A

6.23% GDP AND 8.78% OF THE TOTAL EMPLOYMENT IN INDIA. INDIA WITNESSES MORE THAN 5 MILLION ANNUAL FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVALS AND 562 MILLION DOMESTIC TOURISM VISITS. THE TOURISM INDUSTRY IN INDIA GENERATED ABOUT US$100 BILLION IN 2008 AND THAT IS CONTRIBUTION OF TO THE NATIONAL

EXPECTED TO INCREASE TO

US$275.5 BILLION BY 2018 AT A 9.4% ANNUAL GROWTH RATE.

Lord Venkateshwara Temple, Tirupati

n a recent survey it is found that Andhra Pradesh has been the top destination for the Andhra Pradesh domestic tourism in the country. Though there had been a slowdown in the Tourism sector in the recent past due to disturbances and agitations, the department of tourism has never let it go down and had always been on the track with its new schemes and policies to streamline the tourism growth in the state. The state had achieved major strides in promoting the tourism industry and the Government view

this as a powerful growth engine. As per its vision declared a decade ago the Government of Andhra Pradesh, the tourism department in the state has left no stone unturned to make the state one of the choicest destination for the tourist in the country through its attractive tourism packages and other attractive initiatives and development programmes such as uplifting of old structures, like temples, forts, gardens and hotels in the state. Recently the department of tourism Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

in the state had conducted package tours covering 8 centers of Andhra Pradesh exploring new places in the state. The new tour package from APTDC ensures trips hassle free trips, comfortable and complete value for money. For this purpose a wide range of vehicles including 63 hi-tech coaches, 29 Volvo coaches, 8 air-conditioned hi-tech coaches, 4 semi-sleepers, 11 mini vehicles, 1 vintage coach & 10 Qualis are being used. Now, AP Tourism is also coming up with new Conducted and Package tours to give you more. The APTDC is offering tourism packages to Basara and has its budget hotel Haritha located in the town to accommodate the visitors. The tourism department is facilitating darshan of the deity at the temple and also arrange Aksharabhyasam for the children with temple priests. The APTDC is also taking tourists to nearby tourist spots like Kuntala waterfalls, 64 km away from the temple town. It charges Rs 720 per adult and Rs 580 per child from Hyderabad to Basara and back. Andhra Pradesh tourism has embarked on new and splendid initiatives, which has enabled it to figure as a prominent tourism destination the world over. It has a splendid coastline that extends over 1000 kms over the Bay of Bengal. From within the varied past and culture, the State houses beautiful old Heritage Monuments that reflect the culture and history of the State along with a trail of Buddhist glory. Andhra Pradesh flourishes from the scenic and beautiful hills of the Araku Valley and Horseley hills and transcends into a world of beauty, serenity and calm amidst the clouds. For the religious minded, Andhra Pradesh spreads from Tirupathi, Bhagwan Satya Sai Baba, Medak church, the monumental Mecca Masjid, to the Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

numerous temples that adorn Andhra Pradesh.

to facilitate creation of complete travel solution packages.

The Government views the Tourism Industry as an important tool for employment generation and propelling economic growth. Initiatives under rural tourism are underway in Pochampally. In fact, rural tourism has immense potential to create enormous employment opportunities in the rural sector.

In the Rural tourism sector, initiatives are underway for the Pochampally project, which will create employment opportunities for the weavers.

Over the past few years the tourism department in the state had conducted many exhibitions and achieved success in promoting the state as the most preferred tourist destination in the country. Some of these achievements of the tourism industry include:

The other signiﬁcant initiative which really gave a boost in the past is conducting familiarization tours with the Tour Operators of Baltic region, Germany, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand and Srilanka to aggressively promote the State of Andhra Pradesh.

Destination Promotion Shows have been held in Colombo and Bangkok, and they are proposed in Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Shanghai, Chicago, London and other American and European destinations for promoting the State as a national and international tourist destination.

Fairs & Festivals have been organized at the State and District level. Participation in various national and international fairs to showcase the State of Andhra Pradesh in the right perspective. Initiatives in areas of infrastructure building and development such as, ropeways at Srisailam, House Boats at Konaseema, Tourism Signage’s, development of tourism circuits and the development of Bhavani Island in the Krishna river at Vijayawada. International Air con-

Entered in to partnership with various international airlines like the Srilankan Airlines and Air India,

Buddhism circuits have been aggressively promoted in countries with signiﬁcant Buddhist population.

Borra Caves, Vizag 57

nectivity has also increased due to major international flights connected directly to major international tourism destinations like Frankfurt, Singapore, Kuala Lumpur, Colombo, Bangkok, Dubai, Doha Qatar, Jeddah, etc. On the occasion of the World Tourism Day, the Department of Tourism and Andhra Pradesh Tourism Development Corporation had initiated certain programs as follows: Flagging of the Vintage Car and Motor Cycle Rally at Lumbini Laser Show Parking Area. Flagging of six city tour Luxury coaches at Lumbini Laser Show Parking Area. Commissioning of the “Khair-unNissa” Twin Deck Luxury Cruiser at Hussain Sagar Lake. During the ‘tourism awareness’ walk organized jointly by the Vijayawada division of the APTDC and Westin College of Hotel Management as part of the Tourism Day celebrations, Mr. Ravindrababu said people must contribute their mite for development of tourism in the region, which had vast potential to attract people from all parts of the world. He said to give the much-needed impetus to tourism sector, the authorities concerned must groom the places identified in the region as tourist destinations and offer attractive packages. He said projects like the proposed international convention centre near Gannavaram, once completed, would bring in foreign tourists to the region. Picturesque destinations like the Bhavani Island must be further groomed to ensure a steady flow of ‘outsiders’, he said. Divisional Manager of the APTDC G. Ramakrishna said the three-day celebrations of the World Tourism Day, was aimed at shifting the focus on tourism sector.

Saina Nehwal the New brand image for AP Tourism K. Rosaiah and Tourism and Culture 58

Secretary Jayesh Ranjan greeting badminton player Saina Nehwal at the World Tourism Day celebrations where she was proclaimed Brand Ambassador for AP Tourism. Chief Minister K. Rosaiah said “the new tourism policy laid emphasis on attracting greater investment and while promoting new destinations in the State, it would also envisage steps on ensuring that the State retained its Numero Uno position in attracting the maximum number of domestic arrivals.”

The best travel agent/tour operator award was given to Southern Travels and while the best ﬁlm on AP Tourism was made by Laxmipathi Productions, Hyderabad, the award for the best tourism promotion collateral material was bagged by D. Dhatri, Warangal.

Marking the World Tourism Day after releasing the new tourism policy the chief minister Rosaiah said, “the policy will provide Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh as a premier MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions) destination in South Asia.” Tourism Minister J. Geetha Reddy recalled that while the State came ﬁrst in attracting domestic tourists for the fourth year in succession, it had also bagged six national awards this year. A signiﬁcant aspect of the new policy was that it provided special attention to the physicallychallenged, a fact that was not done so far. Compared to the manufacturing sector that provided 13 jobs for every Rs. 10 lakh investment, the tourism industry provided 78 jobs for the same investment. For their excellent work in the hospitality and tourism sector, Leonia Resorts and Valmiki Valley Vana Vihari Sthali in East Godavari district (most eco-friendly tourism project, Papyrus port (best theme-based resort) Inner Circle, Hyderabad, Varam Residency, Srikakulam and Lahari Resorts, Medak district (best maintained hotels), Fortune Murali Hotel, Vijayawada and Dolphin Hotel, Visakhapatnam (best restaurants), Pioneer Institute of Hotel Management, Hyderabad and Department of Tourism & Management, Acharya Nagarjuna University Guntur (best tourism educational institution) received the excellence awards by the state government.

Buddha Statue at Hussain Sagar Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

InfoTech THE IT SECTOR CONTRIBUTES TO ABOUT 49% OF TOTAL EXPORTS FROM ALL SECTORS IN THE

STATE

AND ACCOUNTS FOR TO

0.57% SHARE OF NATIONAL GDP (AS AGAINST THE NATIONAL GDP SHARE OF 3.83%). THE OBJECTIVE OF THE ICT POLICY 2010-2015 IS TO MAKE ANDHRA PRADESH ONE OF THE FRONT RUNNERS IN IT SECTOR IN THE COUNTRY.

Cyber Towers at Hi-Tech City

ndhra Pradesh has witnessed high growth in IT sector in the past one decade, due to the proactive initiatives taken by the Government in terms of creation of state-of-the-art physical infrastructure, provision of basic amenities such as roads, water, sewerage and power to the doorsteps of IT Layouts, availability of large English speaking and technical talent pool, lower cost of operation and innovative e-Governance programmes. Today, AP is a valued destination for ICT Industry and the State is acknowledged as

a global ICT Hub. Presently, the State accounts for 15% of national IT exports. As of 2009, total employment in IT Sector was 2,51,786 in the State. IT sector contributes about 52.09% of total exports from all sectors in the State. The Government is determined to make available the fruits of Information Technology and Communication across the spectrum of the Society. The Citizen Service Centers (CSC) Scheme involves setting up of 4,687 ICT enabled centers in rural areas covering all the Districts/ Mandals of the State. The scheme is Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

being implemented on a Public Private Partnership (PPP) mode with a view to provide all Government and other value added services to rural citizens in an integrated manner at their doorstep at an affordable cost.

ICT Policy With the expiry of last IT policy 2005-2010 in July the government of Andhra Pradesh had evolved a new IT policy 2010-2015 for the coming next five years to promote sustained growth of ICT(Information and communication Technology) sector. This new IT policy will not only enhance the balanced regional socio economic development but also to spread the usage of IT to the last mile of the State for the benefit of common man. The ICT Policy is effective for a period of five years. With regard to the provision of state-of-the art physical infrastructure of international standards suiting to the requirements of IT/ITES industry, certain incentives/facilitation has been announced in the Policy for the notified IT Parks/IT Campuses/IT SEZs in the State. Under the new policy, the government had given a new definition for the IT infrastructure companies according to which an IT Infrastructure company means the real estate Infrastructure developer or a builder, registered under Indian Companies Act, 1956, having core competency in constructing IT Office space for sale/lease or for lease-cum-sale to IT Industry for the purpose of IT activities by the IT Industry. Similarly IT/ ITES Park, is defined as an exclusively delineated or earmarked site/area of 2000 sq mtrs land and above managed and developed/to be developed with IT office space and other amenities and made available on lease basis for IT industry, to provide “plug & play” facilities as per the stipulations. And IT/ITES Campus is defined Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

as IT ofﬁce space and other amenities developed by an IT Company on its own land and for its own use According to the new ICT policy of the state IT Parks/IT campuses an undertaking to the Local Authority that the built space shall be sold / leased / rented only to Information Technology Units recognized by Information Technology and Communication Department and if any Information Technology Firm vacates the same will be informed to the Information Technology and Communication Department and subsequent lease etc., will be given only to the units recognized by Information Technology and Communications Department.

Performance In the last ﬁve years, the contribution of IT/ITES sector has had an unparalleled impact on the economy of the State, through multiplier effects on job creation, expansion in higher education, sustainable exports and incremental GSDP growth. Parameter

down. Lessons learnt from the crisis are incorporated in the policy. The State Government has, therefore, constituted Focus Groups with major stakeholders, i.e., heads of companies of various verticals of ICT Sector – IT, ITES, Animation, Gaming & Digital Entertainment, Communications, SMEs, IT-HR, ITInfrastructure providers, and extensively deliberated on the design of the ICT Policy 20102015, with these focus groups, Industry Associations, such as, ITsAP (Hysea), Vizag IT Association (VITA), National Association of Software and Service Companies (NASSCOM), CII, AMCHAM, TiE, and Indian School of Business (ISB), STPI, etc., The evolution of ICT Policy 2010-2015 is largely founded on this interaction.

ICT Investment Promotion At present, Andhra Pradesh State contributes to 15% share of exports and ranks 4th in the performance of IT sector in the Country. IT sec2004

2009

IT/ITES Export Turnover (Rs. crores)

8,270

32,509

IT/ITES direct employment

85,945

2,51,786

Total no IT/ITES companies

883

1206

8.64%

15%

AP Share of IT/ITES export turnover in the country

(Source: Software Technology Parks of India-STPI) Recessionary trends worldwide did impact the growth of the ICT sector in A.P also. Through, continuous consultations with the IT Industry and IT Associations at National and State level, Government of Andhra Pradesh has prepared strategies to surmount the meltdown. Focus on emerging markets, taking newer opportunities in international and domestic Sector, innovation and entrepreneurship are being perceived as key growth engines to get over the global slow-

tor contributes to about 49% of total exports from all sectors in the State and contributes to 0.57% share of national GDP (as against the national GDP share of 3.83%). The objective of the ICT Policy 2010-2015 is to make Andhra Pradesh one of the front runners in IT sector in the Country through (i) provision of congenial industrial friendly proactive climate for IT companies to locate, grow and sustain their operations most competitively in a hassle-free environment in 61

the State.(ii)creation of employment opportunities to the educated youth of all sections of the Society across all regions, (iii)achieving higher levels of export turnover resulting in enhanced productivity, augmentation of Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), (iv) To spread IT to nook & corner of the State, and (v) leverage Information Technology as a tool for the socioeconomic development of the State.

as an ideal investment destination, the initiatives which are planned include, creation of State-of-the-Art and affordable ICT infrastructure that provides an enabling“Walk to Work” environment for IT/ITES units to thrive and grow. The Government will strive to create such an infrastructure and also leverage the Public-Private Partnerships Model as a vehicle for development.

NASSCOM has projected the ICT market size and growth in ICT exports, upto 2020, as follows.

Providing industry-grade skill upgradation and training to the students to suit to the requirement of industry and for obtaining gainful employment. Support Research & Development, Innovation and Entrepreneurship in the area of ICT. Strive to make Andhra Pradesh as a location of preference for all types of ICT Companies, showcase inherent strengths, such as cost effective ICT destination with marginal operating cost, low cost of living and safe and secure social life.

The Global Sourcing Market will triple in size from USD 500 billion today to USD 1.5-1.6 trillion in 2020.(Rs.75,00,000 Cr.) The exports component of the Indian industry is expected to expand three-fold and reach USD 175 billion in revenues by 2020. Focused initiatives and innovationled growth can lead to additional revenues of up to USD 135 billion by 2020 The domestic Market for IT Services will grow to USD 50 billion. Focused initiatives can drive an additional USD 15 billion in revenues by 2020 Based on the projections made by NASSCOM, Andhra Pradesh aspires to achieve the following by 2015.

Widen the scope of ICT base by encouraging new verticals such as Animation, Gaming & Digital Entertainment, IT Products & Services in Engineering , Retail, Health Management, power & telecom sectors, etc. Encourage Start ups, Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs), Women and socially challenged communities, viz., Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes, etc. of the society, through unique incentives and facilitation.

Parameter

Target to reach by 2015

Growth of IT Exports

Rs.70,000 crores (US$15 billion )

Projected Annual Growth Rate

17%

Generation of new direct IT employment

1.25 lakhs+ (125,000)

Generation of new indirect IT employment *

5 lakhs+ (500,000)

*NASSCOM estimates that every direct job in IT creates four indirect jobs in other sectors of the society.

Promoting Andhra Pradesh as the “best” IT investment destination In order to promote Andhra Pradesh

Incentives In order to achieve the objective of promotion of Information & Communications Technology Sector as a prime growth engine for employment generation and overall socioeconomic development of the State. Issuing

orders under the new policy, government of Andhra Pradesh had ensured a healthy and friendly environment to enable ICT companies to set up, sustain, function and grow their operations in an investment-friendly, proactive, conducive and hassle free environment in the State. While identifying specific focus areas, Government has also pronounced certain incentives and facilitation measures in the ICT Policy. Taking into consideration the feed back of ICT industry, Government had issued certain operational guidelines and application proforma for transparent administration of various incentives to the eligible ICT industry/companies. All the incentives mentioned in the ICT Policy 2010-2015, except the incentive of allowing industrial power category conversion on subsequent/ additional/multiple meters/service connections, Power subsidy, exhibition subsidy, patent filing, and quality certification, would be applicable to IT industry, who commence the commercial operations in Andhra Pradesh, prospective to the date of issue of the orders on release of ICT Policy 20102015. The following are the specific incentives, available to IT Industry on application, (to be sanctioned on filing of application -Proforma, subject to fulfillment of eligibility criteria and terms & conditions, as stipulated):

Allotment of land All allotments of Government land to the IT Industry are made subject to availability, fulﬁllment of certain eligibility criteria by the applicant IT/ ITES company, and on payment of land cost & development cost, as determined from time to time by the allotment agencies, i.e., AP Industrial Infrastructure Corporation Ltd (APIIC)/Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Authority (HMDA) and the concerned local Statutory Authorities. There are 3 important eligibility criteria for allotment of land to IT Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

industry in Hyderabad Metropolitan Development Area, which include, (a) the IT company shall have been in operation at least for the last five financial years (b) shall have an existing employee strength of minimum 1000 in IT or 1500 in ITES/BPO activities on its rolls & sustained for the last two years, and (c) shall have a minimum annual turn over of Rs.50 crores, from IT/ITES activities from their existing operations continuously for the last two financial years. For the IT Product/R&D companies – the eligibility for allotment of land is that the company shall have the existing employee strength of minimum 500 on its rolls & sustained for the last two years, with a minimum annual turnover of Rs.25 crores or investment of Rs.25 crores and shall have been in operation at least for the last five financial years. The Product Company applying for land would have obtained approval for a minimum 1 patent/copy right and registered/ filed for approval of 3 patents/copyrights with the Competent Statutory Authority. For a company which is seeking to establish a base in Visakhapatnam should follow two basic conditions (a) the IT company shall have been in operation at least for the last two financial years, (b) shall have an existing employee strength of minimum 250 in IT/ITES activities, on its rolls. A product/R&D company shall have an existing employee strength of minimum 100. For companies that are planning to establish in Vijayawada, Tirupati, Kakinada and Warangal, they too will have to comply certain conditions, a few of which are, (a) the IT company shall have been in operation at least for the last two financial years, (b) shall have an existing employee strength of minimum 100 employees in IT/ITES activities, on its rolls. The land recommended for allotment shall be based on creating a Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

fresh direct IT employment of 500 and construction of 50,000 sft. of ofﬁce space for every one acre allotted within 3 years from the date of taking over possession of land, failing which the said allotted land is liable for cancellation and can be taken back to the extent to which proportionate employment is not generated For product companies the fresh additional employment to be created shall be 200 per acre on the land allotted. The new policy is also encourag-

of ITES and an annual turnover of more than Rs.100 crores for the last 3 years.

Power IT industry is classiﬁed as industrial units for the purpose of levying the industrial power tariff category. Industrial Power Category Conversion Certiﬁcate is accorded on all the Service Connections (Power Meter No), and exclusively used by the IT industry and Communications industry companies/units for their operations,

Cyber Gateway, Hi-Tech City

ing IT companies to establishes their business in the tier-III towns for which the IT company shall have been (a) in operation for at least two ﬁnancial years and (b) an existing employee strength of minimum 75 employees in IT/ITES activities, on its rolls. Another important observation in the policy is that the Companies availing the allotment of land incentive are not eligible for 100%/50% Stamp duty reimbursement.

Mega Projects A special and up front negotiated package of incentives, will be offered for mega projects set up by ICT Multinational Corporations (MNCs) and IT majors. Mega Projects are deﬁned as such ICT projects, with present employment of more than 1000 in the case of IT and 1500 in the case

even in multiple locations/meters. The effective date of application of the incentive of Industrial Power Category tariff, is from the date of issue of the said Certiﬁcate by Govt.

Patent Filing Costs The Government of Andhra Pradesh is keen to encourage the ﬁling of patents by companies located within the State. The Government will, therefore, reimburse the cost of ﬁling patents to companies having their headquarters in Andhra Pradesh for successfully receiving patents. Reimbursement of such cost will be limited to a maximum of Rs.2 Lakhs per patent awarded per year.

Quality Certiﬁcations The Government of Andhra Pradesh will reimburse 20% of expenditure incurred for obtaining quality certi63

ﬁcations for CMM Level 2 upwards. Reimbursement will be limited to a maximum of Rs.4 lakhs. Similar reimbursement will be made to BS7799 for security and also for ITES Companies for achieving COPC and eSCM certiﬁcation. The IT/ITES units/ companies can claim this incentive only once. A company can claim incentive for BS7799 or any one of CMM Level 2 upwards/COPC/ eSCM.

Technology &Market Support Government will support IT Exporters Associations, ITsAP, NASSCOM, ELIAP, STPI, IEG, or any such organisation (as decided by the committee) in the creation of Library for making

available material on trends in technology, market intelligence, research reports and analysisetc by contributing Rs.10 lakhs per annum for development of the SME sector by making such material available at these libraries.

Business Networking Government shall promote and encourage participation in international events by the ICT industry by leading a Government-Industry business delegation to the identiﬁed international ICT Exhibition & Conferences, such as Cebit, Germany, Gitex-Dubai, Outsource World (New York/London) Communic Asia, Singapore, Comdex,

USA, MIPCOM, Emmy, ATF, MIPCOM, MIPTV, ANNECY, GDC, SIGGGRAPH, Internet World, London, etc., in IT/ ITES /Animation areas, every year. Govt, along with industry associations, such as ItsAP, NASSCOM, shall hire appropriate Stall space to exhibit products and services of AP based ICT companies and help in their marketing efforts.

Sector specific Incentives & Facilitation for Start ups For the past two decades, the State has been producing talented and progressive resource pool, that need to be nurtured as young entrepreneurs. As a step forward in this direction, the following additional specific supportive measures will be given to Start-up companies which are promoted by budding entrepreneurs with creative ideas: 25% subsidy on lease rentals upto Rs.5 lakhs per annum maximum upto a period of three years, for the plug-and-play built up office space ranging from 1000 sft to 5000 sft, leased by Start Ups in STPI, IT/multi-purpose SEZs/ IT Parks(both Public & Private promoted). 100% reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid by start up IT Industry & Communication technology industry companies on sale/lease deeds on the first transaction. 50% reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid by start up IT Industry & Communication technology industry companies on sale/lease deeds on the 2nd transaction. Admissibility of Industrial Power category tariff. 25% power subsidy on power bills for a period of 3 years or Rs.30 lakhs which ever is earlier, from the date of commencement of commercial operations.

Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Recruitment Assistance of Rs.2.5 lakhs for recruitment made upto 50 IT professionals within a period of one year. Reimbursement of patent ﬁling cost to a maximum of Rs.2 Lakhs per patent awarded per annum 50% Exhibition stall rental cost will be reimbursed for participating in the notiﬁed national/international exhibitions limited to 9 sq.mts of space.

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) Small and Medium Enterprises are key propellers of competition, growth, and job creation in a global economy. More than 80% of economic activity forms part of the informal sector. In order to encourage the Small & Medium Enterprises in IT/ITES sector and provide a hassle free regulatory frame-work to sustain and grow, the following specific incentives have been designed, apart from the general incentives mentioned above. 25% subsidy on lease rentals upto Rs.5 lakhs per annum maximum upto a period of three years, for the plug-and-play built up office space ranging from 1000 sft to 5000 sft, leased by SMEs, in STPI, IT/multi-purpose SEZs/IT Parks(both Public & Private promoted). 100% reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid by SME IT Industry & Communication technology industry companies on sale/lease deeds on the first transaction. This incentive is not eligible in case Government land is allotted. 50% reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid by SME IT Industry & Communication technology industry companies on sale/lease deeds on the 2nd transaction. This incentive Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

is not eligible in case Government land is allotted. Admissibility of Industrial Power category tariff 25% power subsidy on power bills for a period of 3 years or Rs.30 lakhs which ever is earlier, from the date of commencement of commercial operations. Rs.10 Lakhs as recruitment assistance for employing minimum 200 IT employees within 2 years of commencement of commercial operations. Reimbursement of 20% of expenditure incurred for obtaining quality certifications for CMM Level 2 upwards. Reimbursement will be limited to a maximum of Rs.4 lakhs. Similar reimbursement will be made to BS7799 for security and also for ITES Companies for achieving COPC and eSCM certification. 50% Exhibition stall rental cost will be reimbursed for participating in the notified national/international exhibitions limited to 9 sq.mts of space. Tie up with reputed Business Analyst Firms to evaluate the strengths of SMEs - so that SMEs can market themselves for raising equity and for promotion of their products and services in international markets. Facilitate linkages of smaller ICT companies developing iche technological solutions with bigger firms capable of integrating innovations into existing platforms for endusers.

IT Product/R&D Companies An IT product/R&D company brings brand value to the State. Compared to servicescompanies product companies invest lot more with less people. People coming into the product companies are from the higher end of the technical spectrum and thus attract more investment/cost of operations/ payment of average salaries which are almost 6-7 times the services/ ITES companies. In order to encourage product companies, the following speciﬁc incentives are offered:

100% reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid by IT product/R&D companies on sale/lease deeds on the ﬁrst transaction. This incentive is not available in case Government land is allotted. 50% reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid by IT product/R&D companies on sale/lease deeds on the 2nd transaction. This incentive is not available in case Government land is allotted. Admissibility of Industrial Power category tariff. 25% power subsidy on power bills for a period of 3 years or Rs.30 lakhs which ever is earlier, from the date of commencement of commercial operations. Relaxed eligibility criteria for allotment of land, subject to availability as mentioned at Para 10(1)(ii) above. 65

Rs.15 Lakhs as recruitment assistance for employing minimum 150 IT employees within two years of commencement of commercial operations in the Tier-II cities. Reimbursement of patent ﬁling cost to a maximum of Rs.2 Lakhs per patent awarded per annum. 50% Exhibition stall rental cost will be reimbursed for participating in the notiﬁed national/international exhibitions limited to 9 sq.mts of space.

TIER-II Locations Visakhapatnam, Kakinada, Vijayawada, Tirupati and Warangal are emerging as Tier II IT hubs in the State. Tier II Locations offer significant advantage, in terms of cost of living, operation cost, availability of skilled human resource at low cost, low commuting time etc. This accounts for over 25% saving, as compared to large cities. To further promote Tier II locations and to motivate ICT industry to set up their operations, the following specific incentives are offered. 100% reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid by IT Industry & Communication technology industry companies on sale/lease deeds on the first transaction. This incentive is not available in case Government land isallotted. 50% reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid by ITIndustry & Communication technology industry companies on sale/lease deeds on the 2nd transaction. This incentive is not available in case Government land is allotted Admissibility of Industrial Power category tariff 25% power subsidy on power bills for a period of 3 years or Rs.30 lakhs which ever is earlier, from the date of commencement of commercial operations. 66

A subsidy of Rs.10 lakhs to the first five anchor IT / ITES companies, as identified by the Government, employing more than 250 employees in IT or 500 employees in ITES in any Tier-II location. Rs.15 Lakhs as recruitment assistance for employing minimum 100 employees within two years of commencement of commercial operations in the Tier-II city. 50% Exhibition stall rental cost will be reimbursed for participating in the notified national/international exhibitions limited to 9 sq.mts of space. Free City profiling and detailed report on advantages of each Tier II location for prospective investors and entrepreneurs; Organising exhibitions, conferences in Tier II cities and taking IT companies located there as part of trade delegations to domestic, national and international exhibitions.

TIER-III Locations To spread the usage of Information Technology and in order to see that the beneﬁts of Information Technology reaches the common man till the last mile in the State, besides above Tier II locations, all towns & district headquarters, in the State will be developed as Tier III locations. IT companies set up in such towns & district headquarters, are eligible for the following special incentives: 100% reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid by IT Industry & Com-

munication technology industry companies on sale/lease deeds on the first transaction. This incentive is not available in case Government land is allotted. 50% reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid by IT Industry & Communication technology industry companies on sale/lease deeds on the 2nd transaction. This incentive is not available in case Government land is allotted Admissibility of Industrial Power category tariff. 50% power subsidy on power bills for a period of 5 years or Rs.30 lakhs which ever is earlier, from the date of commencement of commercial operations. A subsidy of Rs.10 lakhs to the first five anchor IT / ITES companies, as identified by the Government, employing more than 250 employees in IT or 500 employees in ITES in any Tier-III location. Rs.15 Lakhs as recruitment assistance, basing on the level of employment generated, for employing minimum 100 IT employees within three years of commencement of commercial operations in identified Tier-III location, i.e., Rs.5 lakhs for first 50 employment generated in the first year, Rs.2.5 lakhs to the next 25 employees in the 2nd year, and Rs.2.5 lakhs for the remaining 25 employees employed at the end of third year. This incentive is available only for the first 5 anchor companies as identified by the Government. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

50% Exhibition stall rental cost will be reimbursed for participating in the notiﬁed national/international exhibitions limited to 9 sq.mts of space. Government shall strive to create Incubation Centres and IT Parks depending on need based requirement. Government shall take steps to see that the “e-learning” concept is widely used by the students in Tier III locations.

Promotion of IT Incubation Facilities at Engineering Colleges There are large number of Engineering colleges/other educational institutions geographically dispersed across the State. It is proposed to encourage their participation in the growth of local economy through involving local talent The engineering colleges creating Business Incubation Labs/R&D Centres/IT/ITES operations, in their Campus, are encouraged by Government with the following incentives: Admissibility of Industrial Power category tariff on power connection of the Business Incubation Labs 25% power subsidy on power bills consumed on the Power Meter of the Business Incubation Labs for a period of 3 years or Rs.30 lakhs which ever is earlier, from the date of commencement of commercial operations. Recruitment assistance of Rs.2.5 lakhs for recruitment of 50 local students in the Business Incubation Labs/R&D Centre/IT/ITES operation in their campus, within two years. 50% Exhibition stall rental cost will be reimbursed for participating in Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

the notiﬁed national/international exhibitions limited to 9 sq.mts of space.

SC/ST Entrepreneurs Keeping in tune with the philosophy and & commitment of the Government to strive for the upliftment of the socially challenged sections of the Society, i.e., SC/ST entrepreneurs, the following special dispensation in envisaged in respect of the SC/ ST entrepreneurs, engaged in the IT/ ITES activity, having a stake of more than 51% shareholding, in the said IT company/unit/activity.

sidy on the expenses incurred for quality certiﬁcation, limited to Rs. 2.00 Lakhs. Admissibility of Industrial Power category tariff (i) 50% power subsidy on power bills for a period of 5 years or Rs.50 lakhs which ever is earlier, from the date of commencement of commercial operations.

100% reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid on sale/lease deeds on the first transaction. 50%reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid on sale/lease deeds on the 2nd transaction. 100% reimbursement of Stamp duty and transfer duty paid on financial deeds and mortgages, etc. 33 1/3 % rebate on land cost up to Rs.5 lakhs, in IEs/IDAs/STPI/ IT/ multi-purpose SEZs/IT Parks (both Public & Private promoted). Reservation of 15% built up office space for SC/ST entrepreneurs in the Government promoted IT/ multi-purpose SEZs/IT Parks. 25% investment subsidy on fixed capital Investment will be given to SC and ST Entrepreneurs and additional 5% investment subsidy for SC Women and ST Women Entrepreneurs, with a maximum limit per unit of Rs.25 Lakhs. 8.5% Interest subsidy on Prime Lending Rate (PLR) will be given on the term loan and working capital subject to a maximum of Rs. 5.00 Lakhs per year for a period of 5 years for units which commence commercial production 50% sub-

Rs.10 Lakhs as recruitment assistance, basing on the level of employment generated, for employing minimum 100 IT employees within three years of commencement of commercial operations, i.e., Rs.5 lakhs for first 50 employment generated in the first year, Rs.2.5 lakhs to the next 25 employees in the 2nd year, and Rs.2.5 lakhs for the remaining 25 employees employed at the end of third year. Reimbursement of 20% of expenditure incurred for obtaining quality certifications for CMM Level 2 upwards. Reimbursement will be limited to a maximum of Rs.4 lakhs. Similar reimbursement will be made to BS7799 for security and also for ITES Companies for achieving COPC and eSCM certification. Reimbursement of patent filing cost to a maximum of Rs.2 Lakhs per patent awarded per annum. 100% Exhibition stall rental cost will be reimbursed for participating in the notified national/internation67

al exhibitions limited to 9 sq.mts of space.

WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS Women employees constitute more than 30% of the total working IT population in the State. In order to empower the women entrepreneurs to penetrate into the IT industry and show their mark , for the first time in the ICT policy the following incentives are envisaged: (For the purpose of application & eligibility of above incentives, Women entrepreneurs mean those units established as sole Proprietress or invariably having 51% share in the ICT Companies) 100% reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid on sale/lease deeds on the first transaction. 50% reimbursement of stamp duty, transfer duty and Registration fee paid on sale/lease deeds on the 2nd transaction. 100% reimbursement of Stamp duty and transfer duty paid by the industry on financial deeds and mortgages. 25% (33 1/3 % in case of Women SC/ST entrepreneurs) rebate in land cost, limited to Rs.5.00 Lakhs, in IEs/IDA’s, STPI, IT/multi-purpose SEZs/IT Parks(both Public & Private promoted).

units which commence commercial production Admissibility of Industrial Power category tariff. 50% power subsidy on power bills for a period of 5 years or Rs.50 lakhs which ever is earlier, from the date of commencement of commercial operations. Rs.10 Lakhs as recruitment assistance, basing on the level of employment generated, for employing minimum 100 IT employees within three years of commencement of commercial operations i.e., Rs.5 lakhs for first 50 employment generated in the first year, Rs.2.5 lakhs to the next 25 employees in the 2nd year, and Rs.2.5 lakhs for the emaining 25 employees employed at the end of third year. Reimbursement of 20% of expenditure incurred for obtaining quality certifications for CMM Level 2 upwards. Reimbursement will be limited to a maximum of Rs.4 lakhs. Similar reimbursement will be made to BS7799 for security and also for ITES Companies for achieving COPC and eSCM certification.

Reimbursement of patent ﬁling cost to a maximum of Rs.2 Lakhs per patent awarded per annum. 100% Exhibition stall rental cost will be reimbursed for participating in the notiﬁed national/international exhibitions limited to 9 sq.mts of space.

Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) To attract investments in IT, ITES and Electronic Hardware Manufacturing (EHM) units, Government of India, vide Gazette Notification has directed the State Government to create ITIRs. The objective of the Government is to create an ultra modern planned infrastructure which can attract ICT companies and Electronic Manufacturers to set up and operate in the most efficient manner. ITIR is expected to become a significant driver of economic activity in Hyderabad. Information Technology Investment Region (ITIR) will be established in Greater Hyderabad, in an area of 202 sq kms. An ITIR Development Authority (ITIR DA) and Special Purpose Vehicles under Public Private Partnership mode will be established for the execution of the Project and to ensure planned development.

Reservation of 15% built up ofﬁce space for Women Entrepreneurs in the Government promoted IT/ multi-purpose SEZs/IT Parks. 20% Investment subsidy on ﬁxed capital investment subject to a maximum of Rs.20.00 lakhs. 5%(8.5% in case of women SC/ST entrepreneurs) interest subsidy on Prime Lending Rate (PLR) will be given on the term loan taken subject to a maximum of Rs.5.00 lakh per year for a period of 5 years for 68

Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

NRSC

Orbiting High for a wider reach THE NATIONAL REMOTE SENSING CENTER AS A PART OF ISRO HAS BROUGHT THE FRUITS OF SPACE RESEARCH TO REACH AND BENEFIT THE COMMON MAN AND SOCIETY

DR VIKRAM SARABHAI, THE FATHER OF INDIAN SPACE PROGRAMME. MAKING ACTIONABLE, QUALITY DATA AND VALUE-ADDED SERVICES ACCESAS ENVISAGED BY

SIBLE ON AN AFFORDABLE AND TIMELY MANNER FOR NATIONAL DEVELOPMENTAL APPLICATIONS IS

NRSC. TODAY, SATELLITE TECHNOLOGY, THE PRIME MOTIVE FOR

PARTICULARLY THE GEOSPATIAL TECHNOLOGY INPUTS FROM REMOTE SENSING,

GIS, AND GPS

ARE

INCREASINGLY USED FOR PLANNING IN VARIOUS PRIORITY SECTORS BY THE

GOVERNMENT SUCH AS

IN FOOD SECURITY AND POVERTY ALLEVIATION; INFRASTRUCTURE DEVELOPMENT; DISASTER MANAGEMENT SUPPORT; AND WEATHER AND CLIMATE APPLICATIONS, NOT TO SPEAK OF VARIOUS OTHER SATELLITE APPLICATIONS IN COMMUNICATIONS AREA WHICH HAS ENABLED GREATER EMPHASIS ON TECHNOLOGY CONVERGENCE BRINGING MORE SOCIETAL APPLICATIONS SUCH AS TELEMEDICINE, TELE-EDUCATION,

VILLAGE RESOURCE CENTRES NOT ONLY THIS, NRSC IS CONTINUOUSLY UNDER THE PURVIEW.

UPGRADING ITS TECHNOLOGICAL BASE AND EVOLVE INNOVATIVE

laborating on the broad scientific and technological achievements of NRSC, Dr Jayaraman, Director, NRSC, throws light on various space applications, ensuing satellite missions, operational products & services, and also shares his valuable views with Amguth Raju, on the achievements of the prestigious Chandrayan-1, the first planetary mission of India. NRSC being a pioneer in space applications in India, how has been its journey since inception? Can you also throw light on how important is NRSC today from a common man’s perspective? Prior to merging with ISRO in 2008, NRSC was National Remote Sensing Agency, an autonomous society under Department of Space, Government of India. Merger has facilitated effective dealing with various scientific departments’ in the government sector. It has also enabled realization of our fullest potential by expanding our public good services in a cost effective manner. If we talk of applications, NRSC is the bridge between the technology developers and the users. The seemless integration of the products and services meeting the user requirements while at the same time, providing the essential feedback internally to the satellite builders about the increasing the needs of the users. In this, we are working closely with Government agencies, industry and academia to constantly upgrade our services and be up-to-date.

METHODS TO MEET THE NEEDS OF EVER CHANGING CHALLENGES OF SPACE RESEARCH INCLUDING FUTURE PLANETARY MISSIONS.

Through the National Natural Resources Management System (NNRMS) under the Planning Commission, we provide information services to various sectors such agriculture, water resources, urban development, rural development, ocean resources, cartography and mineralogy in a manner, which can be easily integrated with user services. For example, under the Bharat Nirman programme, we are working on Ac-

Dr. V. Jayaraman, Director, NRSC

celerated Irrigation Benefit Programme (AIBP) for irrigated command areas to ensure realization of full potential created by the Government. Similarly, on the rain-fed agricultural areas, our inputs for watershed development programmes has been quite significant, be it in Sujala Watershed Development Programme of Government of Karnataka or the National Watershed Development Programme for Rain-fed Agricultural Area (NWDPRA). You should be aware of missions’ such as National Drinking Water Mission or the Potential Fishery Zone Mapping wherein satellite remote sensing has become an inevitable operational tool. In agriculture, our inputs for Crop Acreage Production Estimate have become an integral part. In disaster management, NRSC has been identified as the single window delivery system and our operational inputs for flood management, Cyclone monitoring, drought assessment, forest fire mapping, landslide hazard zonation are well recognized. NRSC has set up a Virtual Private Network (VPN) using satellite communication to network with the stake-holders to deliver the satellite data in near real time. Making available periodic census of natural resources in the country through Landcover/Landuse mapping is yet another major milestone. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

We have also made signiﬁcant contribution in the National Land Records Modernization Programme (NLRMP), and National Urban Information System (NUIS) using high resolution satellite remote sensing and aerial photography/photogrammetry. I am sure, you would have heard of Bhuvan, the Indian Earth Observation web portal hosted by NRSC to provide an integrated service to the user community. I can go on adding many such applications.

real time delivery such as in weather forecasting and disaster applications! The demand is increasing with users becoming more aware of the potentials of remote sensing satellites, and ISRO itself is planning many thematic series of satellites in the coming years. In 2010, NRSC crossed for the ﬁrst time a land mark by supplying more than 50,000 products in a year. This is despite the fact that we have placed many of the products and services on the web for free viewing and access!

How do you add value to the data acquired by scientists from the remote sensing satellite?

During this year, NRSC has expanded its wings by amalgamating the Regional Remote Sensing Service Centres operating at Bangalore, Nagpur, Jodhpur, Kharagpur and Dehradun into its wings. In the coming days, this should further strengthen NRSC’s efforts to address the speciﬁc needs of respective states and their neighborhood in a more focused manner.. You are also aware about the capacity building efforts of NRSC to ensure absorption of these advanced data products and services at the user end. The Indian Institute of Remote Sensing located at Dehradun takes care of the long and short duration Education, Training & Capacity building and Tele Education needs, while the main campus at Hyderabad meets the short term training needs. You are probably aware that IIRS’s post graduation degree is awarded through Andhra University, Visakhapatnam, yet another feather for Andhra Pradesh!

We have a number of Indian remote sensing satellites launched in the solar sun synchronous orbit circling the earth 14 to 15 times a day. Our Shadnagar ground station acquires and archives remote sensing data from these satellites with acquisition efﬁciency greater than 98%. Data processing is another big job involving huge challenges especially in terms of near real time applications for the user. The raw data acquired is corrected for the geometric and radiometric errors introduced by factors such as earth rotation, satellite attitude variation (known as pointing errors, attitude rate and jitter errors) and the payload sensor characterization itself. There are many data processing and image processing steps involved in the process and I should tell you, they are very challenging! Finally, these data products have to be interpreted for deciphering the contents in the particular thematic domain. Here, we have many experts with domain knowledge in various natural resource themes. Ultimately, these classiﬁed thematic information are produced in map forms with relevant information content at suitable scale in a format and style user is looking for. I hope, I have captured the essential elements. Mind you, it is not so easy when you have to generate such products and services from different sensors, from different platforms, for different applications including those calling for near Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Is NRSC also providing services to foreign countries? And if so, how is it done and how many countries have you served so far? NRSC provides support to the ANTRIX Corporation under Department of Space in marketing the excess capacity from Indian Remote Sensing satellites to the foreign countries in setting up the International Ground Stations by supplying the needed hardware and software elements. More than 20 countries have been served through such commercial agreements in the past. In the recent times, we have done it in Brazil, Alge-

ria, and Myanmaar. Further, we also provide data services directly to those countries coming under our Shadnagar ground station visibility. Also, using the Solid State Recording facility available onboard the IRS satellites, we can image any part of the world and the recorded data is downloaded either at our Shadnagar ground station or at Svalbard ground station in Norway, where we have an agreement through which the data downloaded there is sent through appropriate media like CDs to reach NRSC for further processing. In the recent times, we are in the process of making a high-speed electronic connectivity between Svalbard and Shadnagar to download the data stored there in near real real-time to improve the turn around time of the products and services to the global user community. NRSC is also working towards setting up our own ground station at Antarctica and have a communication satellite link to download the data directly at our Shadnagar ground station. I am sure this will become a reality in the next 2 years. Tell us something about the Multi Mission Satellite Data Chain System being developed by NRSC and how do you think will this help in data services ? The essential feature of the ongoing efforts to have an Integrated Mutimission Ground segment for Earth Observation Satellites (IMGEOS) is towards process re-engineering our activities to have an improved near real time data delivery mechanism. It calls for a network centric approach with multi-tier storage system and automated processes to clear the products within a few hours after data reception. As mentioned earlier, ISRO is planning a constellation of thematic series of satellites for land and water resources management; large scale cartographic applications; and weather and climate applications. Our aim is to set up a uniﬁed system which will address the needs of these newer sensors in terms of varying data rates and formats etc. When in 71

place, IMGEOS is expected to revolutionise the data services delivery in a signiﬁcant manner. The activities are at feverish pitch and I expect the Phase I of IMGEOS to be over by early 2011 and the total facility to be ready by end 2011-early 2012. Can you tell us what Cartosat and Resourcesat are? Also, could you throw some light on the Aerial Services of NRSC? As mentioned earlier, ISRO provides constellation of IRS satellites essentially in three thematic series, viz., land and water; cartography; and ocean and atmosphere. The Resourcesat satellite comes under the Land and Water resources management series while Carosat comes under the carto series of satellites meant for large scale mapping applications. The Resourcesat-1 and the forthcoming Resourcesat-2 come under the land and water constellation and essentially provides multi-spectral data with 5.8 meter (LISS 4);, 23 meters (LISS 3) and 55 meters resolution (AWiFS) with appropriate swaths. The Carosat-1 provides 2.5 meter panchromatic data in sterosocopic mode which enables creation of Digital Elevation Models (DEM) and Digital Terrain Models (DTM), The Cartosat 2 series of satellites provide better than 1 meter data in panchromatic mode for local large scale mapping applications. We are currently working on Cartosat 3 satellite with around 0.3 meter resolution. NRSC provides aerial services with two of its Beechcraft 200 aircraft. We have been serving the civilian community in aerial photography and photogrammetry services for large scale mapping applications. The recent acquisition of a Large Format Digital Camera (LFDC) and an Airborne Laser Terrain Modeler (ALTM) has added yet another newer dimension to the capability of aerial services from NRSC. Many State governments in the country have been availing of NRSC services for large-scale urban mapping applications. In fact, neigh72

boring countries like Maldives and Emirates of Dubai have availed of these services. What are the budgetary allocations for NRSC during the past one year? NRSC as part of ISRO gets necessary budgetary provision by the Government. Our current annual budget is around Rs 200 crore. Also, we have many ongoing user funded projects. In all, it could be around Rs 300 crores for the past year,. This year, provision is essentially for setting up the IMGEOS which includes civil structures as well. We have also been able to earn more than Rs 40 crores as part of satellite data products data sales this year. What are your comments on Chandrayan-1, the first planetary mission to the moon? Chandrayaan 1 mission was the jewel in Indian Space Programme. It was meticulously planned and executed in record time. Building a spacecraft with state-of-the-art payloads from India and abroad; launching into a precise orbit and managing the mission operations in a precise manner has brought kudos to India and Indian scientists. Establishing a world class ground station with a 32 meter technology marvel antenna is yet another achievement. Finally, planting an Indian flag on the moon soil and above all, being instrumental in finding water molecules on the moon will be remembered for a long time to come. We also learnt quite a few lessons in mission management, which should go along way in our spacecraft design including thermal management aspects in the coming planetary missions. The morale boost, Chandrayaan 1 gave to the Indian scientific community and the enthusiasm it triggered amongst the student community augur well for the future Indian planetary missions.

Andhra Pradesh is one of the most progressive States and we are proud to be located here. You are aware that ISRO has also other units in Andhra Pradesh such as National Atmospheric Research Laboratory (NARL) at Gadanki, Tirupati and Satish Dhawan Space Centre (SDSC) at Sriharikota. Infact, several Andhra Pradesh based public sector concerns and private industries support our space programme through realisation of hardware and software elements. As I said earlier, we are also having an arrangement with Andhra University for awarding PG Degree for our IIRS students as well as the UN Centre for Space Science and Technology Education for Asia and the Paciﬁc (UN CSSTEAP). Many of our employees belong to the Andhra Pradesh, and you will be happy to note that the AP State contributes to largest number of students studying in Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) at Thiruvananthapuram. So you will see many more budding young scientists from Andhra Pradesh will join the ranks of ISRO in the coming days and will contribute to Indian Space Programme! We are proud to be here and support this state that is friendly, particularly to ICT. We also work hand in hand with the AP State Remote Sensing centre, which addresses speciﬁc needs of the state.

What is your message for this issue show casing growth and development of Andhra Pradesh ? Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

E2 Labs

Hacker of the Hackers ‘A THORN CAN BE REMOVED ONLY WITH A THORN’ IS THE OLD PROVERB, THE NEW VER-

E2LABS HACKERS CAN BE COUNTERED WITH HACKING. REFLECTING THIS PERFECTLY, E2LAB’S SION COINED BY IS

HAD EVOLVED A UNIQUE INFORMATION SECURITY SYSTEM WITH THE REVERSE ENGINEERING SOFTWARES.

n fact, the word ‘Hacking’ literally brings to mind a negative perception. And why not? It is of course a matter of concern when its purpose is to illegally peep in to one’s house. To counter such unethical elements, E2 labs had looked the term ‘Hacking’ other way around and is evolving new and advanced security solutions for a secure cyberspace. Today, E2 Labs is one among the fastest growing Information Security companies and 1st in Asia to start The School of Ethical Hacking in Hyderabad, offering the only Power Packed, State of the Art training & Services which caters to the current need of the hour all across the Globe on Information Security. E2 Labs was set up to ensure high morality in the cyber world, using Education, Technology and Experience to build a Cyber defense that is impenetrable. In an era when the world is networking on line, network protection is imperative. Having seen the recent vulnerabilities of security threat and increased concerns of Cyber terrorism, an entity like E2 Labs is the only source to counter such Cyber menace. E2labs had gradually developed on a step by step basis and today had reached to a level where it is not only repairing the existing vulnerabilities of networks, but also addressing vulnerabilities of the future. Sharing his views on the present Cyber security scenario and what E2Labs is doing and can do for a secure future, Mr. Zaki Qureshey, founder of E2-Labs gives more insights to Amguth Raju. Being one of the fastest growing Information security companies in Asia, how do you look at the Cyber security

Mr. Zaki Qureshey, Founder & Cheirman E2-Labs

scenario and what is the role played by E-2 Labs in strengthening the security in the preset Cyber world? Today E2Labs designs, develops and delivers information security training and information assurance services that meet Military, Government, Private Sector and Institutional speciﬁcations. In doing so, E2Labs has become the de facto standard for Governments and organization worldwide. Established in 2003, E2Labs is one of Asia’s leading Information Security Organization with Asia’s 1st Anti-Hacking Academy at Hyderabad, India. We have grown at the rate of 100% every year both in terms of revenue and clientele over the last 8 years. E2Labs has developed and customized its courses, seminars, conferences and symposia accommodating the needs of Information Security and Practitioners who are compelled to have a system in place to secure complex systems and business environments. To establish and contribute to a universal standard that has been adopted by Government, Military and Corporate organizations whose intellectual property secrets and infrastructure assets are Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

strategic targets for entities with malicious and criminal intent. We believe in vigilance and beating the attacker at their game. Our motto is “The best way of difﬁculty is through it.” Could you please throw light on how E2 labs had evolved since inception and what made you to venture in to ethical hacking business? It seems that everyone relies on computers and the internet nowadays — communication (email, cell phones), entertainment (iPods, digital cable, mp3s), transportation (car engine systems, airplane navigation), shopping (online stores, credit cards), medicine (equipment, medical records), and the list goes on. Have you really wondered? How much of your daily life relies on computers? How much of your personal information is stored either on your computer or on someone else’s system? How much of your personal information on social networking sites (Face book, Orkut, Twitter, more) are potentially secure?” Now a days apart from Cyber Crimes the whole world is worried about Cyber-Terrorism, Cyber-Warfare the total Economic Espionage globally due to various Cyber Crimes was around 1.6 Trillion Dollars. There is an alarming shortage of highly skilled information security specialists and vulnerability researchers working for government and software vendors. A recent study conducted by NASSCOM says, the expected demand for Cyber Security Specialist by the year 2012 would be around 2, 00,000, as in comparison to current availability of only about 22,000 professionals. So as long as the demand exceeds the supply the defenders will be failing to protect their systems against zeroday attacks. This in itself is a great motivation for aspiring students and professionals to take up this potential career option. One can hope to be as on the seventh cloud if one gives his/ her cent-percent. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

What are some of significant achievement of E2 labs during the past one year and what are the your present activities? The year 2010 is really a wonderful year for E2labs. We have had a special Honorary Award at TIECON Silicon Valley and have setup our World class Research & Development Centre at Banjara Hills. This center has first of its kind State of the Art Computer Forensic & Investigation Lab, a State of the art Biometric & Surveillance Lab, a real time PKI LAB as Registration Authority (Certifying Authority for issuance of Digital Signature & Certificates), along with a Dedicated Corporate lab for Technology transfer programs for Critical Infrastructure Authorities of the Nation such as Corporates, MNC’s, National Police Academy, Integrated Defence Head Qtrs, CERT, Governments, law Enforcements Agencies, Banks & Telecom. A part from this we also have a first of its kind Security Lab with A Brain Game Cafe.

police Academy, CDAC, Air Liquide to name a few. AstalaVista & E2labs have discussed several new initiatives on cooperation on Logic bombs, Zero Day Exploits for National Security and several such in discussions and Formulations. Can you also tell us about the ﬁrst of its kind School of Ethical Hacking and how do you think will this help in improving the Cyber security in the future? E2labs is proud to be the 1st Anti Hacking School in Asia and also the 1st Top 100 Companies of Asia by Red-Herring in Security, have got several Awards Nationally and Internationally to its credit have serious plans to open a World class Cyber Security University in Hyderabad by 2012. We will Outsource our Cyber Security Experts to Government, Banks, Defence, Telecom and Fortune 500 companies in the near future. And make India strong and leader in Combating Cyber Crimes, Cyber Warfare & Cyber Terrorism.

Could you please give us the details of ﬁnancial turnover, proﬁts and new investments of E2 labs during the past one year?

What are the major challenges faced by you and how are you planning to overcome them?

The new Investments are mentioned above in setting up of the R & D Centre? If its lucky E2labs would be part of a Big Security Player Globally.

Our major Challenges are to Improve the Curriculum as it changes with every Attack, Vulnerability, Exploit ? Do a thorough back ground Check to the Individual participants.

How is your business model working since partnering with Astalavista, could you please give more insights in to your Joint Ventures and MoUs and other business partners? E2labs & AstalaVista have conducted several Training programs Jointly the last one was 4th – 9th of Oct 2010.

What are the future projects and investments that are on the anvil? We are Expanding our presence in Middle-East and United States for our Services, Training and Outsourcing where there is a dearth need and demand. There are several Government projects in process and National Advisory services.

Which was the 1st launch at the Corporate lab under technology Transfer program and was applauded by the participants from National

E-Seva

Moving Towards Integration THERE ARE 1.50 LAKH TRANSACTIONS HAPPENING THROUGH E-SEVA PER DAY WITH A COLLECTION RS 20 CRORES RUPEES AS REVENUE FOR THE GOVERNMENT.

LIST

OF SERVICES CURRENTLY AVAILABLE INCLUDED

190 SERVICES COVERING INTEGRATING 30 DEPARTMENTS IN THE STATE.

he Central Government had formulated the National e-Governance Plan (NeGP) with a vision of providing all government services in an integrated manner at the doorstep of the citizen at affordable cost. To achieve this larger mission of the NeGP, the Department of Information & Technology (DIT), Government of India, has planned to rollout out 100,000+ Common Services Centers (CSCs) across the country especially in rural areas. This project is being implemented in Public Private Partnership (PPP) model to undertake this challenging task in the most effective way. Earlier e-Seva was the State government's pet project aimed at providing Government-to-Citizen (G2C) services has come of age as it already redeﬁned the delivering methods of government services to citizens.

20 crores rupees as revenue for the government. List of services currently available included 190 services covering integrating 30 departments in the state.

Today, the most important features of eSeva include measurable and enforceable SLA (15 minutes) tightly integrated with payment of contract solution provides spread across multi location of 311 urban municipal town and 200 villages in the state. Other important service include multi channel service delivery e-seva centers, Rajiv internet village centers and Rural service delivery points.

In consonance to the Central governments plans, the Common Service Centers (CSCs) are envisioned as the front-end delivery points for Government, Private and Social Sector services to Rural Citizens of India.

To provide Multiple services both government to citizen and business to citizen at a single access point, more than 30 departments and 120 services centers are available which covers Central, state and local government and private business services. The e-Seva department of the state had initiated multiple mode of payments which includes cash, cheque, demand draft, debit card and credit card at the e-seva centers. Today there are 1.50 lakh transactions happening through e-Seva per day with a collection Rs 76

Dr. K. Gopinatha, IFS, Director, EDS, E-Seva

Common Service Centers

The idea is to develop a platform that can enable Government, private and social sector organizations to integrate their social and commercial goals for the beneﬁt of rural populations in the remotest corners of the country through a combination of IT as well as non-IT services. The CSCs would be set up by private franchisees called as Service Center Agencies (SCA) – to be appointed by respective States. The SCAs would further appoint Village Level Entrepreneurs (VLE) to run and manage the CSCs in pre-deﬁned locations. The Scheme would be implemented in a Public Private Partnership Framework with a Focus on Rural Entrepreneurship & Market Mechanisms. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

The CSCs would focus on content customization and multi- lingual delivery of end-to-end services for income enhancement in rural areas. These (CSCs) are being designed as ICT-enabled retail distribution outlets for delivery of Government, Social as well as Private Sector services in the areas of Telecom, Agriculture, Health, Education, Entertainment, FMCG products, Banking and Financial services, Utility payments, etc. Each CSC is expected to serve a cluster of 6-7 villages, thereby covering more than six lakh villages across India.

The CSC Structure The Framework outlines a 3-tier structure for the CSC Scheme: a) At the ﬁrst (CSC) level would be the local Village Level Entrepreneur (VLE- loosely analogous to a franchisee), to service the rural consumer in a focused cluster of 5-6 villages. b) At the second/middle level would be an entity termed the Service Centre Agency (SCA – loosely analogous to a franchiser) to train, manage and build the VLE businesses.

to offer world-class services in rural India. Train village level youth to become entrepreneurs with focused training in business and IT management skills. Empower the rural citizen through information dissemination and market linkages. More importantly, the Common Service Centers (CSCs) have been positioned as 100,000+ organized distribution outlets for delivery of Government as well as Private Sector services. If correctly implemented, the scheme would serve to reduce costs, improve efﬁciencies and signiﬁcantly broaden the bouquet of services currently available to the rural population in our country.

CSC Project in Andhra Pradesh

the country with equitable distribution is the main aim of the CSC scheme. According to the plan 1 CSC is planned for every 6 Census villages in the state. As there are 28,123 villages in Andhra Pradesh, 4687 CSCs would be established across the State. In Andhra Pradesh, CSCs are called Rajiv Citizen Service Center (RCSC). In Andhra Pradesh, Department of Electronically Deliverable Services (EDS) is the SDA (Nodal Agency), to facilitate implementation of the Scheme within the State, to provide policy, content and ﬁnancial support to the SCAs. Andhra Pradesh (excluding Hyderabad District) is grouped into Six (6) zones. Each District will have 213 CSCs. GoAP has selected SCAs through competitive bidding process for implementing the CSC project in three Zones. SCAs have started rolling out the Centers in various districts. So far more 500 centers are rolled-out.

Establishing the rural Kiosks across

c) At the third level would be the agency designated by the State- the State Designated Agency (SDA) to facilitate implementation of the Scheme within the State, to provide policy, content and ﬁnancial support to the SCAs.

An ICT enabled CSC can: Provide citizen centric services of the State and Central Government in a convenient and efﬁcient manner through the CSCs across rural India. Enhance the accountability, transparency and responsiveness of the Government to citizen’s needs. Provide efﬁcient and cost effective methods of service delivery to departments and agencies. Allow private and social sector to collaborate with the Government Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Power DRIVERS OF FUTURE GROWTH IS LIES WITH THE AVAILABILITY OF RELIABLE POWER.

EVERY INDUSTRY, BE IT AGRICULTURE, MANUFACTURING, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY, AND THE SERVICE SECTOR NEEDS UNINTERRUPTED POWER AT A REASONABLE UNIT COST TO SUSTAIN LONGER.

WITH THE INCREASED ACTIVITIES IN EVERY SECTOR THE DEMAND FOR POWER IS INCREASING MANY FOLDS.

ESPECIALLY THE STATE OF ANDHRA PRADESH HAS BEEN EMERGING AS THE MOST POWER HUNGRY STATE IN THE COUNTRY.

POWER SECTOR IN ANDHRA PRADESH MET THE HIGHEST DEMAND OF

235.8 MU AND

PEAK POWER DEMAND OF

10880 MW DURING MARCH 2010 AS AGAINST 173 MU LAST YEAR. IT IS THE HIGHEST RECORDED POWER DEMAND IN THE HISTORY OF THE STATE.

Hightension Power lines

The farming community in Andhra Pradesh had undergone acute drought conditions for several years resulting in heavy losses in almost all parts of the state during the past decade prior to 2004. unfortunately, the government at that time could not come to the rescue of the agrarian community leading to the decline in the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP). Soon after the Congress government had taken charge in 2004, the then Chief Minister, late Dr.YSR had signed on the ﬁrst ﬁle providing free power to the entire farming

community in the state. It was a historic decision made by the visionary leader who studied the real life problems of common man especially the farmers in the rural areas during his 1500 km padayatra before coming to power. Earlier, the power sector had faced a lot of problems due to insufﬁcient rains which resulted in low hydro power generation. During the last decade inadequate capacity addition and low system frequency operation of less than 48.5 Hz for more than half a decade Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

considerably reduced the power supply reliability. The imbalance of the revenues against the cost of production, no signiﬁcant reduction in technical losses and energy thefts, high cost purchases from IPP’s, other SEB’s gradually worsened the ﬁnancial position of APSEB. Realizing the declining tendency, the Andhra Pradesh Government privatized the power sector in the state. Considering the Government of India’s Liberalized policy for attracting private investment into power sector, set up a high level committee in January 1995 to look into present working of the APSEB and suggest remedies for improvement. The committee after detailed deliberations with all the concerned and critical analysis submitted the report in which it suggested some recommendations, taking these in to consideration the Government of Andhra Pradesh embarked upon the AP Electricity REFORMS ACT in 1998. As a sequel the APSEB was unbundled into Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Corporation (APGENCO) & Transmission Corporation of Andhra Pradesh Limited (APTRANSCO) on 1st Febrauray 19999. APTRANSCO was further unbundled into “Transmission Corporation” and four “Distribution Companies” (DISCOMS).

The present installed capacity in the state is 14,047 MW, in addition to it 1286 MW is added this year. All the existing gas based power projects have become fully operational with the commencement of supply of gas from the D6 block of KG basin. The stage 4 unit of VTPS has also been operational recently. With this, APGENCO’s installed capacity has reached 7587.9 MW, accounting for 40% of total energy requirement of the State.

High Voltage Distribution System has also been implemented in 5.85 lakh Agricultural services with a total expenditure of Rs.1,838 crores for reduction of losses and improvement of voltage profile. During the past one year there were 271 un-electrified habitations and 4 lakhs rural households including 3.54 lakh BPL Rural Households were electrified under Rajiv Gandhi Grameen Vidyutikaran Yojana (RGGVY) at a cost of RS. 102 Crores.

Keeping in view, the future power demand of the State, the Government has allowed the APGENCO to take up massive capacity addition programme of adding 17,558 MW. Of this, APGENCO is already in the process of implementing 10 projects with a total installed capacity of 3946 MW.

During the past one year, since 2009-10, Transmission Corporation and Generation corporation have been doing a host of activities to enhance the power scenario in the state. Today APTransco owns 10 substations of 400KV, 97 substations of 220Kv and 286 substations of 132KV in the state.

Besides, 10 more projects with a capacity of 13612 MW are also planned. APGENCO has bagged the “Indian Power Award-2009” instituted by Council of Power Utilities for overall utility performance in thermal generation.

The Transmission Corporation also owns 31172 CKM of transmission line. The transmission system availability during the year 2009-10 was 99.89 per cent, which is the highest among the states in the country.

To meet the growing demand of electricity, more emphasis was laid on Power sector during the 11th Plan. Many Hyro Power and Thermal power projects have been taken up to build up the required capacity. Year after year, the demand for power among the population and the Industry is growing exponentially. The power sector in Andhra Pradesh is bifurcated in to APTransco and APGenco. Power substation Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

During the next 4 years, by 2014, it is proposed to add another 5 substations of 400 KV and 34 substations of 220KV and 107 substations of 132KV with a total investment of Rs. 5460 Crores. During the year 2010-11 itself, 2 substations of 400KV, 10 substations of 220 KV and 34 substations of 132KV will be added. In addition to the above APTransco has also taken up 21 substations of 220KV and 10 substations of 132KV with a total cost of 1155 Crores for various lift irrigation schemes being executed by Irrigation department. As part of strengthening and modernization of transmission system in twin cities, 3 substations 220KV, 5 Substation of 132 KV GIS and 2 conventional Substations are being constructed under JICA and PFC funds to the tune of Rs. 1600 Crores. APGENCO Being the third largest power generating utility in the Country APGENCO is next to NTPC and Maharashtra.

It’s installed Hydro capacity of 3703.4 MW is the highest among the Country. APGENCO had an equity base of Rs.2117 crores with 11,000 dedicated employees as on 30th June 2009. The company has an asset base of approximately Rs.17344 crores. In an attempt to unleash its complete potential APGENCO has embarked upon an ambitious plan of setting up 21 power plants with a combined capacity of 15, 900 MW and an investment of Rs 80,000 crores over the period of next ﬁve years. As on date, of the 21 power projects, 11 are in various stages of execution. The ongoing projects, estimated to cost Rs 25,000 crore, will have a total generating capacity of 4,363 MW. These include the Krishnapatnam power plant with an installed capacity of 1,600 MW costing Rs 8,500crore and 1,100 MW Kakatiya thermal power plant.

Even before the completion of the ongoing projects, APGenco is taking up 10 new projects, estimated to cost Rs 55,000 crore. The new projects include the Rs 6,000-crore 2100 MW gasbased power plant in Karimnagar, Rs 16,500-crore 4,000 MW ultra mega power project at Vodarevu and Rs 4,500 crore 900 MW hydel power plant at Polavaram.

DURING THE PAST ONE YEAR, SINCE 2009-10, TRANSMISSION CORPORATION AND GENERATION CORPORATION HAVE BEEN DOING A HOST OF ACTIVITIES TO ENHANCE THE POWER SCENARIO IN THE STATE.

TODAY APTRANSCO OWNS 10 SUBSTATIONS OF 400KV, 97 SUBSTATIONS OF 220KV AND 286 SUBSTATIONS OF 132KV IN THE STATE.

Power generation station, NTPC, Karimnagar 80

Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

APTRANSCO

Energising the State POWER IS THE CORE SECTOR THAT IS DRIVING VARIOUS MAJOR SECTORS TOWARDS PROSPERITY.

FOR ANDHRA PRADESH APTRANSCO IS A MAJOR POWER HOUSE TRANSMITTING UNRELENTING POWER TO THE RURAL, URBAN AND INDUSTRIAL SECTORS IN THE STATE.

The power sector in the state has undergone drastic changes during the past one year. For the past 6 years Transco has been providing free power to the entire farming community in the state. Apart from this, the government had also subsidised power to industrial sector to encourage more industrial investments in the state. “Over the past few years the demand for power is increasing manifolds. We met the highest demand of 235.8 MU and a peak demand of 10880MW on 24th and 21st March respectively during 2010. this is one of the highest power demands in the history of the state,” says Ajay Jain, CMD, APTRANSCO. Andhra Pradesh Transmission Corporation is the sole body in the state looking after the power transmission to domestic, agriculture and industrial sector in the state. “APTransco has recently commissioned Malkaram 400 KV substation. The Malkaram substation is the ﬁrst fully automated substation in the state, wherein the entire substation can be controlled remotely,” said Jain. The construction of this substation would provide quality and reliable supply to areas of Moulali, Medchal and Shapurnagar. It is part of Hyderabad Ring-main Transmission scheme which consist of 5 numbers of 400kv substation at Gajwel, Mamidipally, Ghanapur, Malkaram and Eddumailaram with a total transmission length of 450 CKM. The present load of Hyderabad and Ranga Reddy districts is about 2500 MW and is expected to increase to 5000 MW by 2015. With completion of Ring-main Transmission Scheme by 2013, APTransco would be able to meet this load of 5000 MW by 2013 itself. “As a part of strengthening and modernization of Transmission system in twin cities, 3 numbers of 220kv, 5 numbers 132kv GIS and 2 numbers of

Ajay Jain, CMD, APTRANSCO

conventional substations are being constructed under JICA and PFC funds to the tune of Rs. 1600 crores,” said Jain. Under the Rajiv Gandhi Gramin Vidyudikaran Yojana (RGGVY) programme launched in Andhra Pradesh, it was proposed to electrify 14,334 unelectrified habitations and 38 lakh rural households including 25 lakhs BPL Rural Households at a cost of Rs. 810 crores. “As on 31st December 2009, we have electrified about 13,215 un-electrified habitations and 26.70 lakhs rural households including 21.50 BPL Rural Households at a cost of Rs.671 crores. During the past one year we have electrified 271 un-electrified habitations and 4 lakh rural households including 3.54 lakh BPL rural households were electrified with a cost of 102 cores.” said Jain. He added, “Out of 61899 applications registered under INDIRAMMA urban household electrification programme, we have electrified 57485 urban households. The balance households which are left un-electrified are slated to be completed by the end of 2010.” Initiating further reforms, Transco has grounded the plan of feeder bifurcation programme on the pilot basis. The feeders will be distinguished clearly for Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

agriculture, industries and household purposes. “As the agriculture sector is suffering severely with the present supply system, the feeder bifurcation system would deﬁnitely enable 24 hour power supply in the future, if the pilot program is successful we shall gradually extend it to the other parts of the state” said the CMD. Transco has been adding 14,086 MW of power to T&D network every year as the government of Andhra Pradesh has taken up lot of lift irrigation projects, Transco has played a vital role in providing power supply to all these projects. During the past one year, Transco had added 61,367 Distribution Transformers and about 17776 KM of HT and LT lines were added during the same period. Around 89537 agricultural services were added during the period of one year and 9.5 lakh consumers were added during the same period. There are 88421 agricultural services which were converted to HVDS at a cost of Rs 269 crores and Power

Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Finance Corporation has sanctioned an amount of Rs. 388.02 crores and released an amount of Rs 116.43 crores. Under Part-A of R-APDRP for 113 towns covering four Discoms of Andhra Pradesh. An amount of Rs. 37.47 crores has been released as advance by PFC under part-B for strengthening distribution system and reduction of AT&T losses. Under the JBIC funding, Transco had spent 940 crores and constructed 8 JIS substations and built 2*400kV substations

and laid underground cable in Hyderabad as a part of modernization drive in the city. Associated EHT cable line for a length of 150 RKM of 220KV and 132KV cables are being laid. The completion of the above scheme by 2013 would be enable quality and reliable power supply to the citizens of twin cities. Tenders have been called for procurement of 2000 MW of power under case-1 bidding after obtaining approval of APERC.

Rural Development

SERP â&#x20AC;&#x201C;The Core Behind Rural Uplift DURING 2010-11, THE SERP HAS FACILITATED RS.2559.41 CRORES OF BANK LOANS TO 151580 SHGS UPTO OCTOBER 2010. UNDER THE LAND ACCESS INITIATIVE, AS ON OCTOBER 2010, RESTORING THE LAND RIGHTS OF THE POOR OVER OF

4.72 LAKH ACRES OF

LAND HAS BEEN HANDED OVER TO THE

3.85 LAKHS

POOR.

or the holistic growth of a nation, the Rural development is the core. Realizing this fact various successive governments have towards uplifting of this area. Initiatives like infrastructure development, Socioeconomic development, Educational development, Agriculture development were some of the areas which were focused.

Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) Rural development department in Andhra Pradesh has taken major initiatives, to improve the lives of people in the rural areas of the state. As a part of this initiative the Government is promoting Self Help Groups of Women and their federations as an effective strategy for poverty elimination and to enjoy a decent quality of life with dignity through a dedicated society Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

called Society for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP). At present the focus of the project is on the poorest of the poor (POP) with the convergence of line departments of the government on various components of like Land, Sustainable Agriculture, Dairy, Health & Nutrition, Education with MGNREGS. Project emphasis on sustainable livelihood issues of the poor with a focus on sustainable Rainfed Farming Systems(RFS) and creation of non-farm employment opportunities by reducing the risks faced by the poor through social safety nets and entitlements. There are 10978982 women in975362 Self Help Groups (SHGs) organized into 38334 Village Organizations (V.Os), 1099 Mandal Samakhyas (M.Ss) and 22 Zilla Samakhyas (Z.Ss). The SHGs in A.P. constitute 28% of all SHGs in the country. Bank lending to SHGs has rapidly increased from Rs.197.70 Crores in 2001-02 to Rs.6501.35 Crores in 2009-10. During 2010-11, the SERP has facilitated Rs.2559.41 crores of bank loans to 151580 SHGs upto October 2010. SMS system is introduced to capture loan disbursement and recovery details. The Government proposes to make each SHG member a LAKSHADIKARI by 2015-16 by mobilizing ﬁnancial support of Rs.1,00,000 Crores from the banks and promoting income generation livelihood opportunities. The major initiative of present Government is the PAVALAVADDI incentive to rural poor SHGs to repay bank loans promptly. Under this incentive Rs.776.08 Crores has been given since inception of the scheme. A new system is being introduced from 2010-11, the sanction and release of the Pavalavaddi amount through etransfer from central account directly to SHG savings bank account. A big achievement of the governAndhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

ment is to enact an ordinance to protect the women of SHGs from exploitations by the Micro Finance Institutions (MFIs) in the state. The SHGs in the state have been so far supported with Rs.922.70 Crores of Community Investment Fund (CIF) to improve the Livelihoods of 25,77,040 beneficiaries. Under the Land access initiative, as on October 2010, restoring the land rights of the poor over of 4.72 lakh acres of land has been handed over to the 3.85 lakhs poor. SERP has taken up Community Managed Sustainable Agriculture (CMSA) to sustain agricultural based livelihoods and to reduce the cost of cultivation by utilizing local resources by adopting local practices. CMSA is reached 7565 villages in 503 mandals of 22 districts in 2010-11 by covering 25.00 lakh acres by benefiting 10 lakh farmers. It is proposed to cover 28 lakh acres during 201011 by covering 10 lakh farmers. The flagship programmes identified under CMSA are, POP strategy, 36x36 models and SRI Paddy. In convergence with MGNREGS Rainfed Sustainable Agriculture (RFSA) is being implemented in 21 districts by benefiting 68,852 SC, ST farmers. During this year upto October 2010, our SHGs have procured a total of 22.09 lakh quintals of Agricultural and NTFP commodities worth Rs.227.49 crores. Dairy activity is a key livelihood for the rural poor especially women. In co-operation with APDDCF, the SHGs and their federations have taken over 199 BMCUs covering 4200 village Milk Procurement Centres with 1.50 lakhs milk producers by contributing 2.71 lakh liters of milk per day. Under Employment Generation and Marketing Mission (EGMM), total number of jobs created for rural unemployed youth upto 200910, is 226997. During the current year upto October 2010, placement were shown for 14224 thus totaling to 2,41,221. SERP has adopted a

participatory development approach to support the Persons with Disabilities (PWDs) among the poor by building their capacities to improve life skills and self esteem and formed 24,505 exclusive SHGs with 2,23,208 members. Through Software For Assessment Of Disability for Access Rehabilitation and Empowerment (SADAREM) all the PWDs shall be assessed a fresh recording percentage of disability. It is proposed to cover all the PWDs under Janasree Bheema Yojana (JBY) and formation of Srama Shakti Sanghams during 2010-11 in all the mandals under MGNREGS. Under Corporate Education for Weaker Section, SERP has facilitated total 19376 meritorious poor candidates upto October 2010. As a part of Gender initiative, in 517 mandals with the help of 12,751 Village Social Action Committees (VOSACs) and 332 Community Managed Family Counseling Centres 15901 cases of violence and injustice to women were resolved. Under Health & Nutrition initiative, 1100 nutrition cum day care centres established. In 5638 deliveries reported in the centres, 100% safe deliveries, 88% normal deliveries, no low birth weight baby born and no maternal, infant deaths happened. To create social safety nets and entitlements among the members of rural poor and their families and to absorb shocks in life, SERP has covered 91.00 lakh Rural Landless Agricultural labourers under Indira Jivitha Bima Pathakam (Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana) and JBY. Dr.Y.S.R.Abhaya Hastham is a Co-contributory Pension Scheme for the SHG women who are above age group of 18 in rural and urban areas to provide social security. Under this initiative, 43.13 lakh members enrolled and 3.75 lakh members were sanctioned pensions @Rs.500/per month.

Education THE AIM IS TO ACHIEVE CENT PER CENT LITERACY RATE HAVING SET THIS, THE EDUCATION DEPARTMENT IN THE STATE IS WORKING TOWARDS ACHIEVING IT IN THE NEXT TEN YEARS PERIOD.

AS A PART

OF THIS COMMITMENT, MANY PROGRAMMES ARE BEING TAKEN UP.

ONE SUCH INITIATIVE IS THE MID DAY MEAL SCHEME FOR STUDENTS UP TO TENTH. MODEL SCHOOLS ARE BEING ESTABLISHED TO ACHIEVE QUALITATIVE CHANGE IN PRIMARY EDUCATION.

FOR THE STATE GOVERNMENT HAD ALLOCATED

RS. 2830 CRORES FOR HIGHER EDUCATION AND RS. 9824 CRORES FOR SCHOOL EDUCAITON FOR THE YEAR 2010-11.

ith almost one-fourth of total engineering colleges in the country, Andhra Pradesh is abundant in quantity in education and is struggling to get on to the track of quality as it had realized its importance very lately. With the central and World bank funding, the state government is encouraging more and more colleges to come under the preview of quality standards. Today Andhra Pradesh is in the forefront providing quality technical education in the country. The state has a large number of engineering colleges

in the country. Unlike in the past, the AICTE has given permission to maximum number of engineering colleges in the state during the academic year 2010. Out of a total of 2400 odd engineering colleges in the country, Andhra Pradesh accounts to one fourth of total colleges to about 600 odd engineering colleges in the state. Now that the state is abundant with the number of colleges pertaining to technical education, we are focusing our energies to checkout the quality of Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

education being imparted in those colleges. In our experience during the past few years, it has been detected that many of the college managements in the state are not following the rules and guidelines of AICTE. It has also being brought to our notice that more than 60 percent of the engineering colleges are not equipped with sufficient infrastructure like lab facilities and classrooms. It is also observed that majority of the colleges are not employing well qualified teaching and administrative staff. To improve the quality of Technical education in all the private Engineering colleges, the state government is planning to constitute a task force committee to study and monitor the situation in the state. The main objective and aim of the task force committee would be to check if the college managements are following the AICTE guidelines or not. If it is found at any stage that any college management is flouting the rules, then immediate action will be taken against. As it is seen, during the past few years, students are increasingly aligning towards the Engineering courses. This has increased a lot of stress on the mind of the students as well as on the financial aspects of the parents. To contain and stop this kind of migration towards one direction the government is also promoting the Diploma and ITT courses in the government sector. During the past one year we have established 46 new diploma colleges and a number of ITI colleges in the public and private domain in the state. Another important aspect of Technical education in the state is the establishment of IIITs in the states. These IIITs are also called as Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Rajiv Knowledge Universities which are established in the three parts of the state at Basara in Telangana, Nujivedu in Andhra and Yidupulapaya in Rayalaseema. During the past two years, each university had an intake of 6000 students every year. Due lack of infrastructure, and inadequate faculty, the government had contained the intake to 5000 students to each university from the present academic year 2010-11.

Role of Higher education council The Higher education sector in Andhra Pradesh had seen a new dawn in the history of state during the past one decade. Realizing the importance of education, the government of Andhra Pradesh is encouraging the education sector in all possible ways it can. In order to deliver the plans and implement the programmes of the government, Andhra Pradesh State Council of Higher Education was formed in the year 1988 through an Act of the State Legislature to advise the Government in matters relating to Higher Education in the State. The council is also bestowed with the responsibility to oversee development of Higher Education with perspective planning and for matters connected therewith. The main objective of the Council is to coordinate and determine standards in institutions of Higher Education or Research and Scientiﬁc and Technical Institutions in accordance with the guidelines issued by the University Grants Commission from time to time. If one analyzes the past statistics, over the past few years it is observed that there is a growing interest among students to pursue higher education. The trend has totally changed. If not entirely, to some extent, Higher

education sector in Andhra Pradesh had suffered a lot due to the Telangana and United Andhra agitations. Students had to lose almost two to three months of valuable time during the past academic year. The role played by the higher education through the hard times of the past year really stands vital, because we were continuously monitoring the situation and have accordingly taken lot of measures to see that the academic year for the students is not wasted. Not only this, the department is also simultaneously carrying forward the usual work to develop the Undergraduate and Postgraduate education from Quality and infrastructure point of view. The Higher education department regularly conducts inspection of Regional Ofﬁces and Degree Colleges and also initiates the release of grants (GIA) to Private Aided Colleges in the State. Its role is also vital in the regulation and sanction of various types of scholarships. Number of courses are also being restructured by introducing need based and market oriented courses. Imparting higher education through Television is well received by the students. The efforts in producing and telecasting quality lessons through MANA TV channel (AP Govt. Education channel) is commendable and is praised all over the student community in the state. The work of higher education department is also commendable for it had put in its full efforts continuously to provide job opportunities/ placements to students studying in Government Colleges through Jawahar Knowledge Centres (JKCs). To improve teaching quality the higher educational department in the state is also conducting training programmes 87

to Principals/Lecturers/Non-teaching staff of Government Colleges for improving and refreshing their knowledge and skills. For improving the communication skills, team spirit and teaching abilities of the lecturers we are conducting English Lecturer Retraining programme every year. During the past one year, the government had implemented all the educational programmes which were already planned the previous year. The government had encouraged setting up of more number of Technical and Engineering institutes in the state. The government is focusing on to improve the quality of education. In consonance with the suggestions of Knowledge commission, the Higher education department is taking all necessary measure to see that as many new Degree and PG colleges are established in the rural parts of the state and encouraged more students to get enrolled for the higher education. As a part of this effort the higher education department had initiated the fee reimbursement scheme for the students. Similarly the department had constituted 10 new universities in all the three regions of Telangana, Rayalaseema and Andhra. In the recent past more students were going to foreign countries to pursue Higher education. Keeping this mind the government is planning the to provide foreign Degrees here in the State and the govement is working to collaborate with foreign Universities to set up their bases here in Hyderabad. Similar efforts by the higher education department earlier with government of India and had earned a new IIT in Hyderabad. Similarly during the past two years establishment of new institutes like Bits Pilani, RGUKT, and IIITs were some of the signiﬁcant achievement of the Department. In the college education sector, “we have taken many initiatives to enhance the infrastructure facilities. During the year 2009-10, 65 new 88

Degree colleges and 49 new polytechnic colleges were built. Merely, setting up institutions is not enough; we are also working towards improving the quality of education by way improving infrastructure and ﬁlling up all the vacant teaching positions in the universities and colleges of the state”, said, Biswal, Principal secretary, Higher education government of Andhra Pradesh. “Previously, we had introduced Jawahar Knowledge Centers in almost all the degree colleges in the state. Last year we had extended this programme to Engineering colleges. Earlier our focus was only to train the students to have awareness in the software and computer languages. Now, we have slightly moved a side to even train the students with a job oriented perspective” “This year we are planning to train 20 thousand students through JKC with job oriented courses for Central Government jobs in Banking and Railways” he said.

Initiatives of 2009-10 Keeping in view the recent devel-

opments in Higher Education, the Department started introducing need based, job oriented new courses like Biotechnology, Industrial Chemistry, Microbiology, Computer Science, Communicative English, Tourism, Advertising and Sales Promotion etc., in Government Colleges in the last few years on partial self ﬁnancing basis. Similarly PG courses, on self ﬁnancing basis, are also sanctioned every year on the basis of demand and facilities available. These courses are accessible to the students belonging to the poor and marginalized sections. To encourage women education, the higher education department is motivating the colleges to provide hostel facility to women students. Earlier, University Grants Commission had sanctioned Rs.10, 34, 02,795/for the construction of hostels in 14 Government Degree colleges during 2007-2008. During the past one year, 277 JKCs were established in degree colleges and students are trained in Communication skills, Soft skills, Analytical skills and Computer skills. Students belonging to the commerce stream have the opportunity of

Under graduate Re-structured Courses started in the last two years: YEAR

NO. OF COLLEGES

2008-2009

NO. OF SECTIONS

NO. OF COURSES

2009 – 2010

TOTAL

P.G. Courses started in the last two years YEAR

NO. OF COLLEGES

NO. OF SECTIONS

NO. OF COURSES

2007-2008

2008-2009

TOTAL

Achievements YEAR

NO OF STUDENTS TRAINED IN JKC

NO. OF STUDENTS SECURED JOBS

2006 – 07

619

354

2007 – 08

20787

4193

2008 - 09

27161

2088

9311

1588

57878

8223

2009 – 10 Total

Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

undergoing training in Tally Financial Accounting Package. Apart from the above programs under JKC, the Commissionerate initiated a short-term Accounting Executive Course for Commerce students. The main objective of this course is to provide employable and work oriented skills to students for securing employment. The duration of the course is 240 hours spread over a period of four months. Intensive training is given in Tally Financial Accounting Package, Communication skills and Computer skills. A total of 5998 students in 116 Government and Private Aided Colleges were trained. Campus Recruitment drives/ Job melas like Infosys, F&A ISBN were conducted during 2009-10. The Higher education department had taken several measures and motivated the staff and students of the colleges to obtain the accreditation from National Assessment and Accreditation Council which is a signiﬁcant and shining parameter for measuring the quality of the college. A distinctive feature of Accreditation of colleges in AP is the higher order of grades achieved by the colleges in the State reﬂecting the quality enhancement achieved. Out of 130 Government colleges accredited, 120 got grades at the level of B or above. The average grade achieved by the Government Colleges is one of the highest at the country level. The grades obtained by Aided colleges are equally good. Out of 92 colleges that were accredited, 87 got B or above B grade and remaining four got above three stars.

cent. The districts with 50 percent and below female literacy rates are going to be covered in this programme. To improve enrollment ratio for IX and X classes from 65 percent to 100 percent and to strengthen existing secondary schools, a new scheme called “Rashtriya Madhyamika Siksha Abhiyan” is proposed to be implemented from 2010-11 with central assistance of 75 percent . The state government is providing computers to schools to meet the growing demand for manpower with computer skills. An outlay of Rs.9824 Crores is provided for School Education Department for the ﬁnancial year 2010-11. The state government has been taking several steps in the direction of improving access to higher education while promoting equity and inclusiveness and placing utmost emphasis on the quality and relevance of subjects taught in the institutions of higher education. In the last ﬁve years, 18 new Universities have been set-up in the State. Government has also sanctioned 104 new Junior colleges during the last three years. These measures

represent an unprecedented growth in the State in the ﬁeld of higher education. Academic programmes and faculty development programmes have been started in association with Industries i.e., Osmania University with GENPACT, Andhra University with HSBC Bank and Government Degree Colleges with Infosys. The Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education has been conducting Career Awareness and Recruitment Drive (CARD) in association with NASSCOM and recruiting industries in the sectors of IT and IT enabled Services, insurance, banking, hospitality, tourism, retail sector, etc., with a view to create awareness about job opportunities available in various sectors, skills required to capture these opportunities and also to provide a common platform for recruitment. Government has decided to implement UGC scales to the teaching staff of Universities and Degree Colleges. An amount of Rs.2830 crores has been allocated for Higher Education Department in the 201011 Budget.

Sakshar Bharat Mission For implementing the centrally sponsored Schemes a new scheme called Sakshar Bharat Mission 2012 is proposed. The main focus of this programme is to eradicate illiteracy among adult women and to achieve 80 percent literacy rate by decreasing gender gap in literacy to 10 perAndhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Students enrolled under Rashtriya Madhyamika Siksha Abhiyan 89

Technical Education

Moving on the Quality Track WITH ALMOST ONEFOURTH OF TOTAL ENGINEERING COLLEGES IN THE COUNTRY,

PRADESH

ANDHRA

n an exclusive interview, Mopidevi Venkata Ramana Rao, Minister for Technical Education shares his views about initiatives taken by the government for the improvement of the Technical education in the state.

IS ABUNDANT

IN QUANTITY AND IS STRUGGLING TO GET ON TO THE TRACK OF QUALITY AS IT HAD REALIZED ITS IMPORTANCE VERY LATELY.

WITH THE CENTRAL AND WORLD BANK FUNDING, THE STATE GOVERNMENT IS ENCOURAGING MORE AND MORE COLLEGES TO COME UNDER THE PREVIEW OF QUALITY STANDARDS.

Andhra Pradesh is in the forefront providing quality technical education in the country. The state is abundant with a large number of engineering colleges in the country. Unlike in the past, the AICTE has given permission to maximum number of engineering colleges in the state during the academic year 2010. Out of a total of 2400 odd engineering colleges in the country, Andhra Pradesh accounts to one fourth of total colleges to about 600 odd engineering colleges in the state. Now that the state is abundant with the number of colleges pertaining to technical education, we are focusing our energies to checkout the quality of education being imparted in those colleges. In our experience during the past few years, it has been detected that many of the college managements in the state are not following the rules and guidelines of AICTE. It has also being brought to our notice that more than 60 percent of the engineering colleges are not equipped with sufﬁcient infrastructure like lab facilities and classrooms. It is also observed that majority of the colleges are not employing well qualiﬁed teaching and administrative staff. To improve the quality of Technical education in all the private Engineering colleges, the state government is planning to constitute a task force committee to study and monitor the situation in the state. The main objective and aim of the task force committee would be to check if the college managements are following the AICTE guidelines or not. If it is found at any stage that any college

Dr. K Lakshminarayana, IAS, Commissioner Technical Education

management is ﬂaunting the rules, then immediate action will be taken against. As it is seen, during the past few years, students are increasingly aligning towards the Engineering courses. This has increased a lot of stress on the mid of the students as well as on the ﬁnancial aspects of the parents. To contain and stop this kind of migration towards one direction the government is also promoting the Diploma and ITI courses in the government sector. During the past one year we have established 46 new diploma colleges and a number of ITI colleges in the public and private domain in the state. Another important aspect of Technical education in the state is the establishment of IIITs in the states. These IIITs are also called as Rajiv Knowledge Universities which are establish in the three parts of the state at Basara in Telangana, Nujivedu in Andhra and Yidupulapaya in Rayalaseema. During the past two years, each university had an intake of 6000 students every year. Due lack of infrastructure, and inadequate faculty, the government had contained the intake to 5000 Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

students to each university from the present academic year 2010-11. We are also focusing our energies to encourage other technical and Job oriented courses like ITI and Pharma, Computer, etc which will provide immediate job opportunities with less educational costs. The state and central governments are giving full fledged financial support to such courses. We are moulding and changing the courses in accordance to the needs of the Industry and strengthening them keeping in view the present advancement in the technology. In an another move, the state and central governments have come forward to provide financial assistance to those engineering colleges that are following strict quality norms. During the past two years the state government had provided Rs.

Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

2700 crores to the private engineering colleges for maintaining quality standards in the teaching and other technical aspects in them. During the past few years many private and government engineering colleges have been receiving the ﬁnancial aid from the World bank and the central government.

These colleges are selected based on the standards they are following in terms imparting quality education and maintaining highest standard infrastructure facilities. The future of the Technical education is very bright in the state. Andhra Pradesh will be know for its standard and quality of education in the next few years to come.

Pollution control Board

Ensuring environment Safety THE POLLUTION CONTROL BOARD IN ANDHRA PRADESH IS STRIVING HARD TO CONTAIN THE

n an interview Madhusudhan Rao, Member Secretary, Pollution control board throws light on the various initiatives taken up by the government to contain industrial pollution and ensure environment safety in the state.

POLLUTION CREATED BY THE VARIOUS INDUSTRIES DURING THE PAST ONE YEAR. THE BOARD HAD TAKEN SOME OF THE SIGNIFICANT INFRASTRUCTURE WORKS BRINGING IN LOOP VARIOUS POLLUTING INDUSTRIES AND CREATING A BASE FOR BUILDING A BETTER ENVIRONMENT FOR THE FUTURE GENERATIONS IN THE STATE.

During the past one year the pollution control board has done a great job and had taken lot of measures to control the industrial pollution in the state. Majority of the industries are concentrated in and around 4 districts in the state. We are regularly monitoring and visiting every industrial unit and have initiated them to take up pollution control measure. As a part of our recent initiative, we have installed an 18 Kilometer long pipeline to Amberpet nala. This project was a long pending one which had finally being executed. Significant policy thrust which the pollution control board had taken during the recent years is to verify the major industrial units on a regular basis and monitor them. We are also planning to build the necessary infrastructure and improve the existing links. For improvising MEEs, anti control equipment and common affluent plants we have brought about a substantial investment of Rs 350 Crores invested for the industrial improvement during the past one year. The Bulk drug industry itself had invested about Rs 225 Crores for developing the Common affluent treatment plant. This is a major break through because during the past 10 years period only Rs 90 Crores were spent towards this effort now with the new push up of this huge amount during the past two years we have really got a good boost to improve the industrial pollution control infrastructure. During the past one year we have taken sever action on all those units who are not complying with the pollution control norms. We have closed

Mr.K Madhusudana Rao, IAS, Member Secretary, Pollution Control Board

down nearly 45 bulk drug units and had initiated action against them for the disaster recovery caused by them to the environment. Another major initiative of pollution control board is to modernize the pollution detection process. We are planning to install online pollution monitoring units. These units are very advanced and can integrate together all the units on one platform to have an easier pollution check mechanism. Once the polluted solvent is put on to the equipment, all the values on different dissolved elements will be clearly visible along with their percentage content. We have already started online pollution monitoring system in Patancheru. On the similar basis we have also installed TDS. Release of pungent smell from the factories and industrial units is another major area of concern for the pollution control board. To monitor this regularly we have installed one smell detecting system in 10 industrial estates so far. We are planning to install 4 more systems and engaging more units to come forward in taking up the initiative and improve the surrounding environment. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Rural Development

Core Behind the Rural uplift RURAL DEVELOPMENT IS THE CORE BEHIND THE UPLIFT OF THE POOR PEOPLE LIVING IN THE RURAL AREAS OF THE STATE. THANKS TO

MGNREGS-AP, WHICH HAS REALIZED THE TRUE DREAMS OF

MAHATMA

GANDHI WHOSE VISION WAS TO SEE GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE DOWNTRODDEN AND ECONOMICALLY WEAKER SECTIONS OF THE SOCIETY.

uring the past few years the major initiative taken up by the Rural development department in the state is to improve the living conditions of the poor people living in the rural areas. As said by Gandhi ji, the father of our nation, the real India lies not in the cities but in the villages. Realizing this fact, the central government had taken up the most prestigious programme Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme. This scheme is unique one which is evolved through an Act in the parliament which guarantees work or job for the rural poor and pay them adequately on a standard wage scale. This has become a great success in the state. The magnitude of its success can be assessed by checking of the reduction of the Migration of the rural people in the state to the urban areas. Similarly the economic conditions has also enabled them to live a better lifestyles and now they are encouraging their children to go to schools realizing the importance of development.The role of Rural development department is paramount in implementing the various schemes relating to the alleviation of rural poverty in Andhra Pradesh. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Guarantee Scheme-AP is the ﬂagship scheme of the Rural Development Department. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act provides a legal guarantee at least 100 days of wage employment to the rural households whose adult members are willing to do unskilled manual labour. The ﬁrst phase of MGNREGS scheme was initially started in 13 district in phase-I which had began and lasted till 2006 and in the second Phase it was implemented in more districts of East Godavari, Guntoor, Kurnool, S.P.S.Nellore, prakasam and Srikakulam. In the third phase it was launched which was launched in 2008 three districts participated which includes West Godavari, Krishna and Vi-

SS Rawat, IAS, Commissioner of Rural Development

sakhapatnam districts. The programme has been grounded in AP on a strong footing of transparency and accountability and with the following non negotiable. Contractors and labour displacing machinery shall not be engaged. Every registered rural household shall be provided not less than 100 days of wage employment in a ﬁnancial year. Payment of the wages shall be made at least once in a fortnight. Equal wages shall be paid to men and women. Works approved by the local bodies viz.Gram Panchayaths (identiﬁed in the Gram Sabha) at village level, the Mandal Parishad at the Mandal Level and the Zilla Parishad at District level only shall be taken up.

Best Practices MIS: Management of Information System has come as a handy tool for the management of the NREGA employment guarantee programme in the state. The program is run on an IT enabled platform to make the system more accountable and transparent. This has minimized corruption and the time taken for various processes. Pay slips are generated in Computer and distributed to the labourers at their door steps. The Pay slips contain information about the amount of wages deposited in the post ofﬁce accounts of labourers. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Social Audit Andhra Pradesh is the only State which has established a full-fledged Social Audit Unit at the State level with exclusive staff. The unit works independently and reports to Government. So far, Social Audit has been conducted in 1095 mandals in 22 Districts in the 1st round; 854 mandals in the 2nd round and 277 mandals in the 3rd round. This is an effective tool to check corruption and to enhance the accountability of the implementation machinery to the people. So far, more than 9,000 functionaries have been either terminated from their services or disciplinary actions has been initiated for their acts of commissions or omissions. RSSR Rural Standard Schedule of Rates has been prepared by conducting work time motion studies. This is a first of its kind initiative in rural development and which ensures the earning of minimum wage by the wage seekers. Wage Payments through Post Office Accounts To avoid middlemen and to make the payments directly to the labourers the wage payments are being made through individual Post Office Accounts and now by Biometric Smart Cards. So far, 1.4 Crore individual postal accounts are opened. Biometric smart card based MGNREGS payments are being implemented in order to ensure timely payments and to minimize the possibility of fraudulent payments. So far, 99.00 lakh biometric accounts have been opened.

Major initiatives Under the Comprehensive restoration MI tanks the government has taken up 68,685 tank works so far 25,500 tanks have been renovated with an estimated cost of Rs. 6314 crores. Project Mode Planning of Works Project mode planning of works is taken up all across the state through Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

which works are identiﬁed on a ridge to valley concept. This system ensures good quality assets and results in a more purposeful way for monitoring and technical supervision of works. Horticulture Horticulture is taken up on the lands of the poor. So far, 3.91 Lakh acres of various species have been planted at an estimated cost of Rs 800 Crores. The ongoing SHM & APMIP projects are converged in this initiative. Mango, Cashew, Sweet orange, Sapota, Custard apple, Guava, Acid lime is planted under the MGNREGS horticulture component. Land Development An extent of 5.96 Lakh acres of fallow land belonging to SC/ST/ BPL families has been developed. Land Leveling, silt application, clearance of bushes, deep ploughing, etc are some of the land development works taken up. Special strategy – ITDAs (Tribal Region) Under the special strategy for the tribal areas the plantation of rubber has been taken up in the Rampachodavaram agency and coffee plantation in the Paderu agency so that the livelihoods of the tribal Particulars families can be improved. Total Job Cards issued

wage seekers and without leakages and which aids in ensuring that the wage disbursements are made to the labourers within 15days of the work. It obviates the problems of deficit of funds in some mandals and excess of funds in others. Electronic Muster and Measurement System (eMMS): eMMS is a system designed to ensure complete transparency in the implementation of MGNREGS by obtaining electronic data directly from the Work site to the Website on a day to day basis from all the gram panchayats. The musters and measurement related information is sent electronically and by leveraging mobile technology. eMMS is already fully deployed in two districts (Visakhapatnam and Rangareddy) and shall be implemented in the entire State by December, 2010. Live musters are uploaded to the server directly from the field and can be viewed in the web and verified on a day to day basis. An exclusive Quality Control wing has been established to the ensure creation of durable assets. A Vigilance wing is established in the Head office and in all districts to ensure transparency and accountability.

New Interventions

Total No. of works sanctioned

Electronic Fund management System (eFMS) eFMS is an electronic fund transfer system which ensures timely, smooth and uninterrupted ﬂow of MGNREGS funds to the

Total Value of works administratively sanctioned (in Crores) No. of Works Completed Total Expenditure (in Crores) No. of Households provided wage employment No. of Individuals provided wage employment Total person days generated (In Crores) Total No. of households completed 100 days –

During the year 2010-11

Cumulative

4,11,944

1,18,50,718

18,78,496

27,19,442

29,227

37,958

2,58,826

10,99,772

4277.25

13,490.47

60,74,988

88,12,008

1,15,48,593

1,72,13,443

31.4

119.3

8,07,007

31,59,504 95

Standing Tall WITH A HUMBLE BEGINNING A YEAR AGO, DR. K. ROSAIAH, CHIEF MINISTER OF ANDHRA PRADESH, HAD CONFIDENTLY TAKEN FULL CHARGE DRIVING THE STATE’S WELFARE AND DEVELOPMENT WITH FULL FERVOR. CHARAC CTERISTICALLY, THE MAN IS HIGHLY COMMITTED, RESILIENT AND A DEDICATED CATED LEADER WHO DROVE THE STATE TACTFULLY ON THE GROWTH PATH, MAKING AKING ANDHRA PRADESH A RESURGENT STATE OVERCOMING ALL THE HURDLES LES.

espite of hard times and inconvenient moments, the Chief Minister had stood tall and focused his concentration on the growth and development of the state. Andhra Pradesh has been witness to natural calamities, market collapses and political unrest in the past one year, but has still managed to pull through with ﬂying colours. With unwavering dedication towards the betterment of the state, Dr. Rosaiah, has been successful in overcoming setbacks and to get back on the growth track. Today, after journeying a time period of 54 years Andhra Pradesh has reached the pinnacle in every sector. Thanks to the liberalization era of 1990’s, the State had truly utilized the opportunity provided by the economic reforms and took no time to assimilate its true essence. To begin with, drastic strides were taken in the IT sector, which was followed by Infrastructure, Pharma, Biotechnology and Manufacturing sectors. Soon after the decade passed, Dr.late Y.S.R, the former chief Minister who was the champion of the poor, had further taken the fruits of development to the common man. With his initiation welfare programmes like Housing, Pensions, Loans, Irrigation, Power for the farming sector, are some of the initial programmes. Then, followed the initiatives in the health care sector. Never before in the history of the state, Andhra Pradesh 96

had launched the Rajivv Arogya sri health insurrance scheme meant for treating the poor people suffering from chronic ailments. This is one highlight of the congress government which was appreciated and applauded across the domains. In the development front, the government had taken Jalayagnam as the flagship programme me on a prestigious note to uplift the irrigation sector ctor and bring greenery to the large barren uplands of the state. In the industrial front thee State had achieved 73 SEZs all of which are notified, large ge industries like Manufacturing giants ants and other Multi National companies nies have made their base in thee State. Over all in spite of all the up p heavels the Andhra Pradesh is running ning in the right track towards prosperity rity and growth. Hope the same pace will be carried forward and peace prevail evail for the coming years. All credit it goes to the Great resilient leader Dr K. Rosaiah who came in right time e of trouble and handled the situation well in his own ding tall and style. Today he is standing olution of astute with a firm resolution equitable growth and prosperity for the state. Release Order No.1657/Sou/Advt.I/2010-11

Dr. K. Rosaiah, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh

A dh P d hC l b ti 2010 Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

During the past one year since November 2009 to October 2010, the sector which have show outstanding performance in the state includes Agriculture, Infrastructure, Irrigation, health, Education, Transportation, IT, Civil supplies and other welfare departments of Rural development.

Agriculture The Agriculture department has achieved the maximum production in spite of severe drought and ﬂoods during the past one year. The State of Andhra Pradesh had come out with a new Agricultural action plan for the year 2009-10. As it is witnessed, there has been a consistent increase in agriculture production and the sector is contributing around 13.4 percent to the GSDP over the past few years . The consistent increase in agriculture production is mainly attributed to several innovative strategies followed by the government coupled with favorable weather conditions. The year 2008-09 had been exceedingly favorable and Andhra Pradesh had achieved an all time high record food grain production of about 205 lakh MT.

116.76 lakh ha. (92.5% to normal) and the estimated food grain production was 152.93 lakh tonnes as against the normal of 173.62 lakh tonnes (88% to normal). Government has nominated APMARKFED as nodal agency for maintenance of buffer stocks to meet requirements in case of exigency. APMARKFED is holding 0.62 LMTs of DAP, 0.92 LMTs of Complex Fertilizers. M/s NFCL is maintaining 0.50 LMTs of Urea as buffer stock. The government has proposed to extend a credit of Rs.41, 913 crore for Agriculture during the year 2010-11. The target under crop loan, agriculture term loan and allied activities is Rs.26261 crore, Rs.8,538 crore and Rs.7,114 crore respectively, totaling to Rs.41,913 crores for the year 2010.

As on 31st March 2010 agricultural advances have registered a growth of 169 percent with Rs.68658 crore during past 5 years. Lending exceeded targets both under Kharif and Rabi. The government is also continuing with free power supply to farmers since 2004 without break. The area under paddy cultivation had increased considerably this year due to the increase in irrigated area and completion of several irrigation projects. Paddy was being cultivated in 28 lakh hectares and rice production projected at 83.86 lakh tonnes in the current Kharif. This showed that the ambitious Jalayagnam program is already paying good dividends to the farming community.

During Kharif-2010, the state planned to supply 29.00 lakh quintals of various crop seeds out of which 18.16 lakh quintals of seed will be supplied to farmers on a subsidy of Rs.207.71 crore under various schemes through input supplying agencies. As per approved plan of 36.50 lakh tonnes of fertilizers, 7.08 lakh tonnes are made available in all the districts. The stocks available in all the districts as on date are 5.71 lakh tonnes. For increasing the productivity and production of various crops, the department of agriculture had formulated an action plan during the year 2009-10. Carrying forward the momentum the State government had given top priory to agriculture even for the year 2010-11. The area covered under agriculture during 2009-10 was 108.08 lakh hectares as against the normal of Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Dr. K. Rosaiah, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh addressing at a meeting

Food security and Farmers welfare are the two important areas of our agenda. Earlier, a meager amount of Rs 9000 crores was spent for agriculture sector during 2003-04 whereas Rs.38,000 crores has been spent during 2009-10. It clearly shows our commitment towards farmers and our government is committed for Rythu Rajyam established by Dr.Y.S.Rajasekhara Reddy. Release Order No.1657/Sou/Advt.I/2010-11

The government is planning to take up the ‘Rythu Sadassus’ in all the 79 revenue divisions from 7th to 11th June 2010. ‘Rythu Chaitanya Yatras’ would cover 50,083 villages and 50 lakh farmers and the Rythu Sadassus would be attended by four lakh farmers in each division. During the past one year Cotton was being grown in 11.10 lakh hectares with a production target of 34.28 lakh tonnes. 97

enforcing better road safety measures. A special recruitment drive for appointing Junior Assistants and Constables is also on cards. The government had decided to computerise all the 38 MVI ofﬁces in the state. It is also proposed the APSRTC should establish Vehicle Fitness Centres in a phased manner under the control of Transport department. The government has also asked HMDA and VUDA to take up the construction of bus stands for contract carriages buses.

Busy trafﬁc on the road at a junction

EVERY YEAR, RTA IN ANDHRA PRADESH ISSUES 5.50 LAKH LICENCES, REGISTERS 9.90 LAKH VEHICLES AND GRANTS PERMITS TO

2.02 LAKH

VEHICLES. IT DELIVERS

43 RTO OFFICES AND 42 UNIT OFFICES AND 37 MVI OFFICES. IT CONDUCTS 28,000 TRANSSERVICES THROUGH

ACTIONS PER DAY AND THE COMPUTERIZATION HAS ENABLED FASTER ACCESS, GREATER TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY

Pulses were sown in 9.08 lakh hectares with a production target of 4.26 lakh tonnes. Oil seeds were sown in 20.44 lakh hectares with a production target of 15.86 lakh tonnes this season.

Network of Transports system For the fast development of a nation or a state the availability of roads and other transport infrastructure is very essential. In fact the strong transport infrastructure reﬂects the true development of a nation. Not only that, the congested and busy roads and rail trafﬁc not only leads to loss of time energy, money but also the precious lives in the form of increased accidents. The government has been concerned about the continuing road accidents and loss of innocent lives. It has been decided to reconstitute a Road Safety Council to coordinate with all the concerned departments to ensure road safety in the State. It is also decided to establish Andhra Pradesh Road Safety Authority and bring in legislation to provide all authority and powers to the proposed Authority. Road Transport Authority is permitted to hire larger vehicles for effective enforcement. Rs.9.30 crores has been allocated for strengthening and

Release Order No.1657/Sou/Advt.I/2010-11

Every year, RTA in Andhra Pradesh issues 5.50 lakh licences, registers 9.90 lakh vehicles and grants permits to 2.02 lakh vehicles. It delivers services through 43 RTO offices and 42 Unit Offices and 37 MVI offices. It conducts 28,000 Transactions per day and the computerization has enabled faster access, greater transparency and accountability. Scientific Driving Tracks have been established in all districts with Slot booking for driving test and Licences are delivered through speed post. In 1998-99, RTA earned only Rs.377 crores while it shot up to Rs.2007 crores during 2009-10 and the target is Rs.2778 crores for the year 2010-11.

Civil Supplies Civil supplies is the another important department in the sate which is ensuring proper supply of essential commodities on a subsidized rate to the poor people in the state. Over the past one year the Civil Supplies Department has been directed to verify the requests for 7, 61,647 new ration cards. The transparent de-duplication of ration cards drive conducted by the Civil Supplies Department through Iris system and Grama Sabha has found that there are over 19,09,348 duplicate or ineligible ration cards with corresponding units of 21,79,859. The number of BPL cards surveyed and data entered are 20,333,051 with a corresponding unit of 72,963,577. Andhra Pradesh is the ﬁrst State porting the entire ration card database online. Out of 5.8 Crores Iris biometric databases, 4.7 Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Crores has been identiﬁed as unique after the de-duplication. Measures have been taken to check Sugar prices which touched Rs.40.05 per kg and have now come down to Rs.30.54 per kg. Compared to the previous month, it has fallen by Rs.3.26 per kg. Price of onions is also showing a downward trend. Increase in prices of some of these commodities is due to wide gap between production and requirement. Due to severe drought and unprecedented ﬂoods in some districts, overall Food Production in the State declined to 153 Lakh MTs from 204 lakh MTs of last year. Rice Production has fallen to 106 Lakh MTs from 142 Lakh Mts. The Group of Ministers in the meeting decided that as per the decision taken earlier, the MARKFED should purchase the total quantity of 50,000 tonnes of red gram under commercial operations by taking cash credit. As far as Deepam scheme is concerned, 4 Lakh new connections have been sanctioned recently.

Infrastructure One department which has shown speedy implementation of its projects and policies is the infrastructure department. Over the past one year and prior to that many great infrastructural marvels have come in to development. Andhra Pradesh would receive a major boost to infrastructure development in its sustenance to become the Preferred Global Sourcing Hub for Apparel industry in the country. The State is projected to attract overall investment of Rs.70,000 crore with an expected employment potential of 25 lakh in the coming years. The state has already been allocated 73 SEZs which will attract Rs. 14,700 crore investments with one lakh employment (both direct and indirect) to the State. The natural gas potential in the Krishna-Godavari basin in the Northeast belt of the State starting from Visakhapatnam to Kakinada has been promoted as a major industrial corridor with major projects like AP Special Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Economic Zone, a multi product SEZ, Jawaharlal Nehru Pharma City, Brandix Apparel City, Kakinada Multi product SEZ, expansion projects of Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, HPCL etc which can act as a catalyst to attract more number of investments in the region. Recently Brandix India Apparel City (BIAC) was inaugurated at Achyutapuram, in Visakhapatnam. It is one of the state-of-the-art apparel supply chain city spread across 1,000 acres with a ‘Fibre-to-store’ concept. It has 749 acres of processing zone and 251 acres of non-processing zone with in-built water and efﬂuent treatment facilities. BIAC will attract an investment of One Billion dollars (Rs. 4,500 crore) to Visakhapatnam and promote export of apparel worth more than 1.4 billion dollars a year. So far Rs.800 crore has been invested on infrastructure development in the multi-product APSEZ promoted by the APIIC at Visakhapatnam in an area spread over 5659 acres in Achyutapuram and Rambilli. According to the APIIC projections, BIAC would employ over 60,000 people and will contain 20 apparel factories, two fabric mills, eight accessories factories, a logistics warehouse and a ﬁnishing plant when it becomes fully operational.

THE STATE IS PROJECTED TO ATTRACT OVERALL INVESTMENT OF

RS.70,000

CRORE WITH AN EXPECTED EMPLOYMENT

25 LAKH IN THE COMING YEARS. IT HAS ALREADY BEEN ALLOCATED 73 SEZS POTENTIAL OF

WHICH WILL ATTRACT

RS. 14,700 CRORE INVESTMENTS WITH ONE LAKH EMPLOYMENT (BOTH DIRECT AND INDIRECT) TO THE

STATE.

Infrastructure development at a rapid speed Release Order No.1657/Sou/Advt.I/2010-11

The Indian manufacturing arm of Brandix Sri Lanka, has already commenced commercial production for export and provided 2,800 jobs directly and another 5,000 indirectly. Several world class Fabric companies like Ocean India (US), Fountain Set Holdings of Hong Kong, Pioneer Elastic India Quantum Clothing India (UK), DEB Fashion India and Seeds Intimate Apparel India have come forward to set up joint ventures in the BIAC. Five of the 13 units that were allotted land in the APSEZ have already gone into commercial production and provided jobs for 1,500 persons including those from the project affected families. The prestigious project of Petroleum, Chemicals and Petro Chemical Investment Region (PCPIR) is jointly promoted with Government of India and private participation in the region with an outlay of Rs. 19,031 Crores. The entire project has an employment potential of 12 lakh in the next 6 to 8 years. The Central government had agreed to share the cost of the PCPIR Expressway project from Gangavaram Port to APSEZ and from APSEZ to Kakinada with an estimated

far 81 units have begun operations in the Pharma City and provided jobs to 4,312 persons with an investment of Rs.549 crores. IT/ITES sector in Hyderabad (Cyberabad) has an investment potential of Rs.25, 497 crore and can create 4,64,750 jobs in the future. So far IT sector had attracted investments of Rs.3,543 crore in the Hardware Park and generated jobs for 33,639 persons in the state.

Rajiv Arogyasri, Health Insurance scheme of the poor Thanks to the late Dr. YSR, for he had envisioned the health of the poor. Carrying forward the same initiative to much higher levels Rosaiah’s government is steadily moving forward with the Rajiv Arogyasri programme today. In fact, Arogyasri is a ﬁrst of its kind Health Insurance scheme for the poor in the State. The scheme is embodied with a noble objective to provide advanced medical care for the poor living Below Poverty Line. It enables the rural poor the provision of “cashless” quality treatment for nearly 950 types of diseases. Central government’s assent to study the proposal for assisting the

Well equiped interiors of 108 ambulance

Arogyasri 108 on its way

cost of Rs.300 crore on 50:50 share basis. awaharlal Nehru Pharma City (JNPC) developed over 2,143.23 acres at Parawada mandal of Visakhapatnam at Rs.350 crores is expected to attract investments of Rs.10, 000 crores and employ 20,000 people. So 100

Arogyasri scheme is great news which would beneﬁt 2 crores BPL families holding the Arogyasri cards in the state. A team of expert doctors from other States like Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu are monitoring the online system to replicate it Release Order No.1657/Sou/Advt.I/2010-11

in their states. Even other countries have evinced keen interest in launching the scheme for providing quality healthcare to their under-privileged people. There is no dearth of funds for medical and surgical infrastructure in the state. As on 6th May 2010 the government has spent Rs.1770.07 crore for screening of 31.9 lakh patients in 17,847 health camps. Ever since 17th July 2008, Arogyasri has provided coverage for 612 identified procedures both in medical and surgical management cases. Healthcare service is provided through 340 network hospitals and around 10,000 concurrent usersutilize the online services of the scheme. On any day 5,000 persons are being screened freely at 20-30 health camps, 3500 are screened in PHCs, 5000 patients are registered, 1200 pre-authorizations are given and 1,100 surgeries are performed. It can be noted that 70.98 per cent of the beneficiaries were in the age group of 15 to 55 years, thus resulting in protecting the productive age group of the society. The average cost was down to a minimum of Rs.30,000. Among the beneficiaries 48 per cent were women and children and 79 per cent belonged to the vulnerable social groups like SC/ST/Minorities/BC and other low income groups. The present has decided to restructure the whole Health Department as “Arogya Raksha” with the help of National Rural Health Mission. The proposal to revamp the entire health delivery system has been given a go-ahead. With the effective implementation of a series of measures like cluster schemes, recruitment of doctors (which is already on) and leveraging funds from National Rural Health Mission (NRHM) Andhra Pradesh will be in the forefront in Public Health. Under the NRHM, it is proposed to start special program for vulnerable groups with targeted outreach of villages with poor health indicators Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

– Improved access through special package, identifying pockets of vulnerability – Mapping Exercise and improving Maternal and Child Healthcare. The proposal is to have two VH Mobile Health Units per district with a Medical Officer, Social Organizer and Health Educator for focused attention to these Groups, pro-active Community Engagement and Close Coordination and Collaboration with the department of SERP and Women Development & Child Welfare. The objective of the programme is to substantially reduce Maternal Mortality Rate; Revitalise Primary Health System in a big way with Village Level Linkage etc. Special Package for Tribal Areas is proposed with Community Health and Nutrition Clusters. It is planned to rationalise access from village to District Hospital, strengthen referral services, mobility for all PHCs and Cluster Coordinators, Outreach Activities - Nutrition and Day Care Centres with SERP, Up-gradation of Facilities – improve conditions of health centres in dilapidated condition, Strengthen Birth Waiting Homes and establish ITDA Health Society under ITDA - strengthen ITDA health management capacity. The government has planned to revitalize the Primary Health System by strengthening of Primary Health Centre in the state. All PHCs will run 24x7 and every PHC will have two Medical Officers, two Additional Nurses (NRHM) and all PHCs will have facility for Conducting Deliveries, Clear delineation of service area for all PHC staff, Fixed-day Health Services in the field by PHC, Integration of 104 with PHC outreach Services and Focused Tasks for the PHC Medical Officer are also planned. It was also decided that a Special Healthcare programme for School Children - “Bala Arogya Raksha” - will be launched to meet the health needs of 85.32 lakh children in the government schools in the state. It will be on a massive campaign on the lines of Praja Patham to be launched from 15th July to 14th August 2010. Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

Screening of all school children will be taken from 15th July – 14th August 2010; Health Cards will be issued and cases will be referred for those requiring specialist care. Immunization will be taken up for every child of 5 -7 yrs, Micronutrient (Vitamin A & Iron Folic Acid) Supplement will be distributed.

Chief Minister Giving a cheque to the SHGs

The government has also introduced Janani Suraksha Yojana to promote institutional deliveries to reduce infant mortality rate and maternal mortality rate.

Creating a strong IT base Andhra Pradesh had came in to lime light with the rapid growth in the IT sector in the initial days. Today the state has made a strong base for this sector and is continuously seen as the best IT investment destination in the country. Priority is given to IT sector in the current year. The government wants the Tier-II locations to be developed as fast as possible in the State. The share of IT exports from Andhra Pradesh occupies 15 per cent total national IT exports. IT/ITES Industry in the State contributes 0.57% share of the national GDP (as against the national GDP share of 3.83%), IT sector contributes to about 49% of total exports from all sectors in the State. AP ranked 4th position in IT performance in the country next to Karnataka, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu. Industrial exports in the State were Rs.33,676 crores against IT exports of Rs.32,500 crores. VisakhapRelease Order No.1657/Sou/Advt.I/2010-11

atnam is now emerging as the next IT Hub in the State. The growth rate in 2008-09 is 35% against the national average of 20.65%. Companies like HSBC, Mahindra Satyam, Kenexa, and IBM Daksh are now operating from Vizag. The IT sector aims to achieve an export turnover of Rs.70,000 crores by 2015; to create

Dr. K.Rosaiah, Releasing the Telugu Sript book

new direct employment of 1,25,000 by 2015; to attract new IT MNCs that do not have presence in India & Hyderabad; and to attract IT MNCs/IT majors that have presence in India but not in Hyderabad by conducting Road shows, networking meetings, etc. IT majors present in Hyderabad are motivated to grow in size & operations and move to Tier-II locations – Warangal, Vijayawada, Vizag, Kakinada and Tirupati, etc. New verticals like Electronic Hardware, Animation & Gaming, Engineering Services are also promoted through attractive package of incentives. Incentives such as stamp duty reimbursement, power subsidy, Exhibition Subsidy, Quality Certiﬁcation, Recruitment Assistance, and provision of infrastructure to the doorstep for IT promotion are being offered. Solitaire incubation centre at Madhapur is another IT research centre which is being inaugurated. Other important plans of Government include the laying the foundation stones for IT SEZs at Kokapet, Warangal, Vizag and Tirupati. Other companies which are about to be inaugurated are TSI 101

and Honeywell facilities at Hyderabad; Mahati, Infotech, eCentric, IIC Systems and Miracle at Vizag. With these IT organizations seeing the light of the day, IT sector will deﬁnitely be the future of the state, providing a large number of jobs to the younger generation.

Land for the Poor Land is the most important component for the growth of the common man. Especially for the poor it is the most important of economic lively hood. Realizing this fact the government of Andhra Pradesh had taken up the land distribution scheme for the poor. Over the past few years the government had done a record land distribution. Continuing further with the land distribution plan, the Andhra Pradesh Government had distributed 1, 41,191 acres of land to the landless poor in the ﬁfth round that was taken up dur-

milestone with the completion of the fifth phase this year. Andhra Pradesh has become thus a role model in land distribution in the country and registered disbursement of a total of 7,09,228.81 acres to 5,04,099 beneficiaries. While 50 lakh acres of land were distributed since 1955 after independence of the country, the Andhra Pradesh government has created a record distributing 6,03,809 acres to 4,33,723 landless poor in the first four phases. In the fifth and current phase which began on the birthday of Dr. B R Ambedkar, the government took up distribution of 1,00,615.22 acres to nearly 69,506 landless poor. At least 50 per cent of the beneficiaries belonged to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribes and other deprived classes. To ensure that the landless did not fall prey to land grabbing all such land pattas were given in the name of the woman of the fam-

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, along with Prime Minister Dr.Manmohan Singh, inspecting the ﬂood disaster photo exhibition

The State Government which began land distribution to the landless poor in 2004 has achieved a historic

ily only. Each family is given 2.50 acres of wet land or 5.00 acres of dry land including the land originally held by the family. The State Government had since 2004 spent a sum of Rs.599 crore under the Rural Infrastructure Development Fund (RIDF) schemes to develop 3.49 lakh acres of land distributed to the landless poor.

102

Release Order No.1657/Sou/Advt.I/2010-11

ing April 2010. Thus so far, the State has completed four rounds of land distribution to an extent of 6.05 lakh acres to over 4.34 lakh beneﬁciaries, during the past few years.

Meeting the Power Power is another important component which is the important driving force in the development of the state. To meet the unprecedented increase in power demand Andhra Pradesh needs 500 MW of unallocated power from Central Grid. The State Government has drawn up special programme to ensure self sufficiency in power generating capacity. During the XI plan period (2007-08 to 2011-12), the scheduled capacity additions of power in the state is 4560 MW (inclusive of State, Central and Private sectors). Out of the scheduled capacity additions, 2059 MW was added up to March 2010 bringing the total capacity in the State to 14041MW. The balance capacity of 2501 MW would be added before end of XI plan i.e. March 2012. The Government has taken advance action for the projects to be commissioned during XII plan (2012-13 to 2016-17). It is proposed to add 12,282 MW in the state sector alone by APGENCO during the above period. The works for 2440 MW out of the above capacity are already under execution. The advance planning initiated by APGENCO is expected to ensure timely capacity addition thereby minimizing risk of slippage. The State Government is also going to request the Centre to sanction coal linkage for APGENCO’s Sattupalli thermal power project (600 MW), Vodarevu super thermal power plant (5x 800 MW) and Integrated Gasification Combined Cycle Project (182 MW) & gas linkage for Karimnagar gas based power project (2100 MW). Besides, the Central Government will be asked to take steps to ensure that, works related to laying of railway tracks to thermal power stations are taken up on a priority basis. The officials brought to the notice of the Chief Minister about the fulfillment of very recent decision of the Government regarding the Transmission schemes which have got financial tie up with banks and financial institutions with an estimated Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

cost of around Rs.4453 crores. These transmission schemes/projects are to evacuate power from new power Generating Stations, system improvement and to meet additional load. The above schemes will be completed with in next 4 years. Out of the above, an amount of Rs.1265 crores has been sanctioned by JICA & PFC for strengthening of HMDA area. Under RGGVY programme, it is proposed to electrify 14,309 unelectriﬁed habitations and 38.94 lakhs rural households including 25.48 lakhs BPL Rural Households at a cost of Rs.830.03 crores. The Chief Minister expressed conﬁdence that the outcome of the Delhi conference on power would light the path to progress, prosperity and a brighter future of the power sector in the State.

the State Government for distribution of the PDS commodities annually. Prices of rice, vegetables and other essential commodities are under control in spite of the severe summer. There are no shortages of any essential commodities. The prices of

including Vegetables on a daily basis has been set up within the State. The same is also being uploaded on the department website to provide information to the general public and media. No stone is left unturned to

Dr. K. Rosaiah, taking a review of various departments in the state.

Prices Rise phenomena of basic commodities Over the past few years, the price rise phenomena in the state is of a great concern for the government. To contain the ever increasing prices of basic commodities, Government of Andhra Pradesh has initiated many steps to ensure food security and curb price rise. Its food-grain godowns are full. The State Government is totally committed to the welfare of the people of the State, particularly the BPL families in ensuring that they have two square meals a day and are protected against malnutrition. In order to achieve this, Rice is being provided to them at the subsidized rate of Rs. 2 per kg. 3.10 lakh tonnes of rice at Rs.2 per kg., 2,754 tonnes of wheat, 9,694 tonnes of sugar, 10,000 tonnes of Red gram dal and 20,000 Kilolitres of Palmolien oil, along with Green gram dal and Chana are being distributed through PDS every month. The State Government is utilising the Subsidy scheme provided by the Government of India for Red gram and Palmolien oil to its fullest. An amount of about Rs.3,000 crores per annum is being spent as subsidy by Andhra Pradesh Celebrations-2010

rice including the preferred variety have shown a downward trend since last two months. The prices of vegetables including onions are also under control. The State Government is closely monitoring the situation and has already initiated market intervention schemes to keep the prices under control. Compared to other States, the prices of essential commodities in the state are under control. However, there might be marginal increase in the prices of some of the essential goods like pulses which are seasonal and will be brought under control. The government is taking various measures to control the prices of essential commodities. The State Government constituted a Group of Ministers to periodically review the price situation and take remedial measures. Price Monitoring Committees at District and Mandal levels have been constituted for taking effective steps at local level. A system to collect, monitor and analyse the prices of essential commodities Release Order No.1657/Sou/Advt.I/2010-11

ensure that the dealers indulging in malpractices are sternly dealt with under the provisions of the Essential Commodities Act. The Chief Minister said provisions of the Prevention of Black-marketing and Maintenance of Supplies of Essential Commodities Act are being invoked wherever the situation warrants. The State government made speciﬁc requests to the Government of India to restore the allocation of 45,000 tonnes of rice under the APL category for supply of rice to BPL families at Rs.2 per kg, to restore the allocation of kerosene to 55,368 kilo litre and continuation of subsidy scheme on red gram and palm oil. The State Government would continue to exempt imported Sugar from VAT provided of course the beneﬁt of this exemption is passed on to the end consumer by the importer. Government of Andhra Pradesh provided an incentive of Rs.1200 per quintal over MSP of Rs.2300 to encourage the farmers to cultivate more Red gram, which is the staple pulse in the State. 103