Hyderabad, March 6 (Maxim News): Governor Tamilisai Soundararajan on Friday said the infant State of Telangana has become a role model to the entire country in many sectors. Recalling the pathetic condition of the State at the time of formation of separate State, she said the State remained backward in all the sectors. In the initial days, the State faced acute power crisis with regular unannounced power-cuts, she added.
“There was no minimum security for the poor for their lives and livelihood. Suicides, starvation deaths, migration became an order of the day. The meagre Rs 200 monthly pension given to the poor of the state was not able to meet their basic needs,” she said. The Governor also said the entire farm and irrigation sectors were pushed into a state of crisis at the time of the formation of the state. “The situation was so pathetic that thousands of farmers who were in despair and distress used to commit suicides.
Farmers would suffer due to non-supply of quality seeds, fertilisers and pesticides on time and the problem was more severe with the sale and supply of spurious seeds, fertilisers and pesticides. Farmers would also struggle a lot to get investment to cultivate their crop. The situation was so grave that farmers, used to raise private loans at exorbitant interest rates. There was no water for agriculture sector as irrigation projects to be constructed were not in sight. Farmers’ future was bleak. Ground water table also dried up due to the destruction of existing tanks under the united Andhra Pradesh rule. The situation was such that even if a bore well was drilled for up to 600 feet to 800 feet under the ground, a drop of water could not also be traced. Since power supply was hardly available for four to five hours in a day, crops used to wither away. Even if someone manages to get some produce, it would never get a proper price in the market. With all these problems prevailing in the farm sector in Telangana, agriculture was regarded as a loss making and useless profession,” she said.
She said the allied trades and professions of the agriculture sector also collapsed in the State and people from these professions often migrated. This scenario is still afresh in front of our eyes, she said while noting that the entire rural economy was disturbed, unorganised with uncertain future and beyond redemption with the collapse of both agriculture and hereditary professions.
The Governor also said there was severe drinking water problem and was unbearable in Telangana society prior to the formation of the State. The Health and Education sectors had also collapsed and added that the situation was so bad that the poorwho were financially very weak, had to borrow heavily and sell their belongings to get child deliveries done at the private and corporate hospitals. The governor said that the state led by CM Kalvakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao, after taking into consideration, its resources, facilities, needs, advantages, disadvantages, strengths and weaknesses had prepared short term, midterm and long-term plans for the overall development of the State thus launching the State’s revitalization and rejuvenation process.
“In order to provide minimum security for the livelihood of the poor, the State government had given top priority to the welfare sector. With a lot of concern and based on humanitarian aspects the welfare programmes being implemented by the Telangana Government have given security to the lives and livelihoods of the poor,” she noted. The governor said that to bring more number it poor people under the Below Poverty Line (BPL) families category, the State government had increased the income limit from Rs 60,000 to Rs 1,50,000 in the rural areas and in urban areas it was increased from Rs 75,000 to Rs 2,00,000.
With this initiative, even those working in government and private companies with less salary are able to become beneficiaries of the welfare schemes, she said. Speaking further she said that the asara pensions had been increased to ₹2016 to the old age beneficiaries and Rs.3016 to the disabled beneficiaries of the scheme. She said that the state government was also providing asara pensions to beedi workers, single women and filariasis patients and added that no other state of the country was doing implementing such a scheme for the welfare of the beedi workers and single Women in the country.
The Governor said that the state government had increased the monetary benefits being given in its Shadi Mubarak and Kalyana Laxmi scheme to Rs 100116 and added that fine quality rice was being fed to the poor students at all government schools of the State while noting that 959 residential schools have been set up to provide quality and corporate level education to all the poor students of the state. She said that the state government had abolished transportation tax on tractors of the farmers and auto rikshaws. (Maxim News)
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