India's highest per capita income & 24-hour power top KCR’s report card

Mohammed Shafeeq
Hyderabad, Oct 8 (IANS) Highest per capita income in the country, only state supplying 24x7 free electricity to agriculture, drinking water supply to all households, world’s largest lift irrigation project and top position in paddy production are some of the major achievements of the KCR government during the last two terms.

Nearly a decade after achieving separate Telangana state and forming the first government, K, Chandrasekhar Rao claims to have achieved what no state could do in Independent India, and is seeking a fresh mandate on the basis of its performance.

The BRS government, which focused on electricity, irrigation, agriculture and rural development in the first two terms, claims that it has turned Telangana into the most prosperous state in the country.

The state is providing quality electricity to all sectors for 24 hours and completely free to agriculture. Telangana is also No. 1 in per capita electricity consumption.

When BRS formed the first government, the state was reeling under electricity shortage. It succeeded in overcoming the problem in the first year. The installed power capacity in the state has increased from 7,000 MW to 24,000 MW.

The BRS also cemented Hyderabad’s position as a global information technology hub.

With focus on irrigation, Telangana became the granary of India. The state has surpassed Punjab and Haryana in paddy production. In 2014, the paddy production was about 70 lakh tonnes, but it has now gone up to 3.5 crore tonnes, pointed out BRS working President K.T. Rama Rao.

One of the key achievements of the KCR government was construction of the world's largest lift irrigation project Kaleshwaram across Godavari river, which increased the area under irrigation.

Last month, KCR laid the foundation for another ambitious Palamuru Rangareddy Lift Irrigation, which will use the most powerful pump houses in the world.

As the Telangana movement was all about water, funds and jobs, the KCR government embarked on the mission with the promise to deliver ‘Bangaru' (golden) Telangana.

Balancing welfare and development, it also worked on decentralisation of power by dividing 10 districts into 33 districts. BRS leaders say with the creation of its own state, the revenues are now entirely being spent for development of the state.

They say in undivided Andhra Pradesh, a major chunk of revenues, primarily from Hyderabad and suburbs, used to be diverted to the other regions.

The Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP), which was Rs 5 lakh crore in 2014-15 increased to Rs 12.93 lakh crore in 2022 -23. Telangana stands at the third place in the country with an average annual GSDP growth rate of 12.6 per cent from 2015-16 to 2021-22. The share of Telangana in GDP improved from 4.1 per cent in 2014-15 to 4.9 per cent in 2020-21.

The per capita income of Telangana is estimated to increase from Rs 1,12,162 in 2013-14 to Rs 3,17,115 in 2022-23.

“This is higher than the national per capita income of Rs.1,70,620 by 86 per cent. As compared to the national per capita income, per capita income of Telangana is higher by Rs 1,46,495. This is clearly an indication of the significant development of Telangana,” Finance Minister T. Harsh Rao had said in his budget speech while presenting the state budget for 2023-24.

Creation of jobs is one area where the BRS government has not been able to deliver the expected results. It has come under flak from opposition for not delivering on the promise to fill vacancies in the government sector, thus failing to fulfill the aspirations of unemployed Telangana youth.

The opposition parties say notifications for recruitment departments came at the fag end of second term but the government bungled in the recruitment process through Telangana State Public Service Commission (TSPSC) as the exams were marred by question paper leakage.

The BRS, however, claims that its efforts during the last nine years created lakhs of jobs in the private sector.

The number of employees in the IT sector in 2014 was only 3.23 lakh and the same now has gone up to over 9 lakh in 2022. The IT exports have gone up from Rs.57,258 crore to Rs.2.41 lakh crore during the same period.

Minister for Industry and Information Technology, K.T. Rama Rao, claimed that in the last two years, Hyderabad surpassed Bengaluru in technology job creation in India.

“We are now the leader. Last year, 33 per cent of the total technology jobs came from Hyderabad. This year, we will reach 44 per cent,” he said.

KTR revealed early this year that Telangana attracted investment of Rs 3.30 lakh crore ($40 billion) through the industrial policy TSiPASS since 2014.

Telangana claims to have become a model for the entire country not just in development but also in welfare.

In a population of 3.5 crore in the state, 44.12 lakh people are getting pension every month. These beneficiaries come under various categories like senior citizens, widows, single women, differently-abled, dialysis patients, beedi workers etc.

The number of beneficiaries was 29 lakh till 2014 and they were being paid a monthly pension of only Rs 200. After BRS came to power, the pension amount was enhanced to Rs 2,016. For the differently-abled, the pension was recently hiked from Rs.3,106 to Rs.4,106.

Dait Bandhu launched in 2021 is another unique scheme. The government is providing Rs 10 lakh grant to every Dalit family to start any business of its choice.

The government is also providing a grant of Rs 1 lakh each to artisans from backward classes and minorities.

Under the Rythu Bandhu scheme, the state government pays Rs 10,000 as investment support to farmers for every acre. The amount is deposited in the bank accounts of over 70 lakh farmers. Under the scheme being implemented since 2018, the government has so far provided Rs 70,000 crore.

Financial assistance of Rs 1 lakh each is also being provided for the marriage of poor girls under Kalyana Lakshmi and Shadi Mubarak schemes.