Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu offering tea to a poor family during his visit on the occasion of Babu Jagjivan Ram Jayanti at Muppalla village of NTR district.
| Photo Credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu interacting with the inmates of a residential girls’ hostel at Muppalla village of NTR district during his visit on Saturday.
| Photo Credit:
SPECIAL ARRANGMENT
VIJAYAWADA
Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu said the NDA government was rededicating itself to the uplift of the underprivileged by drawing inspiration from former Deputy Prime Minister Babu Jagjivan Ram and that it was implementing 27 welfare schemes for the Scheduled Castes (SCs) and that it had kept the promise of SC categorisation. He pointed out that the previous government left the State in ruins with a debt burden of ₹10 lakh crore but the NDA government managed to put the State back on track and it was focusing on creating a poverty-free society through the P-4 (Public, Private, People Partnership) programme.
Participating in the Babu Jagjivan Ram Jayanti celebrations at Muppalla village in Chandarlapadu Mandal of NTR district on Saturday, Mr. Chandrababu Naidu said the former Deputy PM came up in life through hard work from a very young age and fought social inequalities.
Jagjivan Ram was in politics from 1935 to 1977, during which period he worked as a Union Minister for 30 years, and was an MP for 50 years. Whatever post he held, he added value and respect to it.
He noted that he personally witnessed discrimination and untouchability faced by the SCs and issued several orders to abolish that practice, and taking a cue from N.T. Rama Rao’s slogan ‘society is the temple, and people are the gods’, he extended his support to the categorisation of SCs.
Zero poverty
Mr. Naidu said the P-4 programme would rewrite history and that it had no comparable scheme anywhere in the country, and insisted that it was essential to bridge the growing gap between the rich and the poor. The economic disparities were glaring and the affluent sections needed to contribute to achieving the goal of ‘zero poverty’.
Under the P-4 scheme, the top 10% of society (economically rich individuals) were called upon to support the bottom 20%, and it was already yielding the desired result. Already, 20 lakh families were identified as beneficiaries of that scheme.
Economic reforms
Mr. Chandrababu Naidu credited P.V. Narasimha Rao for starting economic reforms, and that he himself played a critical role in rolling out the second-generation reforms in the country. As part of the Swarnandhra Vision, the NDA Government aimed to make Andhra Pradesh an economic powerhouse with a per capita income of ₹54.60 lakh by 2047 and it gave due priority to development. The construction of the capital Amaravati was poised to commence and the Polavaram project was once again progressing well after a five-year gap.
Funds for Nandigama
The CM said the development of the Nandigama constituency had come to a halt during 2019-24. A sum of ₹15 crore was being released for the completion of the Vedadri lift irrigation project which was abandoned by the YSR Congress Party Government. Funds were sanctioned for the construction of a bridge in Kanchikacherla mandal. In Muppalla, rooftop solar panels would be installed for SC families.
Published – April 05, 2025 07:52 pm IST
