Downloaded from · Yoga for a healthy life, the Chief Minister asked each and everyone to practise Yoga for a disciplined life, and maintain good diet. “Yoga will not only give

Downloaded from http://smartprep.in

The International Yoga Day was celebrated inVijayawada with Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu,a Yoga enthusiast himself, performing asanas alongwith other Ministers. Naidu, along with the Nuzvid IIITstudents, Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas, IrrigationMinister Devineni Umamaheswara Rao, Sports andYouth Welfare Minister Kollu Ravindra, Zilla Parishadchairperson Gadde Anuradha and officials performed‘asanas’ with perfection. Explaining the importance of

Yoga for a healthy life, the Chief Minister asked eachand everyone to practise Yoga for a disciplined life,and maintain good diet. “Yoga will not only give mentalpeace and relieve us from stress, but also help toachieve the goals. I practise different ‘asanas’ everyday,” the Chief Minister said. He felicitated Jyothsnavi,who performed on the occasion. The Chief Ministerreleased books titled Samanya Yoga Sadhana andYoga Vignanam on the occasion.

YOGA FOR BODY & MIND


C O N T E N T S

A Pledge Renewed

Celkon Mobile Facilitylaunched

State to generate2 lakh jobs

10

29

26

WB extends $240mn credit 20

Amaravati set toturn Smart

5

The formation of residualAndhra Pradesh is a dayof pledge to rememberthe injustice meted out tothe state during bifurca-tion and to restate itscommitment to work hardfor a prosperous state.

Greenfield airportfor Kurnool

Happening Andhra

22

632

CM’s SocialNetwork

34Boost forurbanhousing

24

9 Tollywood’s Age Old PiracyProblem And Why It’sGetting More Complicated

30

Various developments across thestate of Andhra Pradesh.

AP hires talentfrom ISB23

Projects worth Rs 17,808 crcoming up in Amaravati

New era ofrail development

Srikanth, the Star ofSuper Series

CM releases Godavariwater to Krishna delta

18

168

AP first state to exhaustrural BPO quota


JULY 20174 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG

Politics of DePravity

Politics has become a destructive vocation for some in AndhraPradesh. They are willing to go any extent to score browniepoints against those at the helm in the Government. In this

unholy pursuit, nothing is sacrosanct for them – not even the future offive crore denizens of the state that is just emerging out of the darkshadows of bifurcation.

Even then, it came as a shock to all sensible people when news brokeout that some unnamed people claiming themselves to be farmers ofAmaravati dashed off a sinister letter to World Bank against sanctionof a loan sought by the Andhra Pradesh Government for the upcomingcapital. It is shameful that some vested interests should have madebackdoor attempts at putting spokes in the construction of Amaravati,mandated to be the cultural as well as economic bedrock of NavyaAndhra Pradesh. The State Government has sought Rs 4,600 crorefrom World Bank to “build sustainable urban services and capacity ofurban institutions for the development of Amaravati Capital City.”

The self-styled farmers reportedly alleged that they were likely to beharmed by the Land Pooling Scheme. It is such a travesty of truthbecause land pooling was not a secret exercise, but was carried outtransparently and in full public glare with farmers voluntarily joiningthe scheme. But, this is not the first time that such sly attempts weremade to somehow stall the capital construction. From inciting localfarmers, filing petitions in the National Green Tribunal, sending mailsto even foreign governments to carrying out negative propaganda onevery available platform, no attempt was spared in this obsessiveagenda of stopping Amaravati in its tracks.

The World Bank has made it clear that the registration of complaintimplies no judgement concerning the merits of the Request forInspection. The CRDA of course will help clarify every single query ofthe lending agencies.

But what is extremely distressing is the unsettling fact that the nay-sayers lack any scruples. They are ready to throw the baby because oftheir prejudice for the the bathwater. The people should beware!

Ramesh Babu KandulaEditor

EDITORIAL

CommissionerS Venkateswar IISEditorRamesh Babu KandulaExecutive EditorNaresh NunnaCover PageAP Formation Day Pledge

Second Cover International Yoga Day

Third CoverMonth in pics

Fourth CoverAPIIC Advt on Sunrise State

Published by:Information & Public Relations DepartmentGovernment of Andhra PradeshHyderabad - 500 028Ph: 040-23300258

Views expressed by various authors in this issue reflect theirpersonal opinions.

DesignKarthik Beesu

Photos:T.Srinivasa Reddy, VijayawadaPrinted atCaxton Offset Pvt. Ltd.HyderabadEach Issue : Rs 20/-Annual Subscription : Rs 220/-www.andhrapradeshmagazine.orgEmail: [email protected]

ANDHRA PRADESHPublished Monthly In English & Telugu

July 2017Volume:12 Issue:1Salivahana Era 1939

Printed and Published by Ramesh Babu Kandula on behalf of Director/Commissioner, Information and Public Relations Dept.;Printed at M/s Caxton Offset Pvt. Ltd., 11.5.416/3, Red Hills, Hyderabad - 500 004; Published at Office of Director/Commissioner ,I&PR Dept, Govt of Andhra Pradesh, Samachar Bhavan, AC Guards, Hyderabad - 500028. Editor: Ramesh Babu Kandula.Ph: 040-23300258.


JULY 2017 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 5

Amaravati, the upcoming capital city of AndhraPradesh, is the fourth among cities from the stateto find a place in the smart city list. The othercities which already made it to the smart city listare Visakhapatnam, Kakinada and Tirupati in the list an-nounced by the Union ministry of Urban Development.The Amaravati Smart Cityproposal was moved as aspecial case as the city isyet to take full shape. Butthe Central Governmentwas of the view that build-ing a smart city fromscratch was easier com-pared to retrofitting theexisting ones.The green building, smartelectricity grid and variousother initiatives taken inthe State have apparentlytilted the scales in Amaravati’s favour. According to officialsources, Amaravati was included in the list of cities eligiblefor participation in the Smart City Mission scheme at thetime of the 2nd round of submission of proposals itself butit missed the opportunity narrowly due to the greenfieldnature of the project.A revised proposal was presented by the AP Capital Region

Development Authority (AP-CRDA) to MoUD with the esti-mated overall project cost pegged at about Rs. 1,875 crore,including a combined (Central and State) grant of Rs. 1,000crore, on March 31, 2017. Minister for Municipal Adminis-tration P Narayana said that the stage has been set for thetransformation of Amaravati into one of the world’s top fiveSmart Cities. In addition to the funding by the Central andthe State governments, another Rs. 500 crore to Rs. 1,000crore is proposed to be raised through public-private part-nerships.Amaravati will now be developed into a Smart City startingwith a 650-acre extent titled the ‘People’s precinct’ adja-cent to the Government Complex in a mixed-use model inline with the best practices being adopted from Foster +Partners (F+P) . The government planned to replicate theconcept across the Capital region once the proof of physicaland financial sustainability of the development of ‘People’sprecinct’ is demonstrated. Minister Narayana said the Cen-tre is giving Rs.100 crore grant to the smart cities and theState is granting the equal matching fund. He said that theGovernment lined up several projects to develop Visakhap-atnam with Rs 200 crore and Tirupati with Rs 100 crore. aP top in urban reformsMeanwhile, AP stood number one in the country in urbanreforms thanks to the various measures introduced by theState Government in urban administration. He said that theState has introduced e-governance, double-entry account-ing system, urban planning, building bylaws prompting APto secure 96.96 points. Reforms were initiated in all the 13wings as proposed by the Centre. "We got 100 per centmarks in 10 wings and little less in three wings resulting insecuring a total of 96.96. Otherwise, we would have got 100out of 100 in all the wings," said Minister Narayana. He saidthat Orissa stood in second slot with 92 points.Others who received the incentive fund in order of meritwere; Odisha (95.38%), Jharkhand (91.98%), Chhattisgarh(91.37%), Madhya Pradesh (90.20%), Telangana (86.92%),Rajasthan (84.62%), Punjab (77.02%), Kerala (75.73%),Goa (75.38*), Mizoram (75.00%), Gujarat (73.80%),Chandigarh (72.73%), Uttar Pradesh (70.67%) and Maha-rashtra (70.52). Meanwhile, a delegation from AndhraPradesh made a visit to State capital Gandhinagar in Junelast week to study aspects like architecture and administra-tion to be replicated in their capital city Amaravati. Theteam led by AP Urban Development Minister P Narayanaflew down to Gandhinagar and visited Gujarat Assembly,Swarnim Sankul-1 and 2, Mahatma Mandir and GandhiMemorial.

AMARAVATI set to turn SMART

v

Amaravati will nowbe developed into a

Smart City startingwith a 650-acre

extent titled the‘People’s precinct’

adjacent to the Gov-ernment Complex ina mixed-use model.



Amaravati is gearing up tobecome a world-class city,as the State Governmentwoos many institutions toset shop in the upcoming capital.The State has alloted 996 acres ofland to a dozen institutions to set upeducational, health and other bodiesat a projected cost of Rs 17,808crore. "Work is in full swing to create aworld-class infrastructure forAndhra Pradesh's new capital Amar-avati. A dozen institutions have beenallotted 995.5 acres of land in Amar-avati for projects worth Rs 17,808crore," an official of the State Gov-ernment told the Economic Times. The official said these projects willcreate 32,726 jobs and the 12 insti-tutions to come up will involve gov-ernment as well as private bodiesand include Rs 7,100 crore projectsfrom Vellore Institute of Technology

(VIT) University and SRM University.Besides, Amrita University and Indo-UK Institute of Health have beenallotted land at a cost of Rs 3,200crore. In addition, BR Modi City HealthCare & Research is building itscampus at an estimated cost of Rs5,450 crore, the official said. Land has also been allotted toReserve Bank of India, Central PublicWorks Department, Central Instituteof Design Tools, National Institute ofDesigns and AP Human ResourcesDevelopment Institute, among othergovernment institutes. In May, the Andhra Pradesh Govern-ment inked a pact with Singapore fordeveloping an area of 6.84 km atcapital Amaravati as startup area inphases. The two sides affirmed cooperationfor economic development and mas-

ter development of the startup areabesides promotion of bilateral tradeand investments and enhancing ca-pacities of government departments. A high-level Joint ImplementationSteering Committee (JISC) and JointImplementation Working Committee(JIWC) will also be formed withsenior officials from both thegovernments for speedy implemen-tation of the project. An official statement said aSingapore consortium will form aproject SPV - Amaravati Develop-ment Partner (ADP) with AmaravatiDevelopment Corporation (ADC). The Singapore consortium will havean equity participation of Rs 306crore (58 per cent) while ADC willhave Rs 222 crore participation (42per cent). "ADP will develop an area of 1,691acres in 15 years in three phases of

PROJECTS WORTH RS 17,808 CRCOMING UP IN AMARAVATI


ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 7JULY 2017

each about 5 years," an official statementsaid adding that estimated benefits include2,50,000 jobs while contribution to GSDPwill be Rs 1,15,000 crore. ‘Mana amaravati’ app‘Mana Amaravati’, an app that allows theowners of allotted plots (in the Amaravaticapital region) to reach out to investors inany part of the world and get a better dealfor the sale, lease or joint development ofland parcels, was launched by ChiefMinister Chandrababu Naidu.As of now, there are 20 services integratedinto the ‘Mana Amaravati’ application. This‘buy and sell’ module in the app is a way togive back to all the farmers who gave theirlands for the capital Amaravati’s develop-ment. Through the app, all the plot ownerswho have been allocated lands can log intoapp and publish their plots for sale, joint de-velopment or lease. Another feature in theapp is the ‘know your plot code’, with whicha user can enter his/her Aadhaar numberand know the allocated plot details.British interest in investmentThe British High Commissioner Sir DominicAsquith met Naidu to discuss the interestsof British companies for investment inAmaravati. The meeting was attended byrepresentatives from British firm TransSta-dia, one of the largest water treatmentcompanies from Britain.Officials from TransStadia spoke to Naiduwith regard to setting up a convention cen-tre in Amaravati, similar to StadiArena,which was recently completed in Ahmed-abad. The proposal included facilities foraround 60 sporting activities, and an indoorarena that can seat 4,000 people. Naiduasked the officials to coordinate with the APGovernment to finalise the land allocationat the earliest so that work can be com-menced, a press statement said.

v

Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu said the Governmenthas plans to construct a MSME Bhavan at Amaravati in 15acres. The bhavan would be the centre for the develop-ment of MSMEs. A Research and Development (R&D)wing, training centre, advanced and latest technologies across theglobe would be provided there, he said.Earlier, he launched the logo of the Andhra Pradesh MSME Devel-opment Corporation, in a bid to encourage the micro, small andmedium enterprises (MSME) sector. The corporation, with acorpus of Rs100 crore, would help the MSME entrepreneurs inmarketing, branding, skill development and quality improvementof products. The Government has allocated funds of Rs 100 cr andalso 15 acres of land to MSME AP which would assist the smallscale industries to flourish in the state.Showering many sops on the sector, Naidu assured the MSMEentrepreneurs that there would not be any upward revision ofpower tariff for MSMEs. In fact, if required, the government wouldreduce the power tariffs, he said amidst a big round of applause atthe MSME day celebrations.The Government introduced a single window clearance policywith a view to boosting industry in the State. It was necessary tofine- tune it further. The Government was toying with the idea ofintroducing random and combined inspections to simplifyclearance procedures. Except statutory clearances such as pollu-tion, all other clearances would be given in real time. To hastenand streamline the process, the government intended to set upDistrict Investment Promotion Council in each district, he said.“The MSME sector will be accorded top priority while distributingthe subsidies to the industrial sector. Also, the subsidy will begiven in time,” he said.Outlining the growth of the sector in the State, Industries MinisterN Amarnath Reddy said that the government had plans to developMSME parks in every Assembly constituency. Necessary lands hadbeen identified in 101 Assembly constituencies. A policy to revivethe sick industries was also being prepared. A budget of aboutRs160 crore would be earmarked to revive the sick MSMEs, headded. The Industries Department entered into Memorandum ofUnderstanding with eight firms. The Chief Minister gave awayawards to successful MSME entrepreneurs. The State signed MoUswith various agencies to mentor, support MSMEs & provideentrepreneurship and employment opportunities for all.

NaiDu lauNchesMsMe corPoratioN

v


8 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG JULY 2017

Farmers of Krishna Delta area happy lot with Pattiseemaproject making their lifeeasier. The water fromPattiseema has now become the life-line of the delta farmers, who other-wise suffered year after year as thewater in Krishna river virtually gotreduced to a trickle with too manyprojects upstream. This year too,Pattiseema water has come to therescue of farmers in 13 lakh acres infour districts in the Krishna RiverDelta.Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidureleased water to Krishna delta fromKrishna eastern canal head sluicenear Prakasam barrage inVijayawada on June 27. The ChiefMinister released water afterperforming puja. Speaking on the oc-casion, Naidu said that by releasingwater early, the crops in the delta canbe saved from cyclones.Andhra Pradesh would have sufferedirreparable loss if the Telugu DesamParty buckled under criticism of rivalpolitical parties and failed to build

the Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Project(PLIP), said the Chief Minister. Naidurecalled how several political leadershad challenged him when heproposed the construction of thePLIP to provide timely water to 13lakh acres spanning across fourcoastal districts. “They said it wasimpossible to build the scheme inone year and some of them offered totake political sanyas if the projectwas completed in the stipulatedtime,” Naidu said.Twelve pumps of the PLIP wereswitched on to lift water from theGodavari into the Polavaram RightMain Canal (PRMC) a few days ear-lier. About two tmcft is said to havereached the Prakasam Barrage sincethen. This was necessary because nowater is being released from Nagar-junasagar as all reservoirs on theKrishna are almost empty.If water is released late, cyclones thatusually ravage coastal Andhra duringNovember, will cause losses to farm-ers. Because there was no water inthe Krishna there was ingress of

salinity into groundwater in coastalareas, Naidu explained.Political rivals created obstacles forland acquisition needed for the com-pletion of the PRMC, he charged. Theland owners could however be con-vinced with a generous compensa-tion and the Godavari and theKrishna could be linked. Every yearbetween 2,500 and 3,000 tmcft ofGodavari water was going waste intothe sea. With the PLIP, 80 tmcft couldbe diverted to Krishna delta on timethis year, he said.The linking of the two rivers yieldedsuch great results that farmers ofKaramchedu in Prakasam districtthanked him as they got double theyield in just one crop. Naidu said theprogress of various irrigation proj-ects was being closely monitored.Naidu said the head sluice fromwhich he released water to theKrishna Eastern Delta was 112 yearsold. And this was the last time thatwater would be released from it be-cause the newly constructed headregulator would be commissionedfrom the next season. Naidu said hefelt tremendously honoured that hecould release water on Eid, a day ofcelebration for Muslim brethren.Besides strengthening supply toKrishna delta, the river-linking liftirrigation project effectively tappedat least some of the water from themighty Godavari river. The Govern-ment finished the PLIS and bridgedgaps in the 177-km Polavaram RightMain Canal to facilitate its flow intoKrishna delta. The Government com-pleted the project in a record timedespite the efforts by political rivalsto prevent farmers to give up theirland needed for the project.

CM RELEASES GODAVARIWATER TO KRISHNA DELTA

v

Fruits ofRiver Linkage



CERAMICCLUSTERCOMING UPAfirst-of-its-kind hub tonurture ceramic tile man-ufacturing units has beenundertaken by the State.The Chief Minister laid the founda-tion stone for a ceramic cluster atThatiparthi in Thottambedu man-dal of Chittoor district. He laidfoundation for Kajaria Bathware,Floera Ceramics and Somanyceramics manufacturing plants.Floera Ceramics was founded bywoman entrepreneur ManthenaVenkata Visalakshi Ramaji, who,along with noted ceramic engineerRajani Kumar, formed this jointventure with Kajaria Tiles, sup-ported by its directors RK Sharmaand Vishal Rastogi. The sprawlingunit is established at the AndhraPradesh Industrial InfrastructureCorporation’s (APIIC) 150-acre sitein Srikalahasti constituency.Initiated with an estimated outlayof Rs 283 crore to produce 35,000sq m of vitrified floor tiles a dayand create 1,000 direct and 10,000indirect jobs, the unit is expectedto launch the first phase of manu-facturing by September 2018. After commissioning of the secondand third phases, the unit willchurn out 90,000 sq m of tiles aday, considered the highest in theindustry. Naidu expressed happi-ness at the leading brands likeKajaria, Floera and Sudha Somaniexpressing willingness to set footin the ceramic cluster. The CM predicted lakhs of jobs torain on the State when the 1,523Memoranda of Understandingentered into by the Statematerialised.

Andhra Pradesh has emergedas the first state in the coun-try to exhaust all the seatsallocated to it under theIndia BPO promotion scheme (IBPS)for setting up business process out-sourcing (BPO) units in rural areas.The state was allotted 2,200 seatsunder the scheme, but with the risingdemand from companies to createmore seats an additional 850 havebeen allocated, according to a reportin Business Standard.“The initial seats allotted to AndhraPradesh have already been filled up.The response has been quite good.There is provision for over allocationin the scheme ,” said a senior official ofSoftware Technology Parks of India(STPI), the nodal agency for imple-menting the scheme.The target under the scheme is tocreate 48,300 BPO seats across statesand Union territories (UTs) based onpopulation percentage according toCensus 2011. Metro cities such as Ben-galuru, Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata,Mumbai, National Capital Region(NCR), and Pune, along with theirurban agglomeration were excluded.Of the total seats to be created, 18,160allocations have been made in thecountry, according to the project’s offi-cial website. The central governmenthad approved IBPS under the Digital

India Programme to create 150,000employment opportunities and pro-motion of BPO/ITes operations acrossthe country, to secure balancedregional growth of the industry, withan outlay of Rs 493 crore.The scheme provides capital supportalong with special incentives up to Rs1 lakh in the form of viability gapfunding (VGF). About 15 companieshave proposed to set up BPO centresin Andhra Pradesh, including KarvyData Management Services and OmegaHealthcare.Apart from Andhra Pradesh, theresponse in Tamil Nadu has also beensatisfactory. Against 2,800 seats ear-marked for Tamil Nadu, only 100 seatswere left to be allocated, added the of-ficial. In the UT category, Chandigarhand Puducherry have exhausted allseats allotted to them. Chandigarh andPuducherry were given 100 seatseach. Uttar Pradesh, the largest stateby population, was allotted 8,800seats under the scheme and 2,830seats have been allocated to the com-panies, according to the latest avail-able figure. The response in statessuch as Jharkhand, Gujarat, and WestBengal has been very poor. Similarly,Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman andDiu, Lakshadweep, Andaman andNicobar Islands and Goa are yet toopen their account.

aP first state to exhaustrural BPo quota

v v



The circumstances leading to the formation ofNavya Andhra Pradesh have left bitter memo-ries for the people of the State. Left a rudder-less state in every aspect, AP has been forcedto start from the scratch. Even while heroicallyrising from the ashes, theState and its people willneither forgive nor forget thegross injustice meted out tothe residuary state. It is inthis spirit that every year, theChandrababu Naidu Govern-ment has been observing theformation of residual AndhraPradesh as a day of pledge toremember the injusticemeted out to the state duringbifurcation and to restate itscommitment to work hardfor a prosperous state. For the third consecutive year, the Chief Minister under-

took Nava Nirmana Deeksha for seven days and MahaSankalpam on the eighth day. The CM gave a call, saying,“Let us all pledge together to take Andhra Pradesh to-wards great heights as we begin the Nava Nirmana Deek-sha”. It was an occasion to pledge ‘our commitment to thegoal of making AP a model state for the world’. NavaNirmana Deeksha event marked the Government’s effortsand perseverance towards taking AP to greater heights.Recalling the arbitrary manner in which the Congressdivided the unified State of Andhra Pradesh three yearsago, the Chief Minister said he was striving to get the Cen-tre to deliver its promises to the State. He expressed confi-dence that the BJP-led NDA government would stand byits commitment to give more funds in the package thanwhat was envisaged under the Special Category Status.Naidu said the TDP had tied up with the BJP to fightagainst the Congress, which ruined the country. TheCongress, he said, had chosen to divide unified AP withouttaking the people into confidence, to serve its owninterests.Devoid of a capital city and with a revenue deficit of Rs

A PLEDGE RENEWED

Nava Nirmana Deekshaand Maha Sankalpambeing observed every

year are a reminder ofthe dark days of bifur-

cation, when the Statewas left rudderless; and

a call for action toachieve greater glory

for Andhra Pradesh.



v

16,000 crore, AP had started its journey on a sober notebut quickly grew into a position of envy, he said.. In aweek-long event that began simultaneously in all 13 dis-tricts, Ministers administered a pledge and spoke on theroad ahead. One of the events during the week-long Deek-sha was an elaborate session on People First which is apeople-centric initiative with an efficiently integratedsystem for grievance redressal. People First has a unifiedcommunication channel, toll-free number - 1100, whichcan be accessed by the peo-ple of the state for reportingtheir issues.‘Maha Sankalpam’ markedthe conclusion of the NavaNirmana Deeksha being or-ganised from June 2. It wasadministered by Chief Minis-ter Chandrababu Naidu inKakinada and was live tele-cast.NTR said, ‘Society isTemple - People are God init’. Taking inspiration fromthis statement, by distributing the fruits of economicreforms for all people, I swear at Maha Sankalpam that theGovernment will enable non-poverty, financial equalitieswhile ensuring a peaceful, secured and joyous society.People First is our mantra in this great Yajna, which istransforming this new Andhra Pradesh as SwarnandhraPradesh”, the CM read out the Pledge.Calling upon the people of the State to make a visit to thesites of capital city Amaravati and major irrigation projectPolavaram at least once, Chief Minister said that it wouldbe a moment of pride to witness the massive construc-tions of the generation during the works in progress.“We haven’t seen the construction of Nagarjuna Sagar, forthat matter any major project, in our lifetime. Now, we gota chance to witness the building of both Amaravati andPolavaram, which would provide a special place forAndhra Pradesh in the world map,” Naidu said addressinga public meeting, during ‘Maha Sankalpam,’ the valedic-tory of the week-long Nava Nirmana Deeksha.Naidu said despite paucity of funds, there was no dearthof knowledge and that his vision was to make AndhraPradesh the richest State by making optimum use of avail-

able resources.“The Polavaram project will help the State becomedraught-free. Amaravati will make the world know aboutthe Telugu pride,” he said, adding that the State wouldattract investments of Rs16 lakh crore, generating aboutsix lakh new jobs.Declaring that the ‘Deepam’ scheme had reached satura-tion point, he said the State government had provided26.35 lakh cooking gas connections at a highly subsidisedprice to women from the urban and rural areas. During hishour-long address, Naidu touched upon various issues,from the division of the State to the circumstances thatprompted the Government to accept the special packageinstead of the Special Category Status. He gave a detailedaccount of various welfare schemes being implemented inthe State and called upon the people to continue to sup-port him and his Government.The CM said that we had collectively achieved certaingoals last year and now we will work harder in the areaswhere improvement is needed and will ensure that newinitiatives are introduced in the process. The following pledges were taken on the occasion:- Let us all pledge our commitment towards achieving a15% growth rate in financial development and ensuringthat the per capita income goes up to 1.47 Lakhs annually.- Let us all pledge our allegiance to the comprehensivedevelopment of the state and ensure the health and pros-perity of our people. On the occasion of this MahaSankalpam, we will strive to ensure transparent andaccountable governance by following a people-centricapproach.

The Polavaramproject will help

the State becomedraught-free;

Amaravati willmake the worldknow about the

Telugu gloary, theCM said.



1. The Chief Minister hoisted the 100 feet high Monu-mental National Flag at Tirupati Airport during avisit to Chittoor.

2. Natural Farming advocate Subhash Palekar beingfelicitated by the CM. Palekar has been appointedas advisor to the state for Zero Budget Farmingwith the aim of encouraging natural farming.

3. Groundbreaking of State Command & Communi-cation Centre for Real Time Governance at the APSecretariat.

4. CM unveiled the foundation stone of CenturionUniversity, known for its quality, affordability &skill-based education.

1

2 3

4



v

1. CM Chandrababu Naidu launching Eruvaka tobegin kharif cultivation from Udegolam vil-lage in Ananthapuramu.

2. Chief Minister with Union Railway MinisterSuresh Prabhu during launch of several newrailway schemes in AP.

3. CM with Prime Minister Narendra Modi atTextile India Show in Ahmadabad. UnionMinister Smriti Irani is also seen.

4. Stall put up by AP at the “Textiles India-2017”event of the Ministry of Textiles, Govt ofIndia held at Gandhinagar, Gujarat.

1

2 3

4


14 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM JULY 2017

Andhra Pradesh TourismDevelopment Corporation(APTDC) has entered into anexclusive partnership withOla, popular mobile app fortransportation, to boost transportationacross the state, with both inter-city andintra-city services, and further promotetourism and mobility ecosystem in thestate. Ola will also create 25,000 jobopportunities in the state, encouragingentrepreneurship and sustainableincome for the youth over next 5 years.Ola will provide a wider reach and abetter experience to millions of touristsand residents by launching into newcities from existing 6 in next 5 years,

providing unique mobility solutions.The first batch of exclusively co-brandedOla and Andhra Pradesh Tourism carswere flagged-off by the Chief Minister NChandrababu Naidu at the MoU signingceremony in Amaravati. Benefits of this Partnership to APTourism and the State at large includeemployment creation of 12000 jobs in 3years and 25,000 in next 5 years; Olaexpanding its offerings from existing 6new towns / cities to many more townsin next 5 years across the state; and pro-vide training to driver partners pertain-ing to information about the touristdestinations in the state.

APTDC & OlACABS PARTNeRShIP

A BOOST FOR TOURISM

The Andhra PradeshTourism Development

Corporation hasentered into an

exclusive partnershipwith Olacabs to boosttransportation across

the state, with bothinter-city and intra-city

services.


JULY 2017 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM 15

significant boost to tourismNew packages around tourist destinations, festi-vals, and holiday seasons will be created. Olabookings can be made through AP Tourismcounters at airports, railway and bus stations,and Haritha Hotels & Resorts, etc., across thestate through a revenue share model. AndhraPradesh Tourism will be promoted on Ola’splatforms.In the coming months, this partnership wouldalso be extended further, bringing additional setof offerings such as electric vehicles, bikes, andbuses in the state based on feasibility andregulatory constraints.Speaking on the occasion, Chief Minister Chan-drababu Naidu stated, “Our vision is to makeAndhra Pradesh a model state not just for Indiabut for audiences globally. For this, we arebetting heavily on technology-based modelsacross sectors. Partnering with companies suchas Ola, that has added a new dimension totransportation in India, is in keeping with thisvision. Together, we will be able to provide areliable commute service to tourists and resi-dents, as well as create job and entrepreneurialopportunities for several thousands.”Speaking about the partnership, Pranay Jivrajka,Founding Partner at Ola said, “We are certainthat Andhra Pradesh is soon going to becomethe benchmark for inclusive growth anddevelopment in India. Specially curated tourismpackages coupled with trained driver partners issure to provide a valuable service to customersand contribute to the growth of tourism in thestate.”Ola will create fixed fare packages for key routesin Vijayawada city such as from the airport, theSecretariat, the railway station, among others.Customers will also have the option to bookcabs from Ola kiosks set up at various keylocations in the cities mentioned above, foradded convenience. In the recent years, Andhra Pradesh hasemerged as one of the leading states in Indiathat attracts a high number of tourists, bothnational and international. Andhra Pradeshregistered a 20 percent growth in visitors lastyear, welcoming around 100 million tourists inthe State. Currently, Ola is present in 6 cities inthe state (Vijayawada, Visakhapatnam, Guntur,Rajahmundry, Tirupati, and Nellore).

Tata Trust has joined hands with the Andhra PradeshGovernment to accelerate the Rural ProsperityMission, in which the World Bank is a strategic partner.An MoU was signed between the Tata Trust and theSociety for Elimination of Rural Poverty (SERP) of the StateGovernment in the presence of the Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu in Vijayawada.World Bank is supporting the CM’s vision of ensuring a netincome of Rs. 10,000 per month for each self-help group (SHG)household. A Centre of Excellence for Rural Prosperity will beestablished to study and catalyse practical applications of tech-nology across agriculture, horticulture, animal husbandry, fish-eries, handloom and non-farm enterprises, according to a pressrelease.All the relevant technology, strategy and capacity building willbe supported by a collaboration of the stakeholders, WorldBank, Tata Trusts, SERP and AP State Development PlanningSociety (APSDPS).Training in enterprise and business sense will be provided byInternational Labour Organisation (ILO) and Kerala-basedKudumbashree, while skill development, training and place-ment facilities will be supported by IL&FS.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------cerner to establish Knowledge centreThe US based Cerner and the State Department of Health, Med-ical and Family Welfare (HM&FW) have signed a MoU underwhich Cerner will supply Health Information Exchange (HIE)services, to analyse data from the ongoing health programmesand provide policy recommendations.The AP Government intends to provide every citizen access totheir health information through digitisation. A KnowledgeCommand Centre will be established, to help coordinate the HIEprocedures. In addition the information would be used toprevent or tackle epidemics. Jitendra Sharma, Advisor to GoAP(Health and Medical Technology) said, "Digitisation will helpidentify disease hotspots, which can lead to early interventions,and will significantly lower the rate of hospitalization." Thisagreement is valid for three years and will cost the StateGovernment Rs. 18 lakhs per month, a release said.

v

tata trust, aP sigN Mouto accelerate ruralProsPerity MissioN

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Telugu boy Srikanth becamethe first Indian to win back-to-back Super Series titles.The Guntur lad brushed

aside Olympic champion Chen Long

22-20, 21-16 to clinch the AustralianOpen in Sydney. This followed histriumph in the Indonesia Open alittle earlier. Srikanth, now worldNo.11, is set to break into the top 10when the rankings are nextannounced. Srikanth is in the best phase of hiscareer. His win against the Olympicchampion is particularly inspiring.Having recently knocked Srikanthout in straight games at theSudirman Cup in May, Chen saw avery different Srikanth dazzle on thecourt at Sydney. “It is special for surecoming up against someone likeChen who has been playing so wellin this championship,” Srikanth toldSportstar after the straight-gamesvictory.After his fabulous show in Jakarta

and Sydney, Srikanth dedicated hiswin to the coaches and support staffincluding coaches Mulyo, nationalcoach Pullela Gopichand, fellow play-ers and the staff at the GopichandAcademy. In a span of two weeks, the24-year-old won all the 10 matcheshe played, beating the World No 1Son Wan Ho twice and top-rankedChinese shuttler Shi Yuqi once. Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ChiefMinister Chandrababu Naidu andcricket icon Sachin Tendulkar, amongothers, lavished praise on KidambiSrikanth for claiming the AustralianOpen Super Series title with a stun-ning win over reigning Olympic andworld champion Chen Long.

SRIKANTH,THE STAROF SUPERSERIES

In a span of twoweeks, the 24-year-old won all the 10matches he played,beating the WorldNo 1 Son Wan Hotwice andtop-ranked ChineseshuttlerShi Yuqi once.


To celebrate this historic moment, Bad-minton Association of India presidentHimanta Biswa Sarma announced a cashreward of Rs five lakh for Srikanth, whonot only won his fourth Super Seriestitle but also became the only fifth bad-minton player in the world to make it tothree consecutive Super Series finals onthe trot. Meanwhile, Srikanth and SaiPraneeth are going to play the WorldChampionship in August.The Chief Minister felicitated KidambiSrikanth for his praiseworthy show atIndonesia and Australia Super Seriesbadminton titles. The Chief Ministerannounced allotment of 1,000 sq yardshouse site to the badminton star inGuntur or any other place where hepreferred and offered Group-1 job and

asked him to play for Andhra Pradesh.Naidu also announced a cash award ofRs 15 lakh to Indian team chief coachPullela Gopichand. sports university to come up atamaravatiSpeaking on the occasion, Naidu saidthat a Sports University would be set upin Amaravati and best internationalcoaches would come to the university toproduce international players. The CM said Srikanth was an inspirationfor young players to win internationalmedals. "Equal importance should begiven to all sports. I allotted 5 acres ofland for the Gopichand Sports Academyin Hyderabad, which gave a boost to thegrowth of badminton in the region andproduced international players," theChief Minister recalled. Naidu playedbadminton on the dais with the racketpresented by Srikanth to him before thestart of the programme.Srikanth said that he won the series dueto the training provided in theGopichand Academy. Srikanth's motherRadhamukunda thanked the ChiefMinister for her son's success.Minister for Sports Kollu Ravindra, andother Andhra Pradesh Ministers Devi-neni Umamaheswara Rao, Prattipatipulla Rao and others were also presenton the occasion.

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The Chief Ministersaid that a SportsUniversity would beset up in Amaravatiand best interna-tional coaches wouldcome to the univer-sity to produce inter-national players.

Sterlite Tech, anend-to-end globaltechnology leaderin smarter digitalnetworks, on the occasionof the second anniversaryof the Smart Cities Mis-sion, announced the com-pany’s selection for theimplementation of SmartCity solutions inKakinada, AndhraPradesh.Kakinada was chosenamong the first 20 citiesin the first phase of theSmart City Mission. Theproject aims to bringtransformational changesin the everyday living ex-periences of over 3.25lakh citizens of Kakinada,through real-time gover-nance and efficient deliv-ery of citizen services. Aspart of the project,Sterlite Tech will design,build and manage theKakinada Smart City forthe next six years.

sterlite techselectedforKakinadasmartcity Project



The advantages of public transport, particularlyin countries with large population, are many asit leads to conservation of energy on high scale,thereby strengthening the economy. It is in thisdirection, facilities are created by Andhra Pradesh RoadTransport Corporation, the Railways and other transportsectors. A significant step was taken mid-June when theRailway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu, and AndhraPradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, launchedvarious rail infra developmental works, including layingof foundation stone for Wagon workshop Vadlapudi andAugmentation of Diesel Loco Shed, Visakhapatnamthrough video link from Tummalapalli Kalakshetram, Vi-jayawada.

The foundation laying ceremony at Visakhapatnam wasorganized in august presence of Gajuwaka MLA PallaSrinivasa Rao, Divisional Railway Manager - WatairMukul Saran Mathur and ADRM Ajay Arora.According to Mathur, a lot of rail infrastructure de-velopment activities being taken by railways, which is thelargest transporter of goods and traffic, Wagon POHworkshop at Vadlapudi will reduce wagon turnaroundand will help Railways to generate additional revenue;the augmentation of the infrastructure facilities of thelargest Diesel Loco Shed in Indian Railways at Visakhap-atnam, presently holds a fleet of 285 locomotives and79HHP locos, will enhance the holding capacity of HHPlocos to 100.

NEW ERA OFRAIL DEVELOPMENT

In a first its kind, as many as 10 railway projects were launhced on a single day inAndhra Pradesh, even as Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu urged the Centre to inten-

sify efforts to set up a railway zone with Visakhapatnam as headquarters.



The foundation laying ceremony was launchedthrough video conference by the Chief Minister andMinister for Railways in the presence of Union Minis-ter for Urban Development, Housing and UrbanPoverty Alleviation and Information & Broadcasting MVenkaiah Naidu, Union Civil Aviation Minister P AshokGajapathi Raju, Union Minister of State for Science andTechnology YS Chowdary, and other State Ministers,MPs, MLAs and Railway personnel. During the inaugu-ral function at Vijayawada new weekly Hamsafar trainbetween Vijayawada-Howrah also flagged off and itwas announced that free WiFi facility to rail usersunder phase-II is commissioned at Vizianagaram rail-way station.The ceremony at Visakhapatnam witnessed by largegathering of Railway officials.Salient features of the Projects:Wagon Periodical Over Hauling workshop: WaltairDivision of ECoR being the hub of freight transporta-tion, there is demand for Periodical Over Hauling(POH) of Wagons for 200 wagons per month. At pres-ent, the POH of wagons of Waltair Division done atRayampadu Wagon Work Shop (SCR), Raipur WagonWorkshop (SECR) and Kharagpur Workshop(SER).andWagon POH workshop at Vadlapudi will reduce wagonturnaround and will help Railways to generate addi-tional revenue.The new Wagon POH workshop at Vadlapudi, Visakha-patnam sanctioned in 2015-16 Railway budget withsanctioned cost of Rs 213.97 crores and it will cover240 acres, railway land available at Vadlapudi. In2015 Railway Board entrusted Workshop Project Or-ganisation, Patna for execution of the work, laterhanded over to RVNL (Rail Vikas Nigam Limited) in2016. The layout and drawing of the project finalizedin 2016 and the detailed estimate sanctioned in April

2017 . The value of detailed estimate is Rs 328.81crores (Civil Engg: Rs 137crores; Mechanical: Rs 126crores; Electrical:Rs 22crores; Signal& Telecom: Rs 8crores and Miscellaneous Rs 36 crore.Status of Tender: Published on 06.05.2017 with tenderopening date 20.06.2017 and value of tender is Rs274.56 crores and the period of completion of thework is 24 months.Augmentation of Diesel Loco Shed: The Diesel LocoShed (DLS), Visakhapatnam established in 1965 en-gaged in maintenance of various types of locomotivesoperated for Freight,Passenger and Shunting. At pres-ent, the DLS holds a fleet of 285 locomotives including52 locomotives running in coaching link. The holdingof HHP locos is expected to increase to 100 in near fu-ture and augmentation is required to accommodatethese HHP locos. It is proposed to construct Shed cam-pus in an area of 10acres with covered area of6690Sq.Meters with lot of infrastructural facilities.The detailed estimated cost of the project is Rs67.5crore. The work has been awarded to M/s IRCONby Railway Board in 2016. Suresh Prabhu said Andhra Pradesh was ahead ofothers in development of railways. Stating that AndhraPradesh would emerge as a logistics hub, he said theprojects would be taken up at a cost of Rs 1.31 lakhcrore.Union Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said that 30 railwayprojects were launched in AP at a cost of Rs 41,563 cr.He said the railway projects launched today wouldhelp for the development of North Andhra and Ray-alaseema region.The Chief Minister appealed to the Union Ministers totake a decision and announce Visakhapatnam as a sep-arate railway zone at the earliest.- B. Prabhakara Sarma



A240 million US dollarloan agreement tosupport the AndhraPradesh Government's24x7 power for all scheme wasinked by the Governments of Indiaand Andhra Pradesh and theWorld Bank.The Asian Infrastructure Invest-ment Bank (AIIB) also signed a$140 million loan agreement forthis project, which is first inIndia being co-financed by theAIIB. The World Bank and AIIBwill provide loans in a 60:40 ratiofor all components of the project.With the loan agreement between

GoI, World Bank and AIIB, we areputting a strong foot forward to-wards ensuring 24x7 power for allin AP, said Chief Minister N Chan-drababu Naidu, who spearheadedthe reforms in the power sector,becoming a role model for otherstates in India.The loan agreement was signed byRaj Kumar, Joint Secretary, Depart-ment of Economic Affairs, K Ran-ganatham, Advisor, Department ofEnergy, Government of AndhraPradesh, D J Pandian, Vice Presi-dent and Chief Investment Officer,AIIB, and Hisham Abdo Kahin, Op-erations Manager and ActingCountry Director,World Bank

India.“The project is part of the Govern-ment of India’s Power for All pro-gramme launched in 2014. AndhraPradesh is among a few states se-lected for the roll-out. The energydemand in the state is expected togrow and substantial investmentswill be needed to meet this risingdemand,” said Raj Kumar, JointSecretary, Department of Eco-nomic Affairs, Ministry of Finance.This project is expected toimprove operational efficiency inthe transmission and distributionsector.While a significant portion of the

AP’S POWER FOR ALL PROJECTWB EXTENDS 240 MN CREDIT

the loan agreement for the andhra Pradesh 24x7 Power for all Project was signed by raj Kumar, Joint secretary, Department of eco-nomic affairs on behalf of the government of india; K ranganatham, advisor, Department of energy, government of andhra Pradesh,on behalf of the government of andhra Pradesh; D J Pandian, vice President and chief investment officer, aiiB, on behalf of the aiiB;and hisham abdo Kahin, operations Manager and acting country Director, World Bank india, on behalf of the World Bank.



proposed investments are aimed atimproving power supply to rural areas,the project will also focus on demon-strating the deployment of smart gridsin selected towns.“By increasing the supply of reliableelectricity to households, industries,businesses and various other produc-tive sectors, the project will contributeto economic development, povertyalleviation, and inclusive growth inAndhra Pradesh,” said Hisham AbdoKahin, Operations Manager and ActingBank Country Director, World Bank,India.“Since 2014, the Government of AndhraPradesh has taken significant steps toimprove the power sector in the state.By supporting the government’s plansfor improving the commercial perform-ance of its distribution companies, theproject will go a long way in helpingAndhra Pradesh move into a highergrowth trajectory,” said Mani Khurana,Senior Energy Specialist and WorldBank’s Task Team Leader for the proj-ect. The project will also support smartconsumer meters, with two-way com-munication and backend IT infrastruc-ture, deployed in select urban towns.The $240 million loan has a 5-yeargrace period, and a maturity of 19years.

The developmentobjective of AP 24X7Power for All Project forIndia is to increase thedelivery of electricity tocustomers and toimprove the operationalefficiency and systemreliability in distributionof electricity in selectedareas in AP.

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Poverty and social backwardness was no deterrent to these students,who climbed Mount Everest successfully thanks to the vision and sup-port provided by the Government of Andhra Pradesh. With the fullbacking of the State Government, students from disadvantaged back-grounds literally made it to the top of the Everest. As many as 14 studentsfrom Andhra Pradesh successfully scaled the world's tallest mountain peak indifferent batches last month.Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu announced a reward of Rs 10 lakh each tothe 14 students, who scaled Mount Everest in May. Their coach Sekhar Babuwill also get Rs 10 lakh while five other students, who were also part of the ex-pedition team, but could not scale the peak due to various reasons, will get Rs5 lakh each.The Chief Minister, who profusely congratulated these students hailing fromdowntrodden families, announced the rewards after interacting with them inhis office. "The state government spent Rs 2.75 crore on this expedition, butyou displayed such courage and grit worth Rs 275 crore. The Everest bowed toyou," Naidu said. The Chief Minister also promised government jobs for thestudents in future.It may be recalled that the Social and Tribal Welfare departments and theYouth Affairs department of the AP government chose 65 students pursuingIntermediate and undergraduate education and trained them in mountaineer-ing. From the lot, 30 were filtered for the advanced training and of them 19were chosen for the final expedition last month. Of them 14 successfully scaledthe world's tallest mountain peak in different batches last month. The fiveothers could not accomplish the mission due to inhospitable conditions.“These youngsters have proved that one could achieve anything with strongwill, dedication, and determination. Their poor financial background did notdeter them from scaling the highest peak. We must draw inspiration fromthese youngsters and work hard to realise our dreams,” the CM said. These students claimed a record for opening a fresh route to the summit.Sandhya Bhai Vadithe, G. Hari Prasad, R. Sundar Raju, Rani Boddu, G. SureshBabu, V. Krishna Rao, K. Durga Rao, Bharat Thammineni, Nagaraju Sundarana,Satya Rao, Mothukuri Dharma Teja, Chenna Rao Gajavalli, Eeswar Seelam andBodla Sagar made it to the top. The first two women climbers of Mt. Everestfrom AP are also in the team, organisers said. The Social Welfare Departmentsanctioned Rs 3.50 crore for this programme and provided training kits.

aNDhra stuDeNtsscale great heights

cM felicitating students for scaling everest.



Kurnool soon will soon have air connectivity.Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu laid thefoundation stone for a greenfield no-frills air-port at Orvakal in Kurnool district. Theairport, coming up on 1,010 acres at a cost of Rs 90crore, would be completed in a year.Speaking on the occasion, the Chief Minister said thatairports better than the one in Hyderabad would comeup at Amaravati and Visakhapatnam in the private sec-tor. The State Government was according priority tologistics and augmentation of passengers and goodtransport, expansion of roads, railway network andports in the State, he said. The airport, coming up on1,010 acres at a cost of Rs 90 crore, would be completedin a year, he asserted.The Central government launched the UDAN regionalconnectivity scheme to make air travel affordable to thecommon man, Naidu said. His Government revived theKadapa airport and developed international airports atTirupati and Visakhapatnam.Promising completion of roads,rail lines and ports by next year-end, he said Kurnool wouldbecome a major highway junctionconnecting Hyderabad, Bellary,Bengaluru, Kadapa and Amara-vati. The Orvakal airport wouldspur development of townships,hotels, and tourism would get aboost in the district which hasseveral ancient and historic tem-ples. The CM said the Greenfieldairport being constructed atOrvakal will help weed out factionfeuds in Kurnool district. With theconstruction of the airport, many industries will comeup in the district ,thus helping business in this area andgenerating more employment.Kurnool MP Butta Renuka, MLAs Gauru Charitha Reddy,BC Janardhana Reddy, SV Mohan Reddy, PrincipalSecretary of Energy and Airports Ajay Jain, AP SolarPower Corporation CEO VSR Naidu, and AP StateEnergy Efficiency Development Corporation CEOA Chandrasekhar Reddy were present.

food processing unitEarlier, the Chief Minister laid foundation stone for theJain Irrigation Systems agro and food processing unit atThangadancha in Jupadu Bungalow mandal.The unit would generate direct employment to 3,500persons and indirect employment to 10,000 persons.Stating that drip and sprinkler irrigation tools werebeing given at 90 percent subsidy, the Chief Ministersaid horticulture would be more profitable to farmersthan agriculture in the four Rayalaseema districts. Healso inaugurated a school building constructed at a costof Rs 7 crore funds of the Self Help Groups. CPM districtsecretary K Prabhakar Reddy said the construction ofthe airport is to benefit the realtors only. air traffic witnesses spurtThe aviation sector in the state is robust. Following vari-ous developmental activities in the aviation sector, theairports in the state witnessed 35 per cent growth withVijayawada having highest growth rate of 61 per cent inair passenger traffic in the months of March-April fromthe last year in the corresponding period.Andhra Pradesh is now the fastest-growing state in thecountry's civil aviation sector. While the Visakhapatnamairport received 3,71,847 passengers last year in themonth of April- March, the number reached to 4,86,345this year with a growth per cent of 33 per cent. Vi-

GREENFIELD AIRPORT FOR KURNOOL

The GreenfieldAirport project at

Orvakal, for whichfoundation stone

was laid by theCM, will serve as a

milestone for theprogress of

Kurnool district.



IN a first, several graduates of Indian School of Business(ISB), Hyderabad, will join as executive assistants toDistrict Collectors in Andhra Pradesh, with the StateGovernment making offers to 21 students of the institutionthis year. The others will join in strategy and planning areas ofvarious departments of the state government — informationtechnology, AP brand management, Fin-Tech (financial tech-nology), Textiles, Tourism, and Infrastructure, among others.This is the second year that the government of the bifurcatedstate has made offers to ISB students; last year, the Govern-ment had made offers to 11 ISB postgraduate students. Theywere chosen as ‘Chief Minister’s Fellows’ to support the stateon strategic initiatives and implementation of policies, includ-ing improving quality of education and child nutrition, creat-ing sustainable livelihoods and mitigate poverty, and reducingmaternal mortality.“Fin-Tech is the fastest growing sector, and AP is keen on pro-moting it. We need people with excellent leadership and strat-egy skills, so this year we offered roles to students of ISB,’’ anofficial said. The government made the job offers through theAndhra Pradesh Economic Development Board (APEDB).The need for executive assistants to District Collectors was feltas districts such as Visakhapatnam, Guntur, Krishna and Chit-toor are developing rapidly after the state’s bifurcation, andcollectors need aides to vet business proposals or preparebriefs for key meetings, among others, officials said. The Andhra Pradesh government turned to the Indian Schoolof Business (ISB) to hire executives to achieve its goal to beamong the top three states in India by 2022 and the best inthe country by 2029.Chandrababu Naidu, who played a key role in setting up ISBwhen he was the Chief Minister of undivided Andhra Pradesh,has turned to the same institute of higher learning to attracttalent in his new role as the Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh.

jayawada (Gannavaram) airport witnessed a bigleap in the traffic from 4,03,332 to 6,49,963passengers registering 61 per cent growth rate.Rajahmundry had the lowest growth rate of 17per cent when compared to other airports witha jump in the number of passengers in 2016(April- March) 2,24,161 to 2,61,758 this year.The growth rate of airports in AP is muchhigher than national average, according toofficials.Meanwhile, there is good progress with regardto the construction of Greenfield airports in thestate. Land acquisition has nearly beencompleted for the green field airports proposedat Bhogapuram(Vizianagaram),Dagadarthi (Nellore)and Orvakal (Kurnool).The state governmenthas taken manymeasures to promotecivil aviation sector. The government hasreduced the tax onAviation Turbine Fuel to1 per cent, therebyincreasing the viabilityof airlines to operate inthe state. vijayawada international operationsThe old terminal of Vijayawada Airport is goingto have all international airport terminal facili-ties such as immigration section, plant quaran-tine and others. The old terminal, which wasdeserted after the domestic terminal facilitieswere moved to the new swanky terminal, willbe open for international services starting fromAugust 1.The Civil Aviation Minister officially declaredVijayawada Airport as international airportwith effect from August 1 when requisitefacilities for international operations will bemade available.

aP hires taleNtfroM isB

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The airports in thestate witnessed 35

per cent growthwith Vijayawada

having highestgrowth rate of 61

per cent in airpassenger trafficin the months of

March-April.



AP CABINET MEET

BOOST FOR URBAN HOUSING

The Andhra PradeshCabinet approvedconstruction of 1.2 lakhhouses in the urbanareas of the State.Three models — 270 sft, 365 sft,and 420 sft — had been approved.In the first model, a hall-cum-bed-room, kitchen, and toilet would beconstructed. A bedroom, hall,kitchen, and toilet would be pro-vided in the second model. In thethird model, the beneficiary wouldget two bedrooms, a hall, kitchenand toilet.The three models would be con-structed in two types — totallyfinished and semi finished —taking the options to six for thebeneficiaries.

In the first type, vitrified tiles and‘putti plastering’ would be used intoilet and kitchen and for flooring.In the second type, cement flooringwould be done, he said.The beneficiary would have to payRs 25,000 to Rs 1 lakh in a year,depending upon the model theychoose.The State and the Central Govern-ments’ share would be Rs 3 lakh.The remaining amount would haveto be borne by the beneficiary. Thegovernment would provide bankloans, he said.The Government intends to invitetenders in a week at places wherethere were no MLC elections. TheGovernment would write a letter to

the Election Commission seekingpermission to invite tenders in theareas where elections were slated.The tenders would be opened onlyafter the elections, he said, addingthat construction would be com-pleted in 18 months.The State Cabinet has approved theformation of three more urban de-velopment authorities (UDAs).They are the Godavari Urban De-velopment Authority (GUDA),Kurnool Urban Development Au-thority (KUDA) and the AnantapurUrban Development Authority(AUDA). With these, there will benine UDAs in the State.At present, there are the Visakhap-atnam Urban Development Author-ity, Tirupati Urban Development



Authority, Puttaparti Urban Devel-opment Authority, AP-CRDA,Machilipatnam Urban DevelopmentAuthority and the Nellore UrbanDevelopment Authority, accordingto Municipal Administration Minis-ter P Narayana. The Municipal Min-ister said the GUDA’s jurisdictionwould be spread over 2,215 squarekm covering six Urban Local Bodies(ULBs) and 280 villages.“There are 1,384 villages in EastGodavari district. The UDA wouldcome up between Rajamahen-

dravaram and Kakinada,” he said,adding that 33 percent of thedistrict urban population would becovered by the proposed authority.Narayana said the KUDA wouldcomprise 111 villages and eightmandals in the district. It would be

spread over 2,414 square km andcover 62.71 percent of the popula-tion.The AUDA would be spread over3,098 square km. In all, 177 villageswould fall under its jurisdiction. Itwould cover 37.72 percent of theurban population, he said.irrigation ProjectsThe Cabinet also decided to com-plete the 24 pending irrigationprojects within one year. TheCabinet gave approval for completelinking of Vamsadhara and Nagavalirivers by March 2018 and ruralroads maintenance policy. Further, decision was taken toimprove basic facilities in govern-ment schools in the next two yearsfor which the Cabinet allotted Rs4,139 crore. New liquor PolicyThe Cabinet adopted the newliquor policy and resolved to allow85 new bars in towns (one per30,000 population) and givelicences to new bars for five yearswith increase in fee by 10 % everyyear. Barring places of spiritualtourism, the Cabinet decided to give

2-B licences to star hotels andtourist spots. It also decided toallow microbreweries if they follownorms. The Law Department wouldbe consulted to take a decision onrecognising State highways passingthrough towns as local highways.The other important decisionstaken by the Cabinet include pay-ment of an additional Rs. 4.40 lakhper acre for the land acquired atPolavaram for dumping of projectconstruction material. It approvedallotment of 3.65 acres at Atmakurvillage in Mangalagiri mandal forthe construction of Telugu DesamState party office, on a 99-yearlease at Rs. 1,000 per acre.The Cabinet approved the MoUsigned by the Government of APand Singapore Consortiumcomprising Ascendas-Singbridgefor the development of theAmaravati start-up area.The decks have also been clearedfor the establishment of AP RailwayInfrastructure Development Corpo-ration for taking up new projectsand expediting the pending ones.The Cabinet gave its nod forincreasing the retirement age ofemployees of organisations fallingin the purview of Schedules 9 and10 of the AP Reorganisation Act to60. This will benefit employees of89 companies, corporations andcooperative societies.The Cabinet cleared the AP RuralRoads Maintenance Policy underwhich roads would be treated and‘managed’ as assets with the help ofadvanced technologies.

Cabinet gave its nod for increasing the retirement age of employees oforganisations falling in the purview of Schedules 9 and 10 of the A.P.Reorganisation Act to 60. This will benefit employees of 89 companies,corporations and cooperative societies.

v

The Cabinet alsodecided tocomplete the 24pending irrigationprojects withinone year



Andhra Pradesh Minister for InformationTechnology and Communications NaraLokesh said that the State will generatearound two lakh jobs in electronics manu-facturing and IT sector within two years.To achive this target, apart from manufacturing ofmobile phones and consumer durables, focus will bealso on manufacturing of medical devices, he said dur-ing a visit to New Delhi. Lokesh met Union Information Technology MinisterRavi Shankar Prasad during his visit and sought Centre'shelp to set up Centre of Development of Advanced Com-puting (C-DAC) in Vizag along with Centre of Excellencefor Cybersecurity. He also requested him to speed upapprovals for 5 electronic clusters in AP.The Union Minister assured help as the state is growingfast in both the sectors (electronics manufacturing andIT) with large investments pouring in. Lokesh also metand congratulated Ajay Prakash Sawhney who has re-cently been appointed as secretary for Electronics andIT, Govt of India.He also held talks with drone-manufacturing companiesand Indian Cellular Association (ICA), a body compris-ing mobile manufacturers, brand owners and others, forbringing more investments to the state. "We receivedgood response, feedback and suggestions from the ICAduring the interactions," he said. Meeting with icaLokesh met Indian Cellular Association (ICA) presidentPankaj Mohindroo along with Principal Secretary (IT)K Vijayanand and other senior officials of the IT, Elec-tronics and Communications (ITE&C) Department ofAndhra Pradesh, in New Delhi. They discussed theroadmap for transforming AP into an electronics andmobile phone manufacturing hub by attracting majorplayers to set up their units at various potential loca-tions, especially in the Electronics ManufacturingCluster (EMC) coming up in the Tirupati-Renigunta areain Chittoor district. Lokesh and the top brass of ICA also deliberated on theestablishment of a Centre for Development of Electron-ics System Design and Manufacturing in the State. Hesought the cooperation of ICA in imparting mobilephone manufacturing skills and training to the youth

and said the State was preparing an action plan in thatregard.The young Minister urged the ICA to play a facilitatingrole in the setting of mobile phone spare parts manu-facturing units in the State. Welcoming the initiativestaken by the Government of AP in the field of ITE&C,Mohindroo told the Minister that some policy decisionsare to be taken, and tax concessions given if India is tocompete with China in mobile phone manufacturing.Lokesh said that AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naiduwould raise the issues concerning the mobile phonemanufacturers with the Central Government and try toresolve them. He said the GoAP would provide all facil-ities required by the phone manufacturers, whose forayinto the State would create a huge number of jobs to theyouth.On his return, Lokesh met with Accenture India chair-man Rekha Menon and team, discussed on how they canbe tech transfer partner for the State’s eGov programs.The Minister also announced that the State will soonhave a CORE Dashboard for Panchayat Raj Deparmentwhich will integrate MNREGS works with otherdevelopment works in AP.

STATE TO GENERATE2 LAKH JOBS

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Minister Nara lokesh met union it Minister ravi shankar Prasad tosecure speedy approvals for electronic clusters in aP.



Aiming to resolve water issues across thestate, AP chief minister N ChandrababuNaidu launched 'Jalavani' call centre. Peoplefrom all the 13 districts can call on toll-freenumber 1800-425-1899 for redressal of drinkingwater grievances. The toll-free number was an-nounced at the CM's residence in Undavalli in the pres-ence of rural development and panchayat raj ministerNara Lokesh, who conceived the project.Lokesh said that Jalavani call centre was launched as

part of real-time governance. He said the project hasbeen under implementation for the past six months onpilot basis. "People from any part of the state can calland we shall address their complaints immediately," hesaid.Lokesh said that the call centre has received 3,294complaints so far. As part of the efforts to delivergovernance real time, the call centre has successfullyexperimented with the grievance redress mechanismin the last six months.

sNaPshot

We are putting a strong foot forward towards providing access to safe and clean drinking waterto the public for as low as 10 paise per litre.

- cM chandrababu Naidu

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Kanya-sulkam (maiden-price) is a drama ofseven acts- written in colloquial Teluguprose and its object is to expose the evils ofselling bride for money to old men. This unholy prac-tice was more rampant than now in the days whenKanya-sulkam (first edition) was written, though inthese days, it is satisfied with a subordinate place insocial life, having surrendered its well-earned placeof honour to its sister usage, to Bridegroom price. The chief merit of the play is that, while there is avery serious moral purpose running from one end ofthe book to the other, the whole play bubbles withfrolic and laughter and the scenes captivate the at-tention and imagination of the reader. The author isan artist and a humourist par-excellence. The ab-stract from Apparao Pantulu’s letters which will begiven here below.A distinguished Vedic scholar of advanced years gavehis infant daughter in marriage to an old Brahmin

widower on receipt of a large sum as bride price. Hisson-in-law died shortly after marriage, and theyoung daughter became widow. He has a seconddaughter who is barely ten years old. And he hasarranged to give her and decent price was fixed as aconsideration for the bride, and the day was fixed forthe marriage. The girl’s mother was opposed to the alliance, andone of her relation came to her rescue and promisedto stop the intended marriage. He sought the help ofa dancing girl Madhuravani, and with her help, hecontrived to dress a boy as a girl and proposed herhand to the intended groom in competition to thematch already contracted. The old bridegroom wasvery willing to slip from the contract, and was over-joyed to have a more beautiful little wife for a lesserprice. The marriage was duly celebrated instanta-neously. The other marriage party arrived somewhatin advance of the day fixed for the wedding. The girl’s father was informed that the bridegroom-elected was already married to another girl. Therewas a great consternation in the marriage party. Inthe confusion, the young widowed daughter of theold man, the elder sister of the girl to be married,was found to have eloped with a certain young manGirisham, who was a tutor to her younger brotherand was following the marriage party. The wretched old fool who married to boy dressedas a girl, soon found that his precious bride wasmissing. The police laid a charge of murder againstthis man and his widowed daughter. The dancing-girl Madhuravani who was “colourless iniquity” hadyet a spark of virtue in her. Just at the proper time,she volunteered a hint to the advocate, scrupulouslymoral young man, defending the accused that themissing child was not a girl but a boy.(To Be Continued)

(excerpt from the reminiscences of ongolu Munisubrahmanyam,a close disciple of gurazada apparao)

k k k

Literary reminiscences Of

GURAZADA APPARAO PANTULU

- Vangolu Munisubrahmanyam

v

KANYA SULKAM



One more mobile manufacturing unit has comeup in Andhra Pradesh. Chief Minister N Chan-drababu Naidu inaugurated the Celkon Mobiledevices manufacturing facility close to Interna-tional Airport in Renigunta. The facility has been con-structed on 22 acres of land at a cost of Rs 150 crore.AP has been seeking to createa mobile and electronics man-ufacturing hub near the tem-ple town of Tirupati. The Statehad inked memorandums withMicromax, Celkon, Karbonnand Foxconn for manufactur-ing units in the State. Three ofIndia's top home-bred mobilehandset makers have agreedto invest a total of Rs 750crore in setting up manufac-turing facilities at the hard-ware hub.Speaking on the occasion Naidu said the state govern-ment has launched a special industrial policy to attractinvestments and create lakhs of jobs for unemployedyouth. Under the policy investors would be provided thebest infrastructure facilities with abundant land, powerand water, he said, adding that government has alreadyinked an MoU with 1,569 companies, of which as many as813 had started works that are at different stages.The companies would invest Rs 2.75 lakh crore in the

state and provide over six lakh jobs to the unemployed,he said. The Chief Minister said his government whichwas now producing quality power has no plan to hikepower tariff and instead making efforts even to reducethe tariff. Celkon mobile Chairman and Managing direc-tor Y Guru, Executive Director Murali Retineni and IndianCellular National President Pankaj Mahindroo, state Min-isters Nara Lokesh and N Amaranath Reddy spoke.Earlier, the Chief Minister met a group of entrepreneursfrom China, Japan, Taiwan and Malaysia at the inaugura-tion of the Celkon Impex production. Before formallylaunching the production of the mobile phone, Naiduwent round the sprawling factory during which he inter-acted with the women workers. He was elated to see thewomen mostly from the rural Yerpedu, Renigunta areasand also some from the city of Tirupati with only SSC andIntermediate education getting employment in the cellphone company after training. Chinese mobile company OPPO reportedly looking to setup a manufacturing facility. Though other details havenot yet been shared, the Chinese company managementhad hinted at investment of about Rs. 1000 crore.Foxconn, the world's largest contract mobile handsetmaker set up a manufacturing plant at Sricity. The ChiefMinister’s long-term target was to attract at least 30 mo-bile and electronic gadget manufacturers to the state forcreating a large electronics hardware ecosystem.

CELKON MOBILE Facility launched

v

cM said the stategovernment has

launched aspecial industrialpolicy to attract

investments andcreate lakhs ofjobs for unem-ployed youth.


JULY 2017

Telugu film industry is waging a waron piracy like never before; how-ever, despite all possible efforts tocurb the menace, the industry is al-ways a step behind in the game. The anti-piracy cell, associated with the Telugu filmindustry, had set up a dedicated team to curbthe pirated copies of films after their releaseand for the longest time, it seemed like theywere making good progress. But the alarm-ing increase in the number of incidents of on-line piracy in recent times has, once again,turned the spotlight on this menace.Earlier this year, the makers of Baahubali 2were stunned when they received a phonecall prior to the film’s release that the entirefilm’s high-quality print has already been pi-rated. The anonymous caller is said to havedemanded a large sum of money to keep thecontent away from being distributed on theinternet. What was surprising about thewhole incident is that a theatre owner inBihar had decoded the digital version of thefilm prior to the release itself. The police offi-cials, who eventually traced the culprits,opined that this couldn’t have been possiblewithout the involvement of someone fromone of the digital distribution companies.Whatever the case maybe, the incident sentout a clear signal to the industry that it needsto up its game in terms of protecting theirmaterial. Later, in the last week of June, the film indus-try was rocked with two back to back inci-dents, where an entire film (DuvvadaJagannadham) was streamed on Facebook,apart from multiple pirated versions appear-ing on the internet. And then, an unautho-rised teaser of NTR starrer Jai Lava Kusamade its way on social networking platformsleading to the arrest of an assistant editor of

TOLLYWOOD’S AGE OLD PIRACYPROBLEM AND WHY IT’S GETTING MORECOMPLICATED

30 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG


JULY 2017

the film itself. The cyber crime officials were successful innabbing the culprits; however, the damage was done bythen.Piracy isn’t a new issue which the film industry has beenfighting against. Ever sinceit became easier to operatehand-held cameras, theproblem has persisted,starting from the late 90s.And then, with the adventof the internet and low-cost CDs and DVDs, it be-came an organisedindustry. The modusoperandi has, traditionally,been simple. A bunch ofmiscreants bribe a theatreowner to record the filmand then, the master copyis duplicated to make mul-tiple CDs, which are laterdistributed all over the market. And when the technologyimproved, the CDs and DVDs were replaced with low-qual-ity prints that were distributed over the internet. By thelate 2000s, the internet speeds were so high that withincouple of weeks of the film’s release, the piracy gangs inAndhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu were able to release Blu-Ray copies of the films, which turned into a big headachefor the industry.Looking at the damage being done to the industry, a groupof producers got together in the late 2000s and tracedsome of the key members of the top piracy gangs acrossthe state. Along with the police department, this groupfrom the producers’ council was successful in putting theculprits behind the bars, and also conducting raids on DVDrental stores which had large stocks of the pirated films.Some of their licences were cancelled and a series of suchincidents sent shock waves across the state. Later, through

a series of educational programmes, the film industry wasable to curb piracy to a large extent, but all their effortsseem to be going down the drain with the rise of a newwave of online piracy. It’s clearly turning out to be a trickyproposition for all stakeholders and no solution seems tobe in sight. Then, there’s the moral side of the whole debate. Ofcourse, pirating a film or any copyright material is an of-fence. But dig deep into the issue you’ll come across sev-eral counter-arguments. On one hand, there’s a versionfrom the general populace that it’s pointless to spend a lotof money on films which aren’t good enough. And then,there are those who rake up the issue of plagiarism. Thepoint of debate seems to be, if filmmakers aren’t so con-cerned about plagiarism in their own films then they haveno moral right to question those who pirate their films.Having said this, it’s also worth pointing out that even thegood films are pirated all the time and it all boils down to achoice that the viewer has to make in the end - to watch afilm illegally or shell out money to watch content throughofficial means.Piracy, along with its other forms, will continue to exist fora long time in future. The only way to tackle the menace isto provide the viewers with ample choices, including mak-ing content available through legitimate streaming serv-ices like Netflix, Amazon etc, making the film available forviewing closer to their living spaces in cities and ruralareas, and also driving home the point that encouragingpiracy is wrong no matter how you look at it.Already, there are plenty of indicators that the industry istrying to spread its wings into other sources of revenue,especially the pay-per-view model, shortly after the film’srelease. But till this trend becomes a more viable solution,all filmmakers and producers can do is to use every trick inthe book to stop their content from falling into the wronghands. The battle continues...- hemanth Kumar cr

ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 31

The film industry wasrocked with two back to

back incidents, wherean entire film (Duvvada

Jagannadham) wasstreamed on Facebook.

And then, an unautho-rised teaser of NTR star-

rer Jai lava Kusa madeits way on social net-

working platforms.



think3D to open facility Three-dimensional printing solutions provider Think3Dwill be setting up a 3D printing facility in collaborationwith Andhra Pradesh Medtech Zone (AMTZ) with an in-vestment of $6 million, announced a top company exec-utive. The facility, to come up on an area of 20,000 sft,will offer prototyping and low volume manufacturing tomedical devices companies in AMTZ. Prudhvi Reddy, co-founder, Think3D said, “The facility will come up on anarea of 17,000-20,000 sft in the first phase and thenlook at expanding in the remaining land of the one acrethat has been allotted to us. While the infrastructurewould be taken care of by the government, sourcing ofdevices and upkeep of the facility would be the respon-sibility of the company. We will be catering to over 400companies including X-ray manufacturers at the park”.The profit sharing ratio between AMTZ and Think3D is70:30 which could change depending on the future in-vestments made by each of the players, said a senior ex-ecutive of Think3D seeking anonymity. AMTZ, is anenterprise under the Andhra Pradesh government, a270 Acre zone, dedicated for medical devices manufac-turing.

Pv siNDhu to Be aPPoiNteD as officer The Andhra Pradesh State Public Service Commissionhas given the green signal for the appointment of Rio2016 Olympic badminton silver medallist PV Sindhu as aGroup-I officer. The badminton player is soon expectedto receive the letter of her appointment in the cadre ofa revenue divisional officer. In May, the state legislaturehad passed a Bill amending the State Public Services Actto appoint Sindhu as a Group-1 officer in the govern-ment.

aP seeks its share of singareni collieries assets Andhra Pradesh has staked a claim to the country's sec-ond largest state-owned coal firm, Singareni Collieries,now being controlled by Telangana. The erstwhile undi-vided Andhra Pradesh owned 51% stake in SingareniCollieries with the Union government holding the bal-ance 49% equity. The entire stake of the state was trans-ferred to Telangana post-bifurcation in June 2014. Thecurrent Andhra Pradesh Government has taken objec-tion to it, seeking division of assets and liabilities ofSingareni Collieries between the two states in acommunication to the Centre.

Motorcycle ambulances on the cardsMedical and Health Minister Kamineni Srinivas declaredthat the Government planned to provide 114 motor-cycle ambulances for Agency areas in the state and alsostrengthen all primary health centers (PHCs). He saidthey had decided to shift all patients in Chaparai, who

had fallen ill reportedly due to contaminated water, tothe Rajamahendravaram or Kakinada Government Hos-pital. There were 32 fever cases in Gondhikota and thepatients were shifted to the Rampachodavaram areahospital.

tuition fee structure for MBBs, BDs courses The State Government has revised with immediateeffect the tuition fee structure for MBBS/BDS courses inunaided minority and non-minority medical and dentalprofessional institutions in the State. According to Gov-ernment orders issued in this regard, the tuition fee forMBBS course for ‘A’ category seats in both private, un-aided minority and non-minority medical colleges hasbeen fixed at Rs.10,000 per annum and Rs.11,00,000 for‘B’ category seats. For ‘C’ category (NRI), it should notexceed five times maximum chargeable fee to ‘B’ cate-gory students per annum. For undergraduate dentalcourses in private, unaided minority and non-minoritydental colleges, the fee has been fixed at Rs.10,000 perannum for ‘A’ category, Rs.4,50,000 for ‘B’ category andnot exceeding five times maximum chargeable fee to ‘B’category students.

aP clears six investment proposals The State Investment Promotion Board (SIPB) headedby Andhra Pradesh chief minister N Chandrababu Naiducleared six investment proposals worth Rs 3,808 crore.The companies whose proposals were cleared are KCPLtd, Chettinad Cement Corporation Pvt. Ltd, Rain Group,Mohan Spintex India Ltd, Indo Count Industries Ltd, andVishwaa Apparels. The highest investment proposal wasmade by the Chettinad Cement at Rs1,350 crore to setup cement grinding units and cement manufacturingplants at Tallapalem, Gytulapalem and Narasapuramvillages in Visakhapatnam district and at Pedagarlapaduvillage in Guntur district. This project will start its com-mercial production in March 2019, and is expected toprovide employment to 1,250 people, said the state-ment. Similarly, KCP proposes to start a cement manu-facturing unit on 100 acres at Muktyala village inKrishna district, with an investment of Rs 531.61 crore.The investment is estimated to generate direct employ-ment for about 100 people and indirect employment to1,900. The project is expected to generate Rs.174.14crore of revenue in its first year and Rs.403 crore by itsfifth year.

Mithivirdi nuclear power plant to aPThe Centre has decided to shift the proposed 6,000 MWnuclear power plant in Mithivirdi village near Bhavnagarto Andhra Pradesh. This decision of the Union ministryof environment and forests (MoEF) was conveyed to theNational Green Tribunal (NGT) on May 18 during hear-ing on an appeal challenging the grant of coastal regula-

HAPPENING APDownloaded from http://smartprep.in


tory zone (CRZ) clearance by the expert appraisal com-mittee (EAC) to the project in November 2015. The proj-ect is now proposed to be set up in Kavvada in AndhraPradesh. The project is being implemented by the Nu-clear Power Corporation of Indian Ltd.

rs 1,66,806 crore credit plan for 2017-18Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu unveiled the statecredit plan of Rs 1,66,806 crore for the fiscal 2017-18,14.04 per cent higher than the previous year. Of this, Rs87,471 crore is allotted for agriculture sector, whichincludes short-term production credit finance to tenantfarmers, agriculture term loans and agriculture infra-structure etc. In the three-hour 199th State LevelBankers' Committee (SLBC), the Chief Minister said sincethe agriculture sector is largely dependent on credit, thebankers should effectively provide loans to eligible peo-ple. The CM insisted that 10 per cent of the credit begiven to tenant farmers. "All cultivators should get theloan amount they ask for and they must not borrowmoney at high interests. Since we are expecting a goodmonsoon this time, we can have a better kharif if thecredit is disbursed effectively," he said.

No gst on tirupati ladduThe Goods and Services Tax (GST) Council has decidedto exempt prasadam and human hair at the TirumalaTirupati Devasthanams (TTD) from tax following arequest by the State Government. At the 17th GSTCouncil meeting held in New Delhi, AP Finance MinisterYanamala Ramakrishnudu said the TTD was a reputedreligious trust involved in services to lakhs of devoteesevery day. Hence, the TTD be exempted from GST regis-tration. With regard to other services, the State wouldtake necessary action within its purview.

azure Power commissions 100 MW solar projectAzure Power has commissioned a 100 MW solar powerplant in Andhra Pradesh. The project was auctioned bystate-run power producer NTPC, Azure Power said in astatement. According to the statement, the solar planthas been set up at Kurnool Ultra Mega Solar Park with atotal capacity of 1,000 MW. The solar park is beingdeveloped by Solar Park Implementation Agency (SPIA)and Andhra Pradesh Solar Power Corporation Limited(APSPCL). Azure Power will supply power to NTPC for 25years at a tariff of Rs 5.12 (USD 7.9 cents) per kWh.Spread across 500 acres of land in Andhra Pradesh, theproject will help in electrifying the nearby areas, it said.

vit-aP to be first varsity in aP capitalVIT-AP, the first private university proposed to be set upin the Andhra Pradesh capital region, will come up at

Inavolu and will be ready by July 10. The university man-agement has said that classes for the first batch of VIT-AP will begin at 9 am on July 19. According to a pressrelease, vice-president of VIT-AP Sekar Viswanathansaid the construction work of academic block with class-rooms, labs, hostel and other facilities is progressingwell as per schedule. "The students, who enrol forB Tech, M Tech software engineering (5-year integratedcourse) and Ph.D will attend their first semester classesfrom July 19.Apart from 13 classrooms, three computercentres and labs for machines, electronics, mathematicsand physics departments will be made available for thestudents," Sekar said.

hospital with air ambulance facility coming upAn air ambulance with roof-top helipad and add-onfacilities like wellness centres are in the offing at a 10-floor corporate hospital being opened with an invest-ment of Rs. 220 crore in Vizag, abutting the NationalHighway by a team of local doctors. After obtainingclearance from the Civil Aviation Ministry, the hospitalwith bed strength of 600, which the management saysis the largest so far in the private sector in AndhraPradesh, is awaiting a ‘no objection certificate’ from theFire Department and clearances from other statutoryagencies. Air ambulance will be of great help in savinglives of the victims of industrial accidents, those injuredin police-Maoist encounters and major road accidents inevacuating the patients within a few minutes to thehospital for expert care.

eesl to replace 10 lakh street lightsState-run Energy Efficiency Services Ltd (EESL) will retro-fit 10 lakh conventional street lights with LED lights inGram Panchayats of 7 districts in Andhra Pradesh. This isthe first project for rural LED street lighting in the coun-try under Street Lighting National Project (SLNP), theEESL said in a statement. According to the statement,the project is specifically designed for the people livingin villages. The replacement drive will help gram pan-chayats cumulatively save approximately 147 millionunits of electricity annually, and lead to reduction of 12crore tonnes of CO2.

Westinghouse’s aP nuclear reactors are on US nuclear major Westinghouse which proposed to setup six nuclear reactors in Andhra Pradesh will supplytechnology and construction to be undertaken by an In-dian partner. This was discussed as a way out —to haveWestinghouse presence in India following troublesfaced by it over bankruptcy—during PM NarendraModi’s just-concluded visit to Washington. The financefor the project from the US Exim Bank remains intactand the initiative could kickstart only in 2018.

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34 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM JULY 2017

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CM Chandrababu Naidu is an active social mediauser. Many of you have been actively followinghis activities with admiration. here are a fewsnapshots from his Twitter account and thoseon him.

chief minister’ssocial network


IN PICS

Pic 1: CM Chandrababu Naidu congratulating the top rankers of UPSC 2016 examination and interacting with them.

Pic 2: The gathering at the MSMe Day meet held in Vijayawada. The Goverment has allocated funds of 100 cr & 15acres of land to MSMe AP which would assist the small scale industries to flourish in the state.

Pic 3: Musical duo l Subramaniam & Kavitha Krishnamurthy met CM to explain the master plan of Global Centerof excellence for Music & Arts, in Amaravati.

Pic 4: Minister Akhila Priya, Deputy Speaker M Buddha Prasad and Advisor Dr P Prabhakar submitting the Reportfrom the Telugu Bhasha Samskrutula Abhivruddhi Adhyayana Committee.

Pic 5: CM distributed the Chandranna Ramzan Tohfa & launched a brochure about various schemes for the welfare ofthe Muslims in the state.

Subscription Details: Yearly Subscription rate is Rs 220 for Andhra Pradesh (Eng) Magazine. Readers may send MO or DD in the nameof Accounts Officer, I&PR Department, Vijayawada. Mention your full postal address in your letter and send to Accounts Officer, I&PRDepartment, II floor, NTR Administrative Block, Pandit Nehru Bus Station, Krishnalanka, Vijayawada - 520013 Ph: 9949351534

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Regd. No. H-HD-1082/2016-18 APENG/2007/20679Published on: 01/07/2017 Posting Dt: 6th


Documents

Downloaded from · Yoga for a healthy life, the Chief Minister asked each and everyone to practise Yoga for a disciplined life, and maintain good diet. “Yoga will not only give