HYDERABAD: Highlighting the many achievements of the Telangana government in reducing the gap between the privileged and underprivileged citizens, IT Minister KT Rama Rao said ‘Inclusive Development’ was now a primary agenda among political parties including TRS.
“Telangana, which is the youngest State in the country had a GDP growth rate of 10.4 per cent compared to the rest of the country which averaged at seven to eight per cent showing how much better we have performed,” noted Rao.
He was speaking at the International Seminar on Inclusive Development Issues and Challenges at CESS which was organised in honour of Professor R Radhakrishna, Chairperson of Centre for Economic and Social Studies (CESS).
Rao went onto highlight the various budgetary allocations made by the government for the socio-economically backward groups.
“This year we allocated Rs 45,500 crore for social services, which is nearly 43 per cent of our total expenditure. Even for the SC development fund we allocated Rs16,400 crore, Rs 9,600 crores for ST development fund, Rs 2,000 crore for minority welfare and 1,800 crore for Women, Child and Disabled,” added the minister.
He also said how Rythu Bandhu scheme which was providing an incentive of Rs 4,000 per acre to every farmer was widely appreciated by economists.
“Telangana has also made major allocations for the education sector and we are proud to say we spend over Rs1.2 lakh per student every year,” said Rao, adding, “Human Development Index has improved a lot in the State especially for the SC and ST communities, which indicates the socio-economic transformation is taking place.”
Speaking about the Direct Benefit Transfer System of the government, he said all the budgetary allocation and governments plans were reaching those most in need.
There were also various distinguished economists present at the seminar, including Professor Ch Hanumantha Rao, Professor Amiya Kumar Bagchi, Professor Hand Bernd Schafer and former RBI director YV Reddy.
“India is a great democracy, but people need to look into issues plaguing the country even after so many years of Independence.
Countries which are much poor than us have better performance on various indices which is thing of worry,” said Professor Bagchi. The Minister along with other economists also launched a collection of speeches delivered by Professor Radhakrishna, on various economic issues named ‘Perspective of Indian Economy’.