A roller coaster ride, with razor sharp focus on welfare
VIJAYAWADA: The YSRC government, which is completing its second year in office on May 30, has had a roller coaster ride for the past two years. Notwithstanding controversies in the way, the YS Jagan Mohan Reddy government has brought in several reforms for ease of administration, transparent delivery of welfare programs and arresting red-tapism and bureaucratic logjam. Jagan, who had no administrative experience previously, from day one as the Chief Minister has focused on key areas — revamping of administration from grassroots, education and health.
The focus was on bettering village administration so the welfare and development initiatives reach the target in a transparent manner. Village/ward secretariat and village/ward volunteers system brought in by his government has expedited the public delivery mechanism of government schemes to the targeted group, besides providing jobs to thousands of youth. For every 2,000 population in rural areas, a village secretariat was set up and for every 4,000 population in urban areas, a ward secretariat was set up. Through them, 541 different services were extended. Village and Ward secretariats ensure that villagers do not have to run to mandal or district headquarters for every little thing. As an extension of the village/ward secretariat set up a total of 2,68,080 village/ ward volunteers were appointed and of them, 74,659 are ward volunteers. Each of them was allocated 50 households in villages and 100 households in urban areas.
They act as delivery mechanisms for birth, death, income and other certificates, social welfare pensions, and benefits of other initiatives under Navaratnalu. According to a senior official, the new system saves not only time and money for the people, who otherwise had to run from pillar to post to get an income or other certificates, but also negates corruption. Reforms brought in the agriculture sector including Rythu Bharosa Kendras have paved the way for the villages to become self-sufficient. Most importantly, the financial assistance to the farmers is being credited directly to their bank accounts. The State government has introduced a plethora of schemes and programmes in the health sector as part of revamping the entire medical and health infrastructure.
Bringing Covid- 19 and black fungus under Aarogyasri’s ambit is proving beneficial for lakhs of people. Free treatment for 2,434 diseases including cancer are covered under Dr YSR Arogyasri. About 95 percent of the families in the state are benefiting from the Dr YSR Aarogyasri scheme with the enhancement of income limit to `5 lakh. Reforms brought in the education sector include revamping of school infrastructure, introduction of English as a medium of instruction, upgrading Anganwadis as preprimary schools, implementation of vidya kanuka, vidya deevena, vasathi deevena, and other programmes.
They have sowed the seeds of change that are expected to show results in the years to come. In the coming days, tackling the Covid second wave is the most important challenge before the government. The district administrations, which successfully tackled the first wave, are taking all measures to contain the spread of the virus and bring down the active caseload. The government has another challenge before it, a possible third wave. On the administration front, converting every parliamentary constituency in the state as a district for ease of administration continues to remain a challenge.
