VIJAYAWADA: On the first day of the two-day plenary of YSR Congress held near Acharya Nagarjuna University on Friday, the party passed four resolutions -- 'Women empowerment - Disha', 'Education', 'Navaratnalu - DBT' and Health.
Several leaders lauded the YSR Congress government's initiatives in the past three years in empowering women and also with respect to strengthening education and health sectors.
Minister for Tourism RK Roja said the response to the plenary looks like trailer to the day on which YS Jagan Mohan Reddy will be sworn in as the Chief Minister of the State for the second time, two years later. "It was time to rededicate oneself to the ideals of former Chief Minister YS Rajasekhara Reddy and get immersed in the public service," she said.
Describing Jagan as a cutout of confidence, she said the Chief Minister dedicated himself to women's empowerment and she supported the resolution on women empowerment. "The last three years rule of Jagan can be described as spelling for women’s empowerment, observation for women’s protection and address for women's self-respect," she said.
Recalling the enactment of the Disha Act in the State, she said it was in response to an incident that took place in the neighbouring State. She flayed TDP for disrespect to women in different ways and cited the example of MRO Vanajakshi’s incident.
Introducing a resolution on education, Municipal Administration Minister A Suresh said Jagan brought reforms in education like never before and no one had even thought in that direction. “English medium, CBSE syllabus, Amma Vodi and Nadu-Nedu are a few that could be mentioned among the plethora of reforms initiated in the last three years,” he said.
The Chief Minister treats education as the most important sector and always describes it as an invaluable asset for children that can change their fate. “Unlike the TDP government, which encouraged corporate sector, Jagan in the last three years strived to take government schools to corporate level,” he said.
Education Minister Botcha Satyanarayana said expenditure on education should not be treated as expenditure, but as an investment for securing future of the nation. "Education reforms ushered in the last three years are in tune with National Education Policy. It is unfortunate that Opposition does not understand its significance and resorted to criticism," he said.
Botcha said government schools were completely revamped and today every subject has a teacher, which was not the case before. "Any reforms made will not yield instant results, but will take a few years to yield results," he said and asserted that reforms will make government schools on par with corporate institutions.
He ridiculed the Opposition efforts to downplay the significance of education in government schools. He asserted that the YSRC government is teacher-friendly. Only with education, social and economic development is possible, he said.
Minister for Women and Child Welfare Usha Sree Charan said Jagan treats women with utmost respect and the government too gives utmost priority to women’s empowerment.
"The importance given to women is visible from the fact that after bringing a legislation for 50 per cent reservation for women in nominated posts and works, the government has ensured 57 per cent of sarpanches, 54 per cent of MPTCs and 53 per cent of ZPTCS are women and several ministerial berths were occupied by them, which when compared to other States is more than double," she said.
Women’s empowerment will always be a major agenda of the YSRC government and through it social justice and empowerment can be achieved. Jagan is implementing welfare schemes with humanity and on saturation basis, she said.
Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath explained the priorities of the government at length. He said Rs 1.6 lakh crore was spent on Direct Benefit Transfer schemes to help 7.22 crore people in the State in the last three years despite financial crisis. Compared to the previous TDP regime, the total debts had come down, he said.
Education an asset: Minister Botcha Satyanarayana
English medium, CBSE syllabus, Amma Vodi and Nadu-Nedu are a few that could be mentioned among the plethora of reforms initiated by the YSRC government in the last three years, said Minister for Education Botcha Satyanarayana.
The CM treats education as the most important sector and always describes it as an invaluable asset for children. Expenditure on education should not be treated as expenditure and it is an investment, he said