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For the first time ever, the citizens of Krishna district were treated to agrand bonanza of fun and frolic by the district administration in associa-tion with department of Tourism Development. A three-day grand‘Masula Beach Festival’ was held from June 9 at the Manginapudi beach nearMachilipatnam. The ‘beach party’ was quite eventful as it spread cheers in theair and filled up the hearts of the visitors with joy. According to estimates, therewas a footfall of about 8 lakh people, who dwelled in the event’s spirit.Beach festival was promoted across the State and was kick started with a 2krun held in Machilipatnam. Olympian P V Sindhu took part in the promotionalcampaign organized by the department of Sports. Minister Kollu Ravindra andCollector B Lakshmikantham were phenomenal in planning, organizing and ex-ecuting the entire event smoothly. The beach was entirely lightened up for thefestival and was filled with varied entertainment activities that kept the visitorsengaged. From joy rides like giant- wheel, break dance, cup and saucer, Colum-bus, horse- riding and alike to adrenaline pumping adventure sports- helicopterrides, jet boats, speed boats, they were all there challenging the beach bums tomake the most of their time. Music concerts by Tollywood musicians, S Thamanand S Koti enthralled the thronging crowds. Popular mimicry artiste, actor Shiv-areddy’s slot had the visitors in splits until the end of his performance. The en-tire event was presented by popular television host Gayatri Bhargavi.

MasulaBeach Festivala big draw

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C O N T E N T SAP to become India's firstNatural Farming state

Niti Aayog meet: Give usour dues, demands CM

Telugu at Risk ofDying Out

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AP wins over60 Skoch Awards 19

State gets new symbols

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The goal is to sensitise the 6 millionfarmers who are toiling in 8 millionhectares of land to take upconventional methods by the endof 2024. CM envisions AP as thecountry’s first State that follows100% natural farming.

100 Anna canteensready for inauguration

Happening Andhra

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Snapshot27

AfterKabaliandKaala

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6Pattiseema to becomepotential tourism spot

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Various developments across thestate of Andhra Pradesh.

CM’sSocial Network24

AP govt strengthensACB in the State

MoU for Amaravati start-up area development

Polavaram diaphragmwall creates record

Unemploymentallowance soon

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Nava Nirmana Deeksha

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Andhra Pradesh has found itself in an unenviable position, where the StateGovernment has been forced to talk tough over the non-implementation

of AP Reorganisation Act. For reasons best known to them, the Centre hasbeen less than empathetic in their approach and understanding of theproblems that the bifurcated state has been beset with. Having decided tobe upfront on the issue, Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu minced no wordsin highlighting the non-fulfilment of several provisions of the Act at therecent Niti Aayog meeting in New Delhi.

“Mine is a special state with special problems. I will take more time,” theChief Minister declared and then went on to raise various issues in a span of20 minutes. The AP CM found support for his demand when Bihar ChiefMinister Nitish Kumar vouched for it and took the opportunity to call for aspecial category status for his state as well.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee also supported the CM’sdemand and urged the Prime Minister to grant SCS to Andhra Pradesh.

Apart from the issue of Polavaram project, the CM also spoke about revenuedeficit grant and funds for education institutions. He explained how theState was lagging behind in terms of development compared to othersouthern States, and why there was no rise in the per capita income despiteconstant efforts.

The CM’s opposition to the terms of reference of the 15th Finance Commis-sion which is penalizing states for performing well also found resonance withother Chief Ministers. Chandrababu Naidu’s scathing attack on the Centrefor not following the spirit of "cooperative federalism" helped putting theplight of the State in perspective at the national level, with media widelyreporting it.

While the facts are such, it is rather pathetic to see some of the oppositionleaders carping about the Chief Minister shaking hands with the PrimeMinister after the Niti Aayog meeting, as if it were a compromise. Such cheapgripes would only bring down the seriousness of the debate.

While taking the government to task is an inalienable right of the oppositionin a democratic system like ours, such shallow commentary to score somepolitical brownie points would cause immense damage to the long-terminterests of the State. Let’s not miss the woods for the trees!

Ramesh KandulaEditor

EDITORIAL

CommissionerS Venkateswar IISEditorRamesh Babu KandulaExecutive EditorNaresh NunnaAssistant EditorCh Sowmya SruthiCover PageCM at Eruvaka

Second Cover Masula Beach Festival

Third CoverMonth In Pictures

Fourth CoverAPIIC advt.

Published by:Information & Public Relations DepartmentGovernment of Andhra PradeshHyderabad - 500 028Ph: 040-23300258Views 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/-Email: apchiefeditor@gmail.comwww.ipr.ap.nic.in

ANDHRA PRADESHPublished Monthly In English & Telugu

July 2018Volume:14 Issue:2Salivahana Era 1940

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.

Talking Tough

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Andhra Pradesh, to distinguish itself from its newlyformed neighbor, has declared new State symbols.Accordingly, Neem tree and Black Buck have beennamed as the State tree and animal with Rose-ringed Parakeet referred to as the State bird. Jasmine floweris decided as the state flower. While the State retained NeemTree (Vepa Chettu) and Black Buck (Krishna Jinka) as itsofficial tree and animal, for the newly formed AP, ChiefMinister chose Jasmine flower (Malle puvvu) as the Stateflower and Rose-ringed parakeet (Rama Chiluka) as theState bird. Principal Secretary of the Department ofEnvironment and Forests, G Anantha Ramu announced theState symbols on May 31. "The government felt that it isnecessary to have separate symbols for the State after thebifurcation. Accordingly, the symbols have been notified forAndhra Pradesh,” he announced.Decoding the symbolsState AnimalBlackbuck is declared as the State animal of AP, as it isknown for its swiftness and ability to take charge in uncer-tain situations and rise victorious, which is symbolic of APand its people.State BirdRose-ringed parrot is declared as the State bird for itsbeauty and cheerfulness. The government has envisionedAP as a State which is green and eco-friendly with beautifullandscaping, to make people happy and cheerful.State FlowerJasmine is declared as the State flower of Andhra Pradesh,as the purity of its fragrance symbolizes the State's vision tospread positivity and knowledge among its people and inthe nation.State TreeNeem is declared as the State tree. Known for nourishingthose around it with clean air, Neem tree symbolizes theState's genuine & transparent relations with its people.

State gets new symbols

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The Nava Nirmana Deeksha, being undertakenevery year on state formation, has been areminder of the arbitrary division and a resolveto overcome the hurdles posed by the unfairbifurcation. The week-long Nava Nirmana Deekshaprogrammes held during the month of June saw the ChiefMinister Nara Chandrababu Naidu giving a clarion call tothe five-crore Andhras to rise up to the occasion, andbuild a great state.This pledge - “We are ready to mend the damage causedto our State by corrupt and unscientific division, throughhard work. Let us prepare ourselves for a united struggleagainst the injustice done to the State and politics of

betrayal and conspiracy........ All of us take the NavaNirmana Deeksha pledge at this moment. Jai Hind, JaiAndhra Pradesh” - was to instill a sense of purpose andprovide the state a direction. The Chief Ministered administered this Nava NirmanaDeeksha pledge, which lasted two minutes, to all the as-sembled people at the Benz Circle in Vijayawada whichreverberated through the entire state.

No CelebrationsSince the division of the State was done against ourwishes, June 2, the day on which the residuary state cameinto existence is certainly not an occasion for celebra-tions. And therefore, the Nava Nirmana Deeksha is to ded-icate ourselves to building a new state. Even beforeshifting to Amaravati or Vijayawada, Andhra Pradeshtopped the country in matter of ‘ease of doing business’and achieved a growth rate of 11 per cent. However,though the Chandrababu-led government was goingahead achieving the targets before the deadlines, the Statedid not get the deserving help as enunciated in the Reor-ganisation Act. The Prime Minister Narendra Moditweeted his greetings on June 2. But the Chief Ministerwondered if any happiness was left to the State in theaftermath of bifurcation. Particularly, because the Centrehad failed to grant ‘special category status(SCS)’ and im-plement the bifurcation assurances to the State.“The Centre did not release the promised funds even tothe Polavaram project. It has troubled us with severalqueries all along and did not release funds. Still, we couldcomplete 55 per cent of the work. The Centre is also com-ing in the way of the petrochemical factory near Kakinadademanding that we pay Rs 5,500 crore in advance. And inthe case of the separate railway zone with Visakhapatnamas headquarters, it tried to provoke the neighbouringOdisha state to create obstacles for us. It neither providedassistance for the Tribal University in Visakhapatnam, norcompensated for the revenue deficit,” the CM pointed out.On the other hand, the Prime Minister Narendra Modi wasinformed by his Singapore counterpart that a beautiful6 JULY 2018

AP- Rising Like A Phoenix

NAvA NiRmANA DeekShA

The state formation,unfortunately, has not-been a joyous occasionfor the people of AP.Let’s not forget orforgive the injustice,but at the same time,let’s resolve to risefrom the ashes, CMChandrababu Naidureminded us onceagain throgh NavaNirmana Deeksha.

CM taking oath during Nava Nirmana Deeksha.

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city was coming up in Amaravati with the latter’s partner-ship, which speaks of the tremendous work put in by theState Government, he noted. Famine-Free APThe ground was prepared for making a famine-freeAndhra Pradesh during the week-long Nava NirmanaDeeksha with Chandrababu Naidu participating in a vari-ety of events which included Jala Harati, Pantakuntalu,laying the foundation for as many as 66 tanks and unveil-ing the pylon for five lakh Pantakuntalu.It is significant that the State Government accorded toppriority for irrigation and spent Rs 52,000 crore on con-struction of projects during the past four years. Of the 54projects taken up, eight were already completed and an-other 15 will be ready within a couple of months. Thework on Vamsadhara phase 2 is to begin shortly and theTarnaka Keerti Sagaram scheme in Vizianagaram will becompleted by June next year. Another barrage will bebuilt in Krishna delta from where water will be releasedto Sagar right canal for the Somasila project.On the topic of water conservation and drought-free state

alone, as many as 9,876 gram sabhas were conducted.Awareness programmes were held on Neeru-Chettu,Neeru-Pragati, Check Dams, Pantakuntalu, Linking ofRivers, and Polavaram and other projects, improving theground water table, and drinking water. Also, 3,450demonstrations, 3,818 foundation laying ceremonies and8,917 inaugural functions were witnessed with respect tovarious schemes.Aid To Agri And Allied Sector While participating in the Nava Nirmana Deeksha atSrungavarapu Kota (S Kota)in Vizianagaram district, theChief Minister took up discussion on agriculture andallied industries sector. The eating habits changed all overthe world and the farmers should keep in tune with thechanging scenario and form farmers’ unions amongthemselves to take up the agri-allied sector without stop-ping at agriculture, he advised. It was important to notethat Andhra Pradesh had achieved a growth of 17.3 percent in agriculture compared with the national average ofthree per cent which reflected the amount of work putinto the sector, he observed. “We were successful in reducing fertilizers and chemicalworth Rs.350 crore by conducting proper soil tests andsupplying free manures. We have plans to come out withan App for making available agriculture implements onhire to the needy,” Chief Minister said. He also said thathis Government could waive farm loans to the extent ofRs.24,000 crore. Farmers whose loans were within Rs.1.5lakh became debt-free. The State is rising the level ofbecoming a leader in the area of organic farming. TheGovernment was taken closer to the people by laying CCroads, construction of toilets and implementing schemessuch as Chandranna Beema and gifts for marriages.The CM, who also participated in the Nava Nirmana Deek-sha programme at Amalapuram of East Godavari district,said that Andhra Pradesh was the only State in the coun-try giving pensions to 50.5 lakh people. Of them, 3.86lakh were disbursed pensions during the week-long pro-gramme. Besides, 48,480 new ration cards and housingfor 36,570 was sanctioned.Year Of EducationThis year, 15 degree and 50 Intermediate colleges will beset up in the state, Naidu announced during the deekshaprogramme in Kadapa, while inaugurating virtual class-rooms through video conference.“We have created history in the country by deciding to setup virtual classrooms in 6,000 schools. At present, 3,000such classrooms have started and rest would be estab-lished soon. e-classes will be conducted through Content

“I walked alone without the help from any quarter. I will continue to doeven if everyone turns against me. May aim is to make this land a happyplace for people to live,” the Chief Minister said.

CM during a patta distribution programme.

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Corporation,” he announced. All these will make it possible toachieve 100 per cent literacy in the state by the end of 2019. Theyouth who have passed degree and are unemployed are beinggiven Rs.1,000. He referred to a new policy, by which the studentsneed not run from pillar to post for certificates. Also, the studentsof Fathima college would be provided justice, he said. The Chief Minister toured the Chandramakulapalle village whichis rated as a 11-Star village without any basic problems and con-ducted Gramadarsani programme there. The Government wasproviding internet, telephone and TV facility through fiber gridand the State was marching ahead in LED bulb facility every-where. In the past, there was a shortage of 22 million units ofpower and farmers and people used to suffer. But after the Chan-drababu Government was set up, the power shortage was over-come within a couple of months. Also, it focused on wind andsolar energy. Power generation would be stepped up further inthe future without increasing the power tariff, he stated.The Chief Minister who visited the residence of a womanKausalyamma n Chandramakulapalle, enquired how the fiber gridand internet were functioning. He asked her to speak to her son,who was a Pani-puri vendor in Kurnool over a video call.“I came to your home. How are you? You can make video calls toyour parents here after and we have given the internet facility,” hetold Haribabu, her son, much to the latter’s delight.On the seventh and final day of Nava Nirmana Deeksha,Chandrababu Naidu administered Mahasankalpam oath to thepeople and as part of the programme, decided to disburse pensionto single women through the NTR Bharosa scheme. Under this,unmarried women aged 30 years and above in rural areas andover 35 years in urban regions will be provided Rs.1000 a monthas pension. Similarly those who are above 18 years and are di-vorcees living away from husband, will get Rs.1000 per month. Itis estimated that the number of single women will be aroundthree to four lakh in the State. Thanks to the decision of the Gov-ernment, 90 per cent of the families in the State are likely to becovered under one pension scheme or the other.

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naiduinaugurated two new Anti CorruptionBureau (ACB) offices in Vijayawada andGuntur on June 27. With these two newoffices, ACB has grown from 11 offices to 13across the State. The staff strength of ACBwas increased by 100 per cent over the lastyear, which speaks of the commendable workput in by the officials of the department.State government has earmarked Rs 16 croreto build district office buildings for ACBdepartment across the State.Speaking on the occasion, after inauguratingthe offices virtually, Chandrababu Naidu said,“I congratulate the authorities for completingall ACB offices in record time. While 95% ofthe staff is sincere at discharging duties, therest of them, who are hindering the spirit ofthe department, will be picked-up andcharged.”CM opined that ACB should be equipped foradapting technology for increased trans-parency in government schemes. Trans-parency in programmes will help governmentbe more accountable and will aid in providingonline services. Also, 1100 ParishkaraVedhikas can be used to curb corruption inorder to reach out to more people, he added.ACB Director General R P Tagore, making apresentation about functioning of the ACBoffices mentioned, “Manpower is increased tomore than 100 per cent this year. We arelooking forward to making all the 13 officessolar efficient. We thank Chief Minister for hisconstant support. We are committed towardsachieving the CM's vision of achieving acorruption-free society.”

A slew of welfare and developmentprogrammes were announced during theweek-long Nava Nirmana Deeksha, reflectingthe spirit of the pledge.

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AP govtstrengthensACB in theState

CM remotely inaugurating ACB offices in VJA and Guntur. Minis-ter Pitani and ACB Director General R P Tagore are also seen.

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As part of the initiative to promote the Indian states,the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), Government ofIndia deputed the Indian Ambassadors to Spain,Austria, Vietnam and Kuwait to visit Andhra Pradeshon 27th and 28th June, to get firsthand experience of theinvestment potential in the state.In this regard, D. Bala Venktesh Verma, Indian Ambassador toSpain, P. Harish, Indian Ambassador to Vietnam, K. Jeeva Sagar,Indian Ambassador to Kuwait, met E.S.L. Narasimhan, Governorof Andhra Pradesh and Telangna, at Raj Bhavan. Speaking tothe Indian Ambassadors, the Governor said that the sunriseState of Andhra Pradesh is poised on a fast track growth, in thepast four years. He said the government has initiated severalinnovative programmes such Real Time Governance (RTG)system to monitor progress of projects on real-time basis,through online system. The Governor said Andhra Pradeshbagged the top spot in the Ease of Doing Business (EoDB) ranksin the country. Governor said that the Korean automobile giantKia Motors is setting up its car manufacturing unit in Ananta-pur district, and Tirupati is fast gaining the popularity as acluster of electronic industries.Governor said that Andhra Pradesh is endowed with availabil-ity of vast tracts of land, abundant water, forest cover andmineral resources. He said that the state also has the secondlongest coast line of 974 kilometres in the country with poten-tial for maritime development and suitable for setting upindustries with assured power supply and availability of skilledmanpower. The Governor informed the visiting Indian Ambassadors thatthe opportunities for investment are plenty in the state withthe new capital city of Amaravati, being constructed in associa-tion with Singapore and also with the three industrial corridorscoming up across the state would provide a great economicboost to the region.

Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidudecided to go ahead with the proposalof introducing allowance for educatedyet unemployed youth in the State. Ac-cordingly, it is decided to provide Rs 1000 as amonthly allowance to the eligible youth. The State Cabinet, which met on May 31,approved modalities for implementation of themuch-awaited unemployment allowancescheme under which the applicant will have tobe aged between 22 and 35 and possess adegree. The scheme will be also applicable tomore than one in a family.Addressing the media after cabinet meeting, ITMinister Nara Lokesh said that the policyframework of the scheme was formulated afterthe sub-committee constituted by the CM hadstudied similar schemes implementation inclose to 10 States and 12 countries. “We hadsix-seven meetings involving several depart-ments and came up with a policy framework.We will go ahead after feedback from the youth.The scheme was not successful in other States.Some states discontinued it after two years,some others after just six months. No State orcountry has implemented the scheme under theSaturation model, which we propose to adopt,”explained Lokesh. The scheme will add an addi-tional burden of Rs 1,200 crore per annumTo be eligible for the dole, an applicant mustbelong to the below poverty line (BPL) familyhaving a white ration card and aged between 22and 35. “We propose to pay Rs 1,000 permonth. The applicant must have a degree orequivalent qualification or diploma. It is notrestricted to one person in a family. Theamount will be paid directly into the bankaccount. Lastly, training will be given to theunemployed to hone their skills,” he explained.He added that the government wants to create awebsite wherein the applicants can enrollthemselves using their Aadhaar number andspecify their areas of interest for the same.Training will be imparted among youth on theirareas of interest.Lokesh also pointed out that the proposed jobportal could serve as a point of reference forcompanies across the country to hunt for talentin Andhra Pradesh. v

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AP poised on fast trackgrowth - Governor AP Govt to go ahead with

unemployment allowance

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Niti AAyog meet:give uS ouR DueS, DemANDS Cm

At the fourth Niti Aayog Governing Council meeting on June 17 at RashtrapatiBhavan with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Chair, Andhra Pradesh ChiefMinister N. Chandrababu Naidu raised several pending issues for the State,including that of Special Category Status (SCS).

In a span of 20 minutes, he raised pressing issues like the bifurcation-relatedSpecial Category Status, capital city, Polavaram project, revenue deficit, pullback of Rs. 350 crore relating to backward areas development fund and themany other pending issues.

Explaining how his State was lagging behind in terms of developmentcompared to other southern States, he elaborated on why there was no risein the per capita income despite constant efforts. The speech of the AP ChiefMinister was received well by some of the other Chief Ministers such as NitishKumar of Bihar and Mamata Bannerji of West Bengal.

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The following are some of the key issues raised bythe Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu at NitiAayog meeting:State Organisation Related IssuesPeople of Andhra Pradesh did not ask for bifurcation butit was inflicted following unscientific and unjust ap-proach.People are suffering, are hurt and are sentimental aboutthe loss and subsequent neglect.Even the assurances of the then Prime Minister on thefloor of Rajya Sabha, CAG reports and advices of SupremeCourt are not being honoured.Special Category StatusThe contribution of the Agriculture sector which was23% in the combined state during 2013-14, is 34% dur-ing 2017-18 for the new state of Andhra Pradesh .Service sector which generates higher tax revenue andhigher per capita income, contributes about 44% to theeconomy of Andhra Pradesh - Telangana (63%), Tamil-nadu (57%), Karnataka (64%) and Kerala (64%) and allIndia average of 53%.The per capita income of the combined state of AndhraPradesh was Rs.89,214 for the year 2013-14.The per capita income of remaining 13 districts of AndhraPradesh for the same year stood at Rs.82,870 whereas itwas Rs.1,12,162 for the state of Telangana.Despite the highest average economic growth in the coun-try during last four years, Andhra Pradesh with a percapita income of Rs 1.42 lakh continues to lag behind theother Southern Indian states which have crossed themark of Rs.1.74 lakh per capita income, with a gap ofaround Rs 32,000+ per person in Andhra Pradesh.The then Prime Minister of India, in the presence of Mem-bers of Parliament of various political parties, as a condi-tion to passing the AP Reorganisation Bill, assured on thefloor of Rajya Sabha to accord Special Category Status toAndhra Pradesh for a period of five years till the financesof state of Andhra Pradesh is on a firmer footing.The Union Government attempted to mislead the peopleof India by announcing Special Assistance Measure in lieuof Special Category Status citing that the Fourteenth Fi-nance Commission had done away with the provisions ofSpecial Category Status.The election manifesto of Bhartiya Janata Party, forAndhra Pradesh, assured Special Category Status for 10

years.Therefore, the people of Andhra Pradesh feel resentfuldue to breach of promise made to its people.Polavaram Project being National Project, Government ofIndia is duty bound to cover the entire cost of the projectincluding land acquisition, R&R, construction in accor-dance of the Union Cabinet resolution during 2013More than 56% of the works completed. DPR-II should beapproved and pending amount of Rs.1,892 crores shouldbe reimbursed.Amaravati – Establishing a Green field city is matter ofNational pride and great opportunity. An ecosystem ofR&D institutions, government and private institutionsshould be established which is time taking and resourceintensive. It will need about 5 lakh crore in next 20 years.More than 27,000 farmers of the capital area, pooled theirland worth more than Rs 50000 crore. The Union Govern-ment has released only Rs. 1,500 crores for constructionof new capital Government of India will be a major bene-ficiary of the new capital city by way of increased tax rev-enue generation, yet it is not extending required support.Special Package for Backward Areas - The Government ofIndia discriminated against the people of Andhra Pradeshby sanctioning a package @ Rs 428 per head to AndhraPradesh where as it sanctioned a package @ Rs 4000 toBundelkhand.After the submission of UC, Government of India on 9thFebruary, 2018 released an amount of Rs. 350 crores butin an unprecedented and unheard move, violating theprinciples of cooperative federalism, has taken back thisamount of Rs 350 crores on 15.02.2018.Deficits and Resource gap bridging – The CAG certifiedrevenue deficit of Rs 16,078.76 crores should have beenincluded in the Finance Bill in the first year itself. but theGovernment of India have arbitrarily applied a cut andsubstantially reduced the support towards revenue deficitto Rs. 4117.89 crores and part of which is yet to be re-leased.Institutions – Though the Union Government has started9 educational institutions, it has made a meager alloca-tion of Rs.638 crores so far against the project cost ofRs.11673 crores.Other pending issuesFormation of a Railway Zone, Establishment of GreenfieldCrude Oil Refinery & Petrochemical Complex, Increase ofSeats in A.P. State Legislative Assembly, Resolving Anom-alies in Taxation Matters, Construction of a Steel Plant at

Despite the highest average economic growth in the country during lastfour years, Andhra Pradesh with a per capita income of Rs 1.42 lakhcontinues to lag behind the other Southern Indian states.

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YSR Kadapa District, Establishment of the Vizag-Chen-nai Industrial Corridor, Constructions of Visakhapatnamand Vijayawada Metro Rails, Duggirajpatnam port RapidRail and Road Connectivity to Amaravati and Establish-ing Greyhound Training Centre.I, on behalf of 5 crore people of Andhra Pradesh, de-mand the Union government to accord special categorystatus to Andhra Pradesh, fulfill all the assurances andimplement all the provisions of the AP ReorganisationAct People of Andhra Pradesh are hurt and should notbe further let down by Government of IndiaProminent Issues of National ImportanceTerms of Reference of 15th Finance Commission: Stategovernments submitted a Memorandum to the Presi-dent of India requesting for amendment of the Terms ofReference of the 15th Finance Commission.The reference to adopt 2011 census population insteadof 1971 census population despite two time reviewwould have far reaching adverse consequences for thedemocratic and federal setup of our country.Smaller shares from the common pool of devolutions,penalizing the performing states which successfully con-trolled the populationOne immediate threat, apart from financial implicationwill be reduction in share of seats of performing statesin democratic institutions like Parliament.Effect of demonetization: We support the ideology of thepolicy, adequate care was not taken in rolling out andmanaging its implementation. Till date, people are putto hardship for receiving their own funds affecting smallbusinesses and workers.ill-drafted provisions of the FRDI Bill like conversion ofdeposits of individual investors into equity have led towidespread fear among public. There is a severe cashcrunch in the country with no cash available in ATMs orbanks for farming operations, to disburse pensions orfor daily other needs.Goods and Services Tax (GST): The implementation ofGoods and Services Tax (GST) has common man, taxpayers and businesses. The advantage of reducing globalprices of crude oil has not been passed on to people.Devolution of funds: Further, amount of tax revenueraised by Central Government through special levies hasincreased sharply in recent period. The share of speciallevies in CentralGovernment’s gross tax revenue (GTR) has increasedrapidly from 8.8% in 2012-13 to 15.2% in 2016-17. Sim-ilarly, share of cess has increased from 6.7% in 2013-14

to 10.8% in 2016-17 as proportion of GTR.Key Concerns with Specific Reference to theAgenda ItemsAgriculture sector: Procurement Policy and MinimumSupport Price: The Hon’ble Union Minister for Finance,during the Budget Speech on 1st Feb.2018 stated “In ourparty manifesto it has been stated that the farmersshould realize at least 50 per cent more than the cost oftheir produce, in other words, one and a half times oftheir cost of production.”MSP should be fixed considering the Dr.M.S.Swami-nathan recommendations Model C2+50% of Cost of Pro-duction for sustainable and profitable agriculture inview of the increased cost of inputs, farm labour andrisks involved More over the Government of India is un-able to align its policies to global market conditions toregulate export and import of agriculture produce andthereby affecting adversely the local prices and the prof-itability of the agriculture of the local farmer.Government of India is notifying the MSP for pulseswhile procuring 40% of the total production only. TheGovernment of AP alone has to spend more thanRs.1000 crores on procurement of various pulses dur-ing the last year.Similarly, the Government of India has refused to sup-port the procurement of coarse cereals if they are notpart of PDS. As a result, the Govt. of A.P. has to procurecoarse cereals by spending about Rs.350 crores Crop In-surance: The current insurance regime insures the loanand not the crop. This need to be revisited immediately.During 2017-18, our farmers contributed to foreign ex-change with an export value of Rs. 24000 crore, (60% oftotal export from India with average GVA growth rate of27%.Distress due to more than 50% fall in the shrimp pricesand due to sudden reduction in exports in last 5 months.Government of India to intervene urgently by extendinginsurance cover to aqua culture, implementing mini-mum support price (MSP) scheme to the aqua produceand by treating aqua culture and poultry at par withagriculture.Doubling farmer’s income –Doubling the farmer’s in-come in five years requires a CAGR of 12% in agriculturesector.Nation’s average agriculture growth during last fouryears is 2.42% whereas Andhra Pradesh agriculture sec-tor average growth rate is 11% during the same period.This can be achieved if we address the changing food

The reference to adopt 2011 census population instead of 1971 censuspopulation despite two time review would have far reaching adverseconsequences for the democratic and federal setup of our country.

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A supportive environment and facilitation by government of India will goa long way to provide concrete shape to spirit of cooperative federalismto celebrate the 150th birth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.

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habits of people and an ecosystem approach consisting ofwater conservation, irrigation, soil health cards and soilmanagement, scientific input management, livestock andfisheries, risk mitigation measures, capacity building anddiversification to horticulture and convergence of agricul-ture and water conservation with MGNREGS .Health: We have invested in preventive, diagnostic andcurative health care service delivery to all its citizens. Dueto the efforts of the state government, there has been sig-nificant improvement in the health indicators like IMR,MMR, malnutrition, anemia, communicable and non-com-municable diseases.Health services are being provided in PPP mode to ensurebetter delivery with quality. Reputed national & interna-tional institutions are engaged as Technology Partners toprovide technical inputs.Ayushman Bharat – Use of SECC data: Andhra Pradeshhas been effectively implementing NTR Vydya Seva for1.44 crore households in the state. However, Governmentof India’s stance to use the SECC data limits it to 56 lakhhouseholds only .The GoI has been advocating the use of SECC data for oth-ers schemes also like Housing while there are inconsisten-cies in the SECC data There is a need to sort it outimmediately.Mission Poshan: The government of India is providingmeagre allocation. More over the schemes and staff sup-port are being discontinued inbetween.Aspirational districts: Three districts of Andhra Pradeshare included in of 115 most backward aspirational dis-tricts of the country and are also part of the Special Devel-opment Package. The Rs. 350 crore pulled back by the GoIinclude Rs 150 crores for these three districts.Major Achievements of Government ofAndhra Pradesh During Last Four YearsImpressive Double Digit Growth of Economy - Despite theadversities of bifurcation of the state, Andhra Pradesh hasemerged as best economic performer by registering aver-age double-digit growth of 10.5% during the last fouryears. We registered 10.60% growth rate during 2015-16,11.07% growth rate during 2016-17 and 11.22% in 2017-18.We have achieved saturation in household electrification,LPG and ODF and we are nearing saturation in rural roadconnectivity, internal CC roads in the villages and LEDstreet lighting.We have become a power surplus state from a powerdeficit state in May 2014. We have laid out a plan for

100% Fibre net connectivity and drinking water provi-sioning in next two years.Under Swach Bharat Mission, the Union government pro-vided only Rs. 4,000/- per individual household toilet inurban areas while the state government providedRs.11,000/- additionally to provide a dignified facility.In addition to above achievements, we have provided so-cial security to our people by providing 47 lakh pensions@ Rs 1000-1500, insurance to 2.46 crore unorganizedlabour; food security to 1.44 crore families under PDS; nu-trition security to over 6 lakh pregnant women, lactatingmother and more than 24 lakh children; livelihood secu-rity to 86 lakh SHG women for Rs.10,000 income per fam-ily; water security to our farmers by digging 7.25 lakhfarm ponds, 19,355 percolation tanks leading to a net risein ground water level, inter-linking of Godavari and Kr-ishna rivers; housing security through 14 lakh houses inrural areas and 5 lakh in urban areas and power securityof upto 75 free units to SC/ST households, to name a few.Conclusion- A Vision for India with States as PartnersA supportive environment and facilitation by governmentof India will go a long way to provide concrete shape tospirit of cooperative federalism to celebrate the 150thbirth anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi.The GoI should provide the macro strategy and should notmicro manage the schemes as is currently being done. Thestates should be empowered with funds and freedom toimplement the schemes. Manufacturing sector is not ex-panding and not competitive compared to our easterncountries.The Government of India should focus on fast and timebound development of globally competitive big economicinfrastructure like Ports, Airports, Rail, Road links, coastaleconomic zone, Economic Corridors to make India com-petitive in South Asia and South East Asia in terms of at-tracting foreign investment to provide job opportunitiesand better living standards. A country wide road map ofgrowth need to be prepared making the respective statesequal and empowered partners in realizing the vision ofdeveloped India.Andhra Pradesh is a proud partner of Team India engagedin nation building process and expects a supportive envi-ronment by Government of IndiaThe CM concluded, “I finally demand the implementationof the provisions of AP Reorganisation Act Special Cate-gory Status and other assurances to assuage the hurt feel-ings of the people of Andhra Pradesh and to support itsgrowth till it is at par with the neighboring states”.

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JULY 2018

Telugu is one of the non- Hindi Indian languages,whose domain usage is shrinking in alarmingrapidity. The publication of statistics of the lat-est language data from the 2011 census by theIndian census bureau revealed how Telugu has been in asorry state of erosion. One could see the worrying trendof Telugu losing to Hindi and English. Among all othernon- Hindi languages, Telugu is one of the languages

that is losing speakers. Bengali has been able to sustainits percentage at 8.During 1971- 81, 8.16 per cent of Indian populationused to speak Telugu and same percentage of populationwas speaking Bengali. Through decades, Bengali hasbeen able to sustain its percentage at 8. But, there has

been a consistent depletion in the percentage of Teluguspeakers; their percentage in 1981 was 7.61, in 2001, itwas 7.19 and finally in 2011, the percentage of Teluguspeakers in India dropped to 6.7.22 languages were specified in the Eighth Schedule tothe Constitution of India. According to the language databased on 2011 census, Telugu, with 8.11 crore nativespeakers, was in third place in the list of non- Hindi lan-

guages. Bengali with 9.72 and Marathi with 8.3 crore,were ahead of Telugu. Hindi was on the top with 52.83crore speakers. In other words, for every 10,000 Indians,4363 persons speak Hindi, 670 persons were Telugu-speakers, 686 persons speak Marathi and for 803 per-sons, Bengali was the mother-tongue. It is interesting tonote that a good number of people with Telugu asmother-tongue was spread in various parts of the coun-try. There were 159 native speakers of Telugu for 10,000population in Odisha, 60 in Chhattisgarh, 118 in Maha-rastra, 584 in Karnataka, 76 in Goa, 587 in Tamil Nadu,596 in Pondicherry and, surprisingly, 1324 Telugus forevery 10,000 people in Andaman & Nicobar Islands. The language data further reveals that the other non-Hindi Indian languages were also losing to Hindi andEnglish. Only Hindi is increasing in percentages, as36.99 percent of Indian population used to speak Hindiin 1971, whereas 43.63 percent of population werespeakers of Hindi in 2011.

teLugu at RiSkof DyiNg out

Latest Language DataReport Sounds Alarm

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15JULY 2018

The Government of Andhra Pradesh haslaunched a scale-out plan to transition 6 millionfarms/farmers cultivating 8 million hectares ofland from conventional synthetic chemical agricultureto Zero-Budget Natural Farming (ZBNF) by 2024,making Andhra Pradesh India’s first 100 per cent nat-ural farming state.The programme is led by Rythu Sadhikara Samstha(RySS) – a not-for-profit established by the Govern-ment to implement the ZBNF programme - and sup-ported by the Sustainable India Finance Facility (SIFF)– an innovative partnership between UN Environ-ment, BNP Paribas, and the World Agroforestry Cen-tre.With more than 8000 farmers present, the launchevent was attended by international dignitaries in-cluding Erik Solheim, Executive Director of UN Envi-ronment; Sunny Verghese, Chair, World BusinessCouncil for Sustainable Development and Co-Founderand Group CEO of Olam International; Pavan Sukhdev,President of WWF International; Antoine Sire, Mem-ber of the Global Management Committee, BNPParibas SA, among others.“This is an unprecedented transformation towardssustainable agriculture on a massive scale, and thekind of bold change we need to see to protect the cli-mate, biodiversity, and food security,” said Erik Sol-heim, head of UN Environment. “We’re pinning a greatdeal on the Zero Budget Natural Farming programme,which I hope will inspire the widespread adoption of anatural farming scheme. It’s a better deal for farmers,consumers, and the planet.”.

The official launch of the ZBNF scale-out programmemarked an unprecedented commitment by the stateto promote the scale-out of climate-resilient, regen-erative agriculture in a broader effort to transformand protect local food systems and long-term well-being of farmers.“The success of climate-resilient, Zero Budget NaturalFarming in Andhra Pradesh will not only help India inmeeting its SDGs but it can also inspire and transformthe lives of millions of farmers across the developingworld,” said, Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Chan-drababu Naidu.“The Andhra Pradesh government is showing trueleadership in transitioning one of India’s first “GreenRevolution” states into one of India’s first naturalfarming states,” said Pavan Sukhdev, President, WWFInternational.As both a social and environmental programme, itaims to ensure that farming – particularly smallholderfarming – is economically viable by enhancing farmbiodiversity and ecosystem services. It reduces farm-ers’ costs through eliminating external inputs andusing in-situ resources to rejuvenate soils, whilstsimultaneously increasing incomes, and restoringecosystem health through diverse, multi-layered crop-ping systems.Zero Budget Natural Farming also aims to create thesocial capital necessary for vibrant and inclusiveagricultural production, by establishing farmers’federations and self-help groups, and placing farmersat the forefront of knowledge creation and dissemina-tion. “The AP ZBNF programme embeds social,environmental, and economic considerations to en-sure inclusive and responsible growth. A farm cannotbe economically viable if it continues to deplete theresources it needs, both ecological and social, to beproductive” said Sunny Verghese, Chair, WorldBusiness Council for Sustainable Development.

AP to become India's first Natural Farming state

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The goal is to sensitise the 6million farmers who are toiling in8 million hectares of land to takeup conventional methods by theend of 2024. CM envisions AP asthe country’s first State thatfollows 100% natural farming.

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16 JULY 2018

The AP Capital Region Development Author-ity (APCRDA) and Singapore-AmaravatiInvestments Holding Ltd (SAIH) on June 7signed a Concession and DevelopmentAgreement (CADA) in the presence of Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu and Singapore Minister forCommunications S Iswaran, to develop the start-uparea in Amaravati during the 3rd Joint Implementa-tion Committee meeting (JISC) in Vijayawada. After a tete-a-tete with Singapore Minster S Iswaran,Naidu, the Chief Minister said the Singapore-Amara-vati Investments Holding Ltd (SAIH) was formed totake forward the start-up area development inAmaravati. CM and Iswaran discussed the teamworkbetween AP government and Singapore Consortium.With this development, people will be able to seevisible development in capital Amaravati in the nextthree-six months as the works pertaining to themuch-delayed Start-up area will be launched soon.Addressing the media, the Chief Minister said, “DayZero for the development of the seed capital (Start-up area) has begun with the signing of the agree-ments. It will be developed in three phases in 15years.”The Chief Minister said the AP government requiresthe assistance of the Singapore Consortium to bringin convergence of activities in infrastructure,tourism, education and the service sector. “CatalyticDevelopment should be our medium to bring inmore investments and economic activities. Creatingan ecosystem to encourage entrepreneurship is im-portant for ensuring sustainability,” he said.

CM wanted the cooperationof Singapore in developingthe tourism sector in AndhraPradesh. Iswaran has agreedto the proposal of the ChiefMinister to send AP studentsto Singapore under studentsexchange scheme. They alsodecided that direct flightsbetween Singapore andVijayawada should com-mence in a month. “The firstflight from Singapore shouldland in Vijayawada on July 8,”said the Chief Minister. S Iswaran said they enteredthe (CADA) agreement withAP to prevent any legal prob-lems in executing development projects in Amara-vati. “We are happy to work with Andhra Pradeshkeeping in mind the larger interests of the state,” hesaid.Principal Secretary to APCRDA Ajay Jain presented abrief report on the progress in the capital city. “Aftersubstantial progress since November, singing CADAin 3rd JISC meeting is the last step towards startingthe grounding of the start-up project,” he said.The newly-formed organization, Amaravati Develop-ment Partners (ADP), consists of the Singapore Busi-ness Federation, CLC, and other members of theConsortium, who will be developing a project calledCatalytic Development, for acting as the centre forbusiness activities and recording the development ofthe capital region. The project consists of a welcomegallery, an exhibition area and a visitor area that willbe completed by June 2019. A presentation of virtualreality version of Amaravati was given by represen-tatives from Metaverse.The World Cities Summit will be hosted in Singaporefrom July 8 to 10, in which the Chief Minister will bespeaking at the Mayors Forum to be held on July 8and the Plenary Opening Session on July 9. A sepa-rate make-shift booth will be set-up showcasing thedevelopment and planning of Amaravati at theforum.Ministers Yanamala Ramakrishnudu, P Narayana,CRDA Commissioner Sreedhar Cherukrui and ADCChairperson Lakshmi Parthasarathy and other offi-cials represented the AP government during the JISC

Singapore signs MoU for Amaravati developmentCM Chandrababu Naidu with Singapore Minister S Iswaran.

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meeting.Skill Development Centres in AmaravatiThe Andhra Pradesh government and Singaporesigned several pacts for the development of a start-up area (1,691 acres) in the new capital, Amaravati.The papers were signed and exchanged by senior of-ficials of the state government and Singapore in thepresence of Chief Minister and S Iswaran.The land parcel of 660 acres would be handed overin three phases to the Singapore companies forinfrastructure development and other promotionalactivities. Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu said itmarked "a historic beginning to the development ofthe new capital", and Singapore would assist thestate in making Amaravati a world-class city.

Iswaran said Singapore would join hands with thestate government not only in building the new capi-tal, Amaravati, but in various other activities such asskill development, institution building, industrialdevelopment and agri business. He said Singaporehad also set up a separate Amaravati DevelopmentOffice to focus on capital development. There wouldalso be greater people-to-people contact, with thegrowing co-operation between AP and Singapore.During the JISC meeting, the conceptual designs ofthe Welcome Centre, Visitors Gallery and ExhibitionCentre, which will come up in the Start-up area,were presented. The officials were directed tocomplete the construction of the structures by earlyas 2019. “We have also decided to have studentexchange programmes between AP and Singapore,”the CM said.Skill Enhancing Programme International Skill development and entrepreneur-

ship development is going to be set-up in Amaravatiin a sprawling area of 10 acres. The skill centres willfunction in joint collaboration of Synchroserveglobal solutions and Singapore based company, SkillNG Ventures. Andhra Pradesh State Skill Develop-ment Corporation (APSSC) will supervise the entireskill development programme in imparting requiredindustry ready skills for the educated youngsters.To empower the future generation, a specialprogramme called ‘Empowering next generationApplied Business Leadership and EmployabilitySkills Programme’ (ENABLE). Since construction ofpermanent buildings for training institutes is goingto take some time, APSSDC has to ensure that train-ing sessions begin within another month in hiredbuildings, as to not waste any time, mentioned ChiefMinister to APSSDC managing director K SambasivaRao.The first phase training for the selected candidateswill be imparted in-Lorry crane material handlings,professional make-up, photography, fashiondesigning, forklift operation, textiles, chefs, artificialintelligence and machine learning categories. Finan-cial support to these programmes are borne byAPSSDC and adding to the skills impartingprogramme, the ENABLE centre is going to conduct100 hours of orientation course to the candidates onsoft skills, communication skills and tricks and tripsfor nailing a job.Skill development centre in 1, 00,000 SftThe first phase of the skill imparting scheme willhave six courses that are hand-picked by the indus-try professionals to suit the youngsters’ intereststhus driving them for an opportunity. The SkillDevelopment centre in the capital is going to be builtin an area measuring 1,00,000 square feet in the firstphase and will gradually expand to 5,00,000 squarefeet. The training centre is aimed at catering to10,000 youngsters per year. There will be 10 centresof excellence in this building which will requireRs 50 crore of funds. Beauty and wellness, Mediaand entertainment, Textile, Information Technology,Tourism, Banking, Financial services, Agricultureand allied activities, Logistics, Hospitality, Foodrefining will be separate departments under whichseveral courses will be designed. Youth hailing fromfamilies of capital region farmers will be prioritisedin the training institute.

JULY 2018 17

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With this development, peoplewill be able to see visible develop-ment in capital Amaravati in thenext three-six months as the

works pertaining to the Start-uparea will be launched soon.

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18 JULY 2018

Electronics major Flex has come to AndhraPradesh, marking the state’s pursuit tobecome the electronics hub of India. TheState signed MoU with US-based Flex Ltd's In-dian arm for setting up a plant at the Sri City SpecialEconomic Zone in Chittoor district.The MoU between Flextronics Technologies (India)Pvt Ltd and the state government was inked by FlexsPresident (Global Operations and Components)Francois Barbier and Principal Secretary (InformationTechnology) K Vijayanand.Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu and IT MinisterN Lokesh were present on the occasion when the dealwas signed at the Secretariat. Flex, which has itsmanufacturing facilities in over 30 countries andemploys over two lakh people, was committed toinvesting Rs 585 crore on its proposed facility nearTirupati and provide jobs to 6,600 people. It willmanufacture a range of intelligent products at theplant. Flex provides innovative design, engineering,manufacturing, real-time supply chain insight andlogistics services to companies in various industriesand end-markets.“We are working towards developing AP as a majorattraction for capital investments. AP has the bestelectronics and hardware sectors and provides theentire infrastructure needed in the State. I am pleasedto inform that Tirupati, Nellore and the cluster aroundit will have airports and infrastructure specifically for

this purpose. Land is available in abun-dance along with a great connectivity.Krishnapatnam port that is very near tothe cluster is bustling and growing andyou would not get all these advantagesanywhere else,” said CM.The Chief Minister informed the com-pany officials that they will be receivingall possible support from government –in the form of power, infrastructure,water or any logistical backing that maybe required.The Minister of IT Communications &Electronics Nara Lokesh put in continu-ous efforts to bring this electronics giantto Andhra Pradesh. “This is yet anothermega investment for AP that will createthousands of jobs,” Lokesh said.President Global Operations and Components at Flex,Francois Barbier said that the ecosystem in the Statewas suitable to reach a more number of customers andhence the company decided to establish the manufac-turing facility here. "We are here as we trust the Stategovernment," he said.Minister Lokesh said, “Andhra Pradesh has been striv-ing hard in providing best-in-class investments toboost investments in the IT and Electronics sector. Aneco-system has been designed and policies were put inplace to promote the growth of electronics, informa-tion and technology sectors. The State aims to capturea lion's share of 50 per cent of electronics productionin the country and has been leaving no stone unturnedto realise it at the earliest.The estimated investment of the company will gener-ate direct employment for thousands in the electronicssector. The government is looking at creation of 2 lakhjobs alone in electronics sector. Flextronics coming toAP is a remarkable feat and within a very short span,the State will be in top position when it comes to man-ufacturing electronics in South India, said Lokesh,adding that the production will likely begin fromAugust 15. The day is not far enough when AP will benumero uno in the country in electronics manufactur-ing, Lokesh said.

AP, Flextronics sign pact to set up unit in Sri City

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The MoU being inked by Flexs President (Global Operations and Components) Francois Barbier andPrincipal Secretary (Information Technology) K Vijayanand in the presence of the CM and others.

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JULY 2018 19

Andhra Pradesh has wonmore than 60 Skochawards including PlatinumAward of State of the Yearin Irrigation under National Signifi-cant Award category and PlatinumAward for overall water resourcedepartment. Minister for IT andPanchayat Raj, Nara Lokesh, won the’Person of the Year’- Governanceaward. The awards were given awayat the 52nd Skoch Summit for 2018held in New Delhi on June 23. Direc-tor of Panchayat Raj, Ranjith Bashareceived the award on behalf ofLokesh. Appreciating the employeesof the State for making this possible,Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidusaid, “the awards were result of theteam spirit put in by the employeesunder various departments Theefforts of the government and that ofthe employees since the last fouryears have paid off. All these awardsare dedicated to the public”.CM further added that other Stateshave got only 20 to 30 awards thisyear, but Andhra Pradesh stood bestamong them by securing more num-ber of awards. Panchayat Raj depart-ment alone bagged 4 gold awards, asilver and 3 order of merit awardstotaling to 8 awards.The 8 Skoch awards in the Panchayat

Raj department include-Gold Awardfor using GPS tracking for the ‘ManaNeeru–Mana Uru’ scheme underwhich the government supplieddrinking water to villages transpar-ently. Silver award was received bythe department for implementingcutting edge technology in collectingtaxes in villages. The departmentsof Panchayat Raj and Rural Develop-ment have together won a goldaward for becoming the best depart-ments while a gold award was givenaway for ‘Grama Vikasam’ pro-gramme of Panchayat Raj.Order of Merit Silver was presentedto Panchayat Raj departmentthrough voting on the Gra-maVikasam. National SignificanceGold Award is won by the depart-ment for better performance in thecountry among all states. For imple-menting various services in ruralareas including tax collectionthrough survey system, exemptingpoor from tax ambit, the PanchayatRaj department bagged Order ofMerit Bronze Award. Another awardwas presented for effectively imple-menting drinking water supply tovillages in the rural areas duringsummer – Order of Merit Silver. Onthe other hand, the APCRDA alsowon the Skoch Order of Merit

Awards for Block Chain Technologyand Mana Amaravati App. Mean-while, AP Innovation Society gotPlatinum Award for encouraging theStart-up companies in the state. TheMee- Seva in the IT department gotGold Award.The Irrigation Department achieved19 awards including 3 platinum for‘Pattiseema Lift Irrigation Scheme’,‘Neeru-Chettu’ and Real Time moni-toring of groundwater levels, 5 goldawards for ‘AP Water Resources In-formation System’, ‘Purushottapat-nam Lift Irrigation Scheme’,‘Gandikota LI Scheme’, ‘MuchumurriLI Scheme’ and ‘Revival of defunct LIScheme’, 8 Order of Merit Awardsand one Bronze Award.The AP Industrial InfrastructureCorporation (APIIC) has won theSkoch Order of Merit under SkochGood Governance Awards – 2018 forthe project ‘third-party monitoringof industrial projects’ which bringstransparency and accountability ininvestments made and employmentgenerated in the State.Chandrababu Naidu asked the em-ployees to exhibit the same enthusi-asm and strive to achieve 15 percent growth rate in this financialyear target.

As many as 60Skoch awardsincluding includingPerson of the Year -Governance Awardfor Minister for ITand Panchayat Raj,Nara Lokesh, werewon by AP. Theawards were resultof the team spiritput in by theemployees.

AP wins over 60 Skoch Awards

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Panchayat Raj Department Minister and officials with the slew of awards wonby them being complimented by CM.

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20 JULY 2018

Here it is the concluding part of "LiteraryReminiscences of Gurazada Apparao Pan-tulu", by Ongole Munisubrahmanyam(1886-1969), an ardent admirer and beloved fol-lower of Gurazada and was a pleader by profes-sion, at Ongole. His acclaimed contribution toTelugu literature, if at all there is any, is preservinginvaluable letters of Gurazada addressed to himduring 1909-11, which unfold the vision andworld view of colossus Gurazada.Munisubrahmanyam came into contact withGurazada in 1905 "just by accident". Reminiscinghis early association with Gurazada, he said: "I wasthen a poor student of the Maharaja's College atVizianagaram seeking his help to carry on mycollege studies. Slowly, I found myself, quiteunconsciously, both morning and evening, at hisdesk or in his library, dabbling in all kinds of liter-

ary work that he was doing. When, in 1909, I grad-uated from that College and left Vizianagaram andsettled down as teacher in my native district ofNellore, and afterwards as Tutor in PR. College,Cocanada, the literary work that was being carriedon was disturbed and the same had to be done bycorrespondence for one or two years. It wasduring that period that Apparao Pantulu wrote tome a number of letters, rather lengthy, some ofthem which are pieces of fine literature in Englishand treatises on several aspects of literature,science and arts”.Evidently there must be more number of lettersthan that are available. However, it is beyondcomprehension why the correspondence betweenthem came to a sudden end after Munisubrah-manyam settled at Ongole in 1911. All the avail-able letters were published here in these columns.Here is only one letter available, written by Ongoleto Gurazada. Stonehousepet,

Nellore.10-5-1909.

Dear Sir,I received the first 128 Pages of Kanyasulkam fromthe printers. I have gone through it carefully. I amsure it has undergone a great change. It has gainedconsiderably in humour. I believe I am able to ap-preciate its high merits. At all events, I am able toenjoy it immensely. My friend Mr. SivakamaiahB.A., a fellow teacher, is in raptures at it. Girisam,with all his remarkable capabilities as a teacher, asa lover, as a social reformer and politician and as aflippant young man of these days never fails toamuse us in all our walks, gatherings and conver-sations. Agnihotra and Lubadha are the real por-traits of two old world orthodox Brahmins, whoare most skillfully duped by two different personsin two different ways. Buchamma and Minakshi il-lustrate the main theme and title of the play. Theyare two types of young Indian widows - the one in-nocent and lovable and the other immoral and per-verted beyond correction. The lightly drawn and

Literary reminiscences Of

GURAZADA APPARAO PANTULU

- Ongole Munisubrahmanyamk k k

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JULY 2018 21

finely shaded portrait of Ramappantulu is per-haps not unfamiliar to us at Vizianagaram. Hecould also have been a drunkard, but as it is,his character needs a final finish. Perhaps,Madhuravani is the type of the professionalprostitutes of lndia. The situations in whichgentlemen are put to all sorts of humiliation inthe brothel, are excellently conceived; and arecalculated to teach us that a frequenter of thatplace must be prepared to embrace all ig-nominy and compromise all dignity and self-respect. Venkatesam, a young man ofmarriageable age and so stupid and shallow-headed as never once to be able to peep intotutor's movements and actions is not a uniquefigure at all. Everything in the play is so natural and realis-tic; and the humour is sure to burst one’s lungsby its unceasing attacks. There is no part of theplay that does not, in some degree, advance theplot, main or subordinate; and each characterdevelops gradually with time and circum-stances the play, as a (...) does not (...).I understand your criticism of Prataparudriumand endorse it to the word. I have studied twoother plays of Mr. Sastri (Vedam VenkatarayaSastri) as text-books, Usha and Naganandam.They are found guilty of a little looseness ofstructure. I have studied “Harischandra” byKandukuri Veeresalingam as a text-book andChilakamarthi Lakshminarasimham's ‘Pari-jathapaharanam’ and ‘Prasannayadavam’. Ishall be highly thankful if you supply me withshort critiques on them, as promised by you.I shall send you a list of words not used inthese parts in a week. I received only 128pages of the book Kanyasulkam. Please ask theprinter to send me a copy of the book, as far asit is printed till now. Hoping my letter reachesyou in the enjoyment and health.I am, affectionately yours,O. Munisubrahmanyam (Concluded)

After a successful trial run of services at ‘Anna can-teens’ to ensure there isn’t any technical or pro-gramme- based glitches, about 100 subsidiarycanteens are ready for inauguration in the State.The Internet of Things (IoT) devices were installed at thesecanteens and the feedback on service and quality of foodhave been satisfactory to kick start the operations for public.The government will announce the official inauguration ofthese canteens very soon.Out of the proposed 203 Anna canteens across AndhraPradesh, 100 of them are categorized as phase 1, which willnow start serving food- breakfast, lunch and dinner for thebeneficiaries at pocket-friendly prices. At these canteens, theobjective is to serve good food to common man, meeting thefood safety standards without compromising on the quality.Breakfast menu includes- Idli, Upma, Puri and Pongal while acup of rice, a curry, pickle, dal or sambar and curd will formthe lunch and dinner. The specialty of these canteens is thatthey are all available at a starting price of Rs 5.Food is prepared at a centrally located kitchen that suppliesto the canteens located within 50 to 60 kilometers of radius.The kitchens are built with a budget of Rs 5 crore. Charitabletrusts, NGOs and volunteers will run these canteens. Whilemost of these canteens and kitchens are built in governmentlands, some of them are leased from private landlords.

100 Anna canteens readyfor inauguration

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We would like to place on record ourappreciation of well-known writerAkkiraju Ramapathi Rao forproviding the manuscript of Ongole’scorrespondence with Gurazada.

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22 JULY 2018

The Polavaram project,considered the most presti-gious irrigation project inAndhra Pradesh, achieved amilestone after Chief Minister NaraChandrababu Naidu inaugurated thediaphragm wall pylon in West Godavaridistrict on June 11."This is the biggest diaphragm wall inIndia. This is the lifeline for AndhraPradesh. Despite several hurdles, theTDP government is committed to com-plete the polavaram project," said CM.Considered an important part of thePolavaram project, which is consideredas last one of its kind in the country,the 1,550 metre long and 95 metredeep diaphragm wall was constructedin a record time of two seasons(started in February 2017 and com-pleted by June 2018) by L&T andBauer."Ours is the first government to realiseriver interlinking in India. We are reha-

bilitating almost one lakh tribal fami-lies for it. Government of India is stilldue to pay more than Rs 1000 crore forthe project and however, we are goingto complete the project by December2019," he asserted. He further tweeted,“The workers, planners and engineersinvolved in the Polavaram irrigationproject have worked hard with incredi-ble dedication. With the completion ofthe diaphragm wall pylon, the projectwill soon reach its final stage.”The diaphragm wall forms the founda-tion for 150-feet high Earth-cum-Rock-Fill (ECRF) dam, which will store 194tmcft of water. The diaphragm wall thatis constructed below ECRF preventsthe leakage of water across the damfrom the bottom of ECRF through sandpores.Made with the help of latest Germantechnology, the diaphragm wall is con-structed using a special clay construc-tion material called 'bentonite' to make

POLAVARAM DIAPHRAGM WALL CREATES RECORD

The 1,550 metre-long and 95 m-deepcut off diaphragmwall of the presti-geous Polavaramwas constructed in arecord time by L&Tand Bauer. The CMreiterated on theoccasion his govern-ment’s commitmentto completing thework as promisedby 2019.

Polavaram works going on at a fast pace.

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it absolute waterproof. The construction of thediaphragm wall started on February 1 last year and wassuccessfully completed in 414 working days with abudget of Rs 450 crore.This can facilitate the hassle-free project constructioneven during the flood season without any leakages orbreaches. It is noted that over 2500 workers and 500engineers worked on a mission mode towards complet-ing the diaphragm wall, which is a key in the Polavaramproject.For timely completion of the diaphragm wall,Chandrababu Naidu had conducted 25 physical inspec-tions and 63 virtual inspections at regular intervals.Polavaram, which is now 55 percent complete, will helpirrigate over 7.2 lakh acres of land besides bringing alongmany other benefits. The project is said to be beneficial tothe entire Andhra Pradesh State directly or indirectly.This can facilitate the hassle-free project constructioneven during the flood season without any leakages orbreaches.The Chief Minister said Navayuga, which is executing theworks, has created a record by completing 11,558 cubicmetre of concrete work in 24 hours. “Even for Kalesh-

waram project in Telangana, the concrete work recordstood at 7,250 cubic metre in a single day,” he pointedout.The Chief Minister reiterated that he is determined tocomplete the project by 2019-end at any cost. Once it is

completed, it will help in making the State drought-proof.The state government is committed to completing thework as promised by 2019 and create 7.2 lakh acres ofnew ayacut and stabilise 40 lakh acres of land. “By grav-ity, water will reach Krishna and Visakhapatnam,” he saidand recalled how the Pattiseema project has linked Go-davari with Krishna river.Explaining the cost of the project, Naidu said the totalcost of the project is estimated to be around Rs 57,000crore, of which Rs 5,000 crore is for the power project, Rs27,000 crore to Rs 28,000 crore will be needed for landacquisition and R&R package. “Out of the needed1,68,213 acres of land, 1,10,355 acres have been ac-quired. A sum of Rs 21,027 crore is required to rehabili-tate nearly 1 lakh families, most of them tribals,” Naidusaid.He said his government had spent Rs 14,000 crore on theproject so far, of which Rs 8,613 crore was spent after theproject was declared a national project. The Central gov-ernment has reimbursed Rs 6,727 crore only. Hestressed the need for people to visit the Polavaram proj-ect and understand the facts. “It is important, so peoplewill not be carried away by the statements of those criti-cising from their officerooms,” he said.CM missive to GadkariChief MinisterChandrababu Naidu wrote aletter to Union Minister ofWater Resources Nitin Gad-kari urging him to clear thedues relating to thePolavaram project. TheCentre had to reimburse Rs1935.41 crore, he said.Delay will seriously hamperthe pace of the work, theCM wrote.IT Minister Nara Lokesh,meanwhile, tweeted thatcompared to the progress of 16 national projects,Polavaram project was progressing ahead without inter-ruption. He said he was shocked to see only five of the 16national irrigation projects have been grounded andPolavaram is the only project on track.

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CM Chandrababu Naidu at Polavaram monitoring the progress.

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AP Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu on June 22laid foundation stone for the construction ofAPNRT’s Icon towers at Rayapudi village inAmaravati. The iconic tower is being developedjointly by State government and Andhra Pradesh Non-Resi-dent Telugus (APNRT) for making Amaravati a siliconvalley of Andhra Pradesh.NRT Icon is envisioned as a unique opportunity for globalNRTs to share the growth and prosperity of the sunrisestate of Andhra Pradesh. NRT Icon is being promoted as aniconic structure in the capital city of Andhra Pradesh andbeing designed to be the home to multiple blue chip com-panies. It is expected to bring high wage employees to ourcapital Amaravati. These jobs will bring the much neededspending capacity, flair and international dynamics to thepeople’s capital and is an attractive investment opportu-nity for buyers from all over the world. The iCon tower is designed to be a 33-storey structurewith 11 lakh sft area. The towers will cater to office needsand residential space for the employees. The towers are

said to be a landmark of the capital city.More than 100 companies providing 5,000direct employment and 20,000 indirectemployment will operate from the NRTtowers. The project cost is estimated to bearound Rs 500 Crore. Icon towers will havefeatures like revolving restaurants, NRTclub, world class auditorium, high- endclass rooms with state of the art audiovideo equipment, sustainability featureswith water and energy conservation etc.NRT Icon is being projected as a uniqueopportunity to NTIs to own a part of themost prestigious address in Amaravati,The investor would get an opportunity topark their funds into a real property in asunrise city, with minimal risk for theirinvestment. Apart from being an iconicstructure being invested into, the propertyis guaranteed to appreciate due to the in-volvement of Gov't of Andhra Pradesh andAP NRT Society, who are the promoters ofthe project. Speaking on the occasion, CM said, “Amaravati will becomean innovation valley in the future. State government willestablish the industries for Non Resident Telugu commu-nity. It is my goal to ensure that Amaravati becomes one ofthe top five cities in the world. I feel proud about the NRTentrepreneurs who are spread across 120 countries in-cluding Telugus working in higher ranks in Silicon Valley.”After recollecting about his initial vision for software in-dustry and how he had prioritized IT over other industries,CM also emphasised upon the importance of educationalinstitutions and his vision to make Amaravati a knowledgehub. The Chief Minister said, “At least one digital literatemust hail from every house in the State, and most citizensshould become entrepreneurs.” He urged all the citizens tocome forward and work together to make the dream ofbuilding a world-class Amaravati a reality.The foundation stone laying ceremony organised by NonResident Telugu Society was attended by about a thousandNRT delegates.

FouNDAtioNLAiD for APNRt’S

iCoN toweR

Representing PrajaRajadhani, thetowers will be designed in ‘A’ shape& will stand tall with 33 floors. Thetowers will stand as a testament ofthe commitment of the Telugu NRIdiaspora to the fledgling state.

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The representatives of the Korean automobilegiant, Kia Motors, told Chief MinisterChandrababu Naidu that they were all bucked upin rolling out the first vehicle by New Year 2019.In a meeting held with CM at Secretariat on June 12, a dele-gation of Kia Motors India explained the progress of thevarious modules of the project at their set-up in Ananta-pur. Kia officials earlier planned to bring out the first carefrom Andhra in March next year. However, the CM wantedto advance the date.Explaning the status of the production unit, representa-tives mentioned that 65.3% of the assembly shop, 63.1% ofthe paint shop and 65.1% of the body shop along with64.1% of the press have been completed so far. The ‘Madein India’ car will be likely unveiled on January 1, 2019.However, other works at the production unit include -Head Office, Engine Shop, Manual Transmission, Coil Cen-tre, Seats, Test track besides township with residentialbuildings.The Chief Minister congratulated the team for keeping upat the tasks ahead of the set targets and asked theirofficials to ensure that there is real-time updation of thephysical progress of the project. He also directed theAnantapur Collectorate to clear off land acquisition issues

pertaining to the project’s development at the earliest.Kia in Skill impartingKia Motors India and AP State Skill Development Corpora-tion (APSSDC) together started a Basic Training Course inthe automobile sector on June 20. This course admittedstudents only from the Anantapur district, who will beequipped with sound knowledge required for the automo-bile industry. Their skills are updated to suit the needs ofthe Kia Motors. As many as 4000 students are undergoingthe training course before they will be roped in to work forit. Meanwhile, Kia Motors India had already announced3000 employment opportunities for the people to operatethe plant. Kia Motors entered into an MoU with the AndhraPradesh government on April 20, 2017, to produce 3 lakhvehicles annually, with an investment of Rs 13,000 cr toprovide employment opportunities to 11,000 persons, in-cluding 4,000 direct jobs. The APIIC allotted 535.50 acresto the main plant, 36 acres to the township and 11.20 acresto the training centre. The state is ready to allot 250 acresto 40 automobile allied industries in Gudipalli andYerramanchi villages. Besides, the state has been makingefforts to allot 100 acres for railway siding and 48.47 acresfor a truck terminal, the release added.

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KIA’s first vehicle to roll out by January 2019

The first car manufactured by Kia Motors at its Anantapuramu facility will berolled out in January 2019. Representatives of Kia Motors informed this to Chief

Minister Chandrababu Naidu at a meeting.

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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

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Snapshot

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Three cities in A.P. figured among the top-10 Swachh Survekshan - 2018 rankings. With a scoreof 3580.24, Vijayawada stood in the 5th position followed by Tirupati and Visakhapatnam withscores of 3575.8 and 3546.5 respectively. The State got 19 ranks among 200 clean cities and 31among 300 cities. Ongole and Chittoor stood in the 83rd and 95th positions. Vijayawada earnedthe distinction of being the cleanest city in more than 10-lakh population category and Tirupati best inSWM in 3 lakh+ category.Apart from the top three cities which ranked below 10, the other cities which outscored other Indiancities to find a place in the top-200 list include Ongole (83), Chittoor (95), Tenali (108), Kakinada (118),Narsaraopet (120), Guntur (129), Rajahmundry (138), Vizianagaram (154), Kadapa (163), Nandyal(176), Srikakulam (180), Proddatur (184), Machilipatnam (186), Mangalagiri (187), Eluru (192) andNellore (193). In order to foster a healthy competition among the cities to improve cleanliness standards,the ministry of urban development (MoUD) has initiated the survey in 2016.Meanwhile, District Collector PS Pradyumna and Municipal Corporation of Tirupati (MCT) CommissionerVijaya Rama Raju felicitated more than 100 sanitation workers at Mahathi Auditorium, for their effortsin achieving sixth place in the cleanliness in the national-level Swachh Survekshan-2018 competition.

Swachh Survekshan - 2018

AP only state with 3 cities in top-10 list

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There’s something about Superstar Ra-jinikanth’s stardom that’s hard to define.His films from the ‘90s, like Baasha,Arunachalam, Muthu, and Narasimha, haveset a tone about what to expect from his films, andno matter how hard he tries to get away from it, it’sbecome harder to accept the new version of Ra-jinikanth on screen. In the last two decades, with theexception of Shivaji, there hasn’t been a single filmwhere his aura and stardom did justice to his mag-netic screen presence. Even a massive blockbusterlike Endhiran, which was released in Telugu as Robo,is seen more of a Shankar’s film than a Rajini’s. Hisrecent choices like Kabali and Kaala, both of whichwere directed by Pa Ranjith, have left many wonder-ing if they’ll ever see a vintage Rajinikanth back onscreen anytime soon. And the bigger question is, hasthe equation between Rajinikanth, the Superstar,and his ardent admirers changed over the years?There’s no denying that Rajinikanth is still thebiggest star in South Indian cinema, with a com-mendable fan following in North India. He com-mands the highest remuneration in the South, andhis films do astounding pre-release business. Thesatellite rights of Kaala alone have been sold formore than Rs 60 crores, and for 2.0, the figure hasbeen pegged at more than Rs 100 crores across alllanguages. Yet, there has been a palpable change inthe box-office numbers once the film releases. Whenhe signed Kabali few years ago, it was a monumentaldecision to team up with a young filmmaker, whoseprevious film, Madras, was praised for its politicalundertones. With Kabali and Kaala, Pa Ranjith gotthe biggest star available to be part of his endeavourto highlight social issues that are rarely talked aboutin mainstream cinema. While Kabali spoke about thetrouble that Tamil migrants in Malaysia have gonethrough over the past few decades, their most recentfilm Kaala delved into the rights of slum dwellers inDharavi, Mumbai. In less than two years, thanks to these two films, PaJULY 2018

After kabali and kaala, will Shankar’s 2.0Bring Back the vintage Rajinikanth?

The lackluster performance of hisrecent films seems to have made adent on his super stardom; however,

all that might change whenRajinikanth’s 2.0 hits the screens.

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Ranjith has done something which no other filmmaker hasmanaged to in the past 20-25 years. Pa Ranjith humanisedRajinikanth and how!In both the films, Rajinikanth doesn’t seem to be the starwho can do anything under the Sun. He isn’t the Superstarof Narasimha, who took on an entire rival family to restorethe honour of his family; or the Superstar of Baasha, whoshocked the underworld of Mumbai; or even the good-hearted guy in Arunachalam, whose humble origins of-fered a dramatic landscape for his transformation later on.In Kabali, Rajinikanth was just an old man trying to searchfor his wife. Yes, there are traces of his dazzling screenpresence in few scenes, but then his stardom was tamedto play a realistic character. It’s slightly more dramatic inKaala, where he played a kind-hearted don, who wants toend violence before he passes away. But it’s nowhere closeto the Rajinikanth we have grown up watching.All this begs us to confront one of our greatest fears whilewatching a Rajinikanth’s film - Can we ever watch a Ra-jinikanth film purely for the story and not for his uniquemannerisms and larger-than-life image? The answer isboth yes and no. With the exception of Shankar’s forth-coming sci-fi epic 2.0, it might take Rajinikanth a long timeto deliver what his ardent admirers expect from him. Thefact that he isn’t getting any younger has had a clear im-pact on what he does on screen. No more gravity-defyingstunts, or lengthy action sequences which might test hisendurance; however, the biggest change has been his will-ingness to play his age and let the younger filmmakersnarrate their stories without having to tweak them to im-press Rajinikanth’s fan base. It’s the bitter truth which allof us need to gulp to make sense of his new set of moviesin the post-Endhiran phase. Currently, he’s playing the lead role in Karthik Subbaraj’supcoming film, and the makers are playing the cards closeto their chest about what sort of role Rajini would play inthis drama. This leaves with just one film - Shankar’s 2.0,whose budget has been pegged at more than Rs 400crores, making it the costliest film ever in the history ofIndian cinema. Rajinikanth will be seen in dual roles, onceagain, as a robot and a scientist. And this time, he has Ak-shay Kumar as an arch-nemesis, along with Amy Jackson,who reportedly plays a robot. The film has been in themaking for a while and it was supposed to hit the screensin November last year; however, it has now been pushedto early 2019 owing to VFX delay and post-production.Considering that the film was shot in 3D, this long delaywas expected; however, with Kaala failing to work won-ders at the box-office, there are plenty of doubts on 2.0’sbox-office potential to recover its investment. Recent developments suggest that Lyca Productions,which has produced 2.0, is pumping in additional Rs 100

crores for the completion of post-production. Whilethere’s still no clarity about the exact budget of the film,it’s going to be the biggest film ever in India when it re-leases and the hype will be at its zenith to see Rajinikanthin a brand new avatar. Given Shankar’s penchant to com-bine social drama with Rajinikanth’s superstardom, as ex-emplified in Shivaji and Endhiran, it will hardly besurprising if 2.0 turns out to be the biggest hit in Ra-jinikanth’s career. For now, 2.0 is the only hope left for Rajinikanth’s admir-ers to see him in a role where he makes anything seempossible. Other filmmakers might have succeeded in weav-ing interesting, and sometimes important, stories thatneed to be debated about, but the adrenaline rush ofwatching Rajinikanth in a Shankar’s film is beyond allthese comparisons. A long time ago, Grady Hendrix, a writer at Slate, once de-scribed Rajinikanth’s phenomenon as - “This is Ra-jinikanth, and he is no mere actor—he is a force of nature.If a tiger had sex with a tornado and then their tiger-nadobaby got married to an earthquake, their offspring wouldbe Rajinikanth. Or, as his films are contractually obligatedto credit him, "SUPERSTAR Rajinikanth!” Let’s hope that atleast 2.0 justifies that the adjectives that Rajinikanth’s fanshave attributed to him over the year. But only time will tellif Rajinikanth, who’s now playing an active role in politics,will leave acting as Rajinikanth or Superstar Rajinikanth!- Hemanth Kumar C R

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Amazing Andhra Pradesh

the DutCh connection of masula

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JULY 2018 31

accommodation:Machilipatnam being the district headquarters has innumerablehotels that treat you to a good weekend getaway with beautifulsea views and sunrises along with some tasty seafood. getting there:From Vijayawada, Machilipatnam is at a distance of 60 kilometersand is easily accessible via road. There are plenty of buses andother vehicles that can drop you there for a nominal ticket price.You can otherwise go on a long ride on two, four-wheelers or hirea self-drive cabs. It hardly takes two hours to reach Bandar fromwhere you may ask locals for direction to the Fort.must see/doWe know you will head to Manginapudi beach however but do notforget to pay a visit to the Fort, St.Mary’s Church in Englishpalemand the Governor’s Building, a British construction that nowserves as the Collector’s office. Treat yourself to some authentic‘Bandar Laddu’ (Thokkudu Laddu) and pack a truck load for yourdear ones.

Built in the early 1600s by the Dutch,the Bandar Kota also called as the‘Dutch Fort’ stands tall with pridethat has been camouflaged by thequick revolution of time. With a great historybehind, the Fort, which is not very popular,needs a special mention not only for its epicpersonality but also for what it has withstoodover testing times.Located in Machilipatnam in Krishna districtof Andhra Pradesh, the Dutch Fort is an unex-plored historical monument until recently.Built by the Dutch East India Company in early1600 A.D., the fort has survived several natu-ral calamities and was subjected to severenegligence until the department of Archaeol-ogy and Museums considered the Fort to bepart of their restoration pragramme under theArchaeological Survey of India (ASI). Conser-vation measures are initiated at the fort afterthe Amaravati capital city has come up withgreat focus on developing heritage for tappingtourism.‘Masulipatnam’ was the first British tradingsettlement (1611) on the Bay of Bengal. From1686 to 1759, the city was held by the Frenchand the Dutch, before British finally capturedthe city and the fort from the French in 1759.A great centre of commerceThe Dutch constructed an armoury, a fort, anda belfry (Ganta Sthambam) near the Machili-patnam Port, which played a vital role in thecommerce between Europe and India. Knownto the Romans during 3rd century B.C. as‘Maisolos’, the Port here is a major tradingcentre and phenomenal for having a naturalharbor. For centuries, the famous Golconda di-amonds have been traded to other countriesout of India from the harbor. During excava-tions, many gold coins from the Roman eraand the Satavahana era have been discoveredat the Port, which is a proof enough for us toimagine the hustling activity of the port, whichis considered a gateway to the trade in SouthIndia. The harbor has its name ‘Bandar’ fromPersian, which translates to Port, literally.While the roof of the fort caved in in someportions, the armoury and Ganta Sthabhamare still intact. One can also witness rooflessand ruined walls of a jail and a hospital con-structed by the Nizams of Golconda. It wasunder the patronage of the Golconda rulersthat the European traders first establishedthemselves at the port town, which played asignificant role in the maritime contacts in

Coramandel coast right from an-cient times.Impressive StructureThe fort and the armoury togetherare known as Port and CustomsOffice and Belfry. The Fort hasmany big and small rooms, narrowstaircases that lead to a dilapi-dated roof; once used as customsand port office. It is a quadrangu-lar structure with rooms andgodowns built around it. The com-pound of the fort is divided intotwo open spaces with narrowbuildings in the centre. The other-wise busy fort was depopulatedwhen Machilipatnam was hit by amassive cyclone that killed 30,000people in the year 1864.An arsenalAccording to the signage that wasstationed at the Fort, it is men-tioned that Captain Albert Harvey,in his book titled ‘Ten Years inIndia’, described the fort as havingan arsenal store meant for supplyto the troops in the Hyderabad andNagpur subsidiary forces, as wellas the whole of the northern divi-

sion of the army. It contained ne-cessities of every description andwas kept in first rate order by thecommissariat and the many war-rant officers attached to the estab-lishment. Mandu Bandagaram,where all the ammunition wasstored is located along the BandarFort “During the British control,the fort was modified further. Forsome time, the fort was under theFrench as a part of Northern Cir-cars and annexed to the East IndiaCompany,” Ch Babji Rao, an ar-chaeologist with the Archaeologi-cal Survey of India was quotedsaying earlier.The Belfry, which has entry fromtwo sides, is one of a few monu-ments that stand testimonial to theengineering marvels of the Dutch.The pillar was designed in such away that the bell sound could beheard to 8 kilometers away fromit. In the early 16th century, theDutch had established factories inMachilipatnam. There is also acemetery within the limits ofMachilipatnam municipalitieswhich was occupied by locals atBandarkota.

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32 JULY 2018

CM has 4 million plus followers on Twitter Ever since Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu had joinedthe micro-blogging site in the year 2009, his followershave been growing steadily at a fast pace. Latest updatereveals, as on June 1, 2018, the followers of CM in Twit-ter have crossed a whopping four million. “The motivebehind my online presence is to connect better with thepeople and disseminate information through the per-sonalised channel. Taking insights from valuable feed-back and, on its basis, redressing the grievances hasbeen a driving force for using the social media platformslike Twitter actively,” CM was quoted saying.

Gulf Visa Centre in Krishna District The city will soon get passport printing facility alongwith visa application centres of the Gulf countries, saiddistrict Collector Lakshmikantham. Addressing a pressconference earlier in June, he mentioned that the pass-port printing facility will begin in the city and it will aidin delivering passports quickly after printing. Also, visacentre for Gulf countries is going to be set-up, to pre-vent travelers from the burden of visiting other Statesfor obtaining visas.

8 Star hotels to start works in Amaravati soonCRDA Commissioner Ch Sreedhar asked the manage-ments of the concerned four five - star hotel groups –Novotel, Doubletree by Hilton, Hilton and Crowne Plazato start construction works within three months, in thecapital region. In a press release, it was disclosed thatLetters of Intent (LoIs) were given to the managementsto begin works in Lingayapalem, Mandadam,Sakhamuru and Navuluru. The CRDA has already allot-ted four acres to each group. Similarly, in four-star cate-gory, LoIs were issued to GRT Hotel, Holiday Inn,Daspalla and Green Park hotels. Four star hotels weresanctioned two acres of land each at a rate of Rs 1.5crore. According to the norms, these hotels will have tostart business in another three years.

AU inks MoU with Lincoln UniversityAndhra University (AU) has signed an MoU with LincolnUniversity College of Malaysia on June 19. The pactwould expand the academic activities of the prestigiousAU to international arena. The MoU was signed by CEOof Lincoln University College Dr Amiya Bhaumik andRegistrar of the AU, Prof V Umamaheswara Rao. Speak-ing on the occasion, AU’s Vice Chancellor ProfNageswara Rao said, both the universities will work to-gether in research and the tie up will facilitate academicexchange.

VMC wins another awardVijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC) has baggedSkoch Award for installation of smart semi-undergroundwaste collection bins across the city. Their surveillancethrough CCTV cameras has yielded great results and se-cured an award for the VMC. The engineering depart-ment officials have identified 201 locations in the cityand placed about 321 dumper bins. They have arrangedfor CCTV surveillance at the same which are solar-pow-ered. The award was given away to VMC CommissionerJ Nivas and Mayor Koneru Sreedhar at a meeting held atNew Delhi on June 22.

Diesel subsidy hike for fisher boatsState government has given in to the demands of Fish-ermen and agreed to enhance the subsidy on Diesel forboats. In the wake of demands from Fishermen’s Unionsto hike the subsidy on fuel, government has increased itfrom existing Rs 6.03 per litre to Rs 12.93 per litre. Inconnection, State Finance minister Ramakrishnudumentioned that government has agreed to hike the sub-sidy price and with this decision, a burden of Rs 20 croreis levied upon the State government. Representatives ofthe 9 Fishermen’s Unions have met the minister on June15 and appealed to consider their request. Also, themembers thanked the government for sanctioning Rs1000 as pension toward retired/old fishermen.

HAPPENING AP

Gannavaram airport is now ready to start its cargoservice with 15 metric tonne of load on everyday basis.The cargo facility has been green-signaled by AirportAuthority of India after multiple requests, though thecargo terminal was prepared in 2017. Very soon, thecargo service limit will be extended from 15 metrictonnes to 30 metric tonnes. Proposals were made forcold storage construction. “The cargo services willattract large crowd of businessmen and industrialistswho wants to export or import goods. A lot of theseafood, agricultural produce is exported from thisregion,” said Airport director G Madhusudhan Rao.

Cargo services at Gannavaram airport

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JULY 2018 33

Rs 1000 Cr for urban Poor housingAndhra Pradesh government had passed a decree releas-ing Rs 1000 crore towards housing facility of the urbanpoor living in the State under the Pradhan Mantri AwasYojana(PMAY) and NTR Nagar. The Center and State gov-ernment have decided to build 6.81 lakh houses forurban poor and so far works have begun for close to 5.5lakh houses. For each house being built under thescheme, State government is funding a minimum of Rs2.25 lakh and a maximum of Rs 2.56 lakh. The construc-tion works are going at a fast pace.

City Archer to participate in 18th Asian Games City- based Archer and Arjuna awardee Vennem JyothiSurekha has been selected to take part in 18th AsianGames to be held at Jakarta, Indonesia. The archer willparticipate at the tournament from August 19 to Sep-tember 2. Meanwhile, the young champion will alsoparticipate in the World Cup Stage IV tournament whichwill be held at Berlin, Germany from July 16 to July 22.

150 acres Beachfront development Ap Tourism Development Corporation will now develop150 acres of beachfront area at Manginapudi beach inMachilipatnam. MD of APTDC, Himanshu Sukla andMinister Kollu Ravindra have announced their plans forsprucing up tourism across the coastline in the district.A detailed project report would be soon prepared.Guest house by the R&B department and a youth hostelwill also come up at the beachfront development pro-gramme besides other facilities in public and privatepartnership mode.

Tourism Satellite Accounts in APAP Tourism has now introduced ‘Tourism Satellite Ac-counts (TSA) in the State to identify the needs oftourists. Datamation agency has been appointed for col-lecting information by conducting a survey that revealsthe purpose of the visit, mode of transport, range of ex-penditure, preferences and feedback from the tourists.Tourism department officers were asked to identify keylocations to conduct the survey and support the agencyin equipping the tourism data.

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State government has decided to hike honorary wages uptoRs 10,500 for the Anganwadi teachers working in the state.Keeping up to the promise made by Chief Minister Chan-drababu Naidu to them, a government order was releasedfor the salary hike. Until date, anganwadi workers werebeing paid Rs 7000 only. Similarly, salaries for anganwadiworkers were raised from Rs 4,500 to Rs 6000. The CM alsoannounced that about 4.62 lakh Sadhikara Mithras wouldbe provided by smart phones.

Honorary salary hike to anganwadis

CM Interacting with newly trainedSub-Inspectors at Praja Vedika, Undavallion June 27. DGP Malakondaiah, othersenior police officials are also seen.

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34 JULY 2018

The Sunrise State of Andhra Pradesh is aiming bigwhen it comes to tourism and its activities. To in-troduce new concepts, develop the existing facili-ties and to tap the potentiality of the region areamong the important tasks for the government right now.Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu reviewed the activitiesof State Tourism Planning Board at a meeting held at theSecretariat. The officials presented the Chief Minister witha master plan for the development of the three Shilpara-mams coming up in Visakhapatnam, Guntur and Tirupati.“The works related to the Shilparamams of Guntur,Visakhapatnam and Tirupati will begin as a part of phaseone and the prime purpose is to bring improvements to thebrand Shilparamam so that revenue generations and oper-ations are handled independently by Shilparamam”, saidMukesh Kumar Meena, Secretary (Tourism).The Visakhapatnam Shilparamam works have been dividedinto 3 phases and the project is expected to be completedin the next 24 months. The Chief Minister was informedthat the Visakhapatnam unit will have enhanced securitywith 160 rooms for accommodations, banquet hall, multi-purpose function hall with a capacity of 1200, and a craftsbazaar which will have artworks by local artisans displayedacross 30 stalls. This Shilparamam will also have a themed

water park and an ice land to provide a sub-zero degree ex-perience to the visitors, and will be built up with an esti-mated cost of Rs. 30 crores and spread over an area of 12.5crores.The Tirupati unit of Shilparamam will be spread across 6zones which would have light shows, amusement parks,craft exhibitions, festival grounds, deluxe guest houses andrestaurants spread across them. The six zones would beconstructed with an estimated cost of 120.8 crores and thefirst phase of works will be completed by February 2019.Briefing the Chief Minister on the works related to the Gun-tur Shilparamam, the officials said that the Guntur unit isdivided into 3 zones with zone 1 being a flat land, zone 2being a lake and zone 3 being an extension of the lake. Theproject's designs have been inspired by Undavalli Cavesand Buddha Stupa. The Guntur Shilparamam will also haveall the state of the art facilities and will be spread across12.25 acres with an estimated project cost of Rs.80 crores.The Chief Minister was also informed of the plans todevelop Pattiseema into a tourist hub. The project is di-vided into 5 zones with all zones having special attractionssuch as arts and crafts, play area, go-karting, food zone andgolf course. The project will also provide resort-like accom-modation to the visitors for a peaceful stay enjoying thescenic beauty around.Speaking to officials on the need to have a vision, the ChiefMinister said, “We are having excellent resources in thestate and to provide them with more visibility, you mustconsult with the experts to understand the potential andspeciality of each of the areas marked. We are focusingmore on the service sector and are trying to build 1 lakhrooms across the state and for that purpose the tourismhas to develop.”The Tourism Board officials informed the Chief Ministerthat 16.54 crore people visited AP last year, showing anincrease of 1.2 crores compared to the previous year. TheState tourism growth rate was at 15% which is third in thecountry and 4% above the national average. He was also in-formed that last year 16 events were organized by thetourism board which were attended by 16 lakh people.

Pattiseema to becomepotential tourism spot

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A view of the Godavari Waters joining the Krishna river.Pic courtesy: Jitendra Chowdary Twitter.

Plans to develop Pattiseema into a touristhub are on the anvil. The project is dividedinto 5 zones with all zones having specialattractions such as arts and crafts, playarea, go-karting, food zone and golf course.

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IN PICS

Pic 1: Chief Minister participating in the International Yoga Day in Vijayawada.

Pic 2: Ramzan prayers in Vijayawada witnessed the Chief Minister joining the namazis.

Pic 3: The CM at the inauguration of the newly constructed Sri Venkateswara Swamy Temple at Nambur inGuntur district.

Pic 4: The CM speaking at the Health Festival, the first of its kind in the state, organised in Vizag.

Pic 5: Village Revenue Assistants (VRAs) felicitating the CM for enhancing their salary from Rs 6,000 to Rs10,500 per month. The step will benefit 27,000 VROs in the state.

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Regd. No. H-HD-1082/2016-18 APENG/2007/20679Published on: 01/07/2018 Posting Dt: 6th

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