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     Aristotle Junior Artist Username: Aristotle Post Number: 260 Registered: 01-2013 Posted From: 59.144.135.7 Rating: N/A |
http://www.thehindubusinessline.com/news/politics/100-days-c handrababus-hits-and-misses/article6413136.ece | ||
| Aristotle Junior Artist Username: Aristotle Post Number: 259 Registered: 01-2013 Posted From: 59.144.135.7 Rating: N/A |
The whopping ₹75,000-crore loan waiver plan has not found support from the RBI. The apex bank at best is ready to reschedule crop loan in only four of the 13 districts. Hyderabad, September 15: The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu’s first 100 days in office can be described as ‘High on promise and short on delivery’. Riding to power on promises of loan waiver, freebies, building a new capital and a corrupt-free-development agenda, Naidu’s tenure so far has been anything but smooth. Given, the handicaps of a deficit budget, loss of Hyderabad and a struggling national economy, it has been a mixed bag of hits and misses for the TDP-BJP Government. The major steps were presenting a general budget of ₹1,12,000 crore and a separate agriculture budget and getting the Centre to name the State as the first among ‘100 per cent power states and power projects.’ His penchant for IT-driven governance is translating to e-cabinet meetings, IT-hubs, e-governance etc. The 64-year-old Naidu, sworn in on June 8 in Vijayawada is showing all the symptoms of replicating his nine-year rule (1995-2004) as the Chief Minister of the united Andhra Pradesh. The first few weeks saw friction with the Telangana Chief Minister K Chandrasekhara Rao on several issues — fee reimbursement of engineering students, governance from a common capital, Polavaram project, power projects sharing and State government employees. Fund crunch Since he is left with 13 districts now, there is a financial deficit of ₹16,000 crore and the challenges are drastically different now. He frequents Visakhapatnam, Tirupati, Vijayawada and Kurnool to administer in a decentralised manner as he assures. He plans to develop three mega cities and 14 smart cities, some of them to be part of the Centre’s proposal to develop 100 smart cities. His functioning and performance have drawn sharp criticism from the main opposition, the YSR Congress leader YS Jaganmohan Reddy, who loses no opportunity to criticise Naidu and say that he is deceiving the people with empty promises. The much-needed Central help is also not forthcoming to Naidu. The NDA Government of Narendra Modi is yet to accord the ‘Special status’, a special incentive package to attract investments into industry and infrastructure (UPA’s promise under AP Reorganisation Bill), provide funding for the capital. His key electoral promises such as loan waiver scheme for farmers, women self-help groups and weavers are still to be implemented. The whopping ₹75,000-crore loan waiver plan has not found support from the RBI. The apex bank at best is ready to reschedule crop loan in only four of the 13 districts. The Naidu Government keeps hopes alive saying it is working out other modalities to fund by way of securitisation of assets, sale of precious red sanders wood and changing the sand mining policy. Capital One of the key achievements so far has been the announcement of the region around Vijayawada as the choice for the new capital, going against the recommendations of the Sivaramakrishna Committee and also facing the criticism by the opposition and even some of the ruling party members, who felt that Kurnool or Vizag would have been better suited. But the real challenge starts now. Conservative estimates put the overall requirement to develop a new capital at about ₹4,00,000 crore. The State has sought ₹1,00,000 crore from the Finance Commission to build the new capital. Consultants such as Mckinsey & Co, experts from Singapore have come forward to be part of the capital development, so have Chinese companies, who want to develop bullet trains. |
