Centre hijacking Telangana’s achievements: KTR

Hyderabad: IT Minister KT Rama Rao on slammed the Centre for hijacking the achievements of the State government through misleading advertisements. Participating on the eve of 131st birth anniversary celebrations of Dr BR Ambedakar held here on Wednesday, the Minister said: “In the 75 years of Independent India’s history, Telangana State was the first and […]

Hyderabad: IT Minister KT Rama Rao on slammed the Centre for hijacking the achievements of the State government through misleading advertisements.

Participating on the eve of 131st birth anniversary celebrations of Dr BR Ambedakar held here on Wednesday, the Minister said: “In the 75 years of Independent India’s history, Telangana State was the first and only State to supply drinking water to all households under Mission Bhagiratha. The Centre has not given a single paisa for the project, but released huge advertisements with pictures of the Prime Minister giving credit to its ”Har Ghar Jal” scheme for the achievement.” He also emphasised the need for promoting positivity in society and pointed out that the media especially social media was being misused to spread hatred. “If somebody is using a public platform to scold Muslims, that video is shown again and again. There is Shoba Yatra on Sri Rama Navami. There is ruckus in that. Several Whatsapp videos are being sent. They scold each other and promote enmity. There is no use of such videos,” he said adding that despite the tall talk, India still was a poor third world country.

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The Minister recalled how Ambedkar brought laws to protect the minority against the tyranny of the majority and how his vision helped in the creation of Telangana from the erstwhile Andhra Pradesh. He stated that Telangana State would not have been realised in a lifetime without the provisions embedded by Ambedkar in the Constitution to protect the minority. Explaining the need for the Dalit Bandhu scheme for socio-economic empowerment of the SCs, Rama Rao said even as the country celebrates its 75th year of Independence, no Prime Minister or Chief Minister took any step for the empowerment of the weaker sections. Instead, questions are being raised whether the Dalits were the only ones who need empowerment.

“Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s approach is to address the bottom of the pyramid. Various economic studies assert that the Dalits are the most downtrodden in the country. We decided to start the empowerment journey here. We have so far given Dalit Bandhu to about 40,000 people in the first year itself. We have set a target of two lakh Dalits this year. The Dalit community should also think on ways to create wealth,” the Minister said.

Rama Rao said people should not get into the mob mentality and urged the Dalit Bandhu beneficiaries to choose different self-employment options for their socio-economic growth. “If somebody is buying a tractor, a harvester or a taxi, others too are buying the same. How will this work if all get into similar work? The demand-supply equation will get affected. If supply is more than the demand, that will cause problems for all of us,” he explained.

He asked the industry body DICCI to guide the beneficiaries. “If one family gets Rs 10 lakh, it is not necessary that only that family should set up a unit. Several families can come together and create a bigger unit anywhere in the State. The focus should be on wealth creation. If we do not do this, this will be a historical mistake. People will ask what the impact of the scheme was and whether we succeeded in creating wealth for the State as well as empowering the beneficiaries. One should not be blamed for inefficiency,” he said.

T-PRIDE

Rama Rao also said Telangana State will reduce the interest rate paid on the instalments from the current 16 per cent to four per cent under the Telangana Programme for the Rapid Incubation of the Dalit Entrepreneurs (T-PRIDE). The unique scheme allows direct funding of SC/ST entrepreneurs. Under this, 50 per cent subsidy is given on the land costs and the remaining is allowed to be paid in instalments.

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