Centre should draw insights from successful policies of different States: KTR

Learning from effective practices can greatly contribute to the overall progress, KTR said while speaking at the launch of Advanced Management Programme in Public Policy 8th batch at Indian School of Business, Mohali

Hyderabad: IT Minister KT Rama Rao said if the political leadership was committed and had a vision for development, then achieving progress would not be a task and Telangana was a role model in this regard as the State had achieved a lot in different fields within a short period of nine years.

Stating that current politics were very challenging, the Minister said a minor incident can disturb the tranquility of the society. Maintaining social harmony was a biggest challenge for any government, he said citing the Haryana incident and added that religion was the opium of the masses to flare up differences.

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The Minister said the Central government should proactively explore and draw insights from successful policies being implemented in different States. Learning from effective practices can greatly contribute to the overall progress. Governments have to come up with innovative policies for effective administration and delivering good governance, he stressed.

Speaking at the launch of Advanced Management Programme in Public Policy (AMPPP) 8th batch at Indian School of Business (ISB), Mohali on Friday, he said Chief Minister K Chandrashekhar Rao was a task master.

One has to increase the potential to meet his expectations. With his vision and support, the Chief Minister makes the officials to deliver goods, the Minister said. He shared Telangana’s growth journey and recounted his governance experiences. The Minister said while the whole world was talking about the swift construction model demonstrated by the Chinese, the world’s largest lift irrigation project – Kaleshwaram was completed in four years in Telangana.

The State’s Per Capita Income, which was Rs 1.12 lakh in 2014, increased to Rs 3.17 lakh this year. This is the highest in the country. Similarly, the State’s GSDP increased from Rs. 5.05 lakh crores in 2014 to Rs. 13.27 lakh crores this year, he said. In the IT sector, the Minister said that out of 4.5 lakh technology jobs created in India last year, 1.5 lakh were from Hyderabad, which is 33 percent. And this year, 44 percent of total jobs created in India were from Telangana, the Minister said.

Stating that the life sciences sector has been the strength of Hyderabad, he said that nine billion doses of vaccines were produced from the city, which amounts to 33 percent of global vaccine production. “By next year, the vaccine production will be 14 billion doses which will be 50 per cent of world’s vaccine production” Rama Rao said.

In reply to a question on career in politics, the Minister said in India to get into politics one has to put into lot of mediocrity. “If one wants to serve selflessly, then he or she has to come to the grind. In fact, Telangana movement has helped our Chief Minister to create a new generation of leaders. Many student leaders have become MLAs and MPs” Rama Rao said.

He also said a career in politics presents a landscape filled with challenges. “One can pass UPSC exams but winning electoral battles is tougher. It is difficult to survive in Indian politics,” he said.

Responding to another question on debts, the Minister said access to capital had changed and today’s generation confidence had also changed but unfortunately that change was not happening in government sector. “If we invest in creating infrastructure and progressive sectors, the money would get doubled. It will become an asset for next generations. Hyderabad Metro Rail is world largest public private partnership project” Rama Rao said.

The Minister also shared about his favourite past time activities. “These days, I am watching lot of Malayalam movies on OTT and turned into a huge fan for Mallu movies. During whatever little time available, we go to a restaurant and then at least once in two weeks, I catch up with friends and unwind. They help me stay grounded”