Revanth Reddy pitches education-driven growth at NITI Aayog meet

Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy, at the 11th Niti Aayog Governing Council meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, highlighted education and healthcare as the pillars of national development.

New Delhi: Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy on Thursday said education and healthcare form a strong foundation for national development and outlined the state’s development model at the 11th NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting.

Addressing the meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Rashtrapati Bhavan, the chief minister stressed the need for special focus on education, skill development and world-class infrastructure to achieve the Centre’s ‘Viksit Bharat 2047’ goal, according to a statement released by the state government.

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Reddy said findings from the state’s Social, Economic, Educational, Employment, Political and Caste (SEEEPC) survey, conducted in 2024, covering 3.55 crore people across 242 castes, showed that lack of education, not money or land, was the primary cause of social backwardness.

The chief minister said he had retained the education portfolio himself owing to his belief in its transformative power and noted that while free education had been provided over the past 75 years, quality education remained a challenge.

He said Telangana’s government schools now provide English-medium instruction, digital classrooms, free breakfast, mid-day meals, evening snacks, school buses, sports facilities and quality teaching.

He announced that ‘Young India Integrated Residential Schools’ are being established in every Assembly constituency, saying children from all sections of society studying together would help reduce caste discrimination.

“We would happily show the Young India Schools to any Chief Minister or official from other states who wishes to see them,” he said.

On skill development, the chief minister said the ‘Young India Skills University’ was set up in partnership with industrialists, including Anand Mahindra and Srini Raju.

He added that a partnership with the Tata Group, involving an investment of Rs 2,100 crore, would modernise all ITIs in the state into technical training centres.

Reddy proposed an ‘M-6 Task Force’ under the Prime Minister’s Office for the development of Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai, Hyderabad and Bengaluru, seeking a special fund of Rs 6 lakh crore — Rs 1 lakh crore per city — for infrastructure development.

The chief minister also placed before the Council several requests for Central support, including for the Regional Ring Road, Hyderabad Metro Phase II expansion, Musi River rejuvenation, Bharat Future City project, Palamuru-Rangareddy Lift Irrigation Scheme, semiconductor industries and an IIM in Hyderabad.

He said the state government aimed to make Telangana a one-trillion-dollar economy by 2034 and a three-trillion-dollar economy by 2047.