Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Friday hit out at Telugu Desam Party (TDP) national president N. Chandrababu Naidu for allowing his MPs to “twist” facts related to Andhra Pradesh and malign the image of the State in Parliament. He advised the TDP chief to cooperate with the ruling party like the Opposition parties in other States do for the development of their State.
Urging people to continue their unstinted belief in his capability to protect the interests of the State and their welfare, Mr. Jagan reminded people of his promise as an Opposition leader way back in 2017 to create 13 new districts when he came to power. His speech was preceded by a short video clipping of the 2017 Nandyal byelection campaign from the SPG Grounds in the town. Referring to the promise, Mr. Jagan said: “Unlike Mr. Naidu, who failed to keep most of his electoral promises, I am here to tell you that I have kept my word.”
Releasing ₹1,024 crore as the second tranche of the Jagananna Vasathi Deevena financial assistance (boarding and lodging charges) to 10,68,150 students, the Chief Minister detailed the reforms that were undertaken in three years, which had resulted in an 8.64% increase in the Gross Enrolment Ratio for the higher studies and migration of seven lakh schoolchildren from private schools to government schools.
During the TDP rule in 2018-19, the GER was 32.4%, which jumped to 41.04% in 2019-20 and dropouts in schools were reduced with enrolment increasing from 37 lakh to 44.30 lakh, he said.
Addressing mothers of children who got Jagananna Vasathi Deevena benefits, he said: “I am here as your elder brother, who will take care of studies of your children and not limited to one per family.”
Mr. Jagan said the government had been continuously improving the school environment through Nadu-Nedu and Gorumudda schemes to ensure good health and education in addition to introducing bilingual textbooks for students to learn English. At the college level, he said the focus was on skill development through a tie-up with Microsoft, and an internship was made compulsory.
The TDP government had not paid ₹1,780 crore of fee reimbursement amount, which the present government had to clear, he pointed out, while dishing out figures on how much was spent in the last three years on education.
Nandyal MLA Shilpa Ravichandra Kishore thanked the Chief Minister for making Nandyal a district and sought some more assistance for projects in the district. Former Minister Gummanur Jayaram and other MLAs from the district were present.
