In yet another tussle between them, Telangana has accused Andhra Pradesh of reproducing its web designs and data formats submitted to the Centre for a 'Ease of Doing Business' (EoBD) presentation. The issue assumes significance as the State with a better ranking would have the edge, in terms of attracting investments.
A 340-Point Business Reform Action Plan for States and Union Territories (UTs) was circulated by the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) to all State/UTGovernments, seeking inputs on the number of reforms undertaken by them.
At the time of writing this article, Uttarakhand, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh were the top three States respectively on the 'implementation scorecard' available on >eodb.dipp.gov.in/index.aspx
The portal tracks the real-time implementation of the 340 action plans, which will be considered for the 2016 rankings.
The process of ranking States on the basis of ease of doing business started last year.
Telangana's accusations
In a letter written to Union Minister of State for Commerce & Industry Nirmala Sitharaman, Telangana Minister for Industries and IT K. Taraka Rama Rao, sought action against States, without naming Andhra Pradesh which, he said, were undermining the hard work put in by Telangana in evolving systematic processes imbibing the spirit of EoDB by internalising it in the system. Such States were “adopting practices, which are not exactly fair and transparent.”.
To prove Andhra Pradesh's "wrongdoing," the Telangana government also charged its neighbour with copying even the reference number given by the High Court in some of the documents uploaded on the portal.
Andhra Pradesh counters charges
Dismissive of the charges levelled by the Telangana government, advisor (communications) to the Andhra Pradesh government Parakala Prabhakar Prabhakar at a press conference on Wednesday, termed them “pure and silly slander.’’
Mr. Prabhakar said the A.P. government had furnished all the data related to 340 parameters sought by the DIPP before June 30 with proof while Telangana alleged that Andhra Pradesh uploaded fresh data after copying its application formats.
He said the High Court was common for AP and Telangana and thus, the reference numbers were bound to be the same for common issue related to setting up of commercial divisions.
Where do the two States stand, in terms of EoBD?
Telangana is the second-highest ranking State, as per the portal, which has given the State an implementation percentage of 51.96. The State has said 'yes' to 175 and 'no' to 162 of the 340 parameters sought by the DIPP.
According to the portal, Telangana has given the maximum number of approvals for 'Environmental Registration Enablers'.
Andhra Pradesh, which is placed one rank below Telangana, at no. 3, has an implementation percentage of 51.76. The difference between the two States is a mere 0.17 percentage point. It has claimed to have given the go-ahead to 176 reforms.
Following a similar pattern, Andhra Prafesh has also given the maximum number of approvals for 'Environmental Registration Enablers', followed by 'Single Window'.
Last year, Gujarat came out on top in the World Bank’s first-ever ranking of States on the ease of doing business in India. Andhra Pradesh was placed second, with a score of 70.12%, while Telangana came 13th.
The report had put Andhra Pradesh in the 'aspiring leaders' category and Telangana in the 'accleration required' grouping.
