Minister of Information Technology and Panchayati Raj K.T. Rama Rao on Tuesday categorically said the integrated socio-economic survey by the Telangana government on August 19 was only aimed at getting statistical and related information about people in the State and plan for better service delivery to help the needy sections of society.
On the sidelines of a press conference called by Pegasystems India, he patiently fielded probing, repeated questions and explained to presspersons that it was not taken up with any political, malafide intentions or to target those who did not belong to the State.
“It will help us equip ourselves and have better administration. As it is, we are working with only 41 Indian Administrative Service officers, till the All India Service cadre allocation is done. Even before the survey, we are seeing the benefits by way of six lakh ration cards that were surrendered. This means essential commodities for about 29 lakh people can now be used better, or if converted into value, hundreds of crores of rupees can be used better,” he said.
There were astounding facts that needed to be clarified and the survey would be of help, he said. For example, he said there were 1.03 crore ration cards for 84 lakh households. “How can this be true? Also, official statistics by earlier governments say 54 lakh houses were built for the weaker sections in the past two decades. It that is true, we should have actually saturated the needy population,” he said.
“ Survey jana sukhino bhavantu ,” the Minister said, punning on the word ‘sarve’ (Sanskrit), adding an appeal to the media that they should cooperate to communicate the correct message to people. “This survey is not to target anyone,” he reiterated.
To a question on the Centre’s circular giving special law and order powers to Governor, Mr. Rama Rao said the States’ Reorganisation Act clearly said “the Governor would abide by the advice of the Council of Ministers”. Also, he pointed out that law and order was a State subject. “We have written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi, wondering if the circular had been the work of an ill-informed bureaucrat in the Ministry of Home Affairs,” he added.
