Development does not mean merely building infrastructure but building human capital through social and economic transformation. A few initiatives implemented by the government in education, health, employment, gram swaraj and land management have brought far-reaching changes, Principal Adviser to the Chief Minister Ajeya Kallam has said.
The former Chief Secretary was speaking at a seminar here on ‘Transforming governance – A new path for transparent, reliable and secure administration’ on March 3 (Sunday).
While saying that no government could be categorised as ‘good’ or ‘bad’, he explained that some policy decisions taken during one government may be good and others bad. The same could be the case with another government. The present government (YSRCP government) has made some decisions that were transformative as part of ‘course correction, ‘ and they have yielded tangible results.
Education
Giving examples from his own life, Mr. Kallam recalled as a boy hailing from a middle class family in Bapatla, the total expenditure on entire his school and college education was not more than ₹10,000. Private schools were rare. Private education started making inroads in AP with the craze for EAMCET. “I don’t say privatisation is wrong, but it has reduced accessibility and put it out of the reach of the common people. The perception of the public has changed, and they began to view private education as quality education,” he said.
“After so many years, the State government has taken up course correction focusing on primary and secondary education. A fundamental change is being seen, especially in the rural areas. I don’t say it’s complete, but it has started,” he said. The introduction of English Medium in government schools, innovative technologies, and renovation of school buildings could be game changers in the coming days. The focus on ‘public education’ was brought back.
Health sector
In the health sector, though Arogyasri was introduced during the time of former Chief Minister Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy to enable the poor to have access to quality healthcare in private hospitals, the need to improve the government hospitals as a long-term measure was realised and strengthening of healthcare facilities and hospital infra at various levels was taken up during the last four-and-a-half years.
The other areas in which the State government has done good work include: was gram swaraj through establishment of village and ward secretariats and land management through the proposal to bring AP Land Titling Act to give title deeds to property owners.
Earlier, former Rector of Andhra University A. Prasanna Kumar and former Vice-Chancellor of Acharya Nagarjuna University V. Bala Mohan Das recalled the contribution of Mr. Kallam to the city and the State during his tenure as Collector and later as Visakhapatnam Port Chairman.
