VIJAYAWADA
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Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy said his government took up various reforms and initiatives in agriculture and education sectors and in the delivery of citizen services and they were yielding the desired results.
Participating in the NITI Aayog Governing Council meeting in New Delhi chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said top priority had been accorded to agriculture in view of the dependence of 62% of the population on it and the sector accounting for more than 35% of the Gross State Domestic Product (GSDP).
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The launch of Rythu Bharosa Kendras (RBKs), numbering 10,778, was the most important initiative that facilitated the delivery of farm inputs and services to farmers at their doorstep.
The RBKs were serving as a one-stop solution for farmers, who needed to be given all possible support to overcome the crisis in the sector. Their (RBKs’) functioning was being closely monitored and due emphasis laid on the realisation of Minimum Support Prices (MSP).
PM Kisan, free insurance scheme, nine-hour free power scheme etc. were being implemented in a fool-proof manner. An integrated call centre was set up to keep an overall view of the farm sector and take remedial action whenever a problem was brought to the government’s notice.
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Aid for education
Referring to the education sector, Mr. Jagan Mohan Reddy said the Right to Education was integrated with the mission to achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
A concerted effort was being made to reduce the number of school dropouts, and increase the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) from 84.48.
The Amma Vodi scheme, under which mothers were given Rs.15,000 per year for sending their children to school to help them overcome poverty, was a big success. Due priority had been given to improving children’s nutritional standards, and their English language skills through a slew of programmes. Tabs were going to be given to the students of Class 8 to facilitate digital learning.
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More importantly, infrastructure augmentation works were taken up in 55,555 schools under the Nadu-Nedu programme at a cost of Rs.17,900 crore. This changed the face of the government schools.
The fees paid by students were being reimbursed under the Jagananna Vidya Deevena scheme, under which 21.56 lakh students benefited in the last three years. Skill upgrading had been taken up at the undergraduate level with the support of Microsoft.
Village secretariats
The Chief Minister said ward and village secretariats were taking the citizen services within the reach of the people, who were otherwise forced to travel to government offices located at far-off places to get their works done.
As on Sunday, 11,162 village secretariats and 3,842 ward secretariats were functioning and a volunteer had been assigned for every 50 to 100 houses. The government was able to curb the menace of corruption through the ward and village secretariat and volunteer systems.
Not stopping at that, districts were reorganised, taking their number from 13 to 26, he added.