Industries Minister K.T. Rama Rao called upon Dalit entrepreneurs to use the opportunities created by the Telangana government and scale new heights to set an example and be an inspiration for others.
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“Though God created us equal, opportunities are not equal for us. As Dalits are oppressed in the society, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has decided to create equal opportunities for all, starting with them. Dalit Bandhu is one such scheme. It will be extended to STs, Minorities and the poor, in a phased manner. Make Dalit Bandhu a grand success by using it properly,” said Mr. Rama Rao while addressing a gathering after inaugurating the Business Facilitation Centre and Model Career Centre established by the Telangana chapter of Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (DICCI) here on Wednesday.
He asked the members of DICCI to play an active role in making Dalit Bandhu a grand success.
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Referring to allegations by Opposition parties that Dalit Bandhu was designed to garner votes, the Minister said that similar schemes were implemented by the Chief Minister three decades ago in Siddipet and those who worked with KCR could say that. He recalled ‘Dalit Jyothi’ in 1988-89 and said that a person named Danaiah was made the market committee chairman then by KCR.
Stating that soon after formation of the separate State, Mr. Chandrasekhar Rao held a seven-hour meeting with different sections of people resulting in formation of policies like TS-iPASS, Mr. Rama Rao said that under this, entrepreneurs having their own land or allotted land could establish firms with self certification and no permission was required except filing an online application.
‘No giving or taking bribe’
“There is no ‘lena dena’ (giving and taking bribe) here. Everything is transparent. We have issued 20,000 permissions, attracted ₹2.35 lakh crore investment and created 16 lakh jobs. We are promising to hold a monthly review of the applications of Dalit and tribal entrepreneurs,” he said, adding that the government has been focusing on providing quality education to students through Gurukuls. He said that as many as 1,000 students from residential schools got into IITs and IIMs.
DICCI founder chairman Milind Kamble said that they have been referring the policies of Telangana and asking other governments to follow them.
TSIIC chairman G. Balamallu, MLA Ch. Kranthi Kiran, and Industries secretary Jayesh Ranjan were part of the programme.