Originally published at https://andhranation.wordpress.com
The nation has just recovered from a bitter political slugfest, so I would not do the disservice of going down that path again. But in view of the change of guard at Amaravati, it is important to understand what the future looks like for Andhrites.
Let me rewind the clock by 5 years. In May 2014, one had to be a brave heart or an illogical dumb head to believe that Andhra had any future at all. The bifurcation left AP in such murky waters that it was “designed to fail”. It had a huge revenue deficit, its per capita income was lowest among all south Indian states, it had no industry worth taking about which could create jobs for its youngsters, its agriculture was in shambles, it was left with disproportionally high debt on its head and it had no city which could better its ‘Tax to GDP’ ratio.
To be fair to CBN, irrespective of the verdict given a week back by Andhra citizens, his revival plan was masterclass. It was all encompassing and, in my view, delivered mostly on what it set out to do.
Let us see what was achieved in the last 5 years
- Agriculture: Pattiseema saved Krishna delta from the pain of waiting for Polavaram. It also gave the luxury of channeling Krishna waters to Rayalaseema, an area perennially starved of water. In the process many small reservoirs were filled and many water channels opened up again. Polavaram itself clocked in about 65-67% completion. The state was heading towards being a truly irrigated state.
- Industry: Being a continuous No 1 in Ease of doing business was no mean feat. Neither was establishing an entire eco system for some specific industrial sectors. Let me talk of Auto. In just 5 years AP attracted not just a car company, but a bike, a tire, a bus and many of its ancillaries. Clusters like Sri City made terrific progress as also other sectors like mobile manufacturing. All this from a zero base.
- Urbanisation and services: It is plain economics that cities start giving undue tax revenue benefits to governments when they cross the threshold of 50 lacs population. That is when the services begin to boom and give that extra bump up for government revenues. Amaravati was a perfect answer to this puzzle. Along with Guntur and Vijayawada, Amaravati was to be Andhra’s first urban conglomerate. Its planning is world class and its execution was chugging along nicely.
Now that CBN is no more at the helm, some questions remain on all the above. To list some of them
- Will the new government resolve to complete Polavaram on a war footing and complete it in the next 12 months?
- Will it work as efficiently to deliver Pattiseema water to Krishna delta by 15th June and water to Rayalaseema, as has happened in the last 2 years?
- Will it continue with Amaravathi master plan, not just in letter but in spirit?
- Can it assure Andhrites that their state will continue to top the charts in “Ease of Doing Business” rankings?
- Can it continue the feverish pitch with which the previous government chased investments and mostly succeeded?
- Can it assure that it will continue the previous government’s energetic push to get job generating sectors like IT, Apparel, Marine, Aqua etc to set up in Andhra that can create jobs for local youngsters?
In case, if this is not the blue print of economic growth that the YSRCP government wants to pursue, then what else is it? Can it give us some clarity?
What exactly is the Andhra dream? For me it is like this. “Andhra Pradesh, a state with rich cultural heritage, will transform itself to becoming a modern economic powerhouse with huge improvements in the lives of its people, not just on economic terms but also in terms of human development index. Its people will be educated, rich, healthy, happy and modern in outlook. Its farmers, its entrepreneurs, its professionals and its citizens will be the best in their fields. The state will have the finest infrastructure in terms of roads, railways, power, ports and irrigation networks. It will attract the best of minds from around the world and its trade and commerce will put it on the map of global development centres.”
Does Jagan Mohan Reddy have it in him to pursue this dream? This is not a political question. Its important that he believes in this dream and makes an effort to realise it. If he does, then we are all fine irrespective of whether we have voted for him or not. If he does not, it will either be a comma or even a full stop.