The Andhra Pradesh government will supply free power for nine hours to the farmers which will cost an additional burden of around Rs 8,000 crore to Rs 9,000 crore on the state exchequer. A decision to this effect was taken by Chief Minister Y S Jagan Mohan Reddy at a Cabinet meeting held at his Tadepalli camp office on Thursday.

To supply free power to the farmers, the Jagan government has decided to set up solar power plants with a capacity of 10,000 megawatt. The government has already issued an order for setting up the Andhra Pradesh Green Energy Corporation Limited, as a subsidiary of Power Generation Corporation of AP, to erect the 10,000 MW solar power plants. Further, the Cabinet ministers also drew a roadmap to increase the storage capacity in Gandikota reservoir to 26.85 tmcft at a cost of Rs 500 crore.

The Cabinet also decided to provide Rs 18,750 financial aid to people above 45 years and up to 60 years as promised under the party’s ‘Navarathnalu’ programme. Around 25 lakh women are going to benefit under the scheme. We have also decided to spend Rs 18,000 crore for the benefit of pregnant women and children under YSR Sampoorna Poshana and YSR Sampoorna Poshana Plus schemes. Another Rs 153 crore will be spent for setting up the tribal engineering college in Vizinagaram’s Kurupam,” YSRCP minister Perni Nani said after the Cabinet meeting.

The Cabinet meeting also approved a proposal for complete fee reimbursement for eligible students under the Jagananna Vidya Deevena scheme. Earlier, only SC and ST students were eligible for full fee reimbursement. After the changes, all students belonging to any community whose annual family income is less than Rs 2.5 lakhs is eligible for complete fee reimbursement. “We have already disbursed Rs 5,000 crore towards reimbursement. The Cabinet also approved the proposal to set up Telugu Cultural Academy in Tirupati,” Nani said.

The Budget session of the Andhra Pradesh Legislature will begin on June 16. Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan will address a joint sitting of the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly at 10 am on June 16.

Further, the Cabinet meeting has also decided to hold the Assembly monsoon session from June 16. The Business Advisory Committee will meet soon after that and decide on the duration of the session. Finance Minister Buggana Rajendranath is expected to present the full Budget for 2020-21 financial year on June 18. The Budget session of the Legislature is normally held in February-March every year but, because of the spread of coronavirus pandemic, the government brought in the Andhra Pradesh Appropriation (Vote-on-Account) Ordinance, 2020 on March 28 authorising an expenditure of Rs 70,994 crore for the first three months of the fiscal.

The Andhra Pradesh government on Monday signed 11 MoUs with leading organisations from across the country to develop agriculture sector in the state.

The state’s Agriculture Department signed the MoUs with the officials of various institutes in the presence of Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy and his cabinet collages Kurasala Kannababu, Mopidevi Venkataramana and Kodali Venkateswara Rao.

The Chief Minister said that it is very important to partner with such eminent organisations for the development and improvement in the agriculture standards.

As part of these MoUs, farmers will be trained in organic and natural farming techniques. They will also be offered training in various agriculture domains, he said.

The institutes with which the state signed the agreements include the Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR), New Delhi, the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF), Chennai, the National Institute of Plant Health Management (NIPHM), Hyderabad, the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), New Delhi, the Central Fertiliser Quality and Training Institute (CFQTI), Faridabad, the National Seed Research and Training Institute (NSRTI), Varanasi, the Central Institute of Dryland Agriculture (CRIDA), Hyderabad, the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI), Karnal, the Indian Veterinary Research Institute (IVRI), Bareilly, the Institute of Animal Health and Veterinary Biologicals (IAHVB), Bengaluru, and the ICAR-Central Institute of Freshwater Aquaculture (ICAR-CIFA), Bhubaneswar.

H. Arun Kumar, Special Commissioner, Agriculture, signed the MoUs with the officials of the institutes.

Jagan Mohan Reddy said after coming to power, his government took initiatives to provide good governance right at the village level itself. Through village and ward volunteers, all the government services are being provided in the village level right at the doorstep of the beneficiary.

The government has also established 11,158 ‘rythu bharosa’ centres across the state for the benefit of the farmers and by June, all these centres will be made available with agriculture assistants, horticulture assistant, veterinary and aqua assistants. Farmers will be given quality seeds, fertilisers and farmer equipment through these centres. Also, they can sell their produce through these centres at not less than the support price given by the government.

“Through rythu bharosa, every year Rs 13,500 is being provided to the farmer families and we are providing free electricity for nine hours. We are also providing crop insurance to the farmers without putting any burden on them.”

The Chief Minister said that that 50 percent of the farmers in the state are having less than 1.25 acres of agriculture land and 70 percent of the farmers are with less than one hectare of land.

Andhra Pradesh government recently released G.O that allows ministers to appoint PROs, videographers, photographers and information officers etc and spend Rs. 32.35 lakhs from public exchequer for their monthly salaries. The G.O. created enough controversy given the weak financial condition of the state of Andhra Pradesh.

As per this Government Order, ministers of Andhra Pradesh can hire as many as 142 candidates under different categories like PROs, videographers, photographers and information officers. G.O also fixed salaries for each of these categories. Putting all these salaries together, it would debit Rs. 32.35 lakhs each month from the public money kept with government. There are no qualifications or guidelines to hire and ministers have the opportunity to hire at their will. Moreover, the expenses to set up the office and all would be additional.

The Andhra Pradesh government’s decision comes as surprise to people as the state is already facing scarcity of financial resources after bifurcation. Moreover, Finance department has already issued clear directives on finance management- not to pay for any other bills, except salaries and pensions. Despite all this, government going ahead with this controversial G.O is drawing criticism from common people as well as finance experts.