Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday assured that not a single employee will be laid off from the schools and Anganwadi centres of the state in the process of implementing the New Education Policy (NEP).

He also assured that no Anganwadi centre will be closed and clarified that the changes to the education system are being implemented after taking these two factors into consideration.

Reddy instructed the officials that two types of schools should be set up. The first one consisting of preparatory classes 1 and 2 should be within a kilometre’s distance from the students. Other schools from Class 3 to Class 10 should be located within a distance of 3 km from the students.

“The main purpose of this policy is to keep the teacher-student ratio rational, as it’s not appropriate to have one teacher for four students or a single teacher for a large number of students. The approach of a single teacher teaching all the subjects is also incorrect,” he said.

According to the Chief Minister, it is important to maintain a balanced teacher-student ratio in the foundation courses, as mental development is essential for children below the age of eight years.

The Chief Minister said the government aims to provide quality education, and called for the state’s education policy to be in sync with the NEP.

Likewise, he said the government is also looking forward to offering quality education in English medium.

Reviewing the Nadu-Nedu scheme, Reddy directed the officials to prepare an action plan to complete the scheme’s work in the Anganwadi centres in two years’ time.

If it was TDP which turned social engineering into its credo for political success in the Telugu states, the YSRCP has taken it to the next level. YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has been very careful about fine balancing castes and regions. He has taken extra precautions to ensure that all the major communities in the state are satisfied about their political representation.

He is said to be factoring caste and religious equations in choosing the chairperson and deputy chairperson of the Legislative Council. Now that chairperson and TDP leader MA Sharief has come to an end, Jagan has to choose a new chairperson. Sources say that Jagan is studying all caste equations deeply.

Sources say that the post might go either to a person from the scheduled castes or from the minority community. They say that Jagan is consulting key leaders of the party on this. The choice could be between Moshen Raju of West Godavari and Iqbal of Hindupuram. One is from the Cental Coastal region while the other is from Rayalaseema. The speaker of the assembly Tammineni Sitara is from North Andhra and he is from the BC community.

Insiders say that if Moshen Raju, a Dalit and a Christian is made the chairperson, then Iqbal, a Muslim from Rayalaseema, would be made the deputy chairperson. If it is Iqbal, then Moshen Raju would be his deputy. Who would be the chief and who would be the deputy chairperson would be decided very soon sources say.

Jagan has initially toyed with the idea of completely abrogating the legislative council. But, within a couple of months, his party would secure the majority. So he has dropped the idea of abrogating it. He is now trying to rehabilitate several leaders, who could not be given MLA tickets in 2019 elections.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Monday met Governor Biswabhusan Harichandan at Raj Bhavan.

The CM recommended names of four candidates for MLC posts to be nominated for AP Legislative Council under Governor’s quota for his approval.

The Governor approved the names recommended by Jagan.

Jagan nominated YSRCP leaders Lella Appi Reddy (Guntur), Thota Trimurthulu (East Godavari), Moshen Raju (West Godavari) and Ramesh Yadav (Kadapa).

Surprisingly, the file nominating these four leaders was sent to Raj Bhavan four days ago by CM for approval. But the governor put this file on hold.

With this, Jagan himself went to Raj Bhavan on Monday to pursue the issue with Governor. The Governor is learnt to have sought some clarifications on this issue and CM is learnt to have clarified them.

The Governor was satisfied with Jagan’s clarification and approved the nomination of four MLCs.

Is the AP Chief Minister planning to have a young team for the 2024 elections? Is he trying to replace the old guard with the new guard so that he can have a free hand? Does he want a young team to gain complete control over the YSRCP and the government?

Look at the youngsters who are now being promoted in the party. Most of the senior politicians are slowly but surely grooming their children so that they would become the party candidates in the coming elections. Key minister in Jagan’s cabinet Botsa Satyanarayana is grooming his son Dr Sandip. His birthday was recently held and it became a launching pad politically. Ditto with Dharmana Krishna Das. This minister from North Andhra is promoting his son Krishna Chaitanya.

Another leader, who is actively promoting his son is Bandar MLA and minister Perni Nani. Nani’s son Kittu is already well-known to the party cadre in the constituency. He is known for micro-managing Nani’s affairs. Minister Jayaram’s son Eswar is being groomed in Aluru constituency. Srikalahasti MLA Biyypu Madhusudhana Reddy’s daughter Pavitha too is quite active in politics. She is involved in service activities in a big way. Currently, she is involved in Covid relief activities.

Kaikaluru MLA Doolam Nageswara Rao’s son Vinay and Ramachandrapuram MLA Thota Trimurtulu’s son Pruthviraj, former MLA Visweswar Reddy’s son Pranav Reddy are also being actively groomed. An interesting feature about the batch of the upcoming young leaders is that they are tech savvy and are active on social media. This will be of great help in the coming days when the elections are bound to be tech-driven.

For Jagan, this new team would be more easily manageable and he would emerge as the unquestioned king both in governance and in politics.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y. S. Jagan Mohan Reddy had met Union Home Minister Amit Shah and emphasised on the importance to accord the ‘Special Category Status’ to the state for it to become ‘Atmanirbhar’ (self-reliant) and systematically stronger.

Reddy on Thursday said special status, a bifurcation promise reneged on by the central government, would entitle the majorly agrarian state to more Central grants, resulting in proportional reduction of the financial burden on Andhra Pradesh.

The Chief Minister highlighted that special status will facilitate the creation of jobs on the back of new industries and also help attain financial self-reliance, propelled by an enhanced tax base.

He urged the Home Minister to sanction financial assistance for 13 medical colleges and informed him that Rs 3,299 crore subsidy for PDS rice is yet to be released by the Ministry of Food and Civil Supplies for the state.

Reddy appealed to Shah to release the pending dues of Rs 4,653 crore and enhance the annual person days of work per family from 100 days to 150 days by the Ministry of Rural Development.

Besides, the CM asked him to release the pending dues of Rs 530 crore towards rural local bodies grants from the 14th Finance Commission, including Rs 497 crore for the financial year 2020 – 21 pertaining to the 15th Finance Commission.

Reddy also asked for support to rejuvenate and make the state power sector more robust by surrendering costly thermal power allocation of Kudgi & Valluru (M/s NTECL) plants, supporting Telangana Discoms under Atmanirbar programme by extending conditional loans and restructuring debts.

Incidentally, AP power utilities are burdened with outstanding high cost debts of Rs 50,000 crore. In view of these debts, Reddy requested for appropriately restructuring them, including providing financial assistance for a reverse pumped storage project in Upper Sileru.

The Chief Minister asked Shah to give assent to AP Disha Bills encompassing Criminal Law (AP Amendment) Bill, 2019, Andhra Pradesh Disha (Special Courts for Specified Offences against Women and Children) Bill, 2020 and Andhra Pradesh Land Titling Authority Bill 2020.

Reddy also urged the Home Minister to establish a Central Tribal University within the tribal sub plan area.

Seems some of YS Jagan’s best supporters are bent on ruining his image and YS Jagan is not worried about it at all. Ministers, MLAs and ordinary workers alike are doing everything they can to tarnish his image.

Take for instance the demolition of the school for the hearing and speech impaired. This school was on a land leased by the Greater Vizag Municipal Corporation (GVMC). Around 180 students are studying in this school. There is lot of goodwill for the work the school is doing in the locality.

Recently, the GVMC suddenly demolished the school claiming that the social activist running the school had built some unauthorised constructions. A notice could have been served or arrangements could have been made to relocate the school, but the GVMC officials simply razed the school to ground. This has actually proved counterproductive.

Similarly, on the Anandaiah ayurvedic medicine issue too, the YSRCP MLAs and leaders have completely taken over the medicine distribution. The pics of YSRCP leaders are flooding every place. In the whole process, Anandaiah’s photo is missing. He has been pushed to the background. This again is earning bad publicity for the YSRCP and for YS Jagan.

In another similar incident, Minister Mekapati Gowtham Reddy claimed that Rs 30000 crore worth of investments have come to AP after Jagan became the CM. The list he furnished to support his claim included all the investments that came during Chandrababu Naidu regime. Many of them like Kia Motors have already started production.

With such friends, does Jagan need enemies?

Great confusion prevails over the nominated posts in Andhra Pradesh. Soon after coming to power, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy has appointed several trusted leaders as chairpersons of these corporations. While YV Subba Reddy was appointed TTD chairperson, MLA Roja was given chairpersonship of APIIC. Similarly, chairpersons were appointed to various corporations like Brahmin Corporation, Kapu Corporation etc.

Soon after their appointment, Covid struck and the government departments and corporations alike were completely paralyzed. No business could be transacted and no steps could be taken up. Even before they could warm their seats, their terms are coming to an end. The terms of several corporations will expired by the end of this month. Other corporations have still some more time to go.

Now the big question is will Jagan Reddy replace these chairpersons who could literally do nothing due to Covid lockdown or will they be given another extension. Some people like YV Subba Reddy would be given key responsibilities in the party. Yet others could be accommodated in the ministry when the next reshuffle takes place. But, for most others, that would be the end of it.

Several senior YSRCP MLAs are a disgruntled lot as they have been denied minister’s posts in the name of caste equations. Several Reddy MLAs have been kept on the sidelines because the quota is full. This is already causing a heart-burn among these leaders. Several three time and four-time MLAs were denied minister’s posts.

How YS Jagan Mohan Reddy does the balancing act remains to be seen. How he fine balances caste, region and religion while appointing the new chairpersons is also to be seen. Let’s wait and watch how Jagan does the juggler’s act.

The Andhra Pradesh government has distributed Rs 370 crore as interest-free loans among 3.75 lakh small business owners and street vendors across the state. Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy launched the second phase of the Jagananna Thodu scheme from the Tadepalli Camp office on Tuesday.

The Andhra Pradesh government had introduced the Jagananna Thodu scheme to provide interest-free loans of Rs 10,000 each to street and small vendors in the state.

These vendors who typically require daily working capital in the range of Rs 2,000 to Rs 5,000 are known to takes loans from moneylenders at exorbitant rates ranging from 3 to 10 per cent per day.

Speaking on the occasion, the CM said, “These small vendors most of the time don’t receive financial aid from banks because of the volatility of the market they represent, even if they do manage to secure a loan from other sources they pay exorbitant rates of interest. During my 3,648 km ‘padayatra’ I saw the circumstances these vendors battle with on a daily basis, I’m grateful for this opportunity to change that with this scheme.”

To improve the incomes of such small businessmen and street vendors, including traditional artisans, the state government decided to provide interest free loans worth Rs 10,000 under the Jagananna Thodu scheme. The main objective of the scheme is to free vendors from paying heavy interest on loans taken from private parties and falling into debt.

As per the scheme, the banks provide loans to all eligible members while the government bears the interest costs by reimbursing the interest amount to beneficiaries.

Phase-1 of the scheme was launched in November last year. The scheme is split into two phases, a cumulative of Rs 905 crore has been transferred into the accounts of 9.05 lakh small businessmen and street vendors in both phases.

Under the first phase Rs 535 crore was disbursed by the banks to 5.35 lakh beneficiaries. The interest reimbursement commitment of the Andhra Pradesh government is Rs 29.42 crore for Phase-1 and Rs 20.35 crore for Phase-2 per annum, resulting in a total of Rs 49.77 crores interest incurred and reimbursed.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy has expressed happiness over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision to provide free Covid vaccines to all aged above 18 years.

On Monday, in his address to the nation, the Prime Minister announced that the Centre is taking responsibility of supplying Covid vaccines to all the states, for administering them free of cost to all those who are 18-years-old and above.

Late Monday night, Reddy took to Twitter to welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement. “Vaccination is the only weapon in this battle against Covid-19. Sincere thanks to Prime Minister Narendra Modi for clearing this uncertainty and making vaccination a national agenda of utmost priority. #FreeVaccineForAll,” Reddy tweeted.

Reaching out to his counterparts across the country, the Andhra Pradesh chief minister had on Thursday called for collectively urging the central government “to take charge and responsibility” for the vaccination drive, as was being done earlier.

In a letter addressed to Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday, Reddy pointed out that the global tender floated by Andhra Pradesh government, has not received bids. He noted that several other state governments have reported similar experiences.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s proposed trip to New Delhi on Monday to meet union ministers has been postponed.

Jagan was supposed to leave for Delhi on Monday to meet union home minister Amit Shah, jal shakti minister Shekhawat and few other union ministers.

Accordingly, AP Bhavan officials in New Delhi sought appointment of Amit Shah and few other union ministers.

But union ministers reportedly denied appointment to meet Jagan on Monday citing ‘busy schedule’. They learnt to have told AP officials that they can give appointment for Thursday or Friday.

With this, Jagan reportedly postponed his Delhi trip to Thursday.

Though AP officials claimed that Jagan wants to meet Amit Shah and Shekhawat to seek funds for Polavaram project and resolution of long pending state-bifurcation related issues, it fuelled speculations as meeting comes at a time when a case pertaining to cancellation of bail to YS Jagan is going on in the CBI court, which was filed by YSRCP rebel MP Raghurama Krishna Raju.

The CBI last week filed a counter in the CBI Court leaving the decision to the court to take a decision on whether to cancel or continue the bail to Jagan.

This apart, RRR has lodged several complaints with the Centre on custodial torture by APCID officials last month. Jagan wants to clarify Amit Shah on all these issues.