Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy today (Thursday) transferred Rs 694 crore to the bank accounts of mothers of students under Jagananna Vidya Deevena scheme.

Jagan government is paying Rs 20,000 to each student per year to pursue degree and engineering courses in AP.

The government released first installment of Rs 671crore in April this year.

Second installment was released today.

Third installment will be released in December and last installment in February 2022.

Jagan said despite severe financial crisis due to Covid, he is committed to implement these welfare schemes for the benefit of poor.

Jagan said poverty can be overcome only through education and his government will ensure higher education for free for poor students in AP.

The YSRCP government in Andhra Pradesh led by Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy has pushed the state into bankruptcy since coming to power two years ago in May 2019.

Jagan’s cash dole out schemes in the name of Navaratnalu to consolidate his party’s vote bank has pushed AP into debt trap.

Hardly a day passes for Jagan government without taking loans to make payments.

Against this backdrop, everyone lost confidence on Jagan government that it will pay bills for works done by contractors.

The Jagan government issued tenders recently to repair roads lying in worst condition in AP for the last two years. But no contractor is coming forward to take up works fearing that Jagan government has no money to pay bills.

Contractors are insulting Jagan government by asking bank guarantee for payment of bills.

Contractors insist that Jagan government take loans from banks and banks release funds to them directly as they have no confidence that Jagan government will pay if banks release funds to state government.

Officials say this amounts to contractors humiliating Jagan government as bankrupt government because no where in the country banks pay directly to contractors.

Andhra Pradesh is in the throes of a deep economic crisis. Even paying the monthly salaries of the government employees has become a huge problem. Implementing the flagship welfare programmes has become a major challenge for YS Jagan Mohan Reddy. Every month, the state government is going with a begging bowl even for paying the salaries of the employees.

Given this situation, how will the government of YS Jagan implement its other election time and Padayatra time promises? During the Praja Sankalpa Yatra, YS Jagan had repeatedly said that he would constitute several new districts for better administrative control. He said that this move will bring the government closer to the people. Soon after coming to power, he began holding consultations with senior officers, district incharge ministers and district collectors. He had even constituted a committee under the leadership of the then CS and current election commissioner Neelam Sahni.

However, the financial problems have made him go slow on this. Sources said that the Telangnana experience has mellowed him down. In Telangana, providing quarters, building and other infrastructural facilities has turned out to be a huge burden. Provision of vehicles too was a problem. The administration is also unable to allocate IAS officers for managing the affairs in the newly carved out districts. It is being said that Jagan now has second thoughts over this.

But, YS Jagan is also said to be worried about the political fallout of not carving out the new districts. The consultations and the committee formation on this issue have raised hopes among the people and have hiked the land prices in the proposed district districts. If Jagan backtracks on this issue, there could be public outcry over this. So, this issue of devolution has become something of being caught between the devil and the deepsea.

The issue of appointing an unusually large number of advisors to the Andhra Pradesh Government has now become controversial. There are over 41 such advisors to CM YS Jagan Mohan Reddy on various issues and different sectors. Though the other governments too have their own set of advisors, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy Government has appointed a large number of advisors.

While there is no way of knowing what YS Jagan is doing with these advices and also whether these advisors are proffering any advice at all, each of these advisors have swanky offices with fully furnished facilities, staff and attendants. The salary of each advisor is said to be around Rs 2 lakh. These advisors are functioning from Hyderabad, Delhi, Vijayawada, Amaravati and even Visakhapatnam.

For instance, a media advisor of YS Jagan is functioning from New Delhi. He is also found making political comments. Jagan has an NRI affairs advisor, who has never toured a country in the past two years. He functions from both Hyderabad and Vijayawada and has two offices. Jagan’s political advisor Sajjala Ramakrishna Reddy has a political responsibility as he is a party functionary too.

Given these, the AP High Court took a serious view of appointing so many adviors at a time when the state government is facing severe fund crunch and is finding it difficult to pay even the salaries of its employees. Now that the High Court has severely reprimanded the Government, will there be a change of attitude? Let’s wait and see.

Schools in Andhra Pradesh will reopen on August 16 and Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy will dedicate schools, renovated under the ‘Nadu-Nedu’ scheme, on the same day to the people of the state.

Reddy held a review meeting at his camp office on Friday to discuss the ‘Nadu-Nedu’, the New Education Policy (NEP) and the Vidya Kanuka scheme.

He will launch the second phase of the school renovation scheme on August 16 itself, coinciding with the provision of Jaganna Vidya Kanuka kits as well.

Reddy directed officials to complete classifying schools according to the NEP by August 16, which entails six kinds of schools from PP-1 to Class 12.

Satellite foundation schools will offer PP-1 and PP-2. Foundation schools will offer both PP-1, PP-2, and Classes 1 and 2, foundation-plus schools will offer classes up to Class 5, pre-high schools up to Class 7, high schools from Class 3 to 10, and high school plus from Class 3 to 12.

“English medium will be started from Anganwadis, which will be transformed into satellite foundation schools and shall be guided by foundation schools to ensure best teaching available. The foundation school will be set up within a kilometer radius and high school in a three-kilometer radius,” the CM said.

According to him, there will be no school beyond 3 km radius to bring down travel distance to the school.

To make the best use of teachers under NEP, teachers with B. Ed and post graduate qualifications will be teaching 18 subjects up to Class 5 for students to learn with focus.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy on Thursday (today) transferred Rs 490.86 crore into the bank accounts of Kapu women.

The amount was transferred to Kapu women beneficiaries under “YSR Kapu Nestham” scheme.

Each beneficiary was credited an amount of Rs 15,000.

This is the second instalment of Rs 15,000 credited to their bank accounts. The first instalment of Rs 15,000 was credited last year.

Jagan introduced this scheme to credit a total of Rs 75,000 in five instalments in five years.

On Monday, Jagan transferred the amount into the bank accounts of 3,27,444 women beneficiaries at the click of a button from his Tadepalli camp office.

To ensure that banks do not adjust this amount to clear previous arrears of beneficiaries, Jagan deposited this amount in ‘unemcumbered bank accounts’ due to which banks cannot deduct this amount for any other purpose.

Jagan said that despite the government facing financial crisis due to Covid, he is committed to implementing welfare scheme for all sections of people in AP and he will continue welfare schemes under any circumstances.

With the High Court taking a serious view of the political publicity that the Delhi-based media advisors of the AP Government are doing, the focus is now on their role and functions. The High Court is likely to review their roles and the emoluments being given to them.

Soon after he came to power, YS Jagan appointed some media personnel, who peddled favourable stories and created a positive impact, as his media advisors. One such person was appointed as the Government advisor for national media. His task was to popularise government schemes and create an interface between the YS Jagan Government and the national media. However, the ‘advisor’ is said to be behaving more like an unannounced MP and is busy promoting Jagan’s politics at the national level. More than the government schemes, he is said to be promoting YS Jagan and his brand of politics. He is said to have become a regular media fixture in New Delhi’s media.

Based on a recent petition, the High Court is said to be reviewing the functions, role and the emoluments given to such advisors to YS Jagan government. There are also questions as to how and why these advisors are getting highlighted in the media. The salaries and emoluments given to such media advisors runs into lakhs of rupees. The court will examine them too, if sources are to be believed.

However, YS Jagan is said to be quite impressed with their achievements and wants to reward the mediapersons who are creating a favourable image of him in the national media. He is said to be disinclined to lose them. He is said to be planning alternative moves to ensure that they stay in the job in Delhi. Let’s wait and see how things pan out.

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister YS Jaganmohan Reddy’s official residence-cum-camp office in Tadepalli has turned into a war zone since Monday morning due to “Chalo Tadepalli” call given by students and youth organisations belonging to Opposition TDP and Left paties.

The student and youth organisations are trying to lay siege to Jagan’s residence as part of “Chalo Tadepalli” protest rally demanding enhancement of jobs announced under the recent annual recruitment calendar announced by Jagan government.

Jagan released annual recruitment calendar to fill 10,143 vacant posts in various state government departments on June 18 for the year 2021-22 till March 2022. But student organisations are angry at notifying just 10,143 posts while the vacancies in government departments are over 2 lakhs.

The Jagan government has deployed three SPs, DSPs and thousands of policemen around Jagan’s residence and blocked all the roads leading to Jagan’s house in Tadepalli to prevent student organisations from reaching his house. Despite this, scores of student activisits ventured on to the roads since today morning and trying to reach Jagan’s house breaking police cordon.

The police arrested hundreds of students activists. This led to clashes between students and police at several locations.

A curfew atmosphere is prevailing in Tadepalli with heavy police restrictions and presence of heavy police force in the area.