partnerships for development - andhra pradesh … for development ... telugu culture happening...

partnerships for developmentChief Minister Chandrababu Naidu met various business delegations and representatives ofgovernments to forge partnerships in Andhra Pradesh.

1. The CM with Jennifer Daubeny, Consul General of Canada, with whom he discussed possible part-nerships & investments in AP.

2. With Jerry Rao, founder of MPhasiS. The meet explored opportunities to work together in varioussectors.

3. In an engaging conversation with Ajay Banga of MasterCard, and his team, the CM discussedon FinTech initiatives in the state.

4. With Jan Widerstrom of SAAB India. The CM discussed on possibilities of making AP a hub fordefence manufacturing.

5. The CM discussed possible synergies with Mohamed Faiszer Musthapha, Minister of Provincial Coun-cils & Local Govt, Sri Lanka

6. With Erik Solheim, ED of UNEP and team. They told the CM they were keen to be knowledge partnerwith AP on climate resilient programs.

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C O N T E N T SPushing for all-rounddevelopment

AP turning intomobile hub

Amaravati getsaccess roads

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15

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Musical GeniusC.R.Subburaman 24

State favourssimultaneous polls

5

The budget cameup with several newinitiatives as thegovernmentfocussed on jobcreation, housing, andrevival of sick industries.

Amaravati designsto imbue

Telugu culture

Happening Andhra

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Snapshot: On Steady Path of

Growth

34Baahubali:TheConclusion

26

14 Creating the Fintecheco-system

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Various developments across thestate of Andhra Pradesh.

Online withthe Lord20

Growth strategies yieldingfruitful results

Road projectsworth Rs 4,500crore in AP

AP Special Packagegets Centre'sApproval

Making AgricultureProfitable

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The Bridge onRiver Krishna

APRIL 20174 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG

reclaiming the Glory

The glory of Amaravati has been rekindled once again. Andhra PradeshFinance Minister Y Ramakrishundu has indeed brought back legislativepower to the historical city after nearly 2,000 years by presenting thebudget for 2017-18 in the newly got up Assembly.

From allocations to Ambedkar Smritivanam to creation of unemploy-ment dole, the Government has not left out any of its promises unful-filled in the budget. With an increase of 15.77% in outlay compared tothe previous year, the budget ensured that no section was sidesteppedout of the development process.

Focussing on welfare and growth, the budget helped to create, in thewords of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu, ‘its own strain ofdevelopment that integrates rapid economic growth’.

Meanwhile, the Centre’s move to clear the Special Package to AndhraPradesh through Union Cabinet approval has not come a day late. TheState Government has been pushing for some time to secure legalstatus to the Special Package announced last September by the Centrein lieu of Special Category Status.

A pragmatic leadership in the State chose to garner as much benefit tothe state as possible in the backdrop of Centre’s stand on SCS. Thedemand from certain quarters to go after two birds in the bush - evenwhile the one in the hand may get lost - appears more political thanpractical.

Time is of essence at this juncture for the state. A lot of energy needsto be spent on things that matter – like the capital building and thePolavaram project. The blueprints are getting ready for the first phaseof Amaravati, and the construction of permanent structures is set tostart in a few months from now. Polavaram is receiving unprecedentedattention from the CM, who is leaving no stone unturned to completethe project.

May we get our act together and may this Hevalambi Ugadi usher in all-round development in the state!

Ramesh Babu KandulaEditor

EDITORIAL

CommissionerS Venkateswar IISEditorRamesh Babu KandulaExecutive EditorNaresh NunnaCover PageAP Budget

Second Cover CM with biz leaders

Third CoverMonth in pics

Fourth CoverAPIIC Advt on Sunrise State

Published by:Information & Public Relations DepartmentGovernment of Andhra PradeshHyderabad - 500 028Ph: 040-23300258

Views expressed by various authors in this issue reflect theirpersonal opinions.

DesignKarthik Beesu

Photos:T.Srinivasa Reddy, VijayawadaPrinted atCaxton Offset Pvt. Ltd.HyderabadEach Issue : Rs 20/-Annual Subscription : Rs 220/-www.andhrapradeshmagazine.orgEmail: [email protected]

ANDHRA PRADESHPublished Monthly In English & Telugu

April 2017Volume:11 Issue:10Salivahana Era 1939

Printed and Published by Ramesh Babu Kandula on behalf of Director/Commissioner, Information and Public Relations Dept.;Printed at M/s Caxton Offset Pvt. Ltd., 11.5.416/3, Red Hills, Hyderabad - 500 004; Published at Office of Director/Commissioner ,I&PR Dept, Govt of Andhra Pradesh, Samachar Bhavan, AC Guards, Hyderabad - 500028. Editor: Ramesh Babu Kandula.Ph: 040-23300258.

My government is in fullagreement with the viewthat elections to boththe assemblies and theLok Sabha be heldsimultaneously so thatthe governments at theCentre and in the statescould pay undividedattention to issues ofpolicy and governanceduring their tenures.

- Governor ESL Narasimhan

APRIL 2017 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 5

The Andhra Pradeshgovernment expresseditself in favour of simul-tanous elections to LokSabha and State Assemblies. Thestate not only backed the idea tohold simultaneous elections toLok Sabha and State Assembliesbut even suggested that polls tourban and rural local bodies toobe held within one year thereon.Governor E S L Narasimhan artic-ulated the state’s stand whileaddressing the joint session of theAP Legislative Council and theAssembly on the opening day ofthe Budget session in the newLegislature building in Amaravati.A debate is on in the country overthe polity being in continuouselection mode due to electionshappening in one state or another.“It won’t be unreasonable to statethat the Indian polity is perenni-ally in an election mode. Barring afew exceptional years within a

normal 5 year tenure of the LokSabha, the country witnesses, onan average, elections to about 5-7State Assemblies every year,” saida discussion paper by Bibek De-broy and Kishore Desai, both ofNiti Aayog."My government is in full agree-ment with the view that electionsto both state assemblies and LokSabha be held simultaneously sothat Centre and state govern-ments could pay their undividedattention to issues of policy andgovernance. We will go a step fur-ther and suggest that electionsto urban and rural local bodiestoo should be held within oneyear of the elections to the Stateand Central legislative Houses,"the Governor said."Historically, elections to state as-semblies and Lok Sabha began to-gether but over the years, forvaried reasons, they were de-cou-pled. Now the situation has come

to a stage that we conduct elec-tions in significantly large parts ofthe country almost every year, ifnot throughout the year. Politicalparties, and therefore govern-ments, have to continually keep aneye on electoral calculations. Thisis bound to take its toll on gover-nance, policy-making and admin-istration.", Narasimhan pointedout.Simultaneous polls would givegovernments a "full four years ofundistracted" time to addressissues of governance, the Gover-nor said, adding "it is desirable" tohave a national debate involvingall sections of people.The Niti Aayog paper felt thatsimultaneous polls would be astepping stone towards improvedgovernance and a larger initiationof “electoral reforms” – a desper-ately needed measure to re-bootthe Indian polity.

State favourssimultaneouspolls

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The Andhra Pradesh Government has pushedfor welfare, education and rural developmentin its annual budget of Rs 1.56 lakh crore forthe year 2017-18. Presenting the budget in theAssembly, Finance Minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudusaid the outlay marked an increase of 15.77% comparedto the previous year. The TDP’s poll promise ofproviding unemploymentallowance found place inthe budget with the Gov-ernment earmarking ₹500crore.It has also proposed tospend Rs 695 crore, forthe first time, to supportthe Economically Back-ward Classes.The Finance Minister saidcomprehensive action would be taken during the fiscaland beyond to improve the lives of women. The Govern-ment came up with a new concept, outcome budget, toensure clarity on goals, strategies as well as physicaland financial targets.Doing away with plan and non-plan expenditure classi-fication, the Government switched to the system of ex-penditure as revenue and capital, in line with the

Centre’s move.The allocation for industrial sector has been increasedby a substantial 113% over last year.The Minister proposed an expenditure of Rs. 1,56,999crore, with revenue expenditure estimated atRs.1,25,912 crore and capital expenditure estimated ataround Rs.31,087 crore (which includes Rs.8,009 crorestowards principal repayment of Public Debt). The 2017-18 Budget Estimates entail an overallincrease of around 15.70 percent over the 2016-17budget estimates. While the revenue expenditure isestimated to increase by around 10.28 per cent, the cap-ital expenditure is estimated to grow by around 44.54per cent over the 2016-17 financial year. The estimatedRevenue Deficit is around Rs. 416 crore and the FiscalDeficit is estimated at around Rs. 23,054 crore. Thefiscal deficit will be around 3 per cent of the GSDP,whereas the Revenue Deficit would be around 0.05 percent of the GSDP. Excerpts from the Finance Minister’s Budget Speech:On DemonetisationThat the Government successfully responded to the cri-sis is evident from the fact that cashless Aadhar EnabledPayment System is functional in nearly all Fair Priceshops in the State. Fair Price shop dealers have been ap-pointed as Banking Correspondents to enable financial

PUSHING FOR ALL-ROUND DEVELOPMENT

2017-18

The budget cameup with several new

initiatives as thegovernment

focussed on jobcreation, housing,and revival of sick

industries.

ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 7APRIL 2017

transactions in rural areas through micro ATMs andePOS terminals. SHG women were trained throughSthree Nidhi Scheme and they are serving as BankingCorrespondents in more than 178 locations coveringmore than 700 villages.Social Welfare ProtectedI wish to clear another point. Despite the reclassifica-tion of overall expenditure, the expenditure on socialwelfare schemes and public assistance going to thepoorest remains protected. The allocation for SC com-ponent and ST component is based as a percentage oftotal schemes allocations in the earlier plan provisionswith a substantial increase. An allocation of Rs. 9,847crore has been proposed towards SC component (ear-lier sub-plan) and Rs. 3,528 crore towards ST compo-nent (earlier sub-plan) for the financial year 2017-18. Rural EconomyWe have allocated Rs.9,091 crore constituting 5.79% oftotal budgetary allocation to Agriculture and Allied Sec-tors, Rs. 19,565 crore to Rural Development which is12.46% of total budgetary allocation, and Rs. 12,770crore to Irrigation Sector comprising 8.13% of totalbudgetary allocation. These allocations will revitalisethe rural economy. Debt Redemption SchemeDespite the State inheriting a huge revenue deficit, theGovernment stood by its commitment, disbursed Rs.11,000 crore to 55 lakh farmer accounts till date. Thisis a defining moment as no Government in the countryhave ever embarked on loan redemption of such mag-nitude regardless of the economics of this socially rele-vant measure under difficult and harsh circumstances.We are proposing Rs. 3,600 crore in the current budgetof 2017-18 for the next instalment of debt redemptionfor farmers.FisheriesThe Sunrise State of Andhra Pradesh is considered theAqua Hub of India, contributing nearly 70% of total cul-tured prawn production besides having a lion’s share of45% in total seafood exports of the country. It stoodfirst in the country for the last three years both in pro-duction and value. It recorded a growth of 22.06% onproduction front and 30.09% on GVA during the year2016-17. The State recorded a production of 27.58 lakhtonnes with GVA of Rs. 43,538 crore during 2016-17. Mega FoodparksWith a view to transform the development topographyof North Coastal Andhra Pradesh and Rayalaseema re-gions, eight mega food processing parks are beingplanned by private firms in the State. While five of thefood parks are expected to come up in the four CoastalDistricts of Srikakulam, Vizianagaram, Visakhapatnamand East Godavari, three of them are being planned in

the Rayalaseemsa districts of Chittoor, Kurnool andAnanthapuramHorticultureAndhra Pradesh stands at the top of our country as thesecond largest producer of fruits. The contribution ofHorticulture sector to the GSDP is Rs.41,478 crore (cur-rent prices) during the year 2015-16 and the target forthe year 2016-17 was Rs. 49,845 crore.ITIT investment proposals worth Rs. 3,649 crore are atvarious stages of implementation in the State to gener-ate direct employment to 4,755 people. An estimatedIT export of Rs. 570 crore during the year is envisaged.CultureKondapalli Fort has been identified to be developed asan iconic heritage monument. Museums are the mirrorof unique culture and heritage. The government pro-poses to develop Bapu Museum, Amaravati HeritageCentre and Andhra Sahitya Parishad at Kakinada. Dur-ing 2017-18, we plan to introduce some initiatives suchas assistance to eminent scholars and artistes, estab-lishment of Ghantasala Museum at Vijayawada, inter-state and international Cultural Exchange Programmes,and giving of awards including Ugadi Puraskars.Telugu LanguageThe ‘Telugu Bhasha Pradhikara Samstha’ is set to re-place the ‘Adhikara Bhasha Sangham’. The new body willhave more scope and authority to guide and implementmeasures to promote our language, culture, literature,arts and historical research.Social Welfare schoolsThe Government is supporting boarding, shelter &education of 95,800 students, in the 958 Social WelfareHostels. Besides, the A.P. Social Welfare Residential Ed-ucational Institutions Society is providing education to1,05,000 children in 180 institutions, with consistentlygood results, which are much higher than the State av-erage. In view of the good results shown by ResidentialSchools, we are committed to convert all the Hostelsinto Residential Schools in a phased manner.Ambedkar MemorialThe Government have also sanctioned Rs. 97.69 crorefor the creation of “Ambedkar Smruthi Vanam” having125 feet statue of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar, Convention centre,Meditation hall, Library, etc. at Amaravati and entrustedthe execution of the work to APIIC. Kapus & BrahminsAn allocation of Rs. 75 crore is proposed for BrahminWelfare Corporation and Rs. 1,000 crore for KapuCorporation.

8 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG APRIL 2017

MinoritiesFor supporting the poor Minorities families in perform-ing the marriage of women, an amount of Rs. 60 croreis proposed in 2017-18 under the Dulhan scheme. In2016-17, 10,954 were benefitted under this scheme.The honorarium given for the welfare of Pesh Imamsand Mouzans of 5,000 no-income mosques, is Rs.5000/-and Rs.3000/- per month. It is the highest in the coun-try. Rs. 24 crore is proposed in the financial year 2017-18 for incentives toImams and Mouzans. Anamount of Rs. 15 crore isproposed for Urdu Ghar-Shadi Khanas. TheRecords of Waqf Boardare being digitised &Waqf Board Portal hasbeen launched. Rs. 50crore has been proposedto Survey Commission ofWaqf. The Government is firmly committed to 4% reserva-tions for Muslims and is defending the case strongly inthe Supreme Court by engaging senior lawyers. Coach-ing for Civil Services is being initiated. The eligible sub-sidy under the scheme of Pilgrimage to Holy Land ofJerusalem and other Biblical places is enhanced from Rs20,000 to Rs 40,000 per pilgrim. The maximum permis-sible amount for construction of new Churches is alsoenhanced from Rs.1,00,000 to Rs.3,00,000. Rs. 35 crorehas been proposed for AP State Christian Finance Cor-poration.Gender EqualityTowards promoting Gender Equality and in continuingwith the efforts of institutionalisation of gender respon-sive planning and budgeting, our Government will un-dertake a comprehensive set of actions during thecurrent financial year and beyond with a view to im-prove the lives of women across all Human Develop-ment Indicators and to save women and girls fromdiscrimination and neglect in matters of development,progress, security and human rights.Anna CanteensThe Government will be implementing the Anna NTRCanteen scheme to provide subsidised meals to thepoor people in the State with a proposed allocation ofRs.200 crore in the financial year 2017-18. LPG for AllWith a view to cover all the households in the State withLPG and to make the State 100% LPG enabled, 24 lakh

LPG connections are planned to be given to the left overfamilies by June 2017 for which a provision of Rs. 350crore is proposed in the financial year 2017-18. HousingUnder Affordable Housing Projects, Government ofAndhra Pradesh proposes to undertake 1,10,000houses for the year 2017-18.Water ResourcesThe allocation to Water Resources Department reflectsthe importance that the Government lays to the sector.Investment under irrigation, therefore, continues to becrucial and its proposed allocation has gone up from Rs.7,978 crore to Rs. 12,770 crore in 2017-18, a phenom-enal increase of 60%.Skill DevelopmentAllocation of Rs 398 crore is proposed to be providedto Skill development, Entrepreneurship and Innovationdepartment in 2017-18. AmaravatiI am proposing Rs. 1,061 crore in the 2017-18 budgetestimates for capital development operations. This,however, would only be a small amount while CRDA hasalready entered into agreement with HUDCO forRs.7,000 crore and World Bank has in-principle agreedto provide funds. Funds, therefore, would not be aconstraint in giving shape to our dream capital Amara-vati.City DevelopmentFor the development of Visakhapatnam, Kakinada andTirupati under National Smart City Missions Rs 450crore is proposed in BE 2017-18. State Government is

The Government isfirmly committedto 4% reservation

for Muslims and isdefending the case

strongly in theSupreme Court.


developing 13 more Smart Cities viz., Vizianagaram,Eluru, Vijayawada, Guntur, Ongole, Kurnool, Anantha-pur, Kadapa, Nellore, Machilipatnam, Chittoor, Rajah-mundry, Srikakulam. I proposed Rs.150 crore for thispurpose in BE 2017-18. Sewerage systemThe sewerage system is to be developed in 11 cities inthe State having sewage treatment capacity of about539 MLD. A provision of Rs. 184 crore is proposed inthe financial year 2017-18 towards solid waste manage-ment. EnergyWorld’s largest solar park will be commissioned inKurnool district during 2017. Four more Solar Parkswith a capacity of 1,000 MW each will be completed by2018-19. The State will achieve a capacity of 5,000 MW

from wind by 2018-19. Efforts are being made to com-mission 6 Waste-to-Energy plants during 2017-18. AirportsThe State has handed over the required land to AirportsAuthority of India for expansion of airports at Vi-jayawada, Rajahmundry and Tirupati. The work of run-way expansion at Rajahmundry is in progress. Orvakaland Dagadarthi airports have received all the clearancesrequired and will be awarded shortly. Land acquisitionto an extent of 86% has been completed for Bhogapu-ram airport and bid process is underway. CONCOR hastaken up work of Logistics Parks at Visakhapatnam, Kr-ishnapatnam and Kakinada. Land acquisition processfor new ports at Bhavanapadu and Machilipatnam hasbeen initiated. New JobsGovernment has also accorded permission for direct re-cruitment of 10,000 posts for which recruitmentprocess is under way. This is in addition to the permis-sion already given for filling up of 12,552 posts in thepast two and half years. The total financial implicationon these measures would be to the tune of Rs 2,702crore.Following are major alloca-tions for social welfare:

w For PDS Rs. 2,800 crorew Towards Aadhar linked Pensions, Rs. 4,376 crore w To provide clean drinking water under NTR SujalaSravanthi, Rs. 100 crore w For subsidising electricity supply to the poor, Rs.3,300 crore w Towards housing for the rural and urban poor, Rs1,456 crore w Under Dr.NTR Vaidya Seva, Rs.1,000 crore w For Skill Development, Rs. 398 crore w For rural roads, Rs. 262 crore w Debt relief Rs. 3,600 crorew Capital infusion to DWACRA groups Rs. 1,600 crorew Mahila Sadhikarana Samstha Rs. 400 crore w LPG Connection forwomen in rural areas, Rs. 350crore w Anna Canteen Rs. 200 crorew Assistance to unemployed youth Rs. 500 crore This budget is also historic, as it was the first such ex-ercise in Amaravati, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh.

Home Department 5,221

Horticultre Department 1,015

Agriculture Development 7,342

Livestock Sector 1,112

Fisheries Department 282

Agriculture & Allied 9,091

Forest Department 383

Industries Department 2,086

IT & EC Department 364

Tourism 285

Culture Department 72

Social Welfare 3,685

SC Welfare 9,847

Tribal Welfare 1,814

ST Overall Development 3,528

BC Overall Development 10,000

Minority Welfare 840

Women & Children Welfare 1,773

MGNREGS 6,562

Rural Water Supply 1,575

Pensions 4,376

Panchayat Raj & Rural Development 21,140

Secondary Education 17,197

Higher Education 3,513

NTR Vaidya Seva Scheme 1,000

Health & Family Welfare 7,021

Urban Development 5,207

Energy & Infra 4,311

Rs in Crores

ALLOCATIONSCM Chandrababu Naidu remarked theBudget accurately reflected the aspira-tions and vision of the state government.

v


Iam delighted to addressthis fourth joint sessionof both the Houses ofAndhra Pradesh Legisla-ture on the occasion ofthe Budget Session of 2017-18.This is truly a historic momentas we are meeting for the firsttime in the new assembly prem-ises built in a record time.Undaunted by the numerouschallenges post bifurcation, myGovernment converted everycrisis into an opportunity,thanks to an astute leadership.The numerous post bifurcationchallenges including budgetaryconstraints, infrastructural defi-ciencies and unresolved issuesarising from the ReorganisationAct have not deterred my Gov-ernment. The Visionary leader-ship basing its resolve onturning every adversity into achallenging opportunity hashelped the State to gallop to-wards its avowed objective ofall around development overthe last two and a half years.At a juncture when both theCentral and State governmentsshare a common developmentvision and a deep concern forthe wellbeing of our people, Iam very happy to tell you thatour State is progressing withgreat clarity in respect of itsgoals, to be one among the topthree performing states in thecountry by 2022, the best statein the country by 2029 andeventually becoming the mostpreferred global investmentdestination by 2050. To achieve

these goals, my government hasevolved a holistic monitoringstrategy encompassing fivethemes: Gross Value Added(GVA), Sustainable Develop-ment Goals(SDG), SamajaVikasam, Kutumba Vikasam andKey Performance Indicators(KPI). The broad developmentstrategy under the 7 Missions, 5Grids and 5 Campaign modestaken up by my governmentwill be the basis for this overallVision framework for a totaltransformation of our societytowards ‘Total Prosperity withHappiness all over’.A review of our performanceduring the last two and halfyears is a clear display of posi-tive achievements. The comple-tion of the prestigiousPattiseema in a record time of ayear, moving ahead onPolavaram project to give waterby gravity before 2018 and at-tain fruition by 2019, prioritiza-tion of other irrigation projects,transforming the state from apower deficit status to one ofsurplus power, rapid adoptionof energy efficient LED bulbs,drought proofing measures, realtime governance, conduct of Kr-ishna Pushkarams, constructionof new interim Secretariat andLegislature buildings in arecord time, effective and goodencouraging results at the part-nership summits are among themany more.In sync with Union Govern-ment’s decision to dispensewith Plan and Non-Plan catego-

Turning every adver-sity into a challengingopportunity hashelped the State togallop towards itsobjective of all arounddevelopment, theGovernor’s address tothe joint session ofAndhra PradeshLegislature said.

GROWTH STRATEGIESYIELDING FRUITFUL RESULTS

“

Governor’s Address @the Joint Session of theAP Legislature


rization and to classify the expenditureunder Capital and Revenue heads from2017- 18 onwards, my government isstreamlining the budgeting process. Weare optimising allocation of funds to de-partments by assessing the performanceunder key parameters for achieving clearoutcomes.It is pertinent to recall my statement in thelast year’s address in the budget session,that sustaining double digit growth fornext 14 years is imperative for AndhraPradesh to stand tall among its peers andattain global benchmarks. Despite the factthat the state reorganisation had puttremendous stress on the financial andother resources, my government’s un-flinching commitment to withstand thechallenges and pursue specific growthstrategies has started yielding fruitful re-sults. Our aspiration of double digit inclu-sive growth is today a reality.My State has recorded an impressive eco-nomic growth performance of 10.99% inthe fiscal year 2015-16, the only State inthe Country to record double digit growth.We find encouraging trends in the currentyear also. Due to untiring efforts and inno-vative policies, my government could posta healthy growth rate of 12.23% duringthe first half of the financial year 2016-17and expects to maintain double digitgrowth for the full year.As a result of strategic planning and inno-vative practices for productivity improve-ment and value addition, Agriculture andAllied sectors have shown phenomenalgrowth of 24.44% during the first half(April-September 2016) of the current fi-nancial year. This was achieved despite28% deficit rainfall in the State. Agricul-ture with 3.69%, Fisheries with 42.57%,Livestock with 14.91% and Horticulturewith 18.33% growth rates have providedsupport to the agriculture sector. Indus-tries and Service sectors, with sectoralgrowth rates of 9.98% and 9.57% respec-tively during the first half year of 2016-17have also displayed promising results.Service Sector being a major growth driverand employment generator, my govern-ment is planning to give a big push to allthe key sub-sectors.v

In a major boost to the fledgling IT industry in AP, HCL signed anagreement with the Government of Andhra Pradesh to open an in-formation technology development and training centre at Vi-jayawada. HCL aims to hire, employ and train 5,000 local residents in the regionwith a plan to leverage a gender equal workforce, it said in a state-ment. The selected candidates will undergo a training programme by indus-try experts on skills required for working for global customers of HCL.The centre will also work on developing innovative high-end tech-nologies for global clients. The centre is a part of the Andhra Pradesh government’s plan to pro-mote holistic growth and boost IT investment within the state. “The Andhra Pradesh Government is committed to economic develop-ment and providing more opportunities to the young workforce of theState. The HCLIT and Training Centre will offer a great platform tolocal talent in cities like Vijayawada by providing them growth oppor-tunities and ultimately helpingcontribute to our vision of becomingthe bets state in the country by 2029," said Nara Chandrababu Naidu,Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh. “HCL has always been at the forefront of bringing new opportunitiesto the Indian populace. This is an innovative initiative to reach out tothe local talent, refine their skills and make them future ready for ITcareers. By leveraging the skilled talent pool available in the citythrough the HCL Global Centre we can help put Vijayawada on theglobal IT map," Shiv Nadar, Founder & Chairman - HCL said in a state-ment. The creation of global centre at Vijayawada is in line with HCL’sstrategic vision to expand and create opportunities in non-metrocities, it said.

hCl to open it andtraininG Centre

v

My government is targeting water security bycreating smart water grid for drinking water,irrigation and industrial purposes. Interlink-ing of rivers Godavari and Krishna throughPattiseema Lift Scheme has helped in stabilizing KrishnaDelta resulting in significant gains to the farmers. Thescheme has a potential to benefit more than 14 lakhacres. We may recall that one of the first decisions of theUnion Government to transfer the seven mandals inTelangana to our State made Polavaram becoming a real-ity. Assistance from the Union Government throughNABARD to the Polavaram Project Authority helped inhastening the pace of work with a targeted completion by2019. Project works like Diaphragm wall, coffer dam,earth-cum-rockfill dam, crest gates, spillway and spillchannels are in progress. We have been monitoring theprogress of the project by virtual inspection with the helpof drones on a real time basis to complete the project ontime.My government is committed to complete all prioritizedprojects in a focused manner within a definite timeframe.Thotapalli, Polavaram Right canal and Gandikota projectshave been completed. Polavaram left canal, Telugu Ganga,Veligonda, Handri Neeva and Galeru-Nagari projects arebeing executed in on a fasttrack mode and some of themare in advanced stage of completion. Purshothapatnamand interlinking of Nagavali-Vamsadhara rivers are beingaccorded priority. Setting up of ‘smart water grid’through interlinking of rivers is our commitment.My government is keen to conserve every drop of waterand is working towards sustainable ground and surfacewater management through programmes like NeeruChettu, Neeru–Pragathi, Panta Sanjeevini (farm ponds),Panta Raksha (Rainguns) and borewells under the NTRJala Siri Programme. For optimum utilisation of waterresources, my government plans to extensively deploymicro irrigation facilities. We aim to drought-proof thestate and provide irrigation facilities for all the regions.Hon’ble Members may recall that we had assured to pro-vide clean drinking water to all households under NTRSujala. We are committed to fulfill this promise in totality.We are also committed to supply clean drinking water tothe fluoride affected and saline affected areas. All prob-

lematic villages will be addressed under targeted pro-grammes which will not only have normal budgetary sup-port but EAP assistance as well.My Government is committed to make Agriculture moreprofitable, attractive and cost effective through adoptionof innovative practices leading to substantial improve-ments in production and productivity. Programmes like‘Micronutrient deficiency correction’, providing SoilHealth Cards to all the farmers to reduce fertilizer con-sumption, extensive use of vermi compost, farm mecha-nization on subsidy basis, relieving small & marginalfarmers from high cost machinery by putting custom hir-ing centres in place, increasing cropping intensity, en-couraging Intercropping and putting in place large scaleextension services are some of the important interven-tions that are helping the farmers to earn additional farmincomes. Demonstration of ‘Best Management Practices’in cluster mode through Chandranna Rythu Kshetralu hasresulted in improved productivity levels of Paddy, Maize,Redgram and Cotton. My Government is promoting ‘zerobudget natural farming’ in a big way formulating clusters12 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG APRIL 2017

Agriculture sector isreceiving a thrustthanks to themulti-prongedapproach of the stategovernment, theGovernor’s addressto the joint sessionof the AndhraPradesh Legislaturepointed out.

MAKING AGRICULTURE PROFITABLE

Excerpts from Governor’s Address to theJoint Session of the Legislature


in each mandal of the districts. Subhash Palekar's zerobudget natural farming practices are being adopted. AMoU has been signed with Azim Premzi Philanthropy ini-tiative in this regard.Despite the huge revenue deficit, the implementation ofthe debt redemption scheme in a transparent mannerthrough Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (Farmers’ Empower-ment Organization), is truly commendable. It is pertinentto observe that under the scheme, more than Rs.11,000crores has been paid into 55 lakh farmers’ accounts tilldate towards one time settlement (for farmers havingdebt less than Rs.50,000) and two installments (for farm-ers who are having debt of Rs.50,000 and above uptoRs.1,50,000). The outstanding installments to the farmerscarry 10% interest payment also. Debt waiver to a tune ofRs. 385 crore has been extended to the horticulture farm-ers also.In spite of my Government’s resolve to effectively imple-ment various farmer-friendly programmes adversarial at-tempts in the garb of fake and spurious seedmanufacturers and dealers have been intent in harmingthe interests of the farming community. To arrest and curbthis menace, my government is committed to bring in‘Special Seed Act’, which would attract severe punishmentto offenders. Making quality seed available to farmers isour commitment.The agrarian state of Andhra Pradesh is heading towards avalue addition platform from the conventional productionapproach. 'Horticulture’ sector is an essential componentfor food and nutritional security in the State. Efforts of my

Government have kept AndhraPradesh atop in the production ofOil palm, Papaya, Citrus and Chill-ies and 2nd in the production ofMango & Tomato in the Country.Micro irrigation through drip andsprinkler mechanisms has provedeffective both in terms of cost andoutput. We are implementingstrategies to make Rayalaseema asa Horticulture hub. My govern-ment targets to cover one millionfarmers in the next three yearsunder Farmer Producer Organisations for Agriculture &Allied sectors in order to establish forward and backwardlinkages and to promote the products of Andhra Pradeshto global standards.Livestock sector has emerged as an alternative and de-pendable source of income generation even during thetimes of severe drought. My government is providing fod-der to livestock at the doorsteps of the farmers belowpoverty line (BPL) at 50% subsidy ensuring fodder secu-rity under Kutumba Vikasam. My government endeavoursto insulate the farmers from the vagaries of agriculture byfocus on livestock sector to ensure that every householdhas a minimum monthly income of Rs.10,000.Fisheries sector has witnessed a phenomenal growth inthe recent past. Andhra Pradesh state is accounting for70% of the total culture prawn in the country and holds ashare of 45% in total seafood exports in the country. Fish-eries are providing employment to 14.5 lakh persons andcontributing significantly to the State’s economy. My gov-ernment has initiated plans to make Andhra Pradesh the‘Aqua Hub’ of the World.My government has initiated a people’s movement under‘Vanam Manam’ program. Under the MissionHarithandhra Pradesh campaign, we target to increase thepresent green cover from 26% to 50% in the State by theyear 2029. The entire process will be monitored with geo-tagging. Sustained efforts are being made to ensure thatmost of the Nagara Vanams are operational by the end ofMarch 2017 and my government has evolved ‘PalleVanam’ theme to improve forestry in rural areas.v

fisheries sector haswitnessed a phenomenalgrowth in the recent past.andhra pradesh state isaccounting for 70% of thetotal culture prawn in thecountry and holds a shareof 45% in total seafood ex-ports in the country.


THE BRIDGEON RIVERKRISHNAPlans to construct an iconic cultural bridgefrom Vijayawada to Amaravati are in thefinal stage. The proposed bridge – 3.8 kmlong out of which 1.2 km will be cable-sup-ported – will begin from Moolapadu near Pavit-rasangamam and end at Velagapudi in Amaravati.Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu wants the ultra-modern bridge to reflect the rich culture of the re-gion. He also wants this bridge across River Krishnato be an iconic construction, and a shining exampleof the new resurgent state.Among the different models presented for the iconicbridge, the Chief Minister preferred the one takinginspiration from the traditional art form of the region– Kuchipudi. Leading construction firm L&T pre-sented six different models for the bridge, taking offon Indian greeting Namaskar, Kuchipudi pose, a dou-ble-decker, Amaravati stupa, a flower and inspirationfrom Kondapalli toys.Of these, the CM showed interest on the Kuchipudimodel, but wanted the bridge to be double-decker,where the lower one will serve for transport, whilethe upper layer can be used for people activities. Healso wanted the planners to ensure that the upperdeck is used for entertainment. Feedback on the de-signs is now being sought, after which the Govern-ment will take a final decision.

amaravati Bridge Concepts1. Namaskār, also known as namastē, is a form ofgreeting practiced most in the Indian Subcontinent.It is used both while greeting and departing.2. Kuchipudi is the classical dance form from theSouth-East Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It isknown for its graceful movements and its strong nar-rative / dramatic character. Transformation of one ofthe expressive gestures of mudra in Kuchipudi danceto the pylon tower of iconic bridge across river Kr-ishna.3. People's Bridge - Double bridge with separate Ve-hicular & Pedestrian movement at two levels. Top ofbridge will be used for different people activities.

CM wants thisbridge acrossRiver Krishna to bean iconicconstruction, anda shining exampleof the newresurgent state.

v


v

APTURNING INTOMOBILE HUB

Xiaomi to set up second unit at Sri Cityk k kChinese handset vendor Xiaomi has partneredFoxconn to set up its second manufacturingunit in India at Sri City in Andhra Pradesh.Xiaomi had entered India in July 2014 and started localmanufacturing just over a year later. The Chinesesmartphone maker started assembling phones the fa-cility in Sri City in August 2015.The new facility will be exclusive to Xiaomi, while theolder one may see Foxconn making handsets for othervendors too.While the company declined to comment on the in-vestment details, it said Xiaomi will be able to make“one phone per second in India”.“While I cannot disclose the exact capacity, I can tellyou that we will be able to manufacture one phone persecond whenever the lines are running. The two fac-tories combined will provide employment to about5,000 people, 90 per cent of which are women,” XiaomiIndia Head Manu Jain said.The move will help Xiaomi meet about 95 per cent ofits demand in India from these two facilities.However, it will continue to import accessories,ecosystem products and its premium product, Mi5from China.According to research firm IDC, Xiaomi had a 10.7 percent share of the Indian market, putting the companyjust behind Samsung (over 25 per cent share) at theend of December quarter.“The smartphone market in India will grow from 110million units per annum to 200 million plus units, in3-5 years, Jain added.The company has also launched a new device – Redmi4A – that will also be manufactured at the Indian facil-ities.The Sri City unit will be Xiaomi’s second productionhub outside its home base of China. Foxconn hadstarted its smart phone assembly plant in a 40,000

square-foot facility in May 2015 at Sri City industrialpark in Andhra Pradesh. Three months later Chinese

smart phone company Xiaomi had rolled out its first'Made in India' smart phone Redmi Prime from Sri Cityfacility on August 11, 2015.We believe this partnership will provide new oppor-tunities to youth of the state and develop an electron-ics manufacturing ecosystem of global standards inAndhra Pradesh, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidusaid at the time.Foxconn had started its smart phone assembly plantin a 40,000 square-foot facility in May 2015 at Sri Cityindustrial park in Andhra Pradesh.Xiaomi decided to go ahead with assembling phonesat Foxconn’s Andhra Pradesh facility because of thepresence of skilled technical manpower, and the speedwith which the state government moved.AP government had set a manufacturing target of 20million mobile hand sets in the state in view of its em-ployment potential. The government had offered landand other facilities to 4-5 domestic companies todevelop a mobile handset manufacturing cluster nearTirupati in addition to Sri City's Foxconn operations.


Amaravati is all set to get international stan-dard road connectivity with Chief MinisterN Chandrababu Naidu laying the founda-tion stone at Errabalem on Ugadi for sevenseed access roads at a cost of Rs. 1,020crore.On the occasion, the CM said Amaravati is poised toshowcase an outer ring road (ORR) with a distance of180 km, bigger than that of the one in Hyderabad (160km). He said it will change the very face of the capitalonce completed. It is expected to be completed by nextUgadi. The roads would be laid in 68.85 km distance radiuswith an estimated cost of Rs 1,051 crore. The roadswould be laid with international standards by develop-ing both sides with greenery at cost of Rs 4.46 crore. The roads with a width of 40-60 metres would ensure ahassle-free ride to Velagapudi. The seed access roadsare being laid as straight as possible and are being builtwith high-end technology re-sembling express highways.The roads would have green-ery and a dedicated bicycletrack.Of the seven roads, four wouldbe laid from west to east cov-ering Ananthavaram,Pitchukulavaripalem, Boru-palem and Nekkalu. The roadsbeing laid from North to Southwould cover Mangalagiri,Nidamarru, Bethapudi,Sakhamuru and would lead toKrishna river. Each road wouldcover a distance of 8-15 km.The final master plan has pro-posals to lay 16 roads towardsEast and 18 roads towardsNorth at a cost of Rs. 1,800 crore.Amaravati will be connected with the rest of the countryby six national highways, the Chief Minister said, afterlaying the foundation stone for seven seed access roads .

The highways will ensure road connectivity with allmajor cities in the country, he said.The super express highway lane also would be con-nected to Amaravati from Bengaluru through Ananta-pur. The road would reduce the journey time to fourhours from Rayalaseema districts to capital city. Watertaxis would be introduced as part of internal trans-portation in the capital, he explained. seed roads* Krishnayapalem to Nekkallu (14.95 km)

* Uddandarayunipalem to Nidamarru (13.6 km)

* Venkatapalem to Navuluru (7.17 km)

* Borupalem to Sakhamuru (8.27 km)

* Penumaka to Inavolu (7.81 km),

* Mangalagiri to Neerukonda (7.36 km)

* Abbarajupalem to Nekkalu (8.77 km)He criticised the opposition indirectly for creating hur-dles to capital construction. The government was mak-ing plans to construct world class capital even though

CM launches works

Amaravati gets access roads

amaravati willbe connected

with the rest ofthe country by

six nationalhighways, theChief minister

said, after layingthe foundationstone for seven

seed accessroads


the State was passing through financialcrisis, he said. . The city is being plannedin such a way that it can host the Interna-tional Olympics in future. The capital cityconstruction and Polavaram projects aretwo important tasks, very dear to him, theCM said, and added that his one and onypassion was the development of the stateon all fronts.Meanwhile, the alignment and design ofthe access-controlled Amaravati-Anan-thapuramu highway which has been de-clared as a National Expressway by theCentre were finalised. The proposed 394kms long expressway would also be the longest in the country.Andhra Pradesh Road and Buildings Department officials said thatthe Expressway would be four-lane in 185.400 kms and six-lane in208.194 kms. Two feeder highways connecting Kurnool andKadapa towns would also be part of the expressway making itnearly 600 kms long.The expressway would start at the outer ring road of AmaravatiCity and go through Guntur, Prakasham, Kurnool, YSR Kadapa, and

terminate at the Ananthapuramu-Bengaluru Bypass road on theoutskirts of Ananthapuramu. Separate highways radiating towardsChennai to the south and Hyderabad to the north, and feeder roadsconnecting Kadapa and Kurnool towns to expressway would belaid. The expressway would bring down the distance betweenAnantapur and Amaravati from 472 kms to 371 kms; Kadapa andAmaravati from 370 kms to 290 kms; and Kurnool to Amaravatifrom 320 kms to 280 kms. Officials said that 26,793 acres of landhas been acquired for the project. Of this, 9,324 hectares was forestland that has been de-notified.

Amaravati is all setto get international

standard roadconnectivity with

CM N ChandrababuNaidu laying the

foundation stone atErrabalem on Ugadi

for seven seedaccess roads. Andhra Pradesh bagged the‘State of the Year’ award an-nounced by CNBC TV 18 underthe ‘business leader’ category.A jury, comprising eminent personsfrom the fields of banking and industry,has selected Andhra Pradesh unani-mously for the prestigious award andinvited Chief Minister N ChandrababuNaidu to participate in a programme tobe organised on March 23 to receive theaward.HDFC CMD Aditya Puri, State Bank ofIndia CMD Arundhati Bhattacharya,KKR CEO Sanjay Nayar, E and Y chair-man Rajiv Memani and corporate advo-cate Cyril Shroff are the members of thejury which selected Andhra Pradesh forthe award.State Minister Ayyanna Patrudu re-ceived the award on behalf of AP gov-ernment at a special function in Delhi.Speaking on the occasion, Chief MinisterChandrababu Naidu said while the hardwork of the government is receiving ac-claim from all across, the opposition inthe state was creating hurldles in thepath. Thanking the centre for the help beingextended to the state, Naidu requestedUnion Finance Minister Arun Jaitley,who was also present at the event, tocontinue offering a helping hand to thesouthern state.This laurel is indeed an encouragementfor the AP government to perform evenbetter and keep striving for excellencein all sectors, the Chief Minister said.“I dedicate this award to the people ofmy state who believe in me and my con-stant efforts in making AP shine”, headded.

ap bags CnBCstate of theYear award

vv

The Special Package announced for AndhraPradesh by the Centre received statutory sta-tus with the Union Cabinet approval. AndhraPradesh government has been insisting onproviding statutory guarantees to the Special Packageannounced in lieu of Special Category Status.The Centre approved financial assistance for bifurcatedAndhra Pradesh by way of special dispensation in fund-ing of externally aided projects (EAPs) and also the ir-rigation component of Polavaram project.The special assistance approved by the Cabinet will beprovided to the state towards repayment of loan andinterest for EAPs signedand disbursed during2015-16 to 2019-20, anofficial release said.After a determined ChiefMinister ChandrababuNaidu stuck to his re-solve of securing a ‘spe-cial status’ for the State,Prime Minister NarendraModi made an announce-ment in September 2016which, in practical terms,amounts to the treat-ment of residual AndhraPradesh as a Special Cat-egory state.After hours of gruellingnegotiations in the gov-ernment and consulta-tions with the Chief Minister, Union Finance MinisterArun Jaitley, flanked by his colleague Venkaiah Naidu,had announced the details of the package which is validfor five years — 2015 to 2020.The Centre will also fund 100 per cent of the irrigationcomponent of the Polavaram project starting from April1, 2014, it said further."This support for capital expenditure by way of repay-ment of EAP loans would help and assist the newlyformed state of Andhra Pradesh to put the State's fi-nances on a firmer footing and promote economic

growth," it said.The Centre while fulfilling its commitments underAndhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act 2014, has alreadyprovided 'Special Assistance' of Rs 1,976.50 crore to thestate during 2016-17.Besides, the Ministry of Water Resources has also pro-vided Rs 2,081.54 crore for the Polavaram IrrigationProject during the current financial year."Thus the Central government, after the enactment ofthe Reorganisation Act, has provided central assistanceof Rs 10,461.04 crore to the state of Andhra Pradeshwhich includes Rs 4,403 crore released during 2014-15, Rs 2,000 crore released during 2015-16 and Rs4,058.04 crore in 2016-17.Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Chan-drababu Naidu welcomed the Union Cabinet'sapproval for the special economic package to the state."What all benefits the state would have got under thespecial category status, would now accrue under thespecial economic package. I said this long ago. Politicis-ing the issue is not correct. Development of the state isimportant for us," he told reporters.The opposition parties should ponder over this, headded. Chandrababu reiterated that he never compro-mised on the issue of development of the state. "Con-frontation achieves nothing. We can get things doneonly through amicable means," he said.The Centre agreed to establish a new railway zone atVisakhapatnam and also enhance the number of As-18 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG APRIL 2017

ap special packagegets Centre's approval

All benefits the statewould have got under

the special categorystatus, would now

accrue under the spe-cial economic package.

I said this long ago.Politicising the issue isnot correct. Develop-

ment of the statecomes before every-

thing.

- Chief minister


sembly constituencies,he claimed."That will hasten thedevelopment process,he added.The package revolvesaround various sec-tions in the A.P. Reor-ganisation Act, the14th Finance Commis-sion report recom-mendations, oral commitment made by thethen Prime Minister inFebruary 2014 and ther e c o m m e n d a t i o n smade by the Niti Ayogin 2015."People of the statehave been waiting forthis for many days now...Had they grantedspecial status, I would have been happier. Incase they have some technical problems, theyshould do whatever is possible as per law," hetold a press conference later. With respect to the construction of capitalcity Amaravati, he said Rs 2500 crore alreadybeen sanctioned and another Rs 1000 crorepromised would not be in any way sufficient.Replying to the discussion on Motion ofThanks to the Governor’s Address in the Leg-islative Council, Naidu thanked Prime Minis-ter Narendra Modi for approving the specialassistance to the state and 100 per cent fund-ing for the Polavaram. While thanking Union ministers M VenkaiahNaidu, Arun Jaitley and Uma Bharti, he said,“I had visited Delhi 26 times to pursue theissue and I am very happy today as the UnionCabinet has approved both Special Assistanceand total funding for Polavaram Project. The Andhra Pradesh Assembly passed a res-olution thanking the Central Government forapproving a special economic package for thestate. Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley an-nounced the package in September last andsince then the state government had been de-manding the Centre to accord "legal sanctity"to it. "This will be the harbinger of development ofour new state that suffered heavily due to theirrational bifurcation," Chandrababu said.

The special packagerevolves around

various sections inthe Andhra Pradesh.Reorganisation Act,

the 14th FinanceCommission reportrecommendations,

oral commitmentmade by the thenPrime Minister in

February 2014 andthe recommenda-tions made by theNiti Ayog in 2015.

The Centre has sanctioned for Andhra Pradesh 14road projects costing Rs 4,500 crore in the currentfiscal. “During the current financial year, the Min-istry of Road Transport and Highways has sanc-tioned 14 major projects costing Rs 4,500 crore on NationalHighways under corridor approach and NHDP 4 scheme forAndhra Pradesh,” said Mansukh Mandaviya, Minister of Statefor Road Transport and Highways and Shipping. The long pending demand for Vizianagaram bypass has beenfulfilled. The work of four-laning of the bypass with concreteroad for Rs 430 crore has been sanctioned, he said.“Visakhapatnam area grid separator at convent junction onVisakhapatnam old road is being developed at a cost of Rs 60crore. Out of this, Rs 30 crore will be funded under the Sagar-mala programme, Rs 15 crore by NHAI and another Rs 15crore by Vishakhapatnam Port Trust,” he added. Another project, the minister said, is six-laning of Anakapalli-Anandapuram access controlled highways as part of NH16,providing connectivity of 12 km to Visakhapatnam port withservice road on both sides. This will be a dedicated corridorto port Visakhapatnam- Ranasthalam and 47 km of NH 16 isalso to be six-laned at a cost of Rs 1,000 crore.Bids for the project are already done and the constructionwill start in the next four to five months, he informed. For theouter ring road of 186 km around Amaravati, Rs 20,000 crorehas been sanctioned. Land acquisition is to be done by stategovernment. Nandigama and Kanchikacharla bypasses which were pend-ing since 2007 have been sanctioned by Ministry of RoadTransport and Highways (MoRTH), Mandaviya said. The Amaravathi-Ananthapuram Expressway with connectiv-ity to Kadapa and Kurnool in a length of nearly 690 km at acost of nearly Rs 28,000 crore would be taken up by NHAI.Land acquisition is to be done by the state government. Avenue plantations along the National Highways are to betaken up with the partnership of local industrialists, farmersand NGOs.

road projects worthrs 4,500 crore in ap

electric transport in the new capitalElectric buses with no emissions will run in Amaravati, thenew capital of Andhra Pradesh. The suggestion by the masterarchitect of Amaravati — UK-based architects Foster andPartners — to use only eco-friendly, non-polluting publictransport, especially buses, was approved by the government.Unmanned electric buses will run on roads of Amaravati ad-ministrative city with dedicated stops, said CM N Chan-drababu Naidu after a meeting with Foster and Partners atVijayawada.v v

v


Lord Venkateswara Temple at Tirumala is one ofthe best managed spiritual and religious insti-tutions in the country. Described as the richesttemple in India, the Tirumala temple, locatedon seven hills of Tirupati, is administered by TirumalaTirupati Devasthanam (TTD). The temple’s manage-ment of pilgrims, aver-aging between 60,000 toa 100,000 a day, whileensuring the upkeep ofthe entire place in pris-tine and sacred splen-dour, has received wideacclaim. Tirumala has emergedas the model spiritualcentre in terms of itsmaintenance, order,devotee-friendly initia-tives and developmentactivities. A large part ofthe credit for thisachievement goes to thesuccessive Executive Of-ficers, who headed theadministrative bodyover the years. Dr DSambasiva Rao, a senior IAS officer, who is the presentExecutive Officer, has brought about major changes inthe day-to-day administration of the temple affairs, en-

abling more number of devotees to have the darshan ofthe Lord without as little hardship as possible.Dr Dondapati Sambasiva Rao spoke to AndhraPradesh about the technological initiatives of the Tiru-mala administration.Technology is being widely used in Tirumala adminis-tration. Can you explain how it is helping?Basically people come here for darshan – they rangearound 70,000 to 100,000 a day. The other day, therewere 89,000. And this is supposed to be lean season.There are different types of darshan – Sarva Darshan,Darshan for Walkers and Seeghra Darshan (faster dar-shan). Those who opt for Seeghra Darshan earlierwould go up the hill, and then buy tickets, a processwhich would take 3-4 hours. These would be in therange of 25,000 tickets. Now, we have placed thesetickets online, wherein we release around 2500 ticketsonce every hour during the day. They can be purchased120 days in advance. They can buy laddus also in ad-vance. This will enable the pilgrims to have darshan in2 to 2.5 hours and leave the place. All this, without anystress on the resources of the Temple. Here, the tech-nology is as good as the one used by Railways for ticketbooking.How many pilgrims are making their arrangementsonline?Out of 2.60 crore who visited Tirumala last year. 71lakh devotees came through booking online. Thatworks out roughly to 25-30 percent. Because of the useof technology, there is less strain on the administra-tion.Do you have a separate wing for technology in TTD?No. Tata Computer Services (TCS) is helping us as partof their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) activity.Around 120 computer engineers are working on TTDprojects. Their services are freely provided to the TTD.Where else is technology being used?Advance booking of accommodation is also now madeavailable online. We have about 6500-7000 rooms, outof which 2000 rooms can be booked in advance of 120days online. Here, technology helps us ensure thatthere is no blocking of rooms; so there is optimum util-isation of the available space. Also, the rooms are made

Tech enables more devotees to have darshanONLINE WITH THE LORD

Tirumala has emergedas the model spiritualcentre in terms of itsmaintenance, order,

devotee-friendly initia-tives and development

activities. A large partof the credit for this

achievement goes tothe successive

Executive Officers,who headed the

administrative bodyover the years

Dr Dondapati Sambasiva Rao


available from anycounter, helping usprevent any freezingof rooms. We have also tied upwith AP Online,where these onlineservices can beavailed through MeeSeva counters. Devotees who walkup the hills are pro-vided special dar-shan. Here also, theyget their comput-erised tokens at thestart of their journey.Likewise, tickets fordifferent sevas –about 50,000 of them - are also available online. They arereleased first Friday of every month. Technology hasmade it possible for people from anywhere in the world tobook their tickets and plan their visit to the Temple in ad-vance. All these are interlinked in the system, providingfor smooth running of the administration and comfortabledarshan of the Lord for the devotees. The websitewww.tirumala.org , developed by TCS as part of their CSRactivity, is one stop source for all the online bookings.Are you accepting donations online?We have also introduced a Donor Management System.Earlier, it was a hassle to make donation to the 9 differentTrusts of TTD that serve the people in various ways. Nowafter the introduction of online system, donors can maketheir contributions from anywhere and, unlike in the past,they get acknowledgment instatntly. They also get their ITexemption certificate and their digital passbook immedi-ately. The donors also can download their privileges interms of darshan and accommodation from the net. For the cottage donation scheme also, we are implement-ing the same online procedure. There is also e-hundi,wherein devotees can put their money in 3-4 steps fromthe comfort of their system. There is no need to physicallygo to the hundi at the Temple, and offer their money. Like-wise, for those who want to donate shares, we haveopened a demat account, and people can donate their

shares online.All the TTD publications are also now available online,which can be accessed freely without any payment. Theyinclude everything that TTD produces - from Anna-macharya kirtana cassettes to yearly calendars. What have been the latest trends?Compared to last year, we are witnessing 10,000 more pil-grims every day now. How many people can you accommodate for darshan ina day? We are trying to improve systems so that we can have op-timal use of time to provide darshan to the visitors. Weare ensuring there is a continuous flow of pilgrims, whichwill ensure that devotees are not crowded at one place.Even when there are a 100,000 people visiting the Tem-ple, you will not find crowds at Tirumala, as visitors arealways on the move. If 4,500 people come out of the Tem-ple (after darshan) every hour, we can ensure that there isno crowding. Thus, we have now been able to ensure there are no bigcrowds gathered in one place. How is the revenue for the Temple?The revenue is going up by 8-10 percent, though therewas slight dip recently due to demonetisation. Most of therevenue comes through Seeghra Darshan. Donations forvarious schemes come from devotees all the time. ForAnna Prasadam, the corpus fund has gone up by Rs 800crores – this financial year, Rs 100 crore was received asdonation. We have 9 Trusts – together they get around Rs150 crore as donations every year. What are the major expenses for TTD?It is salaries and pensions. There are around 20,000employees, out of which 10,000 are permanentemployees.TTD calendars seems to be in great demand?Our calendars and diaries are much sought after. For2017, we have had 32 lakh calendars and 10 lakh diariesprinted and sold. This is probably one of such largestexercises anywhere.

Tata Computer Services(TCS) is helping us

as part of theirCorporate Social

Responsibility (CSR)activity. They maintain

the website and itsoperations. Around 120

computer engineersare working on TTD

projects. Their servicesare freely provided

to the TTD.

v


AMARAVATIDESIGNS TO IMBUE TELUGU CULTURE

The building of people’scapital Amaravati isone of the two projectsthat Chief MinisterChandrababu Naidu isvery obsessive about. In accor-dance with his grandiose plans tocreate a city that will outsmart anyother in India, Naidu has beenspending enormous amount of

time on every minute detail withregard to the capital construction.Naidu wants the city to reflect thehistory and cultural fabric of the 29villages that constitute the emerg-

ing capital city. This is what he con-veyed to Foster + Partners, en-trusted with the designs for thecapital. The capital city Amaravati is all setto enter the execution phase soonwith the architectural plans beingnearly finalized. London-basedFoster + Partners (F+P) presentedthe revised master plan of the coregovernment buildings in Amaravatititled ‘Amaravati-People’s Capital-Building Sustainable Vision’ toChief Minister N ChandrababuNaidu as well as to the MLAs andMLCs of the state in a specially or-ganized event. The Chief Minister had announcedthat the committee headed byGovernment Advisor (Communica-tions) Parakala Prabhakar wouldrecommend ways to incorporateTelugu history and culture in thedesigns conceived by Foster andhis team.Norman Foster, the founder-chair-man of London-based Foster +

Partners, submitted four conceptdesigns of the government build-ings to be constructed in the corecapital Amaravati, to the Chief Min-ister in early March. During last week of March, a com-prehensive architecture plan waspresented on the basis of feedbackobtained from local and interna-tional experts. Based on the sug-gestions that were received in theearlier meeting, Foster + Partnersand Architect Hafeez Contractormade a presentation titled ‘ Amara-vati- The People’s Capital – Build-ing a Sustainable Vision.The presentation highlighted theneed for integrating green and bluespaces. It said that the city wouldconsist of 51 percent green, 10 per-cent water, 14 percent road and 25percent building footprint i.e of1,000,000 sqm. To promote Andhra Pradesh’s cul-ture, heritage and arts the repre-sentatives said that thearchitectural heritage should be

foster + partners came upwith the improved

architecture plan foramaravati, following the

feed back from the earliermeeting with the

Chief minister.

experts met with dr parakala prabhakar to discuss ways to incorporate culture and history of ap in amaravati design.


represented in the arrangementand format of buildings and spaces.In addition to this, integration oflocal arts, culture of all the 13 dis-tricts was considered.Vehicle free zone was another sug-gestion that the Foster + Partnerssuggested. They stressed the needto encourage alternative sustain-able methods of transport, provi-sion for electric vehicles, dedicatedbicycle and pedestrians routes anduse of canals for water taxis.Chris Bubb, Rob Harrison, Rob Sey-mour and Harsh Thapar from Fos-ter + Partners said that they hadstudied a number of cities in theworld to understand the arrange-ment of buildings and that theyhad included all those studies,ideas in the plan that they havepresented on this occasion.Hafeez Contractor, Nishant Guptafrom Architect Hafeez Contractor,Achyut Watve from JW Consultantswere also presented at the meet-ing.The Chief Minister told them thatonly electric buses and vehicleswould have to be permitted tomove around the city to avoidpollution.He also instructed the CapitalRegion Development Authority(APCRDA) CommissionerCherukuri Sreedhar to launch aportal for obtaining the opinions ofTelugu people on the capital cityproject and to extensively use thesocial media platforms for thestated purpose.

Meanwhile, the experts committeeentrusted with the task of incorpo-rating Telugu culture and history inthe buildings has decided to expe-dite its exercise. Two teams of the committee,which had visited New Delhi,Tirupati, North Coastal Andhra andAmaravati areas, gave their presen-tations during a meeting recently.The committee discussed trafficislands, entry points, governmentbuildings, lawns, water fountainsand parks to be come up in Amara-vati. Prabhakar said that 'Foster + Part-ners' had submitted the state gov-ernment some conceptual plansafter incorporating some symbolsrelating to Telugu culture and her-itage in the primary designs.As the final designs of Amaravatiare likely to be submitted by Foster+ Partners by April end, Prabhakarsuggested the members of thecommittee to finalise the issuesrelating to culture, history and her-itage for incorporating in thedesigns as per the aspirations ofChief Minister N ChandrababuNaidu.Cine Art Director Anand Sai saidthat he is drawing some designsbased on some of the heritage sym-bols in Sri Venkateswara Museumin Tirupati and National Museumin New Delhi.Noted archaeologist K. Paddayya,Professor Emeritus and former di-rector of Deccan College, Pune, isalso lending his expertise. Robert

Knox, the famous keeper of the de-partment of original antiquities ofBritish Museum, was also roped into provide expert advice.Tirupati’s Sri Venkateswara mu-seum director V Ranganayakulusaid that the government officesshould reflect the ancient `man-duva logili’ structures for free flowof air and sunlight. The buildingsshould be named with historicalnames. Sri Venkateswara University re-tired professor KirankantChowdary said that the structuresin the capital should reflect ancientkingdoms including Satavahanas,Ikshvakas, Salankayanas and Bud-dhists. Writer Sai Papineni saidthat the designers should adopt thetechnology in Los Angeles struc-tures to bring down the tempera-ture. A retired archaeologicalofficial KV Rao said that the build-ings should reflect the Buddhismtraces in Amaravati region. Direc-tor of cultural affairs Vijay Bhaskarsaid that the structures should re-flect the history of Kalinga king-dom. Archeologist E SivaNagireddy said that the structuresin Amaravati should reflect the cul-ture of all regions of the state.Amaravati heritage city advisorGalla Amareswar said that the sug-gestions of experts should be de-veloped as designs in 3D andshould be presented to Foster andPartner. Designer Vasuki Balasub-ramanian, historian P HanumantaRao were also present.

The Parakala Prabhakar committee, consisting ofeminent personalities from the disciplines ofhistory, archaeology, heritage and culture, wouldsuggest ways to blend various cultures of differentages, carved out by eminent rulers of historicalimportance, in the designs for Amaravati.

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Even after seven decades, these hauntingmelodies and many more composed by C.R.Subburaman are popular across generationsof film music lovers. A child prodigy, Subbu-raman became a music director when hewas barely 19 and in the next ten years he made a last-ing impact on Telugu and Tamil film industry with hismelodious score before fate snatched him away at avery young age.early YearsChintamani Rama Subburaman was born in Chintamanivillage in Tirunelveli district in the then compositeMadras Presidency in 1923. His ancestors hailed fromthe Andhra region. At the tender age of five, Subbura-man developed interest towards music and his fatherRamasamy Iyer encouraged him to take music lessonsfrom a nadhaswaram player in Kumbakonam. Later hetook him to Madras (now Chennai) to learn piano andmaster harmonium. Recommended by editor M.S.Money and Sundara Bhagavathar, brother of veteranmusic composer G. Ramanathan, Subburaman joinedthe HMV orchestra as a harmonist at the age of 16. . Theorchestra was headed by R. S. Chinnaiah. Interestingly,Saluri Rajeswara Rao was also with the HMV orchestraat that time. With his talent and hard work, Subbura-

man soon rose to the level of assistant music director atHMV.tryst with CinemaFor his Telugu production, Chenchulakshmi (1943) pro-ducer Soundararajan of Tamil Nadu Talkies commis-sioned the HMV orchestra to compose the songs. YoungSubburaman played harmonium as part of the orches-tra. After setting tunes for two songs, Chinnaiah sud-denly died. S. Rajeswara Rao stepped in and, aftercomposing four songs, he left due to personal reasons.All along Soundararajan was observing the young har-monist during the recordings. He said, ‘you are mymusic director.’ Subburaman was at first apprehensivebecause he did not know a word of Telugu and waswavering to accept the offer. However, the film’s lyricwriter Samudrala Raghavacharya, popularly known asSamudrala Sr. encouraged him to take up the job. Samu-drala explained to him the meaning of the lyrics and waswith him during the composing and recording sessions.It was then that Subburaman completed the task suc-cessfully and earned kudos for his work. No wonder, healways said that Samudrala Sr. was his guru.innovative geniusThat was how Subburaman made his tinsel town entry

Oho Naa Premadhaaraa Jeevanataraa(Ratnamala-1947)

Preme Neramouna and PayanamayePriyathama (Laila Majnu- 1949)

Palleku Podam Paaruni Choodaam,Cheliyaledu Chelimiledu, KalayidaniNijamidani, Antha Bhranthiyenaa(Devadasu -1953).

k k k

[In this brand new series we bring to you non-Telugutechnicians who have worked for the growth of Telugu cinema.]

C R Subburaman (left) with Director Vedantam Raghavaiah.

MUSICAL GENIUSC.R.SUBBURAMAN

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with a Telugu film and even made history when he usedplayback singing in Chenchulakshmi. Kamala Kotnisplayed the title role and the alluring song, Thinne MeedaChinnoda, which was filmed on her was rendered byRao Balasaraswati. For the title music and for a dancenumber without a song, Subburaman introduced LatinAmerican instruments to Telugu cinema.Chenchulak-shmi’s success brought him instant recognition as amusic composer and offers came his way from Tamilfilm producers too.The most sought after Tamil actor and singer of the timeM.K. Thyagaraya Bhagavathar signed him for ‘Ud-hayanan’ but, just on the day of the recording, MKT wasarrested for his involvement in journalist Lakshmikan-than’s murder. The irony was that though Subburamanhad nothing to do with it he was considered unlucky bythe producers of the film and was replaced.fruitful associationHowever, the disappointment for Subburaman wasshort lived. Again it was the Telugu film industry thatcame to his rescue in the form of Bhanumathi Ramakr-ishna and her Bharani Pictures. Bhanumathi signed himfor Rathnamala along with Ghantasala, Balantrapu Ra-janikantharao and Saluri Rajeswara Rao. Subburaman’scompositions for the film, Oho Naa Premadhaaraa,Neeve Piluva Thaguve and Madana Swagathamoyiturned out to be so popular that he became a perma-nent music director for Bharani Pictures. Musical hitslike Laila Majnu and Prema followed. For Laila Majnu,to bring realistic touch to his compositions, Subbura-man blended Arabian and Western tunes. VirithaavulaLeela, Preme Neramouna andPayanamaye Priyathamaare some of the songs from the film that are popular tothis day. Besides other films, Subburaman also com-posed music for Bhanumathi’s trilingual movie, Chandi-rani in Telugu, Tamil and Hindi.His association with another popular banner of thetime, Pratibha Pictures came when he worked as an as-sistant music director for Gali Penchala Narasimha Raobesides composing the background score for the superhit, Balaraju. The film’s production chief ‘Pratibha’ Sastri

has said in an interview that it was Subburaman whocomposed music for the two super hit songs, O BalarajaPreme Yerugava and O Balaraja Jaali Ledaa Balaraja.Pratibha’s next production the A N R- Anjali Devi starrer,Swapnasundari owes its success to Subburaman’smusic.When M.K. Thyagaraja Bhagavathar returned to filmsafter his release, he signed Subburaman to composemusic for Rajamukthi and soon Subburaman became abusy music director in Tamil too with such hits as Rath-nakumar, Mangayar Karasi and Marmayogi. It was Sub-buraman who introduced Ghantasala in Tamil filmswith Pythiyakaran (1947) and M.L. Vasanthakumari inRajamukthi. Another talented singer P. Leela learnt clas-sical music from Subburaman.as a producerSubburaman was associated with director VedantamRaghavaiah, writer Samudrala Sr. and production chiefD.L. Narayana since his Bharani Pictures days. When thetrio formed Vinoda Pictures with D.L. as the producer,Subburaman joined them as partner and music director.The first film to roll out from the banner was the ANR-Anjali Devi starrer, Stree Sahasam followed by Shanti.But it was their third film, a bilingual in Telugu andTamil, Devadasu that became not only a money spinnerbut also a cult classic. Every song from the movie star-ring ANR and Savitri was a hit.Unfortunately, Subburaman was not destined to see hismusic’s mega success. He was afflicted with epilepsysince childhood. By then he had composed tunes for allbut two songs for Devadasu (the two songs InthaTelisiyundi, Jagame Maaya were tuned by his assistantsM.S. Viswanathan and T.K. Ramamurthy). A sudden andsevere bout of fits took its toll on him and he died at avery young age of 29 leaving behind a treasure trove ofmusic for nearly 50 films in Telugu and Tamil, and histalented assistants Ghantasala, Susarla Dakshina-murthy, M.S. Viswanathan and T.K. Ramamurthy to con-tinue with his legacy.

- M L Narasimham

Chintamani Rama Subburaman, whose ancestorshailed from Andhra region, made his tinsel townentry with a Telugu film and even made history whenhe used playback singing in Chenchulakshmi.


Any filmmaker worth his salt would doanything to be in a position where SSRajamouli is right now. It's noteveryday that a Telugu filmmakerearns the respect from millions ofmovie-goers north of the Vindhyas or even the vil-lages and towns spread across Tamil Nadu andKerala, but Rajamouli has done the impossible. Hehas now joined the ranks of an elite league offilmmakers in the country whose name alone is astamp of integrity, grandeur and larger-than-lifeexperience that cinema boasts of. Shankar andMani Ratnam are two such filmmakers from theSouth who have managed to make inroads in theNorth Indian market to some degree of success;however, Rajamouli, with Baahubali, has turnedinto a national treasure, a feat which is often

tagged to filmmakers like Rajkumar Hirani orKaran Johar to name a few.It all began in 2012 when SS Rajamouli's Eega flewto markets beyond the horizons of Telugu cinema.It established Rajamouli's name in Tamil Nadu asa filmmaker to reckon with and earned ravereviews from national media, although the Hindiversion of the film didn't quite do well at thebox-office. The success of Baahubali - The Begin-ning in 2015 came as a major shot in the arm, notjust for SS Rajamouli but also to the whole ofTelugu film industry. For the first time, after sev-eral years, Telugu films began making news for allthe interesting work, in various fields, being donehere, not just for the masala-driven content, whichis often at the centre of several remakes in Tamil,Kannada, Hindi and Bengali cinema. Within a span of two years, as Hindi and Tamilfilmmakers, began to keep a tab on films beingmade in Telugu film industry, new players haveemerged who are taking their work beyondborders. Last year, films like Kshanam and Pelli-choopulu got a lot of attention from Bollywoodand both the films are going to be remade in Hindiand Tamil soon. While there has been no dearth ofcommercial films in recent past, the focus on mak-ing period dramas, which push the heroism to awhole new level, has only increased. AfterBaahubali, there were films like Rudhramadeviand Gautamiputra Satakarni which walked downthe same route as Baahubali and it wouldn't besurprising if this interest in period dramas, fantasyand mythology is sustained for a longer period oftime in Telugu cinema.This brings us back to the impact that the secondpart of the Baahubali film series, Baahubali : TheConclusion is going to have on filmmaking as suchin the South. The two films were made with abudget of close to Rs 450 crores, an unimaginablenumber for a regional film; however, the interest-ing part is that the makers of Baahubali have

BaahubaliThe Conclusion

Turns The Spotlight On Telugu Cinema

APRIL 2017

already sold the theatrical and satellite rights of the film for close to Rs 500crores. The film's trailer, which was launched on March 16, shattered all recordsand it is currently the most watched trailer of all time in Indian cinema. This issignificant for a number of reasons, but the most important of them all is that'Baahubali : The Conclusion' has been baptisedas a national film, made in Hyderabad and fewother parts of India and Europe. Traditionally, the success of one film drawsattention to that director and actor's previouswork. In some rare instances, it turns out to be awindow to explore other films made in the samelanguage or film industry. Of late, thanks to thedubbed content, Telugu films and celebritieshave become quite popular in the Hindi belt.Mahesh Babu's 1-Nenokkadine is a big hit withthe internet users, whereas Ravi Teja, Nagarjunacommand a huge fan following in rural India.People there might not know what the film's titlewas in Telugu, but they recognise the actor andthat's a big deal. With Baahubali : The Conclu-sion turning into a storm at the box-office, it'llonce again encourage people to dive deep intoTelugu cinema of the recent past. Who knowswhat other gems will people, who aren'twell-versed with Telugu cinema, discover in near future.Currently, the focus is clearly on Rajamouli and the spectacular world ofMahishmathi that he has created for Baahubali : The Conclusion. The action looksmuch bigger than what it was in part one and the drama is expected to be animmersive experience in itself. With a lot of buzz surrounding 'Why KattappaKilled Baahubali?', the film is going to grab a lot more eyeballs than what itspredecessor did. Now that the foot is in the door, Baahubali has also given otherfilmmakers a chance to go beyond the borders of the two Telugu speaking states.Multi-linguals are expected to flourish in near future and already, films starringMahesh Babu and Ram Charan are moving in that direction.All said and done, SS Rajamouli's Baahubali : The Conclusion has done what a lotof people had been dreaming about - to unfurl Telugu cinema's flag across thecountry. It's no more a dream now. Let's hope that the flag flies high and therewill be others too in near future to keep the momentum going.- hemanth Kumar Cr

ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 27

From Bollywood toTamil cinema,

everyone is in awe ofSS Rajamouli and his

Baahubali team forwhat they seem to

have achieved in thefilmmaker's latest epic

saga Baahubali - TheConclusion. Here's alook at how the film

has cut across allbarriers to become a

truly Indian film.

Adocumentary titled ‘In-side Tirumala Tirupati’directed by New Delhi-based award-winningdocumentary film maker Rajen-dra Srivathsa Kondapalli, pre-miered on National GeographicIndia channel was widelywatched for its spectaculur cap-ture of the world-renowned tem-ple.The 45-minute documentary al-lows viewers to experience thetemple and its surroundings likean insider would, including get-ting a front-row seat to witnessthe spectacular annual celebra-tion of Brahmostavam – an eventthat attracts such massivecrowds that it makes the Tiru-mala temple one of the most vis-ited Hindu pilgrimages in theworld. The film presents themagnificent sanctum and its set-ting through time-lapse andhyper-lapse photography. Theviewers would get a feeling ofwalking alongside devotees whoscale the Seshachalam or SevenHills on foot to reach the hilltoptemple for a coveted Darshan ofLord Venkateshwara.It took more than a year to de-velop and produce the film, in-cluding in-depth research withthe cooperation of TirumalaTirupati Devasthanam and ChiefPriests. Inside Tirumala Tirupatipromo views on National Geo-graphic Facebook page havetouched more than 12 millionand ticking.

tirumaladoCu on nGCCaptivatinG

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28 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM APRIL 2017

Setting the stage for Government of AndhraPradesh’s ambitious initiative, #SpringConfer-ence 2017 was inaugurated at Novotel,Visakhapatnam recently. Fintech Valley Vizag is Gov-ernment of Andhra Pradesh’s flagship initiative thatbrings together industry, academia and investors toinnovate, co-create and build the fintech ecosystem.The Fintech Spring Conference 2017 marks the be-ginning of this journey. The primary objective of theevent is to explore trends and opportunities in fin-tech. This is a plat-form where the finestminds of financialand startup commu-nity get to sharemind-space withthought leaders, busi-ness leaders, artists,actors, musicians, fu-turists and entrepre-neurs.Offering full supportto organisations, in-cubators, facilitatorsand start-ups, invit-ing anyone with dis-ruptive ideas to be apart of Fintech Valley,on the edge of inno-vation, Hon’ble Chief

Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Nara ChandrababuNaidu interacted with delegates for an hour overvideo conference and took inputs from fintech com-munity present at the Spring Conference. He chairedThe Fintech Valley Forum setup to focus on variousaspects of the ecosystem creation. While addressingthe august gathering he said, “The Fintech ValleySpring Conference is our step in joining the FourthIndustrial Revolution which is a spectacular combi-nation of technology and Internet of Things (IoT). Inrecent times, technology has started influencing ourlives in a comprehensive manner. The demand forFintech is growing each day. To meet this demand,we would need the support from Fintech and Cybersecurity companies. We also need the academic in-stitutions to adapt curriculum that trains individualsto contribute to fintech sector. I extend my bestwishes for the success of the initiative and hope itprovides multiple opportunities to meet the futuris-tic requirements of our country and the global econ-omy at large.”In his keynote address, Special Chief Secretary andIT Advisor to the AP Chief Minister, J. A. Chowdarystated, “Indian IT 1.0 is facing difficulties. The nextflight towards IT 2.0 will be backed by fintech. Thetectonic shifts this will cause and entail is capturedby the expression ‘fintectonics’. It is a fintech culturewe are creating here – a culture of doing somethingfor the betterment of the common man, a culture ofcreating an ecosystem by getting the right industry

CREATING THE FINTECH ECO-SYSTEM

the fintech springConference 2017 marks the

beginning of this journey.the primary objective of the

event is to explore trendsand opportunities in fintech.this is a platform where thefinest minds of financial and

startup community get toshare mind-space with

thought leaders, businessleaders, artists, actors,

musicians, futurists andentrepreneurs.

APRIL 2017 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM 29

linkages and findingthe right formula forthe critical man-power.” Present onthe dais were Mr. RoyTeo, Director, Fintech& Innovation Group,Monetary Authorityof Singapore (MAS);Utkarsh Palnitkar,Partner KPMG; George Inasu – COO, Fidelity Finan-cial Services; Puneet Pushkarna, Chairman, TIE –Singapore and Joe Seunghyun Cho – Co-founder andChairman, Marvelstone Group .To accelerate the evolution of Fintech Valley, theGovernment of Andhra Pradesh (GoAP) has also ini-tiated a fintech networking event every month, inaddition to the annual fintech international flagshipevent. This year, on October 9-10, the governmentwill host the Blockchain Technology InternationalEvent. The flagship Global Fintech Summit will takeplace on Feb 19th & 20th, 2018. This event providesthe opportunity to participate in the $1 millionglobal fintech award challenge and the INR 1 croreIndian fintech award challenge.An invigorating Investment Panel Discussion on‘Funding Fintech – wearing an investor’s hat’ wasmoderated by P. S. Sreekanth, Investment Director,Hyderabad Angels; Sampath Iyengar, Partner,Forum Synergies; Abhinav Chaturvedi, Principal,Accel Partners; Prasad Vanga, Founder and CEO,Anthill Ventures; Utkarsh Sinha, Enterprise Technol-ogy Investor, Bitkemy Ventures; Puneet Pushkarna,Chairman, TiE – Singapore and Utkarsh Palnitkar,Partner and National Head IGS Advisory Manage-ment, KPMG. Beginning the discussion with the postdemonetization scenario, the panelists sustainedtheir dynamic dialogue in identifying fintech invest-ment portfolios with high RoIs.Additionally, the finalists’ demos and presentationsfor the ICICI Bank Start-Up Challenge & the HDFCLife Start-Up Challenge were showcased to the audi-

ence, wherein the competitors took questions fromthe judging panelists. Following this, another Bank-ing Panel Discussion on ‘Consumers and Market-places changing in an increasingly cashless world’was moderated by Ms. Neha Punater, Partner andHead Fintech, KPMG. Key panelists Akhil Handa, Ad-visor to MD&CEO, Bank of Baroda; Shashi Bhushan,Managing Director, Investment Management Tech-nology, Goldman Sachs India; Ramesh Loganathan,Professor, IIIT Hyderabad and Sudin Baraokar, Headof Innovation SBI discussed challenges faced bystart-ups in being unable to identify and direct re-sources towards the accurate fintech problem area.They also proposed the need to create a consoli-dated industry-wide ‘use case’ library to facilitate in-novation.Furthering collaboration towards developing thisecosystem, the Government also signed a partner-ship agreement with Lattice80, Pearson, Anthill Ven-tures, HackerEarth, F6S, Forum Synergies,Hyderabad Angels, Zone Startups, ParadigmIT andTrade Land Finance Tech Consortium (TLF).The first Fintech Valley Vizag Spring Conferencebrought together fintech companies, start-ups, re-searchers and key government officials working inthe fintech sector and provided opportunities fordisruptive business solutions. The peaceful atmos-phere offered by Visakhapatnam compared to otherbustling tech-hubs in India, created a serene envi-ronment for igniting fintech innovation and disrup-tion ideas at the Fintech Valley Spring Conference.Fintech Valley Vizag is rapidly becoming the epicen-tre of fintech disruption. Since the launch of FintechTower, the Andhra Pradesh government has signednumerous partnership agreements with renownededucational institutions, corporations and govern-ments that share the state’s vision of becoming pio-neers for building strong standards for fintech andmutually sharing the desire in working towards co-operative advancement through information and re-source sharing.Courtesy : The DQ Weekv

in his keynote address,special Chief secretary

and it advisor to the apChief minister, J. a.

Chowdary stated,“indian it 1.0 is facing

difficulties. the nextflight towards it 2.0 will

be backed by fintech.the tectonic shifts thiswill cause and entail is

captured by theexpression ‘fintectonics’.


AMAZING ANDHRA PRADESH

Come, Let’s

VIZAG!


packages• the packages are as low as rs. 3,350 per person for

two nights and three days that cover vizag and arakuwith stay in budget hotels.

• the highest package for the same duration and loca-tions in quality accommodation in five-star hotels costsrs. 7, 975.

• stay in tree houses, surfing and scuba diving will bethe special attractions.

• the packages can be booked till may 31 and tours willbe available from may 1 to June 30.For more details visit: https://letsvizag.com/

Hill stations have beenthe summer destinies toKumar Buradikatti ofBengaluru for a fewyears. But, this year, heis trying something different whilemaking Vizag, a.k.a Visakhapatnam,the port city of Andhra Pradesh, anew holiday spot. He booked his slotfor May 5th to spend his weekend.Why did he choose Vizag- the City ofDestiny- as his new destiny in sum-mer? It is because of the most aggres-sive campaign, being launched byAndhra Pradesh Tourism departmentto promote tourism and to attractmore sojourners. The campaign was named ‘Let’sVizag’, aimed to promote Vizag as theideal summer holiday destinationand accordingly, a websitehttps://letsvizag.com/ was also kick-started. Kumar Buradikatti was oneof the aspirant- visitors that regis-tered with the site. Thanks to themassive campaign, on which touristdepartment is spending Rs. 2.5 crore,there is a surge of inquiries and regis-trations from the other metropolitancities, including Bhubaneswar,Kolkata, Hyderabad, Chennai andNew Delhi, besides Bengaluru. “It’s all about assortment and dealingwith swelling markets of tourism,”Andhra Pradesh Tourism AuthorityChief Executive Officer (CEO) Himan-shu Shukla said. The aim, accordingto him, is to turn Vizag into state'sone of top three tourist destinations.Vizag is surely a pointer to evolvingtrends in its culture, it has alwaysbeen relatively inclusive place. It isnestled in the lap of hillocks on theshores of Bay of Bengal. Aglow withswanky urban features like clubs, cot-tages, boutiques etc, it is now hostingRs. 2.5 crore ‘Let's Vizag’ campaign.

Thus, apart from the conventionaladvertising campaigns, Let's Vizag- campaign is concentrating morein the digital domains. Its state-of-the-art website, with improve-ments in terms of all latestfeatures, is reaching out the visi-tors of new-generation. The web-site presents the visitor apanoramic view of virtual vicinityof Vizag. In the first category, ‘Let’sWalk Across The Sands’, theuniqueness and beauty of Vizagbeaches, including Ramakrishnabeach, Gangavaram beach, Bhimli,Yarada and Rishikonda beaches,are portrayed. In the section- ‘Let’sDiscover Nature’- picturesquebeauty of Ananthagiri Hills, Lam-basingi, Araku and Burra Caves, isexplained. Vizag has become more cosmopoli-tan, nevertheless, culturally aware.It is clearly culturally attuned inmost ways, which truly earned the

city an epithet cultural capital ofAndhra. Owing to the cultural plu-rality of the area, Let's Vizag web-site provided a category- ‘Let’sExplore a New Culture’- to makethe visitor understand the diver-sity. The campaign covers most of thesocial media networks, viz, Face-book, Instagram, Twitter andYouTube, besides smart phones.According to the officials, the maintarget is to attract young and re-cently married couples as well asthe well-off sections of society. APTourist department came to an un-derstanding with all the hotels, 17tour operators in the city to offerthe best deals to the tourists. Thus,Let's Vizag is said to be a collectiveeffort of the Tourism department,hotels and the tour operators. Afree tour would also be offered for200 winners of the contests on thesocial media and other platforms.

v


Widening of nG 5 in ap Highways developer Ashoka Buildcon said its arm haswon a Rs 1,187 crore project from NHAI for widening ofa stretch of NH 5 in Andhra Pradesh. "The companyssubsidiary viz Ashoka Concessions Ltd (ACL) has re-ceived letter of award from National Highways Authorityof India (NHAI) ... for six laning of Ranastalam to Anan-dapuram (Visakhapatnam) section of NH 5 (new NH 16)in Andhra Pradesh," Ashoka Buildcon said in a regula-tory filing to the BSE. The project will be undertaken onhybrid annuity mode under the National HighwaysDevelopment Project phase V, it said. "The accepted bidproject cost is Rs 1,187.10 crore," it said.

mcnally Bharat secures solar projectMcNally Bharat Engineering said it has bagged Rs415crore solar power project order in Andhra Pradesh. “Thecompany has received an order for design, engineering,manufacturing, supply, commissioning and operationand maintenance of 500 MW grid connected solar PVpower project, including civil works in Andhra Pradesh,on EPC basis for Andhra Pradesh Power Generation Cor-poration Ltd for a value of Rs415.29 crore,” McNallyBharat Engineering said in a BSE filing.

mla Bhuma nagi reddy passes awayBhuma Nagi Reddy, legislator from Nandyal in Kurnooldistrict in Andhra Pradesh, died of heart attack. He was53. Reddy is survived by his daughter Bhuma AkhilaPriya, who is also a Legislator from Allagadda con-stituency. His wife Sobha Nagi Reddy died in a road acci-dent two years ago, while campaigning for her electionfrom Allagadda constituency. Chief Minister Chan-drababu Naidu expressed his condolences to the be-reaved family.

Great lakes institute sets up university Chennai and Gurgaon-based Great Lakes Institute ofManagement has launched the Great Lakes Interna-tional University (GLIU) in Andhra Pradesh, making itone of the first few private universities being set up inthe state. The university will commence its first aca-demic session in August with two courses — a BBA anda B.Tech in computer science. “The university aims tonurture future leaders who are armed with intellectualcuriosity, critical thinking and confidence derived fromstrong values and a global perspective,” MohanLakhamraju, founder of the university, said.

rasna to set up factory in apFruit based concentrate manufacturing major Rasnasaid it plans to set up a new production facility inAndhra Pradesh as part of its proposal to increase mar-ket share in the powder drink segment. The new factory

would be the company’s 10th facility in the country thatwould help strengthen its market share in the powderdrink segment, Rasna Pvt Ltd. Chairman and ManagingDirector, Piruz Khambatta told reporters. “This factorywill be an integral part of Rasna to strengthen themarket share in the powder drink segment”, he said.

Cm launches distribution of four-wheelersChief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu formally launchedthe distribution of 125 Toyota Innova and an equal num-ber of TATA Ace vehicles to the beneficiaries of theScheduled Castes’ (SCs) Action Plan 2016-17 at the In-terim Government Complex at Velagapudi. The actualdistribution of vehicles will take place on April 14 tomark the birth anniversary of Dr. B.R. Ambedkar. The ve-hicles are being given to unemployed youth belongingto the SCs at 35 % subsidy, 5 % beneficiary contributionand the balance in the form of a loan component fromthe National Scheduled Castes Finance and Develop-ment Corporation. Social Welfare Minister RavelaKishore Babu said the beneficiaries were selectedthrough a lottery, and representatives of the respectiveautomobile companies (Toyota and TATA) gave a presen-tation on their technical specifications and operation.

haritha park to be made a 5-star resortThe state tourism officials plan to convert the HarithaResort located at the Berm Park on the banks of theriver Krishna in Vijayawada into a grand five-star river-front resort with 100 rooms. The project will be imple-mented in PPP mode at an estimated cost of Rs 100crore. “Request for Proposal for the project has been is-sued and a developer will be selected soon. Work re-lated to landscaping and clearing of areas to developnatural trails are already in progress. New pathways,selfie points and many other attractions will be devel-oped as part of the project,” said Himanshu Shukla, Di-rector, Andhra Pradesh Tourism.

rly stations in state with cashless facilityRailway Minister Suresh Prabhakar Prabhu declared Vi-jayawada, Tirupati, Kakinada Town and Guntur railwaystations as 100% Digital Payment Enabled (DigiPAY) sta-tions. He launched the services online from the Hi-TechCity railway station in Hyderabad. Railway authoritiessaid the Tirupati railway station handled the largest flowof pilgrim traffic anywhere in the Indian Railways. Asmany as 78,000 passenger footfalls were recorded inthe station every day generating Rs 73.43 lakh. The Vi-jayawada station, the gateway to AP capital Amaravati,was one of the busiest railway stations and hub for rail-way services. About 97,166 passengers travel from Vi-jayawada a day and the station was earning Rs 68.11lakh per day. Located in the Konaseema area, the Kaki-nada Town station was serving the population of coastal

HAPPENING AP


area and meeting the industrial and economic needs.The station was getting Rs 8.42 lakh revenue per day byhandling 7,118 passengers. The Guntur station would bea vital link to the sub-urban commuter corridor ofVijayawada-Guntur-Tenali. The station was contributingRs 7.78 lakh revenue per day to the railways by handling44,000 passengers a day.

airbus a320 neo lands in vijayawadaAir India’s latest aircraft made its first landing inVijayawada airport near Gannavaram in March. AirbusA320 Neo was recently added to the fleet of Air Indiaaircraft and had just started serving on the New Delhi-Vijayawada route via Hyderabad. The aircraft was wel-comed with the water cannon salute marking its maidenservice. The airport officials greeted the pilots andcongratulated them on the inaugural service. The newaircraft has a capacity of 162 seats and is the most fuelefficient aircraft in the group. The aircraft wouldcontinue to be in service on the route.

nid’s amaravati campus construction to start Construction of the National Institute of Design (NID)’spermanent campus at Amaravati is likely to commencenext year with an initial investment of Rs 65 crore. Ithas already been allotted 50 acres near the Interim Gov-ernment Complex (IGC) at Velagapudi in Guntur district,said NID-Vijayawada Officiating Director PradyumnaVyas. He said NID-Ahmedabad is the mentoring institu-tion for NID-Vijayawada which is in the process ofadmissions for the third batch of undergraduate coursesin industrial, communication and textiles and appareldesigning commencing in July 2017 at its transit campusin Acharya Nagarjuna University (ANU).

10,647 cr. released towards farm loan waiver Agriculture Minister Prathipati Pulla Rao said thegovernment had till date released about Rs 10,647 croreto 35,65,150 farmers under the Agriculture Debt Re-demption Scheme–2014. The pending applications werebeing looked into. However, it is committed to fulfillingits promise in entirety in the due course, he said, reply-ing to a question by TDP members A. Radha Krishna andNimmala Rama Naidu in the Assembly as to how manyfarmers have got their loans waived and to what extentsince June 2014.

tirupati offerings net rs 4.75 Cr in a dayThe offering box at the hill shrine of Lord Venkateswarain Tirupati on March 27 netted cash offerings to thetune of Rs 4.75 crore in new notes, the highest singleday collection post demonetisation. Since theannouncement of demonetisation scheme, everydaythe handi (offering box) had collected between Rs 2.5and Rs 3 crore, besides offerings in gold and silver, fromthousands of devotees across the country, who are un-

deterred by demonetisation. In April 2012, on the auspi-cious ‘Sri Rama Navami’ day, the handi had received thebiggest single day cash offerings of Rs 5.73 crore.

state govt plans to set up anna canteens

The government is planning to set up 65 Anna canteensin various municipal corporations and municipalities inthe state in first phase and increase them depending onthe requirement. Civil supplies minister Paritala Sunithamade this announcement in Legislative Council whileanswering a question by M V V S Murthi during Ques-tion Hour. She further said that aA Cabinet sub-commit-tee will discuss the matter and take a decision. The aimof the government is to supply good quality food atnominal prices to the poor. The government is ready toprovide necessary budget support to the scheme. Thereare also proposals to set up Anna canteens near RTC busstands and railway stations to supply food at nominalrate to the poor, she added.

all constituencies to get stadiaLabour and employment minister K. Atchannaidu said inLegislative Council that the government was construct-ing the stadiums in all the Assembly constituencies inthe state to encourage sports. He further said that hehad asked all the MLAs take initiative to allot five acreseach in their respective constituencies for the purposeand 75 MLAs allotted land so far. Replying to a questionby MLC M V V S Murthi, during the Question Hour,Atchannaidu said that the state government had takenthe initiative to conduct National Games in 2018 in AP.He further said that the government would bring out anew sports policy, which would come into force assoon as the state Cabinet approves it.

renaming of tirupati and vijayawada airportsThe Andhra Pradesh legislature today passed resolu-tions urging the Union Civil Aviation Ministry to renameTirupati and Vijayawada airports, after LordVenkateswara and legendary Telugu actor N T RamaRao, respectively. The resolutions to rename both theexisting airports were moved, on behalf of Chief Minis-ter N Chandrababu Naidu, first in the Legislative Assem-bly and later in the Legislative Council, and wereapproved unanimously. In a resolution, the AndhraPradesh government requested the Aviation Ministry tochange the names of the Tirupati airport as SriVenkateswara Airport, Tirupati, after the famous deity.In another resolution, it wanted Vijayawada airport atGannavaram renamed as Nandamuri Taraka Rama RaoAirport, Amaravati, after the legendary Telugu film starand former Chief Minister. Since the Vijayawada airportis located in NTR's home district Krishna, the govern-ment wanted it named after him.

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34 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM APRIL 2017

z The state government had set a target of achieving 15% growth rate in the coming fiscal. z For the current year (2016-17), the state has achieved 11.61 % growth rate against 7.11 % inthe country. z The growth rate was 14.03% in agriculture and allied sectors against the national average of4.37%. z AP achieved 10.05 % in the industrial sector and 10.16 % in the service sector. z The national average in the industrial sector was 5.77 % , while it was 7.87 % in the servicesector.

Per Capita income 2016-17 AP : Rs 1,22,376 India : Rs 1,03,818

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CM IN PICS

pic 1: Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu was a special guest at the swearing in ceremony of Yogi Adityanath asthe newly elected Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh.

pic 2 The Chief Minister and his wife Bhuvaneswari inaugurated Aakruti Vastra exhibition of AP Crafts Counciland interacted with artisans.

pic 3: The CM was the chief guest at the Instiitute of Management Technology (IMT) Convocation in Hyder-abad, and spoke on the need for students to work for the country.

pic 4: In review on Amaravati, Chris Bubb of Fosters + Partners explaining the salient features of the plan to CMand Ministers.

pic 5: CM paying respects to MLA Bhuma Nagireddy, who passed away at a young age. Bhuma’s daughters,including MLA Akhila Priya is also seen.

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Regd. No. H-HD-1082/2016-18 APENG/2007/20679Published on: 01/04/2017 Posting Dt: 6th

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