VIJAYAWADA: For the last three years, the State government has been making relentless efforts in ensuring decentralised and inclusive governance and in coherence with the objective of decentralised and good governance, it has embarked on restructuring of districts, Governor Biswabhushan Harichandan said on Monday. Addressing the joint session of the AP State Legislative Assembly and Council on the first day of the budget session, the Governor said in addition to the existing 13 districts, 13 more are being formed and the new setup will start functioning from Ugadi, April 2.
In his one-hour speech, which commenced at 11 am, the Governor said the country and the State have gone through a difficult phase in the last two years due to the Covid-19 pandemic. He said bifurcation related stress, five years of policy paralysis during 2014-19, an economic downturn during 2014-19, a year of economic downturn during 2019-20 and two subsequent years of Covid-19 pandemic have severely impacted the State finances.
“The government’s steadfast commitment for extending support to farmers, women, underprivileged, marginalised and vulnerable groups has ensured, even during these excruciatingly difficult times, rural consumption and spending and the economy as a whole does not take a nosedive,” he said. Owing to the impactful intervention of the government, the State has demonstrated a GSDP growth of 0.22 per cent in the financial year 2020-21. As against this, the country’s GDP shrank by 7.3 per cent during the same period. In the financial year 2021-22, the State GSDP at constant prices demonstrated a year on year growth of 9.91 per cent.
According to him, after subdued growth registered last year, the State economy is projected to bounce back to pre-Covid levels. The advanced estimates of the State economy for the year 2021-22 show an overall growth at 16.82 per cent at current prices. The per capita income has moved up to Rs 2,04,758 from Rs 1,76,707 last year, with a highly impressive growth rate of 15.87 per cent.
Reaffirming the State’s commitment to the welfare of the government employees, the government has implemented the 11th PRC. He explained how the effective implementation of Navarathnalu has been facilitated by directly transferring the financial assistance into the bank accounts of beneficiaries without any leakages. It significantly improved the lives of the people of the State. The Governor also explained how the village and ward secretariat and volunteer systems are paying rich dividends. He elaborated on the State’s efforts for improving education standards through Nadu-Nedu for which the government is spending Rs 15,000 crore.
The Governor explained about the government’s efforts towards welfare of farmers and development of the farm sector through a plethora of programmes such as YSR Rythu Bharosa-PM Kisan, free crop insurance scheme, zero interest loan scheme, e-cropping, intime input subsidy.
Covid impact
The Governor said Covid-19 pandemic had a deleterious fiscal impact. “While revenues were constrained, the expenditure had gone up due to Covid mitigation measures,” he said.
