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“Society is a Temple, People are God in it; PeopleFirst is our Mantra” – this was the slogan by theChief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, in the inau-gural session of the two-day collectors’ confer-ence, held on May 25- 26 in Vijayawada. The sloganended up connecting emotionally with the citizensof the state. 'People First' is an integrated griev-ance redressal initiative as part of its realtime gov-ernance to build a 'happy, healthy and sustainablesociety'. Under the initiative, people could dial

1100 to register complaints about governmentservices and schemes, which will be escalated tothe department concerned in realtime for redres-sal. 'People First' logo was launched during theCollectors conference.The campaign that went on from 25th May to 29thMay, received huge response. The total number ofgrievances that were received as part of the initia-tive stood at 19617. ‘People First’ continues to cre-ate ripples.

PEOPLE FIRST


C O N T E N T S

Three Cheers

GI Tag FurtherSweetens Bainganpalli

AP Pioneers in Pre-dicting Lightning

6

24

18

Proud momentfor AP 26

Winning Deals andHearts

14

It might be too early tocelebrate, but AndhraPradesh has become aninspiring example of howall the adversity in theworld cannot stop a statefrom fulfilling its destiny.

Despitehumble roots

Happening Andhra

29

532

CM’s SocialNetwork

34Literary reminiscencesOfGurazada

28

22 A Watershed MomentFor Indian Cinema

30

Various developments across thestate of Andhra Pradesh.

Safe DrinkingWater21

MoU Signed BetweenAP & Singapore

AP farmer armouredwith Plantix

Delighted to watchNaidu in action

Market Size keeps AP inRank 3

23

1720

Next Step In The Ladderof Happiness


JUNE 20174 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG

Miles To Go

In the long and arduous journey of creating a people’s capitalAmaravati, a major milestone has been reached in May whenGovernment of AP entered into an MoU with the Government of

Singapore. The Letter of Award to the Singapore Consortium for thedevelopment of 1691 acres start up area adjacent to the GovernmentCore area of 900 acres will kickstart the economy of Amaravati.

The pace of construction of the capital city, admittedly, has not beenas fast as the Government, or the people, had hoped because of thehurdles sought to be thrown in the way by vested political interests.On the one hand, these naysayers resort to every means to put spokesin the efforts of Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to create a world-class capital city; on the other, they criticise the Government for lackof progress in the construction. But fortunately, the people have seenthrough such games, and appreciate the relentless pursuit of the CMto realise the dream in the face of insurmountable odds.

As incorrigible as they are, the detractors have tried to fan ill-willagainst the Chief Minister even in a foreign land like the USA duringthe former’s week-long visit to drum up support for collaborationsand sew up business alliances for employment generation. While suchattempts have not dampened the spirit of Naidu who left no stone un-turned to explore all available opportunities for the benefit of AndhraPradesh, such negativity is alarming for the future of the state.

Given the CM’s unassailable record in the area of development, theattempts at throwing mud, of course, failed to get any traction.

However, at a time when every hand needs to be extended, it is un-fortunate that personal animosities and political rivalries are beingallowed to ruin the making of a state that was left rudderless in thechoppy waters of bifurcation.

While nobody is above reproach, one hopes that better sense prevailswhen what is at stake is the destiny of a state and its fifty millionsubjects. And their dreams of a bright future.

Ramesh Babu KandulaEditor

EDITORIAL

CommissionerS Venkateswar IISEditorRamesh Babu KandulaExecutive EditorNaresh NunnaCover PageThree Cheers for Development

Second Cover Collectors’ Conference

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

June 2017Volume:11 Issue:12Salivahana 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.


JUNE 2017 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 5

An enticing dream of AndhraPradesh has come true. TheGovernment of AndhraPradesh and Singapore gov-ernment signed a memorandum ofunderstanding on May 15 to develop6.84 km start up area in Amaravati.Singapore-based Ascendas-Singbridge Pvt Ltd and SembcorpDevelopment Ltd were awardedRs528 crore project by the govern-ment of AP to act as the master de-veloper for a start-up area, spanning1,691 acres, to be built in the upcom-ing capital city of Amaravati. ChiefMinister N Chandrababu Naidu andMinister for Trade and Industry,Government of Singapore, S Eswaranparticipated in the MoU signingceremony. Speaking on the occasion, the Chief

Minister promised to develop Amar-avati as most liveable city in theworld with ‘People First’ concept.Lauding the government of Singa-pore for its character and commit-ment, the CM said that the masterplan developed by Singapore govthelped for a vision on developmentof capital. He said the start up areawould be developed on Swiss chal-lenge system. In his reply, Eswaranthanked the CM for the trust that hereposed in them. According to him,their PM is likely to visit India in thebeginning of 2018 and he may prob-ably visit Amaravati then. Ascendas-Singbridge and Sembcorpwill form the Amaravati Develop-ment Partner (ADP) along with theAmaravati Development Corporation(ADC), an Andhra government com-

pany. ADP will undertake the masterdevelopment of the start-up area,which will be built along with the de-velopment of the 900-acre Govern-ment Core area in Amaravati.For speedy implementation of theproject, a high-level joint implemen-tation steering committee (JISC) willalso be formed.The start-up area is expected to cre-ate the first centres of activity at-tracting settlers and investment intoAmaravati City, the new capital citythat the Andhra Pradesh governmenthas planned to develop for the state,comprising developments for busi-ness, commercial and residential use.A green-field development, the proj-ect includes infrastructure develop-ment to prepare the site for a mix ofbusiness, commercial and residentialactivities, as well as catalytic devel-opment in the start-up area. The JISCwill be co-chaired by the Naidu andEswaran. Similarly, a joint implemen-tation working committee (JIWC)will also be formed with senior offi-cials from both the Andhra govern-ment and the Singapore government.The equity participation in ADP willbe Rs306 crore (58%) by the Singa-pore consortium and Rs222 crore(42%) by ADC.ADP will develop the 1,691 acres in15 years in three phases. Only aftersale of 70% of the developed landwill the next phase be started. Thereserve price of land for the firstphase is Rs4 crore per acre. A com-mittee consisting of the ADP and thegovernment of Andhra Pradesh willdecide the same for the next phases.

Singapore firms to develop start-up area in AmaravatiMOU SIGNED BETWEEN AP & SINGAPORE

v



Three years is too short a time, but for someone who has proven as aworld leader and a visionary like Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister,Nara Chandrababu Naidu, it was enough to achieve extraordinaryprogress on the fast track. Andhra Pradesh is racing towards devel-opment under his dynamic leadership which is evident by the re-sults which are there for everybody to see.However, Chandrababu Naidu in all modesty says it is still not the time to cele-brate, but to review the work done so far in order to take fool-proof measuresfor making further strides in development to achieve all milestones one afteranother. When the entire State was seething with anger on the raw deal metedout to it during bifurcation and even wanted to observe June 2 when the newStates of AP and Telangana came into being, as a day of betrayal, the ChiefMinister, well-known for turning crises into opportunities, has kept his cooland took a vow on June 2, 2014, for rebuilding a new Andhra Pradesh all overagain instead of fretting and fuming over the injustice done to the residuarystate.People FirstThe Chief Minister has always believed that people came first, for, it was theywho voted the Telugu Desam Party, of which he is the national president, topower. His handling of the issue of granting reservations to Kapu community,majority of which remained backward, stands out as a classic example. Whensome self-centred politicians and vested interests instigated the Kapus toresort to a violent course of action and demand a Government Order (GO) forincluding them in the list of backward classes, Naidu, who has in mind thelong-term interests of Kapus, came out with a prudent move.For one who could set up a Kapu Welfare Corporation with an annual alloca-tion of as much as Rs.1,000 crore purely for the welfare of the Kapu Commu-nity, the Chief Minister could have merely issued a GO to satisfy the Kapus.However, he knew it could be merely an eye-wash and therefore, in all sincer-

THREE CHEERSIt might be too early to celebrate, but Andhra Pradesh hasbecome an inspiring example of how all the adversity inthe world cannot stop a state from fulfilling its destiny.Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu and his Governmenthave been in the forefront of this resurgence.

3 years


ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 7JUNE 2017


8 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG JUNE 2017

ity, set up a Commission on the issue with former Kar-nataka High Court Judge K.L. Manjunatha as its head.Something only a visionary is capable of. The Commissionis thoroughly studying the living conditions of Kapus inthe State in a bid to grant them the quota they deserve.After all, people’s interests come first.Future DecodedIn February last, MicroSoft organized a technical session

`Future Decoded’ in Mumbai. Our Chief Minister delivereda keynote address in which he briefed the audience as tohow he could light the technology lamp in the dwelling ofcommon man. Not only technologically, ChandrababuNaidu is able to realize the dream of achieving inclusivegrowth which he has done during the past three years,unveiling the Future Decoded with consummate ease.At a time when the State was plunged in gloom in the af-termath of bifurcation, with empty coffers and the rev-enue spinning Hi-Tech City going to Telangana, he took

upon himself the daunting task of reconstructing a newAndhra Pradesh state. There was no State Capital, every-one was at a loss to know where to locate the new capital.But the Chief Minister, who began with circumspection,slowly unravelled his self to provide the answer to theworld.What is Andhra Pradesh today? Is it the one which isspread over 1.63 lakh sq. km., has the second longestcoast of 974 km, a sprawling 37,000 km extent of forestregion, and standing as the eighth biggest State account-ing for 4.1 per cent of the total population of the country?Geographical aspects apart, it has a leader with themissionary zeal and enthusiasm of an explorer inChandrababu Naidu. He came out with 7 Missions, 5Campaigns and 5 Grids to take AndhraPradesh towards a double-digit growth. He is determinedto make Andhra Pradesh as one of the three top States inthe country by 2022, the best in India by 2029 and aworld class State by the year 2050.Progress-Welfare, two sides of the coinBefore reviewing how each sector fared in the past threeyears, we will know that the Chandrababu Governmentgives equal importance to the development of the State aswell as welfare of the people. It believes that welfare anddevelopment are not synonyms but form each side of thesame coin. The Chief Minister has proved during thesethree years that development without addressing peo-ple’s welfare cannot be termed real development and thereal definition of development is people’s welfare. Thefact that changed the face of the State is the angling for in-clusive growth which has become its ideal.And Chandrababu Naidu has added `happiness’ to itscountenance, which certainly counts. It is his aim thatpeople should also be very happy. He not only keeps talk-ing about the happiness index but also ensured it was notconfined to papers and established a separate wing in theadministration. The result, Andhra Pradesh is ranked72nd in the World Happiness Index. In accordance withinternational standards, different aspects like mentalhealth, physical health, utilization of time, education, goodgovernance, social development in villages, diversity inculture, overcoming problems, environment, life standsetc. were taken into consideration to assess the happi-ness levels of the people in a state. Andhra Pradesh hasemerged 72nd with a score of 5,368 compared to Indiawhich is placed 122 among 155 countries in the study un-dertaken for the 2017 World Happiness Report.This also means that Andhra Pradesh is far ahead of India

3 years



which has a score of 4,315 and also headand shoulders above China which scored5,273, Pakistan at 5,269, Bhutan 5,011, andNepal 4,962 in achieving international stan-dards of happiness. What better testimonydoes the Chandrababu Government needfor its good governance? There are no agita-tions on the roads by people, no violent in-cidents, no protests, no strikes. Even whilefacing a severe financial crunch, adisciplined approach is adopted to paysalaries to employees on time. There are nopower cuts, and the power situation hasimproved tremendously from deficit to oneof surplus! More importantly, there are nofarmers’ suicides, no lathi charges forseeking seeds, nor any fertiliser shortage.Despite delayed monsoon, the transplanta-tion process was satisfactory. If Pattiseemaproject helped realizing the dream ofinter-linking of rivers, reaping rich harvestin the Pattiseema ayacut is nothing short ofa miracle!Also, in spite of being unable to assess therevenue inflows, the primary and second-ary budgets were introduced. It is hearten-ing to note that the revenue flow hassurpassed expectations. And the efforts forforeign investments bore fruit leading tounfolding of an Industrial Andhra Pradesh.The farmers spontaneously responded tothe call of Chandrababu Naidu for con-struction of a new Capital by giving awaytheir 33,000 acres of land! Several nationaland international educational institutionshave laid foundation stones for theirbuildings and some began their academicyears too. The residuary state of Andhrawhich became Navyandhra or new Andhrayesterday is now marching ahead in thepath of progress as Swarnandhra – GoldenAndhra Pradesh.No stopping welfareIt has to be kept in mind that Chan-drababu’s welfare measures are not pop-ulist schemes. They were a result of his longdrawn Padayatra covering every nook andcorner of the State that formed the basis forpreparing the Election Manifesto. `Vastun-



naa Meekosam --`I am coming for your sake' odyssey onfoot saw him trek several thousands of kilometres forhundreds of days to get closer to the people. He drew in-spiration from legends like Mahatma Gandhi who went onDandi March, Martin Luther King who undertook peacerally and Acharya Vinoba Bhave who was the architect ofthe Bhoodan Movement. The Padayatra enabled him toget first-hand knowledge of the tavails of the farmers,handloom weavers, dalits, the downtrodden and weakersections, and the poor and lower middle classes. It ledhim to take drastic steps like waiver of farm loans, hike inpensions, NTR ArogyaSri and other schemes.Naidu who saw the plight of farmers in the hands of pri-vate moneylenders; the farmer unable to clear the debt,was being forced to take the extreme step of sudicide. Hetherefore decided on loan waiver which endeared him tothe tiller of land. In spite of severe financial crunch, theState Government not only spent Rs.11,076 crore so faron loan waiver so far, but also allocated Rs.3,500 crore forthe purpose in the latest budgetwhich was deposited in 55 lakhfarmers’ accounts. As many as23.46 lakh farmers who hadloans below Rs.50,000 becamedebt-free with as much asRs.4,456 crore credited to theirbank accounts at one go.Though not a poll promise,Rs.384.47 crore were also pro-vided as assistanace to horticul-turists for clearing their loans.The State Government is notcontent with making the farmer merely debt-free, but alsointroduced modern scientific farming method bring intoplay new technologies towards increasing their incomegeneration. All this resulted in significant development inthe agriculture sector.To promote farm sector, the State Government has comeout with special agricultural budget, with estimates atRs.18,214 crore. This clearly shows that agriculture playsa crucial role in the State economy and that it enjoyed pri-ority. It has also allocated Rs.25 crore for organic farming.The Government has directed the agricultural officers tonot only bring more land under cultivation but alsoincrease the yields. It has set itself a target of producing185.66 lakh metric tons of foodgrains in the year 2016-17, and achieved the mark. The programmes towardsmaking the State drought-free or starvation-free likePanta Sanjeevani, Rain Guns and NTR Jalasiri are meeting

with success. Five lakh agricultural remote pump setswere distributed free of cost to farmers.Like salaried classes, the farmers also should get sizeableincome five to six times in a year, Chandrababu Naidufeels. This will be possible only through agriculture alliedsectors. Therefore, the Government has turned its atten-tion towards fisheries, shrimp production, dairy and hor-ticulture. Already, Andhra Pradesh tops in fisheries andshrimp production in the country. Last budget allocatedRs.187 crore followed by Rs.282 crore in the presentbudget towards increasing fisheries products. This sawAndhra Pradesh account for 44 per cent of the exports ofmarine products valued at Rs.13,500 crore out of the totalexports of Rs.30,420 crore from India.Security schemesNTR Bharoa scheme is providing financial assistance toas many as 45 lakhdestitute and poor people.The Oldage, Widow andWeavers’ pensionamounts were increasedfive-fold from Rs.200 amonth to Rs.1,000 andthat of differently abledfrom Rs.500 to Rs.1,500 amonth from October 2,2017. The scheme willcomplete three years onGandhi Jayanti day thisyear. If the previousGovernment spentRs.1,349.64 crore onpensions, theChanrababau regime isspending Rs.500 crore for13 districts amounting toRs.6,000 crore a year.The pension scheme isfirst of its kind in Indiaand to prevent irregulari-ties, bio-metric systemand iris equipment is introduced.Now, through the CM Dash Board, it is possible to knowall details such as how many received pensions in aparticular month, how many more to be given, how manyreceived it on a particular day, in a transparent manner.According to latest figures, while 45.16 lah beneficiarieswere sanctioned Rs.492.84 crore as pension, as many as42.12 lakh were given Rs.457.51 crore, which meant the

the Government hasturned its attention

towards fisheries,shrimp production,

dairy and horticul-ture. Already,

Andhra Pradesh topsin fisheries and

shrimp production inthe country.

3 years



amounts were disbursed among 93 per cent.First Feminist CMAfter the successful conduct of National Women’sParliament in Vijayawada recently, the Times of IndiaConsultant Editor Sagarika Ghosh describedChandrababu Naidu as the first Feminist Chief Minister ofthe country. The first IPS officer and Lieutenant Governorof Puducherry Kiran Bedi felt every State in the countryneeded a Chief Minister like him. Several internationallyfamous women who participated in the conferencepraised Chandrababu Naidu for the initiative he hadtaken.Silent revolution of DWCRA womenDWCRA means Development of Women and Children inRural Areas. Though it is not a Chandrababu scheme, thecredit of making the DWCRA women attain internationalreputation goes only to him. At present there are 89.78lakh members in 8.8 lakh self-help groups in DWCRAwhich is creating a silent revolution, thanks to Naidu. TheGovernment provided an assistance of Rs.3,760 crore in2015-16 to enable the SHGs mobilize Rs.10,298 crroe ascapital. They had now mobilised Rs.12,288 crore as bankloans. Under Chandranna Cheyuta Scheme, Rs.1600 crorewas allocated to them in 2017-18 budget for capital infu-

sion. There are 6,67,362 SHGs in rural areas and 1,60,758SHGs in urban areas. As many as 82,13,281 women be-longing to these groups were provided assistance ofRs.4,971.94 crore as a welfare measure.DWCRA women were also given 1800 PC tablets. Duringthe last Godavari Pushkarams, DWCRA women could selltheir products worth Rs.3 crore. DWCRA Bazaars were or-

ganized and at exhibitions in India and abroad, 16 majororganizations including Walmart, ITC, Olam Agro, Mahin-dra and Mahindra, and Sreshta had come forward to workwith DWCRA women which shows his bias towardswomen.“By 2019, each home should have one woman e-literate.The literacy rate among DWCRA women should achieve100 per cent and they should develop skills and becomesuccessful entrepreneurs,” Chandrababu Naidu feels.The DWCRA women have a corpus of Rs.14,000 crorewhich would help them achieve the goal of women’s em-powerment. The development of the society is completeonly when women achieve economic independence andempowerment and they would lead us in the future, theChief Minister says.Backward Classes to the foreIn a major step towards uplift of the backward classes, thebudgetary allocations were increased by 31.5 per centover the previous year 2015-16 by sanctioning Rs.8,832crore during 2016-17 for backward classes welfare. TheBC Sub Plan in the past is now renamed BC Wefare Fundwith Rs.10,000 crore funds to create history. BC LoanMelas are conducted in all the 13 districts under Chan-dranna self-employment scheme and the AP State Legisla-tive Assembly has also adopted a resolution seeking 33per cent reservations for BCs in legislative bodies andsent it to the Centre.Ambedkar statue at AmaravatiChandrababu Naidu took a surprise decision to set up a125-foot statue for Dr. BR Ambedkar, the author of IndianConstitution, on a sprawling 15 acres of land at Amara-vati, the new capital of Andhra Pradesh. This certainly isa great tribute to the leader who continues to inspire andinfluence crores of Indians. A convention centre, Buddhameditation hall, Ambedkar Study Centre, library, Ambed-kar memorial garden, a museum on his life and times, Tel-ugu translations of Ambedar works, essay and elocutioncompetitions on Ambedkar’s ideals, all would be organ-ized at one lace. The State Government has sanctionedRs.210 crore for the entire complex.The State Government which has increased the budgetaryallocations by 14 per cent for social welfare during 2017-18, has also sanctioned Rs.933.99 crore for the SC Corpo-ration, Rs.386.3 crore more than last year. Post-MatricScholarships to the tune of Rs.1100 crore was disbursedamong six lakh SC students in the first two years and an-other Rs.87 crore in the form of pre-Matric scholarshipsto five lakh students studying between classes 5 and 10.



Also, Rs.20 crore was spent on providing training in skilldevelopment for 10,000 unemployed SC youth and 315 SCcandidates appearing for civil services examinations wereimparted training by spendingRs.5.07 crore last yearalone.Minorities, Tribal WelfareThe allocations for tribal welfare were increased by 16.12per cent over last year with Rs.1815.33 crore in the cur-rent year. Regarding welfare of the minorities, the fund was in-creased to Rs.840 crore to meet scholarships for studentsand Ramzan festivities expenses.Employment guarantee

The State Government won the national award for spend-ing Rs.4,424 crore in 2015-16 under the Mahatma GandhiNational Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGN-REGS). Under this scheme, 60 lakh workers belonging to35 lakh families in 13,099 villages had benefited. Thisyear, the budgetary allocations under this head are in-creased to Rs.6,562 crore.Pattiseema Project

The Pattiseema project linking the Godavari and Krishnarivers was achieved to make the entire country look upand take notice. Thanks to the project, Rs.2,500 croreworth standing crops could be saved.Arogyandhra scheme

Health is wealth and the State Government could reducethe infant mortality rate from 41 to 35 and deliverydeaths from 100 to 87. A special call centre has been setup for providing emergency services to pregnant womenand infants and round-the-clock services provided on tollfree no. 102 to extend medical services to them.Industrial development –Labour welfareAn insurance scheme to benefit 1.5 crroe workers in theunorganised sector is being implemented. The SunriseState of Andhra Pradesh could attract huge investmentsfor setting up several industries, thanks to ChandrababuBrand. SriCity was developed in Satyavedu and a helpinghand is extended to all classes of labourers.The CII Partnership Summit held in Visakhapatnam sawRs.6 lakh crore investments in the first year and anotherRs.10.54 lakh crore investments in the second year, whichis a record by itself.Education gets priorityThe budgetary allocation for Education this year isRs.21,108 crore which is Rs.1,454 crore more –accountingfor 8.8 rise over the previous year.

3 years



Power Sector gets acclaimThe power sector received international acclaim with theGlobal Climate Change Summit held at Paris recentlylauding the measures taken by Chandrababu Governmentin the area of Energy Efficiency.Polavaram getting readyThe prestigious Polavaram project is getting ready. The

Government has spent Rs.20,095 crore so far onPolavaram and other irrigation projects and the responsi-bility of the national project has been handed over to theState Government now.Along with Polavaram, the upcoming capital of Amaravatiis all set to become the mascot of a new, confident andmodern Andhra Pradesh, along with its chief architectNara Chandrababu Naidu. v


14 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM JUNE 2017

Ahectic week-long US tour of Andhra PradeshChief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, once againillustrated him as a go-getter, when it comes tomarketing what the state, he heads, has to offer.During his tour, he was conferred with an esteemedaward- "Transformative Chief Minister" by US-India Busi-ness Council (USIBC) and he what has been literally. Hewas presented that award for his ‘role in advancing US-India partnership at the state level’, by CISCO executivechairman John Chambers. In fact, Chandrababu Naidu already won some browniepoints from Chambers during 47th WEF meeting at Davos.Naidu made a presentation on Technologies for Tomorrowand Chambers was one of the audiences attended the ses-sion in flesh and blood andleft astounded.“Naidu is a tremendousleader who gets what digitalcan do for his state,” saidChambers during the awardpresentation at the USIBCWest Coast Summit in SiliconValley. He also recalled hisacquaintance with Chan-drababu Naidu for 18 years. Chambers also invited Naiduto his home for a meetingwith 30 CEOs because of hispersonal admiration forNaidu. “This is why I believe in this man so much,” wasChamber’s reaction on discovering Naidu made a trade-mark meticulous presentation.The summit brought together echelons in the industryand the government of India to discuss furtheringprospects in the US-India technology partnerships.In every suitable context during his tour, the Chief Minis-ter raised his sales pitch by showcasing the potential ofAndhra Pradesh. Focusing on the capital city, he invited

prospective investors and companies to set up shop or ex-pand existing facilities in Amaravati and elsewhere in thestate. His presentations were emphatic on how SunriseAndhra Pradesh has been on transformational journey to-wards a happy state, carrying his goal of promoting inclu-sive economic growth with happiness.The CM with his consciousness on deliverance of hispromises, impressed upon the pragmatic investors of US,who are generally ambivalent to put their money. At thesame instance, Naidu also struck the sentimental chord ofnon- resident Telugus. In an emotional appeal to Telugugroups, wherever he went, Naidu poignantly remindedthem the saying- Janani Janma-bhoomischa SwargadapiGariyasi (Mother and motherland are superior to heaven).He appealed to them to join as partners in capital con-struction and development to make Amaravati one of thefive best capital cities in the world.Chandrababu Naidu during the tour successfully made thetechnology companies, including Apple, Google and Dell,express interest in greater engagement with AndhraPradesh. He entreated them to come forward and createan ecosystem in Andhra Pradesh, as it presents a rare op-portunity to build a system from start.The flair of CM's US tour was not merely confined to be anexpedition of trade and business. His visit to State of Iowaendorsed his immense love for agriculture. He generally

FlAIr & PrAGMATISM IN CM’S US TOUr

WINNING DEALS AND HEARTS

During the fruitfulvisit, the CM met top

executives of someof the world's largest

technology compa-nies Apple’s Chief Op-

erating Officer JeffWilliams, and sought

investments fromthem in the state. CM addressing IT Service Alliance CEOs in Dallas


JUNE 2017 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM 15

speaks of the low income levels of the AP farmers, asfarming as a career is being mired in doom and gloom. Hisconsistent quest for a solution to the plight of farmersushered him to the Iowa Department of Agriculture andLand Stewardship. The objectives of World Food PrizeFoundation, Iowa found a striking resemblance with thoseof Naidu. As a result, Government of Andhra Pradeshsigned a Memorandum of Cooperation (MoC) with theIowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship,State of Iowa at the World Food Prize Foundation in orderto get advanced support in the fields of agricultural devel-opment, seed production and research. Naidu sought theirhelp in understanding and promoting best agriculturalpractices and the use of technology to our farmers. Theagenda of the US trip made it clear that that farmers andagricultural growth are his main agendas in governance.Itinerary In BriefFlextronics First A 17-member team, headed by the CM, including his sonand minister Lokesh, minsiter Yanamala Ramakrishnudu,Government advisor Parakala Prabhakar, CM's chief secre-tary G Saiprasad, senior bureaucrats Ajay Jain, SalmonArokyaraj, K Vijayanand, Financial Development CouncilCEO Krishna Kishore and others, was received with rous-ing welcome at San Francisco Airport. Immediately afterthe arrival, the Chief Minister held his first meeting withMike McNamara, CEO, Flextronics and explained him theabundant opportunities and enormous advantagesAndhra Pradesh has to offer in terms of location and ac-cessibility. He also highlighted the friendly business at-mosphere in Andhra Pradesh besides citing that it stoodfirst in the Ease of Doing Business rankings. McNamarawas reportedly impressive about the infrastructure in-cluding well maintained airports, deep draft ports, andqualitative power facilities being provided by the govern-ment. When the CM supposed McNamara to look into the possi-ble expansion of Flex’s existing operations in Visakhapat-nam, McNamara responded positively.Meets Governor of CaliforniaThe CM met State to the Governor of California, EdmundGerald ‘Jerry’ Brown Jr and sought California’s help in col-laborating in areas such as technology, industry and agri-culture. While providing a brief account of contemporarypolitical scenario of Andhra Pradesh, particularly in the af-termath of state bifurcation, Naidu explained him how agreat opportunity of building a new capital was bestowedupon him. He invited the Governor to visit AndhraPradesh in making. An ARM and its Holdings!Simon Segars, CEO of ARM Holdings was arm in arm withTechno savvy Naidu, how the latter has been successful indealing with Internet of Things (IoT). Then the CM ex-

plained the successful saga of AP’s integrating technologyin governance and taking it to the welfare of the people.Google and the X- factorChandrababu Naidu made his strong point that AP mustbe the potential ground for experimenting and launchingthe innovations carried on by Google X. During his visit toGoogle X, the CM personally tested Google's driverless carsand observed the Google's glasses projects and usage ofballoons for spreading Internet. Astro Teller, CEO ofGoogle X, made a presentation on the ongoing researchand development works at the facility. Enthralled by Google’s pioneering research, the Chief Min-ister expressed his desire to get collaborated with Google,as AP is embracing technology and innovation in a bigway. “Your experiments such as using of stratosphere balloonsto give access to Internet to inaccessible areas is one ex-ample out of many that can be experimented in our State,”he told Teller. In a remarkable development, Google Xagreed to collaborate with the Government of AndhraPradesh and work towards internet penetration to en-hance connectivity all over the State.Before this visit to Google X, the Chief Minister held hismeeting with H. Russell Drinker, Global Director of MMoser, which is an architectural firm. The company has ex-pressed interest to involve itself in the construction ofAmaravati. They have displayed their works and projectstaken up by them to the Chief Minister during the meeting.Apple of Apple’s eye

Chief Minister presenting a memento to Jeff Williams, COO, Apple Inc.



Chandrababu Naidu's hour-long meeting with Apple'sChief Operating Officer Jeff Williams would be a fillip tothe much-awaited Apple's foray into Andhra Pradesh."This is the right time for Apple Inc to invest in AP as ithas been growing consistently," Naidu told Williams. Heinvited them to open a manufacturing facility in AndhraPradesh, which has been adjudged the best state to dobusiness with and has a productive young population. The Chief Minister also met Sridhar Vembu, CEO of ZOHO,a billion dollar technology company, which provides SAASservices. The CEO said that they are interested to selectsmall towns in Southern AP for their IT operations. Pad-masree Warrior, the CEO of U.S for NIO, an electric vehiclecompany, Elon Reeve Musk, Founder and CEO of TeslaMotors were a few others, with whom the CM interacted. Janani Janmabhoomi…The Chief Minister interacted with high-end technologyentrepreneurs and Indian CEOs in a meeting organized byKPMG at San Francisco to mark the 3rd day of his visit toUS. The ‘who's who’ of the Indian business tycoons andtech leaders were present inthe meeting chaired by ArunKumar, who was with Obamaadministration for threeyears. Addressing the gather-ing, the Chief Minister saidthat he feels privileged to beamongst the brightest Indi-ans of the Silicon Valley,which he termed was a cra-dle of innovation. Recalling India’s inherentstrengths, demographic divi-dends and Prime MinisterNarendra Modi’s strong andpurposeful leadership, the CM said the ideal combinationof the both made India a right market. In his concludingremarks, the Chief Minister urged all NRIs, particularlyTelugus, to stay connected with their motherland.

In Dallas, the CM met Srikanth Satya of Dell. Dell has ex-pressed interest to setup a data centre in Amaravati.Naidu’s next meeting was with Director of Bell Helicop-ters, wherein the possibilities of establishing manufactur-ing facilities in Andhra Pradesh were discussed. The ChiefMinister then drove down to Mahatma Gandhi MemorialPlaza in Dallas to pay his obeisance to the father of the na-tion with a garland. As many as 28 companies of IT service sector came for-ward to start their operations in Andhra Pradesh. PremierIT solutions, GlobalOutlook, Tekpros, Arcus Technologieswere a few among them. Moc With Iowa Department Of Agriculture A memorandum of cooperation was signed between Gov-ernment of Andhra Pradesh and Iowa Department of Agri-culture and Land Stewardship, State of Iowa to promoteresearch and development in the fields of science, agricul-ture and life sciences. Explaining the farmer-friendly policies of AP, the ChiefMinister informed the gathering that farmer producers’organisations and water users association were estab-lished in our state. Referring to the signed MoC, the ChiefMinister said that it would help in increasing the seed pro-duction and research, leading to increase in crop output.Kenneth M. Quinn, President of the World Food PrizeFoundation, Bill Northey, Secretary of Agriculture of Iowawere a few dignitaries present on the occasion. CISCO makes ‘small business’ easyNaidu met John Chambers, Executive Chairman of CISCOat latter’s office at San Jose. After spending quality time atthe CISCO office and also at the USIBC meeting, where theCM was presented with Transformative Chief Minister-award, the CM delegation again returned to Chambers’house for dinner. The CM informed Chambers that Andhra Pradesh can be a

The CM was alsohonoured with "USCongressional light

of the life" Award2017. The award was

presented by USCongressman rep

Danny Davis inChicago.

CM with John Chambers, Executive Chairman of Cisco Systems

The Chief Minister receiving US Congressional Light of the LifeAward 2017 from Congressman Daniel Davis



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suitable pilot place for all the practices thatemerge out of new trends. “We will create allthe necessary conditions and AndhraPradesh is now ready to take off,” added theChief Minister. In his reply, Chambers said, “Let’s work onhow to make starting a new ‘small business’easy and how to make knowledge sharingeasy.” CM in Franklin TempletonThe CM called on the President and COO ofFranklin Templeton, Jennifer Johnson.Franklin Templeton built a huge campus inHyderabad during Naidu’s last tenure. Re-calling it, she thanked the CM for their com-fortable journey with India. When she said Franklin Templeton has plansto launch its operations in Visakhapatnam incase the State government provides land fac-ing the seashore, he rolled out red carpet. Healso assured her on the availability of high-end talent, telecom carrier capacity, broad-band connectivity and cloud infrastructure,etc in AP. The CM team also met Dr. Lloyd B. Minor,MD. Dean of Stanford University. During theinteraction, Naidu told him of his admirationfor Stanford for its academic excellence,which prompted him to encourage his son topursue higher studies there.The multi-tasked US tour of the CM resultedin mixed outcomes. He met influential indus-trialists and brought them to invest in APand also put in efforts to ensure that thefarmers and their hard work reap greaterbenefits. On the other hand, he called uponthe Telugu community to give back tomotherland. Thus, with his pragmaticpresentations and emotional speeches, theChief Minister’s US expedition won deals andhearts equally.

DELIGHTED TO WATCHNAIDU IN ACTIONVenkatesh Shukla was the person who facilitatedChandrababu Naidu’s Meeting with Apple COOJeff Williams, during Naidu's US trip. After Naidu’smeeting with Williams, Shukla posted a note onhis Facebook wall, with a ‘delight to watchMr Naidu in action’. Here is what Venkatesh Shukla's Facebookpost says: ‘Arranged Mr Chandra Babu Naidu's meeting with JeffWilliams, COO of Apple. His plane was an hour late. RajuIndukuri arranged for me to drive with the CM from theairport to Apple HQ So I could brief him about the points hecould make to the Apple management. The Apple staff told methat Jeff will be able to spend only 15 minutes with the CMsince the meeting started an hour late. He ended up talking toMr Naidu for more than an hour. Mr Naidu is an engagingspeaker and a forceful champion for India, for Modi govern-ment, and for his state. He spoke with conviction about hisvision for the state and his track record in delivering bigresults. Jeff was clearly taken by Mr Naidu's charisma and itshowed in the amount of time he spent with him as well as inhis body language.’ Two comments on the above postDeepak bhagat:Naidu had hosted me and my Sun team in Hyderabad when Iwas co-leading the investigation to start an Engineering Centerin India in '99. He was the CM. We were very very impressed byhim. In fact, he was the best CM we had met and we met manyin that trip. Then he made a special trip to visit Sun in MenloPark and I had arranged for him to meet McNealy. He was 30minutes late but was so impressive with his charts and presen-tations that the meeting was extended. Sun decided to open acenter in Hyderabad. My co-leader Mark had remarked that hefelt like a Lion had entered the conference room. He had so muchof energy coming out of him even before he spoke his first word.Thought I will share it.

Charul ShuklaTrue that. He is a very able task master... Since, I’ m involved inthe upgradation work of Vijayawada airport, had a chance tomeet him in person... And I was very impressed by his awarenessand knowledge of all the works going on at the airport... He hasa vision for the development of Andhra and he is following itwith conviction!

CM at Google’s X facility, during a demo of the amazingdriver-less car



May 16: State Disaster Man-agement Authority of AP-Vijayawada headquarters:

Kishan, a weatherman of state disas-ter management authority (SDMA),

did not wait for even a single mo-ment to call up revenue officials ofKuppam of Chittoor district ataround 9 pm and alert about animpending lightning (thunderbolt)in 30 minutes in a radius of threekilometers in the area. Kuppamofficials were also proactive in pass-ing the message to 300 publicservants including village assistants,sarpanches, village revenue person-nel, health workers and educationofficers under her jurisdiction askingthem to campaign among people intheir areas to stay away from treesand electric poles. It resulted inaverting of human and cattle lossand there was only a minimal prop-erty loss as in the vicinity. With a few more predictions oflightning ahead, Kishan grew morerestless with the passing time, and

was on a spree of issuing similar ad-visories for three kilometers radiusin Narsipatnam of Visakhapatnamdistrict, Markapuram block inPrakasam district and Tirumala hillshrine, Chandragiri, Palamanair andMittapalem villages in Chittoor dis-trict. Accordingly, the field officialshave campaigned in Kuppam, Ra-makuppam, Venkatagiri Fort, Byred-dypalle, Banganipalem, Gudupalle,Santhipuram and Palamanair areas.At 2.30 pm on May 18, the mandalrevenue officer of Anantagiri inVisakhapatnam district was alsoalerted by the state disaster manage-ment headquarters over a thunder-bolt in the next 30 minutes within atwo kilometers radius of the area.According to the feedback from thefield officers, the lightning occurredin 30 to 45 minutes after the call.The prediction helped them averthuman loss. Since most of the peoplein that area were in the forestcollecting the forest produce andfirewood, there should have beenhuman loss, if they had not beenalerted of the calamity. Felicitated by CM“Felicitated Sri. Kishan of SDMA, AP,who made use of thunderbolt predic-tion technology under People First(RTG) for saving lives”- this was

APPIONEERS INPREDICTINGLIGHTNING SOUGHT AFTER BySEvERAL STATESFOR TECH SUPPORT

According to thefeedback from thefield officers, thelightning occurredin 30 to 45 minutesafter the call.The predictionhelped themavert human loss.


what the Chief Minister tweeted onMay 25, after felicitating Kishan inthe inaugural session of two-day Col-lectors conference.With these tech enabled predictionsand swift responses, SDMA madeAndhra Pradesh the first state inIndia being able to predict thunder-bolts 30 minutes before their occur-rence. SDMA was equipped with anapp- Vajrapath, developed by a groupof five girls from Kuppam Engineer-ing College. They developed a mobileapplication, first of its kind, to detectlightning hit or thunderbolts 30minutes prior to the attack. The pathbreaking effort was supported byAndhra Pradesh State Council ofHigher Education (APSCHE) in asso-ciation with ISRO. The state-of-the-art alerting system was tested andpractically implemented first on May

16, incidentally in CM’s native dis-trict. With more than 80 percent accuracy,the prediction mechanism in collabo-ration with the ISRO and the US-based Earth Network that suppliedthe knowhow to AP, helps do awaywith or minimize human loss.According to National Crime RecordsBureau data, lightning is the actualmonster among the natural calami-ties, as the death toll from lightningstrikes is grimly more. AP and Telan-gana record several hundreds ofdeaths on account of thunderbolts

every year. Though lightning is re-sponsible for at least 10% of the totaldeaths caused by nature in mostyears, the victims have been at thereceiving end, because, lightning isnot categorized as a natural calamityyet. So, the bereaved families get nocompensation from the governmentunlike in the case of floods or earth-quakes. In this context, prediction oflightning, 30 minutes prior to its oc-currence, is absolutely a path-break-ing discovery. How it WorksStudy on thunderbolt depends on thestudy of movement of charges acrossthe clouds. The friction betweencharges in between the (positive andnegative) clouds in contact creates achange in temperature, which leadsto a current. As the current flow ismore than 30 kA(Kilo Amps), therewill be thunders. To study these,according to APSCHE officials, asmany as 14 proximity sensors, eachcovering a radius of 250 square kilo-meters, have been set up across thestate in a zigzag pattern. APSCHE en-sured that the sensors are installedup universities and engineering col-leges to encourage students to focuson the study of lightning prediction.The sensors analyze the parametersof the lightning whose information issent to the state disaster manage-ment board and meteorologicaldepartment. The information data isprocessed through an applicationprogram interface developed by thestudents where the information is

converted into text data and vocalalerts (IVR) which are sent to thepeople in the areas of the dangerzone.Proximity sensors assess the electro-magnetic waves and pass the data tothe cloud network of Earth Networksthat analyses and determines detailsof the lightning's latitude, longitudeand directions of travel and time ofstrike. The processed data will thenbe sent through Application ProgramInterface and the information con-verted to regional languages. All thesensors are connected to a monitor-ing screen set up at the AP State Dis-aster Management Commissioner'soffice in Kunchanapalli on Vi-jayawada outskirts. Soon as the sen-sor gets the indication 30 minutesbefore the thunder happening, itsends out alerts to all mobile towersunder its jurisdiction. The app-‘Vajrapath’ sends out text and voicemessages to all the mobile numbersin the area at one go, advising themto take care to escape the effect ofthe thunderbolt.Now, SDMA of AP is the most soughtafter department by its counterpartsof several states to help them insetting up similar systems in theirstates. According to the APSCHEofficials, the existing accuracy levelswere at 80 per cent. They evaluatethe system after a few predictions forcorrecting where there are hitches.Consequently, 95 percent accuracywould be attained in the next sixmonths, they aver. v


Now, SDMA of APis the most soughtafter departmentby its counterpartsof several states tohelp them insetting up similarsystems in theirstates.

CM Felicitating Kishan of SDMA.



During the inaugural ses-sion of two-day collectors’conference, held on May25 and 26 in Vijayawada,the Chief Minister N ChandrababuNaidu revealed a special report thatassessed the Global Competitivenessof Andhra Pradesh. Accordingly, APranked third in the world based onits market size. The Global Competi-tiveness Report (GCR) 2016- 17,which was released in September,2016, also placed India in third posi-tion when the market size was taken

into consideration. The assessmentnote of WEF (World EconomicForum) on the Global competitive-ness of AP further compared AP andIndia, on various parameters,including innovation & sophistica-tion, institutions, infrastructures etc. The comparative report of Globalcompetitiveness by WEF was theresult of an MoU signed between theState government of AP and WEFduring November, 2015. Accordingto the MoU, WEF would help the AP

government assessing the state’slevel of competitiveness. Thus, vari-ous parameters were considered tocompare AP on global front. It wasinteresting to note that the ChiefMinister dared a summative assess-ment that gives out grades blatantly,on the performance of his infant-state. Immensely committed Naidusought global level analysis andstudy to keep a constant track ofheadway for the state. CM’s move toincorporate Global CompetitivenessReport for the state in collaborationwith the World Economic Forum is apraiseworthy one. Naidu has onceagain proved that he is a man of‘right strategy at the right time’ withthe inclusion of GCI for AndhraPradesh. Collaboration with the

World Economic Forum will provideus with the methodology, tools andknowledge to design better policies,”said the CM of Andhra Pradesh. AP@36, India@51When parameters like primary edu-cation and health were taken intoaccount, Andhra Pradesh fared quitepoorly, securing 122nd rank whileIndia ranked 103rd. With all the pa-rameters put together, AP ranked36th while India secured 51st rank.According to the report, the poorranking in the health and primaryeducation sector is due to low scorein quality of primary education andnet enrolment in primary education.Detailing of the ranking shows thatAP also scored very low over per-ception indicators like business im-

MARKET SIZE KEEPS AP IN RANK 3Global Competitive Index

It was interestingto note that theChief Ministerdared a summativeassessment thatgives out gradesblatantly, on theperformance ofhis infant-state.



v

pact of TB, malaria and HIV .Drawing on the work of the WEF inbenchmarking competitiveness, partic-ularly through the use of the GCI, theassessment was done with competitive-ness - of both strengths and weak-nesses - of the state's economy. Theidea was to have key data to design evi-dence-based policies and reforms, andallow comparison with othereconomies which are at similar size ofdevelopment.According to the index report, AP also

fares better in innovation parameterstanding at 28th rank, one rank higherthan that of India (29) in the sameparameter. The assessment shows thatthe state stands at 29th rank in similarparameter of innovation and sophisti-cation whereas India stands at 50. Thestate performed well in the parametersof efficiency enhancers (34), institutes(34), financial market development(38), goods market efficiency (58). Forthe same parameters, India secured theranks of 80, 43, and 65, respectively.

S.No Parameters AP Rank India Rank

1 Global Competitiveness Index 36 392 basic Requirments 74 633 Efficiency 34 464 Innovation & Sophistication 29 305 Institutions 34 426 Infrastructure 63 817 Macro Economics 75 758 Health, Primary Education 122 859 Higher Education 76 8110 Goods Market Efficiency 58 6011 Labour Market Efficiency 45 8412 Financial Market 38 3813 Technological Readiness 81 11014 Market Size 3 315 business Sophistication 33 35

HERE IS A COMPARATIVE TABLE OFPARAMETERS BETWEEN AP AND INDIA Drought-parched AndhraPradesh is now turning tothe intense heat of theseason, thanks to Jalavani,a call centre that is aimed at solvingproblems of drinking water supply.When simple drinking water hasbecome a precious commodity tothirsty outlying communities acrossthe state, the IT and Rural Develop-ment Minister of the state, NaraLokesh introduced a call center,Jalavani. Now, residents of thevillages, townships, who saw thewater in their taps dribble or diedmonths ago, are making calls to thetollfree number- 1800-425-1899 forsafe drinking water. While launching the scheme, ChiefMinister Chandrababu Naidu saidthat all the people should make themost of this scheme which has beendesigned by his son Lokesh as aquick resolution to the waterscarcity problem in the state. Thecall made to the center will berecorded in Real Time AlertManagement System (RTMS) andwill then be forwarded toN Lokesh’s mobile phone.This will enable the minister to alertthe authorities concerned toarrange for regular water supply inthe concerned areas. As of now, theminister has received close to 3000calls, 30% of which were immedi-ately acted upon. According to theofficials, the new scheme is aninstant hit among the citizens whohave been responding to it withfervour.

SafeDrinking Water

Just a Call Away



Hemmed in by mobile towers and squalidbuildings, the ground near RangarayudiCheruvu in Ongole was an unusual venue forHappy Sunday (Ananda Adivaaram)- a pro-gramme, sponsored by government to ‘spread happi-ness and cheer’.Undaunted by the surroundings and stimulated by anvigorous emcee, some children in red-and-pale brownschool uniforms, women in bright poly georgette saris,and young girls and boys in jeans and t-shirts partici-pated in games, dances and festivities all morning. On the field, children raced in gunny sacks. Women,yelling with delight, competed in tug-of-war contests.Dashing men from Rhythm and Siddhu Dance Acade-mies, a dancing school vowed the crowd with hip-hopdance moves. A group of girls provided a rousing finalewith their Tollywood-style hip-swinging gyrations. The venue was a cocktail of classical dance by the stu-dents of Sri Sai Natya Kalabharati,Kolatam and folkdance by the stu-dents of PVR Municipal HighSchool, volleyball by Krishna andteam, yoga by Yoga Mitramandali,skating by Nagaraju and team, cul-tural and western music andpainting by Rangula Art Galleryattracted more audience and par-ticipation from the common pub-lic.‘Happy Sunday’, under the aegisof Sankranti Venkata Krishna,Commissioner of Ongole Munici-pal Corporation, had kicked off well. State-Promoted SmileHappy Sunday- was a programme with events of songand dance, organised by civic bodies. Ongole event wasone among the series being organised in various citiesof Andhra Pradesh, including Vijayawada, Rajahmundryand the very purpose of the events is to get people outof homes. The aim is to make them forget the worries oflife and enjoy together.

The newly-formed Department of Happiness was at thecore of the events and the Chief Minister N Chan-drababu Naidu himself was at the helm of affairs. Hefirmly believed in helping the people of the state,through Happiness Department, to ensure their mentalwell being. Thus, the officials of civic bodies and also theauthorities in newly formed State Institute of Happinesswere tasked with the responsibility of ‘building up toolsof happiness’ and developing a ‘system that would en-able people to realise their own potential of inner wellbeing’. The initiation of a department for Happiness in AP, fol-lowed by such events of mirth, have much to do with thebetter ranking of AP than India, in UN happiness report,released recently.Ladder of HappinessAndhra Pradesh has got 72nd place in the World Happi-ness Index 2017, while India has ranked 122 among 155countries. As far as Andhra Pradesh is concerned, itshappiness score is 5,368."Imagine a ladder, with steps numbered from 0 at thebottom to 10 at the top. The top of the ladder representsthe best possible life for you and the bottom of the lad-der represents the worst possible life for you. On which

World Happiness Index

NEXT STEP IN THE LADDER OF HAPPINESS

The initiation of adepartment forHappiness in APhas much to dowith the better

ranking of AP thanIndia, in UN happi-

ness report,released recently.

AP secures 72nd place, 50 ranks ahead of India



The Chief Minister Nara Chan-drababu Naidu launched an app-Plantix, that allows one to iden-tify the variety of pest affecting the crop,at the District Collectors’ Conference inVijayawada. Plantix identifies crop- af-fecting pest through artificial intelli-gence, just by clicking a photo of theinfected area of the leaf/crop.This is definitely a breakthrough appthat will largely benefit the farmers inthe state. AP Govt continues to strive tobring technology to the common man.With Plantix launched, the farmers canaccess technology that will actually ad-dress the most important challenge –pest control.How does Plantix Work?Plantix is a diagnostic app for farmers,gardeners and everybody working inagriculture. Whether one is a farmer in-terested in sustainable practice or anurban gardener loving tomatoes, theApp tests one's crops on diseases, pestsand nutrient deficiencies with the helpof a simple smartphone picture. Plantixuses image recognition and deep learn-ing to detect more than 120 plant pests& diseases on 30 crops worldwide, onthe rest it is offered a regionalized rank-ing of most probable pathogens.After sending the picture, besides theindividual diagnosis, one gets cus-tomized options for disease combat:Plantix offers information on conven-tional as well as alternative options fortreatment and tells how to prevent theproblem from the start. This library isavailable offline as well. And the best:with every picture, one could help otherfarmers around the world, since theapp's automated diagnosis is built onthe pictures and growths with everynew information sent to the app. Thisrevolutionary app can be accessed inTelugu language and covers nutrientdeficiencies of 17 kinds of crops.

step of the ladder would you say you personally feel you stand at thistime?"More than 1,000 people every year in more than 150 countries areasked the above seemingly simple, but subjective question. The aver-age result is the country's score and for 2017, it ranged from Nor-way's 7.54 to the Central African Republic's 2.69. SustainableDevelopment Solutions Network (SDSN), which has been conductingthe survey for World Happiness Index, looks at factors including eco-nomic strength (measured in GDP per capita), social support, life ex-pectancy, freedom of choice, generosity, and perceived corruption.AP had the survey conducted exclusively to assess the happiness lev-els of its people, so as to modify its policies accordingly. In fact, theCM of AP already set parameters for Happiness Index, in his SunriseAP Vision 2029’'. Bhutan was taken as an explicit model to focus onmatters including psychological well-being, health, time use, educa-tion, etc.It has resulted in the standing of an average Andhraite at 5.43th stepof ladder, whereas Indian stood at 4.315th step.“No government can be graded as successful or achieve desired re-sults unless happiness prevails in society. We have to work towardsachieving the dream goal of making Andhra Pradesh a happy state,”Naidu called upon the collectors, during the two-day session of Col-lectors meet in Vijayawada. Thus, an upper step of the ladder was setas new goal!

AP FARMERARMOUREDWITH PLANTIX

vv



GI TAG FURTHER SWEETENS

BAINGANPALLI MANGOThe recent GeographicalIndication (GI) tag tothe King of fruits, Bana-ganapalle Benisan -Bainganpalli variety ofmango, which is grown in andaround Banaganapalle, ushered meto visit Banaganapalle, a humbletown, 70 KM south of Kurnool. Itwas not my first visit, as I havebeen a regular sojourner to thetown that smelt of luscious fruitwith a taut and blushing skin,golden yellow in colour. Since mymission is to know the history ofBainganpalli and its relevance of GItag, I did not want to be sonostalgic of the town that pickledmy memories during the samesweltering days. “Banaganapalle was the Capital ofthe Princely State of the samename between 1790 and 1948. Alandlord from Panyam developedthe breed, knowing the craze of theNawab Mir Gulam Ali Khan (1905 -1922) for mangoes, passed it on toNawab,” a progressive agriculturist,BC Raja Reddy, who is youngerbrother of the local MLA, BCJanardhana Reddy told me, when Iasked him about the origin of themango variety. An octogenarian hotelierRaghavendrachar recalled the goodolden days, where water was flow-ing all along the surface in the vil-lage for at least nine months in theyear, as mango cultivation requiresregular manuring and plenty ofwater. There were about 5,000acres of mango garden in andaround the village. According to

him, Nawab brought several vari-eties of mango saplings from dif-ferent parts of the country. Everyone of them had name tags, exceptone. He named it "Benishan",which means- tag-less. “The variety is an unspoiltobliquely oval specimen presentsan unblemished golden yellow thinedible skin. These mangoes arelarge sized, weighing on an average350-400 grams. A well taken careof tree, bears 1,500 to 2,000 fruitsper crop; single crop per year. Thepulp is fibrillates, firm and yellow

with sweet taste," Dr. VV PratapReddy, a retired scientist of IndianInstitute of Horticultural Research,Bengaluru, told me over phone. Urbanisation has not spared Bana-ganapalle, the headquarters of thesame mandal. The Town was up-graded from Gram panchayat toNagar Panchayat, six years ago.From rural agricultural land, it hasturned into a concrete jungle.Water table has drastically dippedto more than 200 feet. Saplingsplanted, here and there, for want ofenough water supplies did not rise



as gardens. For the last fifteenyears not a single acre of new gar-den is cultivated. GI Tag for 100 years ofSweetnessFollowing an application from APHorticultural Commissioner,O P Gupta, the Registrar of GI.Registry, Chennai, accorded theregistration. Government of APwas the registered proprietor ofthe GI Tag for the succulent Bana-ganapalle mangoes. A GI tag indi-cates that the product is of specificregion. Being grown here for morethan 100 years, it is also known asBanaganapalle mangoes - Benisan,Banishana, Chappatai and Safeda.The fruits can retain their qualityunder cold storage even up tothree months. While seeking the GItag, the officials of government ofAP detailed the prominent charac-teristics of the variety in the docu-ments. The skin of the mango has

very light spots, shape of it is ob-long, and have very thin seed withsparse and fiber all over. The pri-mary centre of origin of the fruit isKurnool Dist., comprising Bana-ganapalle, Panyam, and NandyalMandals. Government of AP in itsform mentioned Rayalaseema andCoastal AP as secondary centres oforigin. The Govt also enlistedKhammam, Jogulamba (AlampurBenisan), Ranga Reddy, Medak andAdilabad districts in Telangana asthe secondary centres of origin.Submitting documents for proof oforigin it also cited historicalrecords like a "War fund seal, (Ban-ganapalle,- State Madras War fundSeal)" A Logo too is in the placewhich features a bright yellowfruit around which the tagline saysBanaganapalle Mangoes of A.P.with images of a man and awoman, appearing to be farmers.According to an affidavit filed in2011 by the then Commissioner of

Horticulture, I. Rani Kumudini,nearly 7.68 lakhs families were in-volved in the production of Bana-ganapalle mangoes. About 5,500tones of Banaganapalle varieties ofmangoes were being exported an-nually to countries like the US andthe UK. While the annual turnoverof the Banaganapalle mangoeswere approximately Rs 1,461crores; exports were to the tune of20.68 crores, she said.GI is covered under the IntellectualProperty Rights and trade relatedaspects of Intellectual PropertyRights. The GI tag certifies the ori-gin of a product or produced froma particular region as the quality orother features of the product areattributable only to the place of itsorigin. The tag helps farmers ormanufacturers as the case may beto get a better price in the market. “Banaganapalle mango is a her-itage crop. Despite the popularityof the fruit and high demand in themarket, farmers of Banginapallimango are not happy because ofsteep price fluctuation. The fruit iscontrolled by middlemen whichforces the farmers to auction theorchards before the onset of flow-ering. The front glasses of the AP-SRTC buses of BanaganapalleDepot used to be embossed withthe Mangoes. It’s now discontin-ued. It must be restored,” a free-lance consultant and journalistK.Sudhir demanded. Hopefully, theGI tag may double the sweetness tothe farmers and also the mango-lovers. - kuradi Chandrasekhara kalkuraKurnool

Government of AP is the registered proprietor of the GI Tag for the succulent Bana-ganapalle mangoes. A GI tag indicates that the product is of specific region. Beinggrown here for more than 100 years, this variety of mango is known is also knownby names such as - Benisan, Banishana, Chappatai and Safeda.



It was a proud moment for Andhra Pradesh whentwo of its cities finished in the top ten and eightof its 32 urban local bodies (ULBs) ranked amongthe top 50 clean cities of the country in theSwachh Survekshan 2017 contest.Also, as many as 16 ULBs from the State found place inthe list of top 100 cities which makes Andhra Pradeshthe third State with highest number of top rankingclean cities or towns in the country.The rankings were announced by the Union Ministryof Urban Development under Swachh Bharat initiativeearly in May in which Visakhapatnam was rankedthird in the country, followed by Tirupati standingninth and Vijayawada at 19.Visakhapatnam and Vijayawada fared extremely wellthis year. Last year, Visakhapatnam was fifth and Vi-jayawada 23rd among the 73 cities surveyed. For Tiru-pati, it was a great climb, soaring from 141 in the year2014 to enter the top 10 bracket and also finishing asIndia’s cleanest city in the category of 2 lakh to 10lakh population.For Vizag, short for Visakhapatnam which is describedas a Jewel on the East Coast of India, it was another

feather in its cap. Tirupati, which has one of the high-est floating populations in the country and calling forbest efforts in sanitation, proved to be quite anachiever in keeping with the tempo set by the newAndhra Pradesh Government after bifurcation of theState.The criteria considered for the ranking was solidwaste management, citizen’s feedback, and independ-ent observation by the Quality Council of India. EachULB was analysed for 2,000 marks including 900 fordata provided by the municipal body through self-dec-laration regarding waste collection, sweeping andtransportation, open defecation free (ODF) status andtoilets. The Council representatives who visited theULBs, assessed the ground situation for awarding 500marks and verifying the self-declaration. In the finalphase, citizen feedback was collected through a web-site and mobile application, accounting for 600 marks.The jury observed Visakhapatnam is the largest city inAndhra Pradesh in terms of area and with a popula-tion of 17,28.129 according to 2011 census. The cityhas shown significant development on sanitation pa-rameters, demonstrated by the third rank in relationto the fifth rank it obtained last year. To applaud the

PROUD MOMENT FOR AP



persistent efforts ofthe ULB, Visakhapat-nam has been rankedthe third cleanestcity in India, andranked first in theState, State Capital aswell as in the Zone, itstated.And Visakhapatnam’saggregate of markwas 1,797 out of2,000. The breakup is-Municipal documen-tation 869, direct ob-servation 458.51 and citizen engagement 469 from1,92,651 citizens.It is observed that all the wards in Visakhapatnam city,both residential and commercial, are entirely coveredby door to door waste collection system. More than 70per cent wards, both residential and commercial, no-tify the users about charges and collect them. And 100per cent of the total waste that is generated daily istransported the same day to the processing sites. Also,more than 75 per cent of wards engage informal wastepickers for solid waste management and undertakesweeping twice a day in all notified commercial areasincluding on all festival days and Sundays. The com-mercial areas are entirely covered with the availabilityof litter bins at all appropriate places on both sides ofthe roads. All trucks and auto tippers are installedwith GPS/RFID, tracked in public domain. A waste toenergy plant is under construction and scientific land-filling is in practice. Besides, Vizag is declared OpenDefecation-Free by the Council.It was also noted that in order to create awarenessamong the citizens, the ULB has placed hoardings,community and public toilets. The city nominatesSwachhagrahis who are actively involved in the aware-ness campaigns related to cleanliness.Tirupati too is found to have drastically improved toget ninth place overall and was adjudged the cleanestcity under the category of 2 to 10 lakh population. Itaggregated 1704 mark out of 2000. The practice of un-dertaking sweeping twice a day in all notified com-mercial areas, including night sweeping carried out onall days including holidays, stood the city in goodstead. It is also observed that Tirupati has taken devel-opmental steps, particularly with respect to plasticwhich is being produced in the city has been used in

road preparing and repairing work. All bulk garbagegeneration practice onsite composting and Tirupati isalso certified as open defecation-free (ODF) by theQuality Council of India.The following are the rankings obtained by AP cities:Visakhapatnam-3, Tirupati-9, Vijayawada-19, Tadipa-tri-31, Narasaraopeta-40, Kakinada-43, Tenali-44, Ra-jahmundry-46, Ongole-70, Chittoor-71, Nandyal-80,Machilipatnam-83,Eluru-86, Bhimavaram-87, Gun-takal-93, Tadepallegudem-97, Chilakaluripeta-107,Guntur-118, Srikakulam-119, Vizianagaram-126,Proddatur-133, Dharmavaram-149, Kadapa-154, Gudi-vada-156, Kavali-159, Hindupur-160, Nellore-165,Kurnool-176, Anantapuram-213, Srikalahasti-214,Adoni-224, Madanapalle-281.Taking the cue from the front runners like Vizag, Tiru-pati and Vijayawada, it is only a matter of time othercities also shoot up in the rankings by adopting theproven and time-tested methods to join the cleanest ofthe cities by next year. Then Andhra Pradesh will reachthe goal of becoming the cleanest city in India.- b. Prabhakara Sarma

Visakhapatnam hasshown significantdevelopment on

sanitationparameters,

demonstrated bythe third rank in

relation to the fifthrank it obtained

last year.

"It’s a vast improvementfrom the survey con-ducted in 2014 in whichit stood at 235 among476 cities with more thanone lakh population. Infact, It’s the same man-power then and now. But, the results have beenachieved by motivation, planning, mobilisationand execution. For instance, for a few weeks, Ipersonally made visits on Saturdays to improvenight sanitation. Besides, in the earlier surveythe parameters were not known. GVMC has nowacquired machinery like Bob Cats, excavators,road sweeping machines and compactors andother equipment spending Rs.33 crore. Withanother Rs.30 crore expected under SwachhBharat more machines and push-carts fordoor-to-door collection will be acquired.Visakhapatnam was ranked number one byIndependent Observer. In planning strategy foropen defecation-free city and integrated solidwaste management it got 50 out of 50 while inprovision of public and community toilets it got98 out of 150. However, there are still some gapsto be addressed and we are on the job"- Pravin kumarCollector, Visakhapatnam.



The work in the cause of“polite spoken Telugu”which Apparao Pantuluhad on hand was very ex-tensive. It is a pity most of thework he had in contemplation wasleft unfinished on account of hisold age and indifferent health, onaccount of the “Durbar politics”which became more and moreonerous, and also to some extent(as I note from his letters now) onaccount of my removal from hisside. In a letter written from ElkHill House, Ootacamund, on 17-5-’09 he says as follows “My Telugugrammar is sleeping. I have a greatdeal to do, and my health is indif-ferent. If you are at Vizianagram, Ido not know what we cannot do.”While I was at Nellore in 1909, Iwas asked by him to carry out proofof Kanyasulkam, and underline thewords that people of Nellore dis-trict do not understand. He wantedme to prepare a grammar of Nel-lore district spoken speech, payingspecial attention to verbal and sub-stantive inflexions. I must have senthim something to answer the aboverequirements for I find on acknowl-

edgement “many thanks for yourglossary” in a letter written fromOotacamund on 21-5-’09 and an-other letter dated 2-6-’09 whichsays “I shall print a portion of yourglossary at the end of the book(Kanyasulkam).While at Vizianagram, he set me toa very laborious work of collectingmaterial to write “Lives of TeluguPoets”. I prepared a very volumi-nous record, with the aid of the sev-eral Telugu works in his library aswell as Epigraphic records in theFort. Apparao Pantulu was sayingthat in several cases, ViresalingamPantulu’s conclusions were very in-correct. The work was not com-pleted to my knowledge, andpersons interested in the subjectwill do well to try if the records canbe traced.LITERARy CRITICISMThere are some institutions thatgive tuition by post. I was the recip-ient of some such tuition at thehands of Apparao Pantulu. FromVizianagaram, from Madras andfrom Ootcamund, I used to get mylessons by post.The first subject was Literary criti-cism. On 7-5-’09 he wrote to mefrom Ootacamund “If you read Vire-salingam’s or Chilakamarti’s playsor other plays that I know or thatyou can send me copies of, I shallfurnish you with short critiques, sothat you may gain some knowledgeof technique.”This is what he writes in one of hisletters on the subject of “present-day dramatic literature”.“Existing plays in Telugu are poorstuff, though some of them do notlack poetic merit or imagination,like Venkataraya Sastri’s Prataparu-driyam. You will find even in thatplay, whole pages which neither

advance the plot nor help to de-velop character. The one thing I likeabout that work is the atmosphereof literary and patriotic romanti-cism which the poet has success-fully conjured up in dramatizingone of the most stirring episodes inthe history of our country. But thehistorical colouring is false, and theimprobabilities transcend literarylicense”.The following is his criticism onVenkataraya Sastri’s Usha.“Mr. Venkataraya Sastri has sent mea copy of Usha. Poor VenkatarayaSastri has no idea of art. He escortsto Vishkambhakas to tell the story,like Greek Choruses and EnglishPrologues.“I never thought that VenkatarayaSastri was so puerile and lacking inhealthy imagination. One act isPradyumna Viraha, another act isUsha’s Viraha, in the old conven-tional style, lotus eaters, moon-beams and what not. No action. nocharacter. The passage of love be-tween Bana’s nephew and Usha’swet-nurse, is conceived in badtaste, and is extremely vulgar. Mr.Sastri thinks that buffoonery is wit”.I do not remember exactly whetherany home-work was prescribed tome by my master, in the field ofliterary criticism. But I note from aletter written by him from Ootaca-mund that I should send him someexercises worked out. He says inthat letter, “I am surprised at yourcommand of English and yourcritical acumen. You have perfectcommand of the terminology ofcriticism. I do not know if I havesuch to teach you in the matter.Do write a review of my play. I shallhave it published in some MadrasDaily.”(To be Continued)

k k k

Literary reminiscences Of

GURAZADA APPARAO PANTULU

- Vangolu Munisubrahmanyam

v



The six Andhra Pradesh youths who literallyreached the top of the world on May 13 by climb-ing the Mount Everest had one thing in common- they all had the rock-like resolve to overcometheir humble roots and modest means to succeed.The two senior Intermediate students of AP TribalWelfare Residential Schools, Vooyaka Krishna Rao andKunja Durga Rao, who scaled the world’s highest peak arethe sons of dailywager, and a farm labourer, belonging toscheduled tribes.Krishna Rao’s parents are agriculture labourers in theSeetampeta Agency area in Srikakulam district whileDurga Rao’s parents too eke out their living as dailywager.The two were nurtured by the Social Welfare Departmentand the Youth Services Department to pursue theirdream.G Suresh Babu, who conquered the highest peak alongwith five others from his state, too belongs to the sched-uled caste with his parents being small time workers intheir native Pulichinta village in Kurnool district.The Principal, teachers and students of AP Social WelfareResidential School in C Belagal celebrated Babus con-quest. Kare Satya Rao of Visakhapatnam comes from afamily of fishermen and he was sponsored by the YouthServices Department. S Nagaraju, also from Visakhapat-nam, was a marathoner as well. Tammineni Bharat fromKurnool district could not conquer the Mt Everest in his

first attempt in 2015 because of the devastating earth-quake in Nepal but this time, as part of the six-member APteam, he achieved the distinction.The state government picked out about 65 students fromsocial welfare and tribal welfare residential schools formountaineering and provided them basic training at theCBR Academy near Vijayawada.Later, 34 of them were sent to the Himalayan Moun-taineering Institute at Darjeeling for further training,according to the Director of Social Welfare. Of the 34, 14students were chosen for advanced mountaineering inLadakh where they trained for two weeks in tempera-tures often plummeting to -40 degrees Celsius.A batch of 13 students was then selected for the final ex-pedition to Mt Everest and six of them successfully scaledthe peak."Normally, they take 45 days to climb the Everest butthese students did it in just 30 days, which is a creditableachievement," said the expedition coordinator U Raghu-nadha Reddy, alluding to their rock-like determination tosucceed against all odds."These children have come from humble backgrounds,born into families belonging to vulnerable social groupsof Madiga, Koya and Savara. Their parents eked out liveli-hood by working as hamalis (daily labourers) and smallfarmers. The boys may not have even imagined that oneday they will become shining beacons for scores of under-privileged children," the social welfare official observed.

Six AP students scale Mount EverestDESPITE HUMBLE ROOTS

v



SSRajamouli's Baahubali : The Conclu-sion has done the unthinkable. Notonly did the film shatter every box-of-fice record in India, but also it has setthe bar so high that it'll take a very very special filmto come close to the numbers it has posted at thebox-office. Until Baahubali 2 release, Aamir Khan'sPK held the record for being the highest grossingfilm in Indian cinema history with a gross of Rs 792crores and Dangal too had amassed more than Rs700 crores. In comparison, Baahubali 2 shatteredboth these records within 10 days of its release! A week prior to Baahubali 2's release, it was esti-mated that the film could very well become the high-est grossing Indian film because of all the hype thatthe first film - Baahubali : The Beginning - had cre-ated back in 2015. The makers kept the buzz alivefor two years and the marketing campaign paid richdividends when Baahubali 2 hit the screens on April28. The film opened to a staggering Rs 121 crores net atthe box-office on April 28 and within a week, it rakedin Rs 695 crores (gross) in India alone. While themakers were expecting the film will rewrite therecords of Baahubali 1 in Andhra Pradesh and Telan-gana, what came as a shocker was how well theHindi-dubbed version performed at the box-office. Amonth after its release, Baahubali 2's Hindi versionis on the verge of becoming India's first ever Rs 500crores (nett) film. No other film in Indian history has

Baahubali 2 Soars To

New Heights

A WatershedMoment ForIndian Cinema

The film has broken every record at thebox-office in India and changed the percep-tion about the relevance of period dramas tocreate a first pan-Indian film in decades.


JUNE 2017

found a place in the Rs 400 crores (nett) club, leavealone the Rs 500 crores club. It also set a new record atthe USA box-office by raking in more than $20 million,another first for an Indian film. In comparison, the previ-ous record was held by Dangal which grossed $12.5 mil-lion in North America. At last count, Baahubali 2 has amassed Rs 1630 crores(gross) across the world and also became the first everRs 1000 crores (nett) film at the Indian box-office. Dan-gal had a phenomenal run at the Chinese box-office,where it grossed more than $100 million and it has sur-passed Baahubali 2 as the highest grossing Indian filmworldwide. Baahubali 2 is yet to hit the screens in China,Taiwan and several other Latin American countries,where it's expected to perform much better thanBaahubali 1; however, it remains to be seen how the filmfares at the international box-office. Leaving aside how well Baahubali 2 has done at the box-office, it's truly a water-shed moment for Indiancinema. While the num-bers speak for itself,what's even more im-pressive is that SS Ra-jamouli and his teamhave created the firstever pan-Indian film,which has long remaineda myth in Indian cinema,which is divided by cul-tural and language bar-rier. The phenomenal successof Baahubali 2 has al-ready inspired severalfilmmakers and producersto increasingly look at Indian mythology and period-dra-mas as the preferred genre to create universal stories.Within a short time, there were announcements aboutplans to make Mohanlal-led 'Mahabharata' with a budgetof Rs 1000 crores, 'Ramayana' (3D) to be made with abudget of Rs 500 crores, Shruti Haasan's Sangamithrawhich is set in 7th century AD, and Kangana Ranaut star-rer Manikarnika which tells the story of Jhansi ki RaniLaxmi Bai. That's not all. The fact that Baahubali 2 has been raking insuch big moolah in the two Telugu speaking states hasforced filmmakers to re-look at their content and spendmore, if need be, to offer a better experience to the audi-ence. The downside is that several producers are quotingstaggering prices to sell the distribution rights in variousterritories without realising the fact that Baahubali 2 isonce in a blue moon phenomenon. It's perhaps too early to calculate the ways in which

Baahubali 2 is going to change Indian cinema, and Telugucinema in particular, but the film has untapped the poten-tial that our cinema has both at home and abroad. Itevoked a sense of wonder and forced filmmakers to digdeep into long-forgotten epic dramas which are rooted inIndian culture. For Telugu cinema, Baahubali 2 has become a flag-bearerof great storytelling and it has also forced people fromNorth India to take a closer look at the work being done byTelugu filmmakers. While it remains to be seen if peers ofSS Rajamouli will capitalise on this wave, there’s no deny-ing that the success of Baahubali 2 has encouraged peopleto revisit acclaimed Telugu films with renewed respect.Now, it’s all about how our filmmakers manage to raise thebar and keep pulling the crowd back to the theatres everyFriday. There's a film which has already made more thanRs 1500 crores. It just proves that when people make uptheir mind to watch a film, no force can stop them!- Hemanth Kumar CR

ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.ORG 31

For Telugu cinema,Baahubali 2 has become

a flag-bearer of greatstorytelling and it has

also forced people fromNorth India to take a

closer look at the workbeing done by Telugu

filmmakers. Now, it’s allabout how our

filmmakers manage toraise the bar.



veteran Telugu Filmmaker Dasari Passes AwayVeteran film director, producer, actorand former Union Minister DasariNarayana Rao passed away in Hyder-abad on May 30. He is survived by histwo sons and a daughter. Dasari's wifePadma died six years ago. He was bornon May 4, 1942 in Palacol of West Go-

davari district. He took to acting from his college daysand won several awards for his stage performances. Heearned place in the Limca Book of World Records as arenowned director who had directed the largest num-ber of films. He directed 151 and produced 53 films be-sides providing dialogues, screenplay and songs formany films. He acted in Tamil and Kannada films also.He announced making a film on late Tamil Nadu chiefminister J Jayalalithaa's life but it did not materialise.Dasari was a trend setter in Tollywood particularly dur-ing the peak period of 1980s and 90s. He earned thetitle of Darsaka Ratna for his direction. Tata Manavaduwas his first film. He made films with stalwart heroesNTR, Akkineni Nageswara Rao, SV Ranga Rao, Krishna,Chiranjeevi, Balakrishna, Nagarjuna and Venkatesh. Hismortal remains were cremated at his farm house atMoinabad, Chevella near Hyderabad with full state hon-ours.

AP amends Act for Sindhu Group-1 post The Andhra Pradesh Legislature recentlypassed a Bill to appoint Olympics silvermedal winning shuttler PV Sindhu as aGroup-1 officer in the government, byamending the state public services Act.Certain provisions in the Andhra Pradesh(Regulation of Appointments to Public

Services and Rationalisation of Staff Pattern and PayStructure) Act, 1994, prevented the appointment of thebadminton player as any recruitment in public serviceshould only be through the AP Public Service Commis-sion, selection committee or employment exchange. Togive effect to the Cabinet resolution, the governmentdecided to amend section 4 of the aforementioned lawto enable appointment of Sindhu directly in the cadre ofa revenue divisional officer. Minister for Finance, Yana-mala Ramakrishnudu introduced a Bill to amend the Actand it was passed unanimously in the Assembly. The Billwas later passed by the Legislative Council as well.

Lokesh seals deal with HCL TechnologiesAndhra Pradesh Information and Tech-nology Minister Nara Lokesh formallyhanded over the bunch of permissionsto set up R&D facilities, IT services andskill development centre in Vijayawadato HCL Technologies founder and Chair-man Shiv Nadar. The parties executed a

Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on March 30

wherein they had agreed to the broad outline of theproposed investment by HCL in A.P. The company willinvest Rs. 500 crore in ten years for a development cen-tre, training facility and other ancillary facilities. HCLaims to hire, employ and train 5,000 local residentsacross the two phases. HCL will develop its first centreat Kesarapalle village in Gannavaram mandal of Krishnadistrict in a total area of 17.86 acres. The second centrewill come up in 10 acres at Ainavolu village in the Amar-avati capital region. Along with the permissions, letterof allocation for land parcel for Phase I of the projectwas handed over by the Minister to the HCL Chairman.The proposed facility is intended to service new innova-tions and high-ensd technology requirements of HCL’sglobal clientele. Trainees are expected to undergo rigor-ous training by industry experts to equip them with theright skills required for attending to the technologyneeds of global customers of HCL.

AP FARMER'S SON BAGS 3RD RANK IN CIvILSRonanki Gopalakrishna (29) of Srikaku-lam made Andhra Pradesh proud by se-curing the all-India third rank in the CivilServices examination, the results forwhich were declared on May 31.Gopalakrishna, who works as a second-ary grade teacher at the Regulapadu

MPP School in Palasa mandal of Srikakulam district, at-tempted the examination in the Telugu language. Muz-zamil Khan, who is an alumnus of BITS Pilani Hyderabad,secured 22nd rank. He is the son of Mr. A.K. Khan, re-tired IPS officer. Other toppers from the two Telugustates who made it to the top 100 include MikkilineniManu Chowdary (36), CV Praveen Aditya (79) and P An-vesha Reddy (80), Suruchi Choudary (152), K VarunReddy (166), Balalatha (167), Pavan Kumar Reddy (353 ),Avinash (502), Srikanth Reddy (519), Yaswanth Rao(531) and Sunitha Chowdhary (862).

AK Singhal New EO of TTDAnil Kumar Singhal, a 1993 bath IAS offi-cer, was appointed as the new ExecutiveOfficer (EO) of Tirumala Tirupati Dev-asthanams (TTD), which governs theworld famous Lord Venkateswara tem-ple at Tirumala. Singhal who is the 25thTTD EO had worked as Resident Com-

missioner in Andhra Pradesh Bhavan in New Delhi. Inthe same minor reshuffle, D.Sambasiva Rao of 1986batch, the erstwhile EO of TTD was posted as SpecialChief Secretary (commercial taxes, excise and registra-tion and stamps). Praveen Prakash of 1994 batch officerhas been posted as the Resident Commissioner ofA.P.Bhavan, Babu.A. who was waiting for posting wasposted as Managing Director of AP State Fibernet Lim-ited. He was kept in charge for the post of Executive Of-ficer of Real Time Governance and also for the post of

HAPPENING APDownloaded from http://smartprep.in


Vice Chairman ad MD of AP Industrial InfrastructureCorporation. APIIC Vice Chairman J.Nivas was posted asCommissioner of Vijayawada Municipal Corporation.

Senior IPS Kode appointed Advisor to Home Kode Durgaprasad, an Indian PoliceService of the 1981 batch was ap-pointed as advisor to the Ministry ofHome department, AP. State govern-ment issued a GO in this regard, re-cently. As an IPS officer Durgaprasadcarried out several assignments tackling

left wing extremism. He enjoys the reputation of being ahands-on leader with his ear to the ground. From takingthe Maoists head-on in united Andhra Pradesh as theleader of 'Greyhounds' force, he also held charge of theelite Special Protection Group (SPG) between November2011 and November 2014. He also, as the InspectorGeneral (IG), played a role in raising CRPF's own com-mando force, CoBRA (Commando Battalion for ResoluteAction). As Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu is keenon developing infrastructure in Maoist-affected areas,primarily roads to afford movement of security forces,Kode services may be utilised to supervise the specialproject to build infrastructure in those areas affected byleft wing extremism.

Free Civils Coaching Under NTR vidyonnatiNTR Vidyonnati is an educational scheme that envisagesfree coaching for civil services aspirants. The schemewas rolled out to translate the government's dream ofgrooming Andhra Pradesh into a knowledge hub. Thefree coaching under this scheme is provided not onlySC,ST, BC and other minority communities but also forstudents who come from economically poor house-holds. Thus, extension of the scheme to EBCs (econom-ically backward classes) is a first of its kind moveinitiated by AP Government. Free training would begiven to 3,850 students aspiring to write civils in 2017-18, under various categories. The aspirants should enroltheir names on the government website www.ap-civilscoaching.aponline.gov.in by June 14. For the freecoaching, the State government was collaborating withfive reputed institutes, viz Dr. Lakshmaiah institute, R.C.Reddy IAS Study Circle, Brain Tree, Universal and Sri-ram’s. Of the total number of seats, 700 would be allo-cated to SC students, 300 to STs, 1,000 to BCs, 750 forKapus, 300 for Minorities, 50 for Brahmins and 750 forthe economically backward classes. The applicants willhave to write an examination to be conducted by JNTU-Kakinada on June 20 and those who pass it, will be eligi-ble for a nine-month free coaching at centres proposedto be set up in Vijayawada, Guntur, Visakhapatnam,Tirupati and Hyderabad.

MSME Parks in Every Assembly ConstituencyThe state government is mulling over developing MSME(micro, small and medium enterprises) parks in everyAssembly constituency in order to widen the scope ofproviding employment to the youth of the state, saidminister for industries and commerce N AmaranathaReddy. Talking to the reporters in Velagapudi secretariatafter occupying his chamber, Amaranatha Reddy saidthe government will also set up food processing unitsacross the state for the benefit of farmers. Both MSMEsand food processing units will create employment in abig way, he added. According to him, 16 food processingunits in north coastal Andhra would start trial produc-tion from next year. These units would benefit the farm-ers in a big way, he said.

Linen and Laundry Service Programme launchedThe Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu recentlylaunched the Hospital Linen and Laundry Service Pro-gramme. Under this service, clean and hygienic bedsheets and pillow covers with colour coded lining stripswould be supplied to all hospitals. The service has beenlaunched for 13200 beds under phase 1 across allTeaching and District hospitals in the State. The Govern-ment has outsourced this service to Leotech Processthat is based out of Vijayawada. Total cost of this projectis 10 crores. It was launched to address the poor qualitylinen and irregular washing of bedsheets, which is lead-ing to increased infection rate among patients. Colourcoding is - Violet on Monday, Orange Tuesday, Magentaon Wednesday, Green on Thursday, Brick red on Friday,Blue on Saturday and Yellow on Sunday. The programmewill be monitored on a real time basis and it will be re-flected on the CM’s core dashboard.

AP RERA Chairman appointed Justice V Ramasubramanian was ap-pointed as Chairman of Andhra PradeshReal Estate Regulation and DevelopmentAuthority. A GO was released by Princi-pal Secretary of Municipal Administra-tion and Urban Development. RealEstate (Regulation & Development)

Act,2016 has come into force from May 1, 2017. Thus,regulation of real estate sector involving over 76,000companies across the county becomes a reality after along wait of nine years. Consequently, the governmenthad to establish Real Estate Regulation and Develop-ment Authority. On the advice of the Search Committe,the government of Andhra Pradesh appointed Justice VRamasubramanian, the High Court justice as chairmanof RERA. Prinicpal Secretaries of Law and MA&UD min-istries are the members of the executive body of RERA.

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34 ANDHRAPRADESHMAGAZINE.COM JUNE 2017

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CM Chandrababu Naidu is an active social mediauser. Many of you have been actively followinghis activities with admiration. Here are a fewsnapshots from his Twitter account and thoseon him.

chief minister’ssocial network


IN PICS

Pic 1: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu inspecting the ongoing works of the Polavaram irrigation project atPolavaram from a chopper.

Pic 2 CM Chandrababu Naidu, along with IT and rural Development minister N lokesh launching Jalavani logo,after inaugurating call centre to address problems of drinking water in the State.

Pic 3: CM interacting with a meritorious girl in the programme convened to felicitate top rankers of Inter, Eam-cet and JEE from government colleges.

Pic 4: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu flagging off advanced life support ambulances donated to 13 dis-tricts of AP by Union Minister Suresh Prabhu from his MP lADS.

Pic 5: CM Chandrababu Naidu observing concept designs of Amaravati by Norman Foster of london-based Fos-ter and Partners (F&P) Architects.

Subscription Details: Yearly Subscription rate is Rs 220 for Andhra Pradesh (Eng) Magazine. Readers may send MO or DD in the nameof Accounts Officer, I&PR Department, Vijayawada. Mention your full postal address in your letter and send to Accounts Officer, I&PRDepartment, II floor, NTR Administrative Block, Pandit Nehru Bus Station, Krishnalanka, Vijayawada - 520013 Ph: 9949351534

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Regd. No. H-HD-1082/2016-18 APENG/2007/20679Published on: 01/06/2017 Posting Dt: 6th


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