Govt. to introduce insurance scheme for weavers

The State government has announced implementation of insurance scheme for handloom workers on the lines of Rythu Bima extended to farmers.

The scheme, to be launched soon, envisages financial support of ₹ 5 lakh to the family of handloom weaver in the event of his death. The State government is gearing up to create a special corpus fund for supporting weavers towards this end, Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao said.

The Chief Minister announced that the next phase of loan waiver for farmers would be launched from Monday. Loans between ₹ 25,000 to ₹ 50,000 obtained by the farmers will be waived and an estimated six lakh farmers will be benefitted in the process. The process is expected to be completed by this month-end. The government has already waived loans up to ₹ 25,000 each obtained by around three lakh farmers. “The government is implementing the loan waiver scheme in a phased manner for the remaining farmers,” Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao announced.

The Chief Minister was addressing the gathering after unfurling the national flag on the occasion of 75th Independence Day on Sunday. In his close to 30 minutes address, Mr. Rao touched upon various schemes and measures introduced for the welfare of different sections, especially farmers and marginalised sections, since the TRS government took over the reins. He explained how the State was moving forward progressively in spite of encountering many hurdles, problems and challenges. Many of these difficulties and problems were overcome and there was no comparison between the situation prior to formation of Telangana and after its formation. “We are able to unleash development qualitatively and quantitatively in all sectors,” he said.

The State GSDP which was ₹ 4.5 lakh crore at the time of its formation in 2013-14 more than doubled to ₹ 9.8 lakh crore in 2020-21 in spite of the problems created on account of COVID-19 pandemic. The per capita income grew from ₹ 1.12 lakh to ₹ 2.37 lakh during the same period. With foresight in planning and stringent financial discipline in administration, the State transformed into wealthy State with sustainable financial development within a short span of seven years.

“The national average per capita income is ₹ 1.28 lakh. I am proud to say that our State is in the first place in per capita income compared with big States with more than 10 Parliamentary seats,” he averred. In the process, the State’s power crisis had been overcome and commissioning of 4,000 MW Yadadri power plant would make Telangana a power surplus State.

From being a place known for farmers’ suicides in the erstwhile combined State where agriculture sector collapsed, the State witnessed unprecedented development in agriculture sector which was contributing about 20 per cent of the GSDP. The State was witnessing a golden era when it came to welfare and there was no exaggeration in claiming that there was no single home which had not been covered under one or other scheme. “Our State is better than other States in many sectors and in many aspects. Many States are approaching us to follow and implement our policies,” he said. Alongside a spree of welfare schemes, the government had significantly improved the medical infrastructure and process had been initiated to set up “rural dispensaries” on the lines of basti dawakhanas.

Doctors would be made available in these institutions as the government took up recruitment on a large scale. In addition, government embarked upon preparation of Telangana State Citizens’ Digital Health profile for which pilot project had been launched in Mulugu and Sircilla constituencies. Administrative reforms were taken up to take administration to the doorstep of the people and steps were taken to encourage caste-based professions for village development.

Simultaneously, focus was on industrial and IT development with IT exports almost tripling from ₹ 57,258 crore to ₹ 1.45 lakh crore in the last seven years. The government had initiated process for recruitments to vacant government jobs and steps like Telanganaku Harita Haaram had been initiated to promote green cover.