CM Naidu Says Technology Will Create Wealth, Improve Living Standards

Vijayawada:Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has said technology will help create wealth and improve the living standards of the people.

In an interview to the news agency PTI on Sunday, Naidu preferred to identify himself as a politician working for the people and said technology would help him to govern the state in a more efficient and transparent manner.

He said, “My goal is to empower people. I will visualise things in advance and work hard to implement them. I want to empower a majority of the people in the state and I am working tirelessly to realise my goal.”

With regard to developing the dream project of Amaravati, Naidu said, “We have selected Amaravati to develop it as a capital city and the opposition YSR Congress also agreed for this. When the YSR Congress was elected to power, it changed its mind. This was a breach of trust. We are developing Amaravati as the capital city and Visakhapatnam as a financial and technological hub.”

The CM said, “We are asking the central government to notify Amaravati as the capital and we are confident that the Parliament will pass the bill in the present budget session.”

He referred to the controversy surrounding the adulteration of ghee used for laddu-making in TTD, to serve as prasad to the devotees in the Lord Venkateswara temple in Tirumala.

Naidu reiterated his stand that the main adulterant was the animal fat, though the SIT has ruled this out. He maintained that palm oil and chemical substances were used.

He said, “This is a conspiracy. One can commit a mistake due to ignorance and it can be pardoned. But any deliberate attempt is not acceptable. If ordinary ghee costs `450 per kg, how can one give it at `230? There obviously is adulteration.”

On poorly-performing states getting higher share in the Centre’s devolution of tax revenues at the expense of states that perform better, Naidu said, “For a country to prosper, all its states should prosper. States are allies and not enemies."

"The Centre will not do any injustice to states deliberately. There are parameters like backwardness and population. South India is successful in population control. As it has taken up economic reforms, it is playing a lead role in technology and growth rate. The South’s per capita income is very high. Because of all these, devolution of tax revenues has become a problem. I am confident that every state is performing now and moving forward,” he said.

Naidu ruled out any role for him in the central politics even in future, by saying he’s always interested to work in Andhra Pradesh. “I did so in erstwhile AP and now in the residuary AP,” he noted.

On whether the TDP and others in the NDA deserved credit for the smooth functioning of the Modi government, Naidu said, “Our support is mutual. As we support the central government, in turn, the BJP is extending its support to us in AP. That’s why we call it a double-engine government. There is no policy difference between the Centre and the AP government.”

Naidu advocated a transition for India’s agriculture sector into a demand-based enterprise, instead of it being supply driven, in order to keep pace with the changing dietary habits of the people.

He said, “India will not have any problem with agriculture as farmers are ready to produce more. Earlier, it was all about carbohydrates. Now, it’s protein. Earlier it was rich food and now it’s balanced nutrition. The people have become health conscious.”

On interlinking of rivers, the chief minister said, “It will help avoid wastage of water into the sea. The inter-linking of rivers will help water-scarce areas into water surplus ones. I am working on having a water balance on the lines of cash balance in a bank. It has been my dream to take up the Ganga-Cauvery linking. Though some people resist it, we can work it out with the involvement of those willing to join hands.”