Hyderabad: Chief Minister K. Chandrasekhar Rao has been selected for the Agriculture Leadership Award-2017 by the Indian Council of Food and Agriculture (ICFA).
The award is in recognition of his path-breaking initiatives in irrigation and agriculture sectors which, the selection committee said, was “creating far-reaching impact on the rural sector” and had touched the lives of millions of farmers in the state.
The committee is headed by renowned agriculture scientist Prof. M.S. Swaminathan. The award which will be presented to Mr Rao on September 5 at the 10th Global Agriculture Leadership Summit in New Delhi.
The award was instituted by the ICFA in 2008. Those who have got the award are Prof. Swaminathan (2008), Dr Balram Jakhar (2009), Mr Sharad Pawar (2010), Prof. P.K. Dhumal (2011), Dr Raman Singh (2012), Mr Prakash Singh Badal (2013), Mr Akhilesh Yadav (2014), Mr Shivraj Chauhan (2015) and Mr Ratan Tata (2016).
In a letter sent to Mr Rao, ICFA chairman Dr M.J. Khan said, “The path breaking initiatives taken by the Telangana state government under your visionary leadership resulted in the launch of a number of schemes that have created far-reaching impact on the rural sector and touched the lives of millions of farmers.”
Mr Rao has allotted the highest-ever funds of over Rs 25,000 crore every year in the Budget to redesign and construct projects to irrigate one crore acres. The Budget for irrigation was less than Rs 10,000 crore for all of undivided AP earlier.
He has announced a scheme to extend financial assistance of Rs 8,000 per acre per year from 2018, which will be disbursed in two instalments of Rs 4,000 each in May and September. The award committee considered these factors while selecting Mr Rao.
