How TS has become a model state in India
Vanam
Jwala Narasimha Rao
The
Pioneer (13-12-2020)
Formation of Telangana and unparalleled leadership of Kalvakuntla
Chandrashekhar Rao as its first Chief Minister heralded reforms galore in
several areas during the last six and half years in general and two years in
particular. Administrative Reforms was the beginning. With the formation of new
districts numbering 33, new revenue divisions numbering 74 and new mandals
numbering 590 the governance came to the doorstep of vulnerable sections of
populace. Implementation of poverty eradication programs have become citizen
friendly.
Bureaucrats and Peoples’ representatives are now able to better understand
the local needs, problems, issues, and social conditions prevailing at the
ground level. Preparing plans at the grass root level became less cumbersome. The
spirit of decentralization of governance has become a reality. Delivery mechanism has been made simple and
hassle free with an average district population of around 2 to 3 Lakh.
Many young IAS officers have got a chance to work as Joint
Collectors and Collectors and they proved their mettle. Even the non-cadre
seniors are able to get a chance to work as Collectors and thus maintaining a
balance of cadre, non-cadre. The development is not only qualitative but also with
speed and accuracy.
Urbanization in Telangana State is rapid. Villages on the
periphery of the cities are becoming an integral part of the cities. This
propelled to recast the municipalities and corporations in the State. The New
Municipal Act to develop urban areas in the state was yet another reform
initiative. Telangana Municipalities Act, 2019 replacing Telangana
Municipalities Act 1965 and Municipal Corporation Act 1994 was a landmark
reform legislation. Working in tandem with the new Municipal Act, the Urban
Policy will address complex challenges and enable better citizen services.
Villages with large population were converted as Municipalities.
322 Villages have been merged into their neighbouring Municipalities. Seven
Municipalities have been upgraded into Corporations. Number of municipalities
and corporations now are increased to 128 and 13 respectively making a total of
141 urban local bodies. This people-oriented reform helped in attending to people’s
problems expeditiously.
Pattana Pragathi Programme with peoples’ participation changed the
urban scenario radically. Four committees formed for every ward in the urban
local bodies are playing key role in development. There are 3405 Ward Committees
in urban areas in the State. In all there are 2,04,448 ward committee members
comprising of Senior Citizens, Women, youth, and prominent persons taking
active interest in development.
To meet the longstanding demand of Banjaras Adivasis for self-rule
or local-self-government in their areas, KCR Government has increased the
participation of Tribals and Banjaras in the governance. The government has
notified the remote villages and habitations as Special Gram Panchayats. The
strength of Gram Panchayats has gone up from 8690 to 12,751. These include 1,177
Thandas and Gudems as new Panchayats.
1,281 Habitations, which are in the Scheduled areas, were reserved for
the STs. 3146 STs could become the Sarpanches.
Yet another reform initiative was the new Panchayat Raj Act. The
unwavering will of the Telangana Government is seen in the formulation of new
Panchayati Raj Act. With the new Act, villages in the state, with an active
participation of people, are marching towards the progress. Villages are
looking clean and green now. People and their representatives, officials are
working with more enthusiasm and vigour to make the villages as ideal villages.
As part of the Palle Pragathi programme, in all the 12751
Villages, Works Committee, Sanitation Committee, Streetlight Committee, and
Green Cover Committee were formed. In all these Committees there are 8,20,727
members which include 4,03,758 were women. The government had reconstituted the
Panchayat Raj department. The numbers of personnel namely CEOs in Zilla Parishads,
District Panchayat Officers, DLPOs, MPOs have been increased to suit the needs. There were only 3396 Village Secretaries earlier
and they are increased to 12,751 now.
Number of Police Commissionarates has been increased to 9 and the
Sub Divisions were also increased from 85 to 110. The Circle Inspector offices were increased
from 128 to 159. Police stations strength was also increased from 736 to 840.
Due to these police reforms, Law and order situation has become more professional
with high standards. In tune with formation of new districts, reforms were
introduced in the police department. New
and modern technology was integrated into the department.
Telangana State is now a remarkable and first of its kind agriculture-based
state in the country. Every year the extent of cultivation is increasing leaps
and bounds due to farmer welfare measures, increase in the irrigation water
facility and other pro-agriculture polices of the government. As such several reform initiatives
necessitated in this sector. The Rythu Bandhu and Rythu Bhima Schemes made the
farmer happy.
The Telangana government has created a Cluster for every 5000
Acres and appointed an AEO making a total of 2604 in the entire State now.
Rythu Bandhu Samithis were formed to help farmer from sowing seeds to marketing
the produce. The Rythu Bandhu Samithis were formed with 15 members in every
village, 24 at the district level and 42 at the State level. Rythu Bandhu Samithis
have 1.61 lakh farmers as members all over the State. 2604 Rythu Vedikas are
constructed at every cluster.
To continue providing uninterrupted, quality, round the clock
power to all sectors, the generation, distribution and transmission wings of
the electricity department have been strengthened. New Power generation plants
are being constructed. Administrative
wings under the Discoms have been increased. The number of Zones increased from
2 to 4, Circles from 14 to 36, Divisions from 60 to 88, Sub Divisions from 186
to 220, sections from 693 to 854.
The state government has embarked on large-scale reforms in the
education sector to set up high standards and to offer better education to the
poor and the marginalised sections in the society. Increasing progressively the
strength of Residential Educational Institutions to provide global level
quality education is the major reform. Earlier the strength of students in just
298 Residential Schools was a meagre 1.45 lakhs students, whereas, now it has
gone up to 4.30 lakh students in a total of 970 residential institutions
including 53-degree colleges. In all categories, the SCs, STs, BCs and
Minorities, the number of institutions were increased multi-fold.
In addition to the above, and against the background of
large-scale irrigation projects coming up in the state, paving way for large
scale irrigation facility of over a crore acre, reforms have been initiated in
the irrigation sector too. The government has decided not only to construct new
projects but also maintain the projects on a permanent basis. The Irrigation
department which was divided as Major, Medium, Small Irrigation projects, IDC
and other such wings is now brought under one Umbrella. Accordingly, Circles,
Divisions, Sub Divisions are formed.
With the launching of Telangana State’s Dharani Portal, the
integrated land record management system, history has been
created in the chronicles of Land-related records, registration and mutations.
CM KCR, for the first time in the country, has signalled to put an end to land
related disputes, problems, and tedious procedural lapses once for all. This is
the beginning of a Land and property disputes free Telangana State and a step
towards conclusive title in the near future - a major land reform initiative. Inauguration
of Rythu Vedika in the State is yet another land mark and unprecedented
initiative in the annals of agriculture history in the independent India.
These policy reforms actually enabled Telangana to evolve the best
administrative model. With reorganization of districts, creating new Revenue
Divisions and Mandals, formation of new Municipalities, Telangana State made a
history in administrative reforms and it proved the vision and statesmanship of
CM KCR.
(With inputs from Gatika Vijay Kumar, PRO to
CM)
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