Southern States - Andhra Pradesh   

Congress meet hints at subsidy raj

By Our Special Correspondent

Hyderabad Dec. 6. The Andhra Pradesh Congress Committee's `brain storming session' of senior party leaders here on Friday hinted at a return to the subsidy raj if the party came back to power in the Staste. The goal would be a welfare State, while judiciously striking a balance between the industry and the agriculture sectors, it was reiterated.

The meeting concluded on the note of "heralding an era of people-oriented policies without pursuing the World Bank interests". For this, a complete recast of priorities would be essential, it was agreed. The APCC president, D.Srinivas, chaired the meeting and the aim was to give a shape to the manifesto. Sops to the irrigation sector facing neglect now and free power to farmers and single bulb households are some of the points reiterated.

Revitalisation of DWCRA groups, generation of employment opportunities and revival of the industry are going to be some of the major promises of the party manifesto. Creation of permanent infrastructure and rationalisation of taxation with social justice at the root of every programme are the other goals

Picking holes in the Government claims on development, they meeting pointed out that the foreign direct investment was much lower in AP and the Gross State Domestic Product stood at 5.31 as against 7.92 of Karnataka and 6.04 of Tamil Nadu. Even Rajasthan (6.26) and West Bengal (6.04) had fared better in this regard, they recalled.

Effective measures were needed to alleviate rural poverty as the Velugu survey had proved that there was a considerable increase in the BPL families number, it was felt. A slow down in the agriculture sector growth rate from 7.36 per cent 6 per cent and the fall in agriculture area by one lakh hectares were again a result of the negative policies adopted by the Government, the speakers said. Schemes like Aadarana had been used more to gain publicity and the artisans had never really benefited, it said.

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