The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh News : `Telangana formation will depend on consensus'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Jul 31, 2004

Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh

`Telangana formation will depend on consensus'

By Our Special Correspondent

— Photo: P.V. Sivakumar

Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting S. Jaipal Reddy with the members of the Indian Newspaper Society at a meeting in Hyderabad on Friday.

HYDERABAD, JULY 30. The Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister, Y.S. Rajasekhara Reddy, said here today that the formation of a separate Telangana State would depend upon a consensus among all political parties.

Addressing a meeting of the Board of Indian Newspapers Society, Dr. Reddy said that the Congress was in favour of constituting a second States' Reorganisation Commission.

Asserting that his Government was not moving away from the path of economic reforms, he, however, stated that he was keen on seeing that the interests of the common man were not affected.

The Chief Minister wondered why the standard of living of Indian farmers could not be improved to the level enjoyed by their counterparts in countries such as China.

He had introduced the free power supply scheme for farmers only to reduce the disparity in the earnings between farmers in the upland and in the delta.

"It is not at all a populist measure."

He pointed out that while the State was suffering from scanty rainfall, about 300 thousand million cubic feet (tmcft) of water from the Godavari was flowing in the sea.

The Government proposed to take up four major projects across the Godavari at a cost of Rs. 20,000 crores, aimed at tapping 750 tmcft of water.

On farmers' suicides, he said the fall in contribution of agriculture to GSDP from 25 per cent in 1994 to 13 per cent in 2003-04 was mainly responsible for their distress.

Moreover, the support price had gone down and the State had suffered three successive droughts.

The INS president, M.P. Veerendra Kumar, presided over the meeting.

INS team meets Jaipal Reddy

HYDERABAD. JULY 30. A delegation of the Indian Newspaper Society on Friday met the Minister for Information and Broadcasting and Culture, S. Jaipal Reddy, to discuss issues pertaining to the newspaper industry.

The delegation apprised Mr. Reddy of the problems faced by the industry and submitted a memorandum. Mr. Reddy assured the delegation that he would shortly convene a meeting of the officials of his Ministry in New Delhi to sort out the problems.

He also requested the Society to send its representatives.

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