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All govt services will be provided online by August 15: Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu

All govt services will be provided online by August 15: Andhra CM Chandrababu Naidu

India Gazette13 hours ago

Vijayawada (Andhra Pradesh) [India], June 25 (ANI): Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Wednesday announced that all government services will be accessible online by August 15, removing the need for citizens to visit government offices for any administrative matter, a release said.
Speaking at the FICCI's National Executive Committee meeting in the city, CM Naidu announced that 503 services are available online at present, allowing citizens to access government functions via WhatsApp. 'No need to come to any office,' Naidu stated, positioning Andhra Pradesh as India's first fully digital state administration.
The digital governance initiative extends beyond simple online services to include voice-activated bookings for state transport, where citizens can dial a number and specify their travel requirements to receive instant bus schedules and booking information. This represents a fundamental shift towards conversational government interfaces accessible to all literacy levels.
Complementing the digital transformation, CM Naidu alluded to a real-time data infrastructure that will monitor 40-50 parameters, including temperature, humidity, air quality, wind direction, reservoir water levels, groundwater conditions, and soil parameters, across the state.
The network will provide advanced warning systems for cyclones, floods, cloud bursts, and thunderbolts, positioning Andhra Pradesh as a global leader in environmental monitoring technology. 'Now, only by using that real-time data can I give 95 percent accuracy,' Naidu stated, emphasising the transformative potential of continuous environmental surveillance.
CM Naidu revealed an ambitious citizen identification system that combines geotagging with Aadhaar authentication to create comprehensive, family-based data profiles. The system will link every household through geo-mapping with family units, allowing for the accurate delivery of government services, medicines, or emergency aid directly to specific households during crises or natural disasters.
The Chief Minister outlined unprecedented infrastructure development plans supporting digital and environmental initiatives, including the construction of 20 ports along the state's 1,000-kilometre coastline, with facilities positioned every 50 kilometres to maximise commercial efficiency. The state will establish 14-15 airports within one hour's reach of major population centres whilst expanding the crucial Kolkata-Chennai railway corridor from two to four tracks.
These technological advances support CM Naidu's broader economic vision of transforming Andhra Pradesh into India's first trillion-dollar state economy by 2047. The state recorded 21 percent GST growth last year, with the Chief Minister targeting 15 percent annual growth to increase per capita income from Rs 2.7 lakh to Rs 65 lakh.
Harsha Vardhan Agarwal, President of FICCI and Vice Chairman & Managing Director of Emami Limited, praised Naidu's leadership in transforming Andhra Pradesh from a largely agrarian state into a beacon of digital governance, noting the state's impressive 8.1 percent GSDP growth rate and economy reaching approximately Rs 16 lakh crore. He highlighted the balance between tradition and modernity, with Andhra Pradesh remaining the rice bowl of India whilst pioneering quantum computing through India's first Quantum Valley Tech Park in Amaravati. Agarwal emphasised FICCI's commitment to supporting the state's Industrial Policy 4.0, MSME Policy 4.0, and Clean Energy Policy 4.0 initiatives.
Vijay Sankar, Vice President of FICCI and Chairman of The Sanmar Group, acknowledged Naidu's unique achievement of transforming two states and building two capital cities during his political career. He praised the Chief Minister's pioneering initiatives, including Amaravati's development as a world-class city and the revamping of the AP Economic Development Board. Sankar expressed FICCI's commitment to supporting Andhra Pradesh's ambitious target of achieving 15 percent GSDP growth and transforming into the country's best state by 2047, as per the release.
M Prabhakar Rao, Chair of FICCI Andhra Pradesh State Council and Chairman of NSL Group, highlighted the state's transformative initiatives, including MSME Parks in all 175 constituencies and the establishment of Ratan Tata Innovation Centres to foster entrepreneurship. He emphasised the FICCI's Andhra Pradesh State Council's role in facilitating international partnerships, particularly through the Japan Connect Summit in Vijayawada, which strengthened Indo-Japanese ties and highlighted opportunities in the shipbuilding, electronics, and automobile sectors, as per the release.
Jyoti Vij, Director General, FICCI, moderated the discussion. (ANI)

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ExplainSpeaking: The truth about poverty in India
ExplainSpeaking: The truth about poverty in India

Indian Express

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  • Indian Express

ExplainSpeaking: The truth about poverty in India

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The second key change in the WB update was the adoption of a new poverty line — $3 a day — and according to this new income level, the proportion of Indians living in abject or extreme poverty has fallen from 27% in 2011-12 (around 344.4 million or 34.44 crore Indians) to just under 6% (around 75.22 million or 7.5 crore) in 2022-23. As heartening as this news is, there are several common misconceptions about how to read this data, what it actually means and why many question it. For instance, when you look at the $3-a-day poverty line, do you multiply it by 85 (the current market exchange rate between the US dollar and Indian rupee) to arrive at Rs 255 a day as the income level for ascertaining whether an Indian is poor or not? If you do that, you are mistaken because the $3 poverty line is calculated on a purchasing power parity (PPP) basis, and the conversion rate to Indian rupee is not 85 but 20.6. Simply put, it is the level of income used as a cut-off point for deciding who is poor in any economy. It is important to note here that the context (both time period and location) is critical to arriving at a meaningful poverty line. For instance, an Indian receiving a salary of Rs 1,000 a month may not have been considered poor in 1975, but today that income (Rs 33 a day) will barely buy anything. Similarly, a monthly salary of Rs 1,00,000 (or Rs 3,333 a day) in today's Patna will be comfortable for a person to live by, but the same salary in Paris or New York may not buy the same lifestyle. Since there is no one level of poverty — what is a comfortable level for one is just okay for another and barely enough for the third — one can create several poverty lines to match the context and analytical use. Governments, especially in developing and poor countries, want to identify the extent of poverty in their countries. This has two uses. 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Once converted into a common currency, they found that in six of these very poor countries around the 1980s the value of the national poverty line was about $1 per day per person (in 1985 prices). This formed the basis for the first dollar-a-day international poverty line,' according to the World Bank. Over time, as prices went up in every country, the WB had to raise its poverty line. In June, they have now raised it to $3 a day. The PPP exchange rate for Indian rupees in 2025 is 20.6. As such, the poverty line delineating abject or extreme poverty for an individual in the US is an income of $3 a day, while for India it is Rs 62 a day. For the UK, the PPP conversion rate is just 0.67, while for China it is 3.45 and for Iran it is a whopping 1,65,350. India's own (domestically formulated) poverty line in 2009, before the Tendulkar recommendation, was Rs 17 a day per person for urban areas and Rs 12 a day per person for rural areas. In 2009, Tendulkar raised the poverty line to Rs 29 per day per person in urban areas and Rs 22 per day per person in rural areas, and later to Rs 36 and Rs 30, respectively, in 2011-12. In 2014, Rangarajan recommended raising the domestic poverty line to Rs 47 per person per day in urban areas and Rs 33 in rural areas. Many economists, such as Himanshu, professor of economics at the Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, and someone who worked with Tendulkar during the formulation of the last official poverty line, have written extensively on the subject. He showed how, in the absence of a robust and updated domestic poverty line and given the gaps and changes in data collection, India's poverty estimates exhibit wide variation, creating both confusion and controversy (see TABLE 2). Poverty in India could be as low as 2% or as high as 82% depending on the choice of poverty line and methodology. The same trend of variation exists in the reduction in poverty rates — they could be steep or fairly gradual. Upshot Bizarre as it may seem, especially for a country with so many people at low levels of income and consumption, as well as a country with an enviable record of studying poverty, India's poverty lies in the eyes of the beholder. How do you know if a person is poor or not? How many are poor? Should one quote 5.75% who live in abject poverty (Rs 62 a day)? Or look at 24%, the poverty line for 'lower middle-income countries' such as India? Should one consider 20% as the rate, the proportion of Indians who voluntarily line up to offer labour instead of a paltry amount? Or 66% who are provided free food by law? TABLE 3 attempts to provide some context on the World Bank's poverty lines and how they compare with India's reality as evidenced by official government surveys and data. Earlier this year, when the Union Budget was unveiled, the government waived off all income tax for those earning an income upto Rs 12 lakhs per annum — that works out to be Rs 3,288 per day. In essence, the government believes that imposing any income tax on such an Indian will be overtaxing them and holding back their consumption and the growth of the broader economy. There are two ways to look at the WB data, although they are not mutually exclusive. One, to celebrate the reduction in the proportion of Indians living in what is defined as abject poverty ($3 or Rs 62). Two, to give ourselves pause to understand the actual state of economic well-being (or the lack of it) of an average Indian when as many as 83% of Indians are living off Rs 171 a day. Remember, these poverty lines are inclusive of all income or expenditures. How much did you spend or earn today? Share your views and queries on Take care, Udit Udit Misra is Deputy Associate Editor. Follow him on Twitter @ieuditmisra ... Read More

SAD leader Bikram Majithia arrested for alleged money laundering linked to drugs case
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Scroll.in

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SAD leader Bikram Majithia arrested for alleged money laundering linked to drugs case

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Nestle India rewards shareholders: Board approves 1:1 bonus issue; first in nearly 30 years
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Nestle India rewards shareholders: Board approves 1:1 bonus issue; first in nearly 30 years

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