Andhra Pradesh committed to poverty eradication and 24x7 quality power: Minister
He said the P4 scheme had been launched as part of the State's poverty eradication efforts, with 65 lakh social security pensions distributed on the first day of every month. Farmers are being supported through the Annadata Sukhibhava scheme, while fishermen receive financial aid during the fishing ban period along with livelihood support through fish farming in the Gundlakamma reservoir.
Highlighting infrastructure initiatives, the Minister said ₹490 crore is being spent on expanding Nizampatnam Shipping Harbour, while Bapatla beach is being developed into a tourist hub. CCTV cameras are being installed for improved crime prevention.
On the power sector, he said Andhra Pradesh supplies 24x7 quality electricity to all consumers, provides nine hours of free power to agricultural pump sets, offers subsidised power to aqua farmers at ₹1.50 per unit, and supplies free power to handlooms, powerlooms, and up to 200 units for SC/ST households.
The Minister also noted that the State's Integrated Clean Energy Policy has attracted ₹4.56 lakh crore in investments, with the goal of making Andhra Pradesh the Green Hydrogen Capital of India.
District Collector J. Venkata Murali, SP Tushar Dudi, and other officials were present on the occasion.
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Exceptions remain, and there are opponents like Rahul Gandhi and several regional leaders (not listing them because it is a different exercise) and sections of his/their parties continuing to act as counterbalancing forces. For instance, they spoke unrestrainedly, against Modi for formally legitimising the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh with glowing reference to the organisation in his speech. His words stood in contrast to what Jawaharlal Nehru said from the same platform, 77 years ago on August 15, 1948. The first premier of independent India, on that occasion, expressed immense sadness even while expressing satisfaction that independent India's trajectory on certain avenues was adequate in the given situation. His melancholiness however, was over India being enveloped within with the heart of darkness after Mahatma Gandhi's cold-heartedly assassinated by a person indoctrinated by the RSS. But, Modi's paeans for the RSS, is little but a precursor of what is likely to come if he continues remaining at the helm. If there were any doubts, these were negated by the Union Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas' advertisement, wishing people 'happy Independence day' with a visual placing Savarkar above Gandhi, Subhash Chandra Bose and Bhagat Singh. The advertisement carried a caption like line: 'Freedom was their gift, Shaping the future is our mission.' As we celebrate our nation's independence, let's remember — liberty thrives when we nurture it every day, through unity, empathy, and action. 🇮🇳 Happy #IndependenceDay #MoPNG — Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas #MoPNG (@PetroleumMin) August 15, 2025 It would be wrong to contend that Modi is solely responsible for the deviation from the profile and path chosen for the nation at birth by nationalists across the political spectrum following protracted debate in the Constituent Assembly. After all, it was Atal Bihari Vajpayee as Prime Minister who took the lead in hoisting Savarkar's portrait in the sanctum sanctorum of the 'old' Parliament Building, the Central Hall. And, Modi's admirers would point out – Indira Gandhi's government too, issued a postage stamp in the memory of the person who was not cleared by Jivanlal Kapur Commission, of the accusation of involvement in the conspiracy to murder Gandhi. Like many leaders from his own political stable (and family) in the past, several like Rahul Gandhi and other opposition leaders too played along, hoping to convince the electorate that they too are 'nationalists', although not the way the Sangh Parivar and Modi define it. They did so because over the past eleven years, Modi has succeeded in securing considerable public acceptance for the Hindutva idea of nationalism and labeling all other perspectives as anti-national. However, in defence of non-BJP politicians, many would point out that in their early years in the rough and tumble of politics and elections, they found that the notion of 'soft Hindutva' was already part of the nation's political parlance. Demography Mission further takes India away from its imagination as a democratic and secular State Each of these changes, schemes, programmes and projects etc, against which Modi's announcement on his plan to initiate a high-power Demography Mission must be framed, have taken India further away from its imagination at independence as a democratic and secular State in name, practice and value-system. It would be premature to determine at this stage, which of these features shall remain in the India of the future that Modi has harped on over the past several years and coined as Viksit Bharat. The Demographic Mission – its nomenclature and formal brief is not known yet – comes close on the heels of the narrative created by the Election Commission's special intensive revision of electoral rolls in Bihar and subsequently in other states. The raison d'être for the previous exercise ominously overlaps the one unveiled by Modi. The objective of the two initiatives is the same – to delegitimise the existence of a significant section of Indian citizens and dub them 'foreigners'. None of this can even be now termed – save by perennial no-sayers – as communal, because this politics is now labeled as politically correct nationalism. For practical purposes, deportation to their 'home' nation will never be an option if these are ordered in hordes. Consequently, these people, labeled by the Mission as infiltrators and conspirators collectively working towards altering India's demography, will remain living in India, but sans constitutional rights (although obliged to fulfill 'duties'). These people will have no option but living the daily dread of attacks by a bevy of people, who have remained in news almost from the start of Modi's tenure, for assaulting individuals on mere 'suspicion' of having committed various 'crimes' – culinary intent or consumption, sartorial or linguistic display of identity, or for other imagined encroachment on public land to erect 'their' places of worship, or just a birthmark or talisman. Be it the special intensive revision (SIR), the National Register of Citizens, or the Commission's 'report' in times to come, despite ostensibly having little to do with one another, the purpose remains the same. The entire bunch of these initiatives, steps, policies and programmes perform as a gigantic political orchestra, comprising an ensemble or ideologically motivated lot and other performers, with expertise in multiple sectors: core political arena, the 'fringe' forces operating on the flanks of politics, officialdom, social and mainstream media, education, history, archaeology and even films and entertainment to determine which violent episode of 'subjugation' of 'our' people was not permitted during tenures of previous regimes and can be made now (Chhaava for instance) and which films must be given a National Award (The Kerala Story for example, despite being based on complete untruth). In fact, months will be consumed even if a dedicated team of researchers are tasked with compiling an inventory, or writing a monograph on instances when this regime unilaterally rolled-back the consensus of the past and replaced with an exclusionary alternative. But all this is also being provided with a veneer of newness. A new architecture, which started with the riverfront in Ahmedabad years ago, has gradually sprung up in place of the old – beginning with the Capitol complex – the shut-to-the-outside-world New Parliament Building (in contrast to the Old Building which exuded transparency. This new complex, surrounded by a plethora of recently constructed characterless buildings housing various government offices are notable for opacity from outside, and lack of privacy for employees within. Importantly, to lend weight to the political priorities that the government wants accepted, the prefix in the names for each of these new constructions, offices and roads, is either Kartavya (duty) or Seva (service). In his speech, Modi referred to what he first stated post Operation Sindoor to hype the government's nationalistic pitch – with the assault on Pakistan-based forces of terror and their backers, his government 'established a new normal.' But this new routine or response is actually across the board, from altering school textbooks, promotion of false narratives, selecting faculty and those intended for non-faculty positions, to embarking on new archaeological missions while denotifying numerous ancient monuments from the 'protected' by ASI category. The tussle between Modi and the RSS Undeniably, this is a multi-pronged venture aimed at leaving nothing unchanged, even names of cities, towns, streets and even official programmes. The message is clear – play along if you too want to be part of the imagined New Bharatiya Philharmonic Orchestra which occupies the pit below the stage on which the 'great transformative performance', sugar-coated with promises and steps for economic betterment of people, is being enacted. For more than a century, the debate over Indian nationalism has been shaped chiefly by the divergence between secular or inclusive nationalism on the one hand, and cultural or exclusivist nationalism on the other. The ideological fraternity which spawned the likes of Modi believes in the latter, and continues to see culture and religion as synonyms. As a consequence, Modi has his defence ready for critics if they point out that he provided a Hindu name (Sudarshan Chakra), rooted deeply in mythology, for a new planned national security cover. He will conveniently say the name is not religious in essence, but merely a cultural concept or idea. By disagreeing with him on this count, given that a defence plan for the nation is concerned, adversaries can only risk being labeled as unpatriotic or treasonous by making such a point. Despite tilting the scales, insofar as the perceptible discourse is concerned, in favour of cultural nationalism with his all-encompassing style of politics, Modi remains in a Catch-22 situation and faces a predicament. The more ideology becomes the primary draw in electoral politics, the more shall the role of the individual decline. The RSS has traditionally considered the vyakti as secondary to the sangathan and its divergence with Modi because he believes in personalization of politics and promoting his own cult. In this tussle between Modi and the RSS, personified by Mohan Bhagwat, the moment the RSS feels that support for Hindutva has crossed the threshold level, and the narrative no longer requires a leader to drive it further, insecurities for Modi shall mount. The centenary year of the RSS shall thereby be a crucial year for all that Modi addressed in his speech and even those issues which were consciously left out. A journalist and author, Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay 's books include Narendra Modi: The Man, The Times and The RSS: Icons of the Indian Right. The Wire is now on WhatsApp. Follow our channel for sharp analysis and opinions on the latest developments. Advertisement
