Andhra CM Naidu receives Golden Peacock Award

Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has been honoured with the prestigious Golden Peacock Award in the 17th London Global Convention held in London.

The Chief Minister was awarded in the category of "Global Leadership in Public Service and Economic Transformation" by the Institute of Directors for Leadership in Transferring Governance on Wednesday night.

Naidu was awarded for excelling in public services.

This category was introduced for the first time by the Institute of Directors.

The Chief Minister is driving the state of Andhra Pradesh to achieve double digit growth.

Naidu in his acceptance speech said that no other country except India has the potential to achieve double digit growth in the near future.

He said, "Along with traditional strengths, India has the advantage of demographic dividend. It also has the highest English speaking population in the world".

"India is very strong in technology. Today, majority of technology experts in companies like Google and Microsoft are Indians."

The Chief Minister also said, "Today, the entire world concentrated on governance and transparency had also increased. Much like corporate companies are accountable to its shareholders, I am also accountable to the common man."

"In corporate sector, Managing Directors remain in their posts for some time but in politics, we face election every five years. Therefore, I always strive to work better," he added.

The Chief Minister invited the industrialists and corporates present there to invest and cooperate in the development of Andhra Pradesh.

"We have excellent human resources. We will give you power, water and other necessary infrastructure. We are top in ease of doing Business index," he said.

He also said that he met Secretary of State for International Development, Government of UK, Priti Patel to discuss about development of the state.

He also said that his only aim is to make Andhra Pradesh a model state.

"Our vision is to make Andhra Pradesh the most developed state in India by 2029, including in happiness index and the best investment destination in the world by 2050," he added.

"Post bifurcation, ours became a new state. Despite of resources crunch, we are making wonders by making impossible things possible. When I became the Chief Minister, our state had 22.5 million units power deficit. With the help of power reforms, we brought wind energy and reduced the cost of solar power. We will reduce power tariffs in the future," the Chief Minister said.

Nara Bhuvaneswari, the wife of Naidu, who is also the Vice Chairperson and Managing Director of Heritage Foods Limited Company, also received the award in the category of "Corporate Governance and Sustainability".

In 1991, the Institute of Directors established the Golden Peacock Awards for the recognition of "corporate excellence".