Andhra needs a little bit of hand-holding for next few years: Nara Lokesh

Lokesh discusses the state govt's plans to conduct a skill census, the target to create two million jobs in five years, and the importance of striking a balance between welfarism and economic growth

Nara Lokesh, national general secretary of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP), is a minister in the Andhra Pradesh Cabinet headed by his father, Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, and takes care of crucial portfolios of Human Resource Development, Information Technology, Electronics and Communication and Real Time Governance. In a video interview, Lokesh discusses with Archis Mohan and Indivjal Dhasmana the state government’s plans to conduct a skill census, the target to create two million jobs in five years, and the importance of striking a balance between welfarism and economic growth. Edited excerpts

Did the Union Budget meet the expectations of the TDP and Andhra Pradesh government? Is the Rs 15,000 crore promised by the Centre through multilateral agencies sufficient for the reconstruction of Amaravati?

From Day One, we made it clear that Amaravati is a self-sustaining project -- like any other capital city would be. All it requires is a bit of startup capital and that is what we were hoping for and we did get that. If you look at Hyderabad, it was created with that objective. It was a startup of sorts then, and now Hyderabad supports the entire state of Telangana financially. It is definitely a great start. You should also understand the historical context of the bifurcation, which was against the interest of the majority of the Andhraites for the simple reason that for 60 years, education, jobs, economic activity — everything was in Hyderabad. And all of a sudden you said, leave. That is where Amaravati came about but the past five years were wasted. So, we have to restart the engine that was stalled.

The Centre has promised funds for infrastructure in Kopparthy and Orvakal along the Visakhapatnam-Chennai and Hyderabad-Bengaluru Industrial Corridors. What industries will benefit from this?

AP has the second-longest coastline in India. 

We planned so that each district can lend itself to a specific focus area, and then we want to create an entire ecosystem around it. Anantapur, one of the most backward districts, has the Kia manufacturing facility; Chittoor has electronics manufacturing. We said Kadapa will be the sports hub. We could bring electronics manufacturing to Kopparthi. The renewable energy sector is coming up in Kurnool. The coastal belt is big in aqua and IT, and pharma is the focus in north Andhra. We don’t want to bring merely one or two companies and say ‘kaam ho gaya’. For example, the Kia manufacturing unit has spawned an entire ecosystem in Anantapur. When Mr (N Chandrababu) Naidu was in power from 2014 to 2019, the government acquired land for these two nodes. A major objective for us is to create 2 million jobs in the state in the next five years. Anyone who shares our objective and who is committed to creating jobs is welcome to invest in Andhra Pradesh. The central assistance will help create infrastructure and kickstart the process.

How is the new financial package different from the 2016 package that the TDP protested against?

In the past, certain commitments made to the state were not fulfilled in time. But the situation now is different: The way the Centre has been following up with the state, you know commitments are there. The Budget is done, let’s move forward. I think India needs to understand that Andhra Pradesh is a new state, and look at all our parameters. Per capita income is the lowest in South India. So if you look at any of the parameters, we are not performing as well as we should, when compared to our peers. One of the reasons is the bifurcation and, of course, the bigger reason being the past five years of bad governance that Andhra has seen. So we need a little bit of hand-holding for the next few years to pull us out of that. And, yes, we are happy with the financial commitments made by the Centre for Andhra. It will help achieve Mr Naidu’s objective — the target he is giving to ministers is a growth rate of 15-15.5 per cent. So this will really help us get to that trajectory.

There were requests for the Budget to announce an oil refinery for Andhra Pradesh and establish a coordination mechanism between the Centre and the state…

As far as the oil refinery is concerned, a few things are being scouted. We will find a mutually convenient way of taking that project forward. No second thoughts about it. In terms of coordination, already a team has been put together at the official level. We are certain that we shouldn’t have any problem going forward.

The Budget announced cuts in basic Custom duties to support shrimp farming…

Shrimp farming is big in Andhra Pradesh. We are Number One in the country. We are probably Number One in the world, competing against Ecuador, which went through its own political turmoil in recent times. At this stage, shrimp farming, especially sustainable shrimp farming, is going to be important for us. So, from power subsidies to solid road infrastructure, cold storage infrastructure, and port infrastructure – all this we are going to look at the state level. But definitely the Centre’s exemptions on the inputs that go into shrimp farming was something shrimp farmers had discussed with us and apprised me of during my padayatra. It will help keep the cost of production down. We, as a state, are also looking at crop diversification. Andhra was the rice bowl of India, but rice consumption is coming down. So we want to look at diversification. We are Number One in banana produce and Number Two in mango production. Our focus will be horticulture. We have to put the power sector in order to provide cheap power to farmers. We have to identify 10 to 15 commodities where we can have substantial value, and make Andhra the hub for those commodities, not only in India but globally.

What led to Andhra Pradesh having the lowest per capita income in South India?

In the past five years, there had been an erosion of trust in the Andhra government, which resulted in a lot of investments going to Telangana. Amara Raja is an example of that – it was harassed (the state pollution control board in 2021 had issued closure notices to its production units near Tirupati) and went to Telangana, which saw accelerated growth even as Andhra’s growth plateaued. A state needs both wheels of a cycle — development and welfare  — to work together. Welfare and the results of development should drive welfare.

How will you balance welfare schemes with capital expenditure? Will the subsidised rice and mid-day meal schemes continue?

Welfare schemes are not new to Andhra Pradesh. But the TDP has always put money in the right place. We will continue our investments in capital. We have attracted a lot of investments to come to Andhra Pradesh. 

Kia, Asian Paints, and other companies are examples of what Mr Naidu did from 2014 to 2019, and created 800,000 jobs. I’m not saying this — it was an answer to a question by the (previous) YSRCP government in the Assembly. Our ‘super six’ promises include creating 1 million jobs, and creating wealth and distributing it. But to be clear, let’s not demonise welfare. In India, we have a tendency to do so and it is unfair, and you only need to look at the European welfare model.

What are your plans for the IT sector and electronics manufacturing?

I had a meeting with a team from the Adani group and with a few other top industrial houses in India. I am really excited about this space, especially data centres and AI. In addition to that, we are looking at conducting a skill census through which I want to assess the skill of every family, understand where the market is going, and then how do I skill up my citizens… There is a huge requirement for plumbers and nurses, so we are looking at improving the quality of nurses. So it is not just about IT or electronics manufacturing.

What are your plans for reforming Andhra’s education sector?

In the past five years, teachers have become demotivated; student dropouts have increased with 70,000 reduced from Class I to X. Over the next 100 days, we will get the best minds in the education sector to come and spend time with us, look at the entire ecosystem from KG to PG, and we are also looking at best practices from other states, such as UP. Another focus is technology-enabled education and improving physical infrastructure of schools. Our target is to have government schools start competing with private schools.