Hanamkonda: Rural empowerment key

Hanamkonda: Empowering the rural poor is the only way of achieving sustainable development, Telangana State Council for Higher Education (TSCHE) Chairman Prof T Papi Reddy said. Speaking at the valedictory of the fourth Telangana Economic Association (TEA) conference at the Kakatiya University (KU) here on Sunday, he said that strengthening of agriculture and small-scale sectors is the only remedy to empower rural areas.

"Since the formation of Telangana, the government has been giving impetus on agriculture sector by allocating adequate funds. "It's heart-rending to see farmers resorting to suicides even though the government was implementing Rythu Bandhu, the State government's flagship programme that provides Rs 10,000 per acre per annum to the farmers as input subsidy, and the Rythu Bima, insurance scheme provides a life cover of Rs 5 lakh for farmers," Papi Reddy said.

On industrial front, the government had rolled out TSiPASS to encourage entrepreneurship thereby generating employment, he said. He also spoke about the government's policy to produce industry-ready young talent.

KU Registrar Prof K Purushotham said that even though India has become the fifth-largest economy in the world, it's saddening to see a large number population languish in poverty and inequality in income distribution. "India, which is home to more young people than any other country, needs to harness the potential of its youth to spur economic growth," Prof Purushotham said.

As many as 74 research papers were submitted in the two-day conference which discussed about environment, unemployment and migrations.

Satavahana University former Vice-Chancellor Prof Iqbal Ali, UGC Coordinator Prof M Sarangapani, Prof Lingamurthy, TEA Secretary Siva Reddy, Dr K Mohan Reddy, Prof Suresh Lal and Dr Tirunahari Seshu were among others present.