CM Chandrababu Naidu for interlinking of rivers like Golden Quadrilateral

Vijayawada: Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu felt that Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s suggestion for effective utilisation of water resources and targeting Zero Poverty as a priority for Viksit Bharat by 2047 is not a very difficult task provided the Centre prepares a road map for interlinking of rivers and states come up with their respective demographic management plans as the demographic dividend will diminish by 2047.

It is learnt that Naidu, who presented a paper during the recent meeting of the governing council of NITI Aayog, said that it was time the Centre and states move from PPPs (public-private partnerships) to P4 model that stands for public-private-people partnerships. He said that there was no doubt that wealth has been created in the country but it remains concentrated in the hands of few persons. In his report, he said, “The top 10 per cent of the population should adopt and handhold the bottom 20 per cent of the population as a social responsibility.” The plan for zero poverty should be a twofold one. It should focus on continuous empowerment during the medium term and on bridging the gap between the have and have-nots in the long term.

Naidu emphasised on the need for employment generation. He felt that if the Centre and states make it as their “singular goal and treat it as national priority,” then nothing can stop the country from becoming a 50-trillion-dollar economy.

The CM said the question before attracting any industry should not be how much will be invested. It should be how much employment will be generated. “Not only should we generate employment opportunities internally, we should emerge as the most important source of the global workforce. Ultimately, India’s strength is its people,” he said. The report further said that a revolutionary step like the Golden Quadrilateral road network should be brought in for interlinking of rivers. That would help in making water available for drinking and irrigation and avoiding large scale floods.

Pointing out that survival of the manufacturing ecosystem depends upon success in establishing market leaders across the product spectrum, Naidu said the focus of the Centre and states should be on comprehensive skill development. He added that AP plans to undertake this soon. He said that there was a need to build marquee Indian brands.

Naidu said that the states should work out their own demographic management policies from now itself since the “present demographic advantage would yield diminishing returns by 2047. All states should wake up before it is too late,” he added.