Naidu’s Vision Swarna Andhra-2047: Myth and reality

Unlike many of his counterparts, Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has a penchant for packaging his goals in colourful vision documents with poverty eradication as the central theme. On December 14, he unveiled his third such document, Swarna Aadhra@2047, with the purported aim of eradicating poverty by 2047.

In 1998, in his first stint as chief minister, he released the Swarna Andhra Pradesh Vision-2020; in 2016, as chief minister of a truncated Andhra Pradesh, he launched his Vision-2020 document with a tagline, Sunrise Andhra Pradesh.

Common goal of poverty eradication

All documents more or less used the same vocabulary and set eradication of poverty as the goal. The strategies to achieve the goals are also identical. The only difference is that earlier he used to talk about the P3 Model (Public-Private Partnership) and now his mantra is P4 model (Public-People-Private Partnership).

However, the expensive documents, prepared by global agencies, failed to convince the people of Naidu’s lofty goal. Although the media honoured him with monikers like Andhra Pradesh CEO, Visionary and Tech Savvy, his Telugu Desam Party (TDP) lost power in elections in 2004 and 2019, after the launch of the vision documents.

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Two-component mantra

Influenced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Viksit Bharat-2047, the Swarna Andhra-2047 aims to achieve a “wealthy, healthy and happy Andhra”. The document has identified Kerala as a model state to improve human development indicators.

As for the central theme of poverty eradication, Naidu’s mantra has two components: one, engaging the Telugu diaspora and high-net-worth Individuals (HNIs) (10 per cent of society) to mentor and support the bottom 20 per cent to create one entrepreneur per family.

One family, one entrepreneur

“I had dreamed of creating one IT employee per family while releasing the Vision 2020 Document in 1998. The dream was realized following the IT revolution. Now, my goal is to have ‘One family, one entrepreneur’ in Andhra Pradesh by 2047,” he said.

This entrepreneurial family, in Naidu's view, is expected to build a “prosperous Andhra Pradesh, eradicating poverty and creating a legacy of shared growth”.

It is clear that Naidu is visualizing an IT boom that happened in Hyderabad in the 1990s when scores of software companies chose the city as their destination in India after Bengaluru. Will something similar happen again?

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Infirmities in key areas

Andhra Pradesh now suffers from many infirmities in key areas that play as the foundation for the realization of “healthy, wealthy and happy Andhra Pradesh”.

Although Andhra Pradesh’s literacy rate has grown to 72 per cent, it is low compared to the 80.3 per cent national average. In addition, Andhra ranks 35th out of 36 states in female literacy rate, especially for age seven and above.

While the Gross Enrolment Rate (GER) for secondary level (85 per cent) is higher than the national average (80 per cent), the dropout rate is alarmingly higher (16.3 per cent) than the national average (12.6 per cent). The graduate unemployment is also disturbingly higher (24 per cent) in Andhra than the all-India average (13 per cent).

Definition of poverty is key

Achieving Zero Poverty is not a big deal for Andhra Pradesh as the poverty rate in the state has fallen to a single digit (4.3 per cent) in 2023 from 11.77 per cent in 2015-16. The question, according to experts, is what kind of poverty the Vision -2047 aims to eradicate.

Former bureaucrat EAS Sarma says the definition of poverty should not be reduced to just income level below poverty line. It should also include reasonable shelter and nutrition, proportional representation in social, political and economic spheres, and freedom of choice, he said.

Political empowerment

In his view, a simplistic Vision-2047, without touching upon these indices, can be misleading. Sarma lays emphasis on political empowerment as a means to eradicate the multidimensional-poverty.

Throwing sops to the disadvantaged without empowering them cannot achieve multidimensional poverty-alleviation, he said.

“In the present political set-up, where caste-based politics seems to be the rule, political empowerment of the poor and disadvantaged is a mirage. To that extent, the Vision document is misleading,” Sarma said.

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Hunger index

According to economist KS Chalam, poverty in terms of availability of food is not a problem for Andhra Pradesh. He said Andhra had successfully reduced the levels of poverty by Rs 2 per kg rice scheme and by increasing the rice production.

“The saddest part of our growth story is that Andhra is languishing behind in the south in many indicators. It is now hunger, in terms of indicators such as how many children below five years have stunted growth, nutritional levels, underweight, schooling, healthcare, etc.,” he said.

“Chief Minister Naidu is an intelligent politician. He has to concentrate on the growth trajectory in terms of not only the rate of growth but also the sectors that bring Gross Value Added (GVA) apart from agriculture,” said Chalam.

IT miracle may not be possible

Lauding the efforts of Naidu in the 1990s in attracting IT companies to Hyderabad in a big way, D Narasimha Reddy said a repetition of the IT miracle that created huge employment might not be possible in Andhra now.

“New investments into IT look like a thing of the past. Globally, new destinations such as Vietnam have emerged. And the sector is also taking a new direction towards AI. The best option for Naidu is to concentrate on developing coastal industrial corridors to create employment,” said Reddy, who taught economics in Hyderabad Central University.

Education sector can be key

However, rejuvenating the education sector, which had been neglected for decades, to make the state a knowledge society is another challenge, he added.

Citing poor literacy rate, Boddu Srujana, an economist from SRM University in Amaravati, says the realization of a healthy, wealthy and happy Andhra was not possible until the cycle of education, poor healthcare and lack of quality education was broken.

“In our field work, we have noticed that many rural families are not ready to send their wards to government school due to lack of infrastructure. Education is not seen as a means to improve living standards. Creating awareness of economic incentives in investing time and resources in education is crucial to improve the literacy levels as education is bound to change family’s attitudes towards girl child, employment, skill development, healthcare and decision making,” she said.