KTR recalls Telangana’s success story at Ideas for India conference in London

Hyderabad: Telangana IT and industries minister K.T. Rama Rao recounted Telangana’s transformation at the ‘Ideas for India’ conference in London. KTR highlighted the progress made by the state in the last nine years, emphasising Telangana’s success in achieving five revolutions in the agriculture and allied sectors.

The minister’s speech also focused on India’s potential for development, particularly on the importance of investing in human resources to create opportunities for employment and entrepreneurship. The event was organised by the global advisory firm EPG in conjunction with Bridge India.

India’s great resource—human resource

“India has many natural advantages indeed. The country is blessed with abundant natural resources, minerals, and enough resources to produce adequate energy. It has large water resources, such as rivers, lakes, and water bodies, enough to irrigate its farmlands and supply drinking water to all citizens and its industry. But more importantly, it has a great resource—the human resource,” said the minister.

KTR was optimistic that by doing things right, what China could achieve in 30 years, India could do in less than 20 years. He stressed that India should capitalise on the demographic dividend as 67% of the population are in the age group of 15 to 64, which is the highest number of the working population any country has in the entire history of mankind. “To make India a developed nation, we need to train the youth to create alternative modes of employment and provide them with many opportunities in employment and entrepreneurship,” the minister said.

Telangana’s revolutionary transformation

Presenting the story of India’s successful startup state, Telangana, KTR mentioned that the state has undergone a revolutionary transformation in just nine years to become a pioneer state. “We have gone back to solve the fundamental problems and we have substantively fast-tracked various revolutions,” KTR said.

KTR narrated how Telangana became a frontrunner state in development and welfare and how the state ushered in five revolutions in the agriculture and allied sectors. “Telangana was considered an arid region, where the lakes and tanks in villages were running dry, where people dug multiple bore wells, sometimes resulting in farmer suicides because of the financial burdens, where people suffered from fluorosis, is now a lush green state, where a farmer can grow two crops a year. Because of what we did in irrigation, farmer welfare, and other reforms, Telangana has ushered in five revolutions,” the minister added.

In addition, he also mentioned the novel policy interventions and unique schemes introduced by the Telangana government and highlighted the achievements of Telangana in sectors such as power, health, rural development, economy, and others. “Telangana’s per capita income grew more than 2.5 times, and we now stand to be the number one in the country. A state with 2.5% population contributes to 5% of India’s GDP,” he added.

The minister brought to the notice of the audience that Hyderabad is home to marquee tech companies and that the city is an emerging hub for innovation. “We built T-Hub, the world’s largest startup incubator; T-Works, India’s largest prototyping centre; We-Hub, India’s first women entrepreneur incubator; TSIC to help rural innovators; and TASK, the largest finishing school to orient the graduating youth.”

He added, “While we continue to focus on improving our infrastructure and industry, we have not lost sight of the commitment to our environment. Under the flagship Haritha Haaram programme, we have undertaken one of the largest green initiatives in human history. We planted 24 billion saplings. As a state, we achieved the highest green cover growth in India, of 7%”

Quoting Victor Hugo, the minister said ‘Nothing is more powerful than an idea whose time has come’ and the Telangana model is an idea whose time has come. “As India, we have to focus on the fundamentals and basics the way Telangana did. We need to focus on the farmer, the youth while creating a future based on innovation and making India a leader in the fourth Industrial Revolution,” KTR remarked.

The minister was hopeful that by doing things right India can increase the per capita by 6 to 8 times in the next 20 years. “If we do it right this time, we would surely become one of the most developed nations in the world,” KTR added.