PEDANA: Chief Minister Y.S. Jagan Mohan Reddy on Thursday credited Rs 193.31 crore into the bank accounts of 80,546 weaver families at Pedana on Thursday. This was done for the fourth consecutive year under the YSR Nethanna Nestham.
Addressing the gathering, the Chief Minister recalled the Freedom movement, wherein the Charkha and Loom changed the dynamics of the nation. He asked the people whether they wanted a Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) governance for their welfare or Chandrababu Naidu’s dochuko panchuko tinuko (rob, share and eat) rule.
The CM maintained that he kept the promise he had made to weavers during his 3,648-km pre-election Padayatra and introduced the YSR Nethanna Nestham scheme, which benefited weavers having their own loom by way of upgrading their skills through a financial assistance of Rs 24,000 each year.
The chief minister said the government has spent Rs 776.13 crore on weaver families in the last three years under the Nethanna Nestham and asserted that the financial assistance was being provided in a transparent manner.
Jagan said his government was also providing weavers with an e-marketing facility through APCO and e-commerce companies like Amazon, Myntra, Mirraw, Flipkart, and Paytm for improving the income of weavers. “Many weavers have upgraded their machinery with this financial assistance and increased their revenues,” he noted.
The CM said the average revenue of weavers was Rs 4680 per month during 2018-19. At present, it was in the range of Rs 15,000 per month.
Speaking on Social Justice, Jagan said the government was committed to the uplift of BC communities in the state and termed them as the “backbone class”, and not backward class.
Talking about reservation, he said the SC, ST, BC, and Minority communities are being given by his government in all positions. “Some 70 per cent of this cabinet comprised SC, ST, BC and Minorities,” he pointed out.
The Chief Minister recalled his step of establishing the BC Commission and 56 BC Corporations and giving the lion’s share to the weaker sections in his cabinet and legislative council, including in nominated posts.
Drawing a comparison with the previous TDP rule, Jagan said his government had given key posts to women and those from the BCs, unlike the former TD government that gave “most posts to a single community.”
Taking a dig at the Opposition TD and a section of the media supporting it, the chief minister reiterated that they were all trying to mislead the people with malicious propaganda against his government. “I might not have the powerful media houses with me, but what I have is the support of the people and God’s blessings,” Jagan said.
Earlier, the chief minister tried his hand at operating a loom and interacted with the beneficiaries of the YSR Nethanna Nestham financial support scheme. He also announced development projects for Krishna district.
After crediting money into the accounts of beneficiaries of Nethanna Nestham, the chief minister announced that the Andhra Pradesh high court has given its green signal for the construction of Machilipatnam Port.
“I will soon be laying the stone for the launch of the works,” he said.
Ministers Jogi Ramesh, Gudivada Amarnath, RK Roja, MLAs Perni Venkataramaiah, Kodali Venkateswara, K Parthasarathy and officials were present.
Speaking on the occasion, a weaver and beneficiary of YSR Netanna Nestham P Lavanya of Narayanareddypeta in Nellore said she received Rs 24,000 from the government during the three phases of the scheme and another Rs 24,000 today in the 4th phase. She said she was also a beneficiary of the widow pension, ammavodi and Jagananna Vidya Deevena schemes of the YSRC government.
Another beneficiary Venkata Lakshmi of Narayanareddypeta said her family was dependent on weaving and the welfare schemes of Jagan Reddy were very helpful to it.
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