ANDHRA PRADESH

Andhra Pradeshended at the 17th place among all the states and Union Territories in the performance grading index 2.0 (PGI 2.0) 2021-22, the results of which were released by the Union Government on July 7. The assessment was done based on the performance of the school Education system of the state.

The PGI covers 73 indicators, focused more on qualitative assessment besides including digital initiatives and teacher education. The states/UT that were ahead of AP in the PGI 2.0 were , Chandigarh, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu, Delhi, Goa, Gujarat, Haryana, Karnataka,

Kerala, Lakshadweep,Maharashtra, Puducherry,Punjab,Rajasthan, Tamil Nadu, and West Bengal.
While the grades have been divided into 10 different categories based on the scores, no state/UT could achieve the top four grades. Chandigarh and Punjab are the only states/UTs that have made it to the fifth grade Prachesta-2 (641 700 score).

Six states/UTs entered into the top sixth category by scoring more than 581 points. Andhra Pradesh shared its place along with 13 other states/UTs in the Akanshi-1 (521 – 580), the seventh grade.

The PGI 2.0 structure comprises 1000 points, broadly consisting of six domains namely Learning outcomes and quality, access, Infrastructure and facilities, Equity, Governance processes, and teacher education and training. When it comes to the individual category scores, Andhra Pradesh scored more than 85% in the equity domain. The state also fared fairly well in access and teacher education and training domains.

The is conducting techno-economicfeasibilitystudy to widen canals to improve gravity levels of water to set uphydroelectricplants.
Since hydroelectricity is considered cheaper than any other source, the government is keen on taking up such projects on Polavaram and Handri-Neeva Sujala Sravanti (Ananthapuram) canals.

The committee was allowed to engage any hydraulic experts/ professionals/ academicians from IITs/any renowned institutes by

paying honorarium as applicable to take inputs on the issue.

AP State Planning Board vice chairman and YSR Congress MLA Malladi Vishnu said on Tuesday that the would distribute house sites to the landless people in Amaravati in a few days time.

“All shelterless people will get house sites. The mega housing programme Pedalandariki Illu involving distribution of 30 lakh house sites will remain etched in golden letters in the contemporary HISTORY,” he said.

Vishnu noted that the village secretariat system was introduced in the state after Jagan Mohan Reddy became the chief minister. This increased transparency in administration and accountability among officials, he said.

Also, they said they wanted to increase the height of the culvert in the tank road and ensure that there is drainage in the side canal.

Vishnu said Jagan Reddy is giving TIDCO houses to the poor by completing the construction free of cost. “In the central constituency, 30,000 people

have been granted house titles and in the first phase, construction of 14,986 houses is going on at a fast pace.”

TheAndhra Pradeshgovernment has decided to ramp upoxygeninfrastructure in theRayalaseemaregion. The government will set up 15 pressure swing adsorption (PSA) Oxygen Plants in the region on war-footing. The government has allotted 50 per cent of the PAS plants to Rayalaseema as most major oxygen plants in the state are far away from the region.

The government has planned two units, one each in zone-II and zone-III for producing medical oxygen based on Liquid Oxygen Technology (LOx) with an augmented capacity of at least 100MT. He said that one plant with a capacity of at least 50 MT in the state for manufacturing Helium mixed oxygen (Heliox) for

medical uses has also been planned.
The government has also decided to grant incentives to reopen and operate some of the closed PSA plants due to non-viability.

Industries minister Gudivada Amarnath on Monday released the government’s new Industrial Policy to attract more investments into the state.

The new policy focuses on low-cost, low-risk businesses. More funds will be allotted to enhance start-up culture and development of Micro, Small and Medium enterprises (MSME) parks

in the state. As per the new policy, the 96 clearances mandatory for setting up new industries would be issued in 21 days. To meet this objective, the government unveiled YSR AP One App and its office will be in Visakhapatnam, said the minister.
He said the new industrial policy showcased the state’s financial Growth.

The new policy has accorded Industry status. An iconic tower, I Space, will be constructed to encourage innovation sector. The walk-to-work in IT sector will bring in other industries, said the minister.

Even ascybercrime casescontinue to rise inAndhra Pradesh,conviction ratecontinues to be low. Theconvictionrate incybercrimecases has gone through ups and downs in the state. It stood at 5.4% in both 2017 and 2019 but had gone up to 19.2% in 2019. As many as 1,983 cybercrime cases were reported in the state in 2020, a majority of them from Vizag andVijayawadacities.

In 2018, a total of 802 cybercrime cases went to trial, including cases from previous years. In 2019, 56 cases went to

trial of which only three ended in conviction.

1,2001,300 cybercrimes are reported in Andhra Pradesh every year, but charge-sheet is filed in only 3040% cases while remaining cases remain under investigation.

TheAndhra Pradesh Electricity Regulatory Commission(APERC) has asked power utilities to study the on-bill financing model to encourage the usage of modern energy-efficient appliances by domestic consumers. According to the officials, the opportunity in transitioning to brushless direct-current motor (BLDC) fans is huge.

As per the initial estimates,Andhra Pradeshcan save energy worth almost 7,000 million units (MUs) by facilitating the market transition to BLDC fans through demand aggregation-based price reduction and upfront rebates. This implies monetary savings of 4,500 crore for the State Government, discoms and consumers combined. This will also reduce about 3.4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

CEEW representatives in their

presentation said the Andhra Pradesh power sector is among the best performing sectors in the country, comprising around 1.5 crore domestic consumers with 92% of satisfied grid users as compared with the national Average of 77%.

The number of undertrials in various prisons inAndhra Pradeshincreased by five per cent in 2020.

The overall occupancy rate in all the jails (central jails, sub-jails, district jails, Women jail, open jails, altogether 106 jails) in the state is 84.2 per cent in 2020. A total of 7,375, including 428 female inmates and two transgenders, were in various prisons in the state against its capacity of 8,760 inmates.

Andhra Pradesh has four central prisons located in Vizag, Rajahmundry, Nellore, andKadapa. The available capacity in

the four jails is 3,764 (3,634 male prisons and 130 female prisoners) and it is crowded with 4,178 prisoners (including 4,091 male and 86 female prisoners.)
The number of undertrials (inmates) in the state increased to 5,001 in 2020 from 4,769 in 2019. As per the Percentage wise, the undertrials jumped from 62.9 per cent in 2019 to 67.8 per cent in 2020.

The number of convicts (inmates) in the state declined to 2,360 (32 per cent) in 2020 from 2,788 (36.8 per cent) in 2019 as per data byNCRBand analysed byIndia Report.

Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, launched the Jagananna Smart website on January 11, 2022. The website was launched from the Tadepalli Camp office.

The website was launched because most middle-class families attempt to buy a house or land for building their dream Home, but they fall prey toreal estate agentssometimes and end up into a deal which isnt economically Sound. The website would help the citizens in completing their dream of owning

a house. The website will provide land with clear and litigation-free titles in a transparent manner as well as provide reasonable price below non-profit market.