Telangana Minister slams Centre, asks to release white paper on jobs

Telangana Finance Minister T Harish Rao on Monday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government at the Center and demanded that the government should release a white paper on filling two crore jobs per year as promised during elections.

Addressing the press meet at Telangana Rashtra Samithi (TRS) Legislature Party office here, the Minister said, "The people of Telangana and the country thought that the two-day BJP National Working Committee meeting, would give some directions but people are left disappointed. Nothing was seen except the show of authority and the chanting of K Chandrashekar Rao's name."

He said that the Telangana agitation was all about water, funds and jobs.

Citing the NITI Aayog's data, Rao said that Telangana is the largest grain producer after Punjab.

"How can 2 crore 60 lakh tonnes of grain be harvested if there is no water?" Rao questioned.

He further said that according to the Niti Aayog the growth rate of Telangana in agriculture has increased by 10 per cent adding that a growth rate of 21 per cent was recorded last year, but only 3 per cent was recorded at the national level.

He said that it was possible in the state because of taking favourable decisions for the farmers.

"The per capita income of Telangana is higher than the states with double-engine governments. Even though the KCR government is a single-engine government, we are making more progress than the double-engine government," said the Finance Minister.

He further said that the development of Telangana is a role model for the country adding that if the Center gives funds to Telangana, more development will take place in the state.

Harish further demanded a white paper from the BJP government on employment.

"The BJP Government promised to offer 2 crore jobs every year and in eight years, 16 crore jobs had to be offered but the Central Government failed. On the other hand, the Telangana Government has issued a notification for 1.50 lakh posts and of these 1.35 lakh posts had been already filled up. In addition to these, the State Government was filling up 91,000 vacancies in different departments," he said.

He further slammed the Centre for not bringing the Women's Reservation Act in the last eight years

"Why does the Modi government not give national status to any single project in Telangana? Why Telangana's share in Krishna waters has not been decided?" he asked.

The Minister said the Arogyasri scheme was far better than the Centre's Ayushman Bharat. While the Arogyasri is applicable to 85 lakh people, the Ayushman Bharat caters only to 26 lakh families.