Tag: Uttam

Telangana: Uttam slams BRS & BJP govts for ‘neglecting’ farmers’ plight

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Hyderabad: Nalgonda MP and senior Congress leader N Uttam Kumar Reddy expressed strong concerns about the ‘unfulfilled’ promises made by the BRS government and the BJP-led Central government towards Telangana’s farmers.
He was speaking to media persons after inaugurating the Paddy Procurement Centre of Singaram Primary Agricultural Cooperative Society in the Huzurnagar constituency on Wednesday.
Uttam Kumar Reddy took both governments to task for failing to deliver on assurances such as a Rs 1 lakh loan waiver and a crop insurance scheme for Telangana farmers. He voiced his disappointment over the unpaid Rythu Bandhu dues for farmers with holdings above 10 acres and Telangana chief minister K Chandrashekhar Rao’s (KCR) ‘forgotten promise’ of free fertilisers.

“Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s 2016 promise to double farmers’ income by 2022 has fallen significantly short of expectations. Not only has the income failed to double, but when taking inflation into account, farmers’ income has actually decreased,” he said.
The Congress MP alleged that the Modi government has further burdened farmers by imposing GST on agricultural equipment and input materials. Additionally, despite falling international crude prices, the price of diesel has increased by over 60%, adding to farmers’ woes, he said.
“Initially, the goal was to increase farmers’ household incomes from an average of Rs 8,050 per month in 2015-16 to Rs 21,146 by 2022. Unfortunately, the country is far from reaching this target, and many farmers claim that farming has become unprofitable in the current situation,” he said.
Uttam Kumar Reddy argued that the BRS government’s inability to waive off crop loans up to Rs. 1 lakh has left most farmers unable to secure fresh loans from banks. He pointed out that, despite knowing from 2014-2018 that crop loan waiver schemes do not benefit farmers if divided into different phases, the BRS government repeated the act, splitting it into six to eight phases. So far, Reddy said, crop loans up to Rs. 35,000 have been waived.
“At this pace, it would take the BRS government another five years to completely waive off the remaining loans,” he added.

The MP added that more than 8,000 farmers have committed suicide since 2014, with fewer than 80 receiving compensation under GO 421. Reddy dismissed the Rythu Bandhu scheme as ‘mere hype’, asserting that the Rs. 5,000 per acre support provided does not genuinely aid farmers.
Uttam Kumar Reddy lambasted both the BRS government in Telangana and the BJP government at the Centre for ‘neglecting’ over one lakh farmers affected by recent unseasonal rains.
“While chief minister KCR announced a compensation of Rs. 10,000 per acre, he contested that the relief package lacked a scientific basis, as it was declared without official teams surveying the damaged areas and providing a final report on crop losses,” he said.
He emphasized that compensation should account for cultivation costs, yield per acre, and income for different crops, such as paddy, maize, and mango. “It has been more than three weeks since rains and floods damaged crops spread over lakhs of acres of land. Where is the report about the enumeration of losses?” he asked.
The MP accused KCR of using the compensation to mask the absence of a crop insurance scheme in Telangana, which would have offered affected farmers a more substantial relief package. He divulged that a majority of affected farmers are still awaiting their Rs 10,000 compensation. He also claimed that the BRS government has not requested compensation from the Centre for the thousands of crores in crop losses suffered by farmers over the past nine years.
Uttam challenged the chief minister to disclose the reports of crop losses submitted to the Centre in the last nine years.
Uttam Kumar Reddy alleged that both BRS and BJP leaders are engaging in the game of allegations and counter-allegations only to keep the people’s attention ‘diverted from their failures’. However, he said that the Congress party would continue to raise the voice of common people under all circumstances.
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#Telangana #Uttam #slams #BRS #BJP #govts #neglecting #farmers #plight
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 12, 2023
PM Modi’s Telangana visit was highly disappointing: Uttam

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Hyderabad: Congress MP N. Uttam Kumar Reddy expressed his disappointment over Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Telangana on Saturday, as the Prime Minister did not announce any significant projects for the state.
Uttam Kumar Reddy pointed out that most projects inaugurated by PM Modi had already been announced years ago and were significantly delayed. Instead of acknowledging these delays, Modi treated them as if they were new initiatives. For example, the AIIMS Bibinagar project, approved four years ago, has faced delays due to the negligence of Modi’s government. Rather than apologizing for the delay, PM Modi ceremoniously laid the foundation stone again without providing a completion deadline.
He highlighted that AIIMS Bibinagar was approved by the Union Cabinet on December 17, 2018, with Rs. 1,028 crores allocated for the project. Only Rs. 31.71 crore has been released so far. The project’s original completion deadline of September 2022 has been extended multiple times, most recently to January 2025. However, the Centre has remained silent on the current deadline.

The delay in constructing AIIMS Bibinagar has been raised numerous times between November 2019 and December 2021. Despite the Centre acknowledging the delays and providing updated deadlines, Uttam Kumar Reddy noted that only a small fraction of the allocated funds have been spent on the project.
Furthermore, Reddy stated that the BJP government has not taken steps to fill sanctioned positions within AIIMS Bibinagar, leaving many faculty and non-faculty posts vacant.
The Congress MP also accused the BJP government of deliberate discrimination against Telangana. While the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act mandated the establishment of an AIIMS in both Telangana and Andhra Pradesh, the Centre has released more than 50% of allocated funds for 14 out of 16 AIIMS across the country, but only a fraction of the funds for Telangana’s AIIMS.
“PM Modi recently pledged to spend Rs. 1,366 crores on AIIMS Bibinagar’s construction but did not provide an explanation for the project’s delays. Additionally, he did not address other unfulfilled promises such as the Railway Coach Factory at Qazipet, the Steel Plant at Bayyaram, and other assurances given to Telangana in the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014,” he said.

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#Modis #Telangana #visit #highly #disappointing #Uttam
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

April 9, 2023
Telangana: Nirav Modi, Lalit Modi don’t belong to BC community, says Uttam

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Hyderabad: Telangana senior congress leader and Nalgonda MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy clarified that Nirav Modi and Lalit Modi do not belong to the BC community, refuting the ‘false claims’ made by the BJP.
He expressed astonishment at the BJP’s attempts to garner sympathy for the two notorious ‘scamsters’ by wrongly associating them with the BC community.
He addressed a dharna of the BC Welfare Association organized by its Telangana State President, Jajula Srinivas Goud, at Jantar Mantar, Delhi on Wednesday.
“Nirav Modi is accused of defrauding Punjab National Bank of nearly Rs. 14,000 crore, while Lalit Modi allegedly embezzled thousands of crores from Indian cricket fans and tarnished the reputation of Indian cricket worldwide. Both scamsters are reportedly living a luxurious life somewhere in Europe. It is perplexing that the BJP would choose to use these controversial figures in their campaign, falsely associating them with the BC community,” he said.
Uttam Kumar Reddy endorsed the demand for a BC census in the country. He stated that the Congress party fully supports it at both the AICC and TPCC levels. He questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s commitment to the welfare of the BC community and asked why a BC Census has not been conducted, a demand made by BCs across the country.
He also emphasized the BC community’s long-standing demand for a separate ministry in the union government, similar to those for SC, ST, and Minority affairs. “The absence of such a ministry, despite the community’s requests for the past nine years, is quite astounding,” he said.
He also concurred with the BC Welfare Association’s demand for the removal of the creamy layer from the BC reservation quota.
Uttam Kumar Reddy asserted that the BC quota in jobs and education should be increased proportionately to their population, on par with SCs and STs.

He said that previous Congress governments implemented several measures to improve the lives of BCs at the national level and in the undivided Andhra Pradesh. He accused the BJP government of completely neglecting the welfare of the BC community in the last nine years.
However, he alleged that BJP leaders were misusing the name of the BC community to shield scamsters like Lalit Modi and Nirav Modi by disseminating false propaganda. “The BC community is both laughing at and shocked by the BJP’s propaganda tactics,” he said.
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#Telangana #Nirav #Modi #Lalit #Modi #dont #belong #community #Uttam
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 29, 2023
Demonetisation was ill-conceived, Modi must apologise to people: Uttam Kumar

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Hyderabad: Nalgonda Congress MP N Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government has finally admitted that it has failed in achieving all the objectives of demonetisation, implemented in November 2016.
Uttam Kumar Reddy said that demonetisation failed to achieve its objectives of curbing black money, eliminating counterfeit currency, and promoting digital payments.
Reddy said, “The data has proved that the demonetisation was an ill-conceived and poorly executed move which had severe economic consequences.”
He demanded that PM Modi apologises to the nation for causing hardship to the common man while executing a disastrous plan in a press release on Monday.
“The statistics pertaining to Currency in Circulation (CiC) and the value of Notes in Circulation (NiC) provided by the Finance Minister clearly shows that none of the objectives of demonetisation was achieved by the Modi government,” said the Congress leader.
The data was provided as a part of the written reply given by Union Minister Nirmala Sitharaman to a question raised by Reddy during the Question Hour in the Lok Sabha on Monday.
“Demonetisation was supposed to reduce black money by reducing cash in circulation. However, after demonetisation, the cash in circulation has continued to rapidly grow. Even relative to the size of the economy, the ratio of cash to Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has grown from 8.7% in March 2017 to 13.7% in March 2022,” said Reddy recounting the details of the data.
Objectives of demonetisation:

The Finance minister, in her written reply, said, “The mission of the government was to move towards a less cash economy to reduce the generation and circulation of black money and to promote the digital economy”.
The objectives of withdrawal of legal tender character of specified bank notes (Rs 1,000 & Rs 500), was to contain the rising incidence of fake currency notes which were largely in circulation; to limit the usage of high denomination banknotes for storage of unaccounted wealth and to contain the rising level of using the fake currency for financing subversive activities like drug trafficking and terrorism, said Reddy’s press release.
Currency in Circulation (CiC):
He said that the data clearly shows that the Currency in Circulation (CiC) and the value of Notes in Circulation (NiC) almost doubled post-demonetisation.
“While Currency in Circulation in March 2016 was Rs 16.63 lakh crores, it stood at Rs 31.33 lakh crores in March 2022. The reduction in CiC was visible only for a year when it decreased to Rs 13.35 lakh crores in March 2017,” he said. He added that the currency in circulation increased every year.
Notes in Circulation (NiC)
The Congress MP said that the volume and value of Notes in Circulation (NiC) have increased significantly post-demonetisation. “The volume and value of NiC in March 2016 were 9,02,660 lakhs and Rs 16,41,500 crores respectively. It increased to 13,05,326 and Rs 31,05,721 in March 2022,” he added.
“What was the impact of demonetization after it caused immense suffering to almost all citizens of the country? It was supposed to handle black money by reducing cash in circulation, but clearly, the cash has not been reduced,” said Reddy.
Black Money:
Uttam Kumar Reddy said “Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that demonetisation was aimed to curb the circulation of black money, which is generated through illegal means such as corruption, tax evasion, and money laundering. However, the move did not result in the detection of a significant amount of black money,”
“According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), around 99.3% of the banned currency notes were deposited back into the banking system, which means that the holders of black money were able to convert their old notes into new ones,” He said.
The Congress MP said that the government’s efforts to track down black money holders through various measures such as the Income Declaration Scheme and the Benami Transactions Act were also not very successful.
“Is it true that the majority of black money has always been held in gold and real estate, and it continues to be held that way while the government chose to target only cash which primarily harmed salaried class and small businesses which rely on cash?” he asked.
Counterfeit currency notes:
Questioning the government on the steps it has taken to counter fake currency, he said, “After falling in 2020-21, counterfeit notes recorded a 10.7 percent uptick in 2021-22, with the Rs 500 denomination fake notes rising by 102 percent. Fake notes of Rs 2,000 increased by 55% in 2021-22 over the previous fiscal year, as per RBI’s Annual Report of 2021-22”.
“It led to an economic slowdown, which resulted in job losses and reduced consumer spending. The cash crunch led to a decline in consumer spending, which affected several sectors such as retail, real estate, and hospitality. The informal sector, which relies heavily on cash transactions, was hit the hardest,” said Reddy.
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#Demonetisation #illconceived #Modi #apologise #people #Uttam #Kumar
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

March 13, 2023
‘AIIMS Bibinagar project delayed indefinitely’, alleges Uttam Kumar Reddy

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Hyderabad: Lok Sabha Congress MP, N Uttam Kumar Reddy on Friday said that the construction of All India Institute Of Medical Science (AIIMS) Bibinagar has been delayed indefinitely by the Central Government with a lack of transparency.
The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare answered MP Uttam Kumar’s question in Lok Sabha regarding the long-pending AIIMS Bibinagar project and said that the tender has been awarded but did not provide any timeline for the completion of the project.
“A long-standing public demand of Telangana State has been delayed indefinitely by the Central Government and moreover with a shameful lack of transparency, no reliable information has been provided. Instead, the Government has revised information provided by themselves repeatedly, and have not furnished a single reason for the continuous delays,” said the Nalgonda MP.
The Telangana MP had raised a similar question on September 18, 2020, in the Lok Sabha and the Union health ministry informed the House that the timeline for completion of AIIMS Bibinagar is September 2022.
In February 2022, the Ministry informed that the date of completion has been pushed to November 2023 and subsequently in July 2022 when MP Uttam Kumar asked for a timeline of completion, the Ministry stated that the project will be completed by January 2025.
On Friday, in reply to the MP’s question, the Union health ministry only replied that the tender for the construction of AIIMS Bibinagar has been awarded in July 2022 but did not specify any timeline of completion.
Section 93 of the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act required the Central Government to complete certain guarantees within 1O years, and AIIMS Bibinagar was one of them. The Government revealed in the Lok Sabha on July 22, 2022, that out of Rs 1028 crore sanctioned for AIIMS Bibinagar only Rs 29.28 crore has been released so far.
The MP alleged that the Union government has displayed startling inconsistency in providing information about the status of AIIMS Bibinagar. The medical institution is a part of developmental guarantees and has been delayed for a very long time.

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#AIIMS #Bibinagar #project #delayed #indefinitely #alleges #Uttam #Kumar #Reddy
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 10, 2023
President’s rule will be imposed in Telangana by Feb end: Uttam Kumar Reddy

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Hyderabad: Congress MP Uttam Kumar Reddy has stirred a new debate in political circles by making sensational remarks. He said President’s rule could be imposed in Telangana by dissolving the assembly by the end of this month.
He said that the central government will be asked to hold mid-term elections to the assembly during the President’s rule. Talking to media persons in Kodad, Uttam Kumar Reddy said that the Congress wave is going on across the country, because of which BJP wants to divide the country on religious lines.
Uttam Kumar Reddy hold a meeting with key Congress leaders of Suryapet district in connection with the ‘Haath Se Haath Jodo’ campaign. He said the BRS MLA from Kodad is getting commission from beneficiaries of Dalit Bandhu and sand mafia.
He said the Congress will win the upcoming elections in Kodad and Huzurabad with a majority of 50,000 votes and challenged that he would retire from politics if he did not get a majority in both the constituencies.
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#Presidents #rule #imposed #Telangana #Feb #Uttam #Kumar #Reddy
( With inputs from www.siasat.com )

February 6, 2023