PrajaSankalpaYatra Tour Diary Day 12: Every Student Should Have Access To Quality Education 

November 19, Banaganapalle, Kurnool District

My padayatra on Sunday began from Sadaradinne as usual at 8.30 am. Providence has gifted Banaganapalle with fertile land and made it plush with resources. Yet, this area hasn't seen much progress. My father toiled hard to ensure the all-round development of this region. He had sanctioned Rs 410 crore to improve the Awk reservoir's holding capacity and to upgrade the works on Galeru-Nagari Sujala Sravanthi in order to benefit the people of this region. His untimely death brought all those developmental initiatives to a halt. Work on the Awk tunnel has slowed down beyond description. It's been four years, yet the work remains incomplete. The pace of work on the irrigation projects which were fast-tracked during my late father's time, have also slowed down completely. Work remained incomplete only because the projects are being milked by the ruling dispensation's henchmen.

A poser to the CM. You had promised free education from KG to PG if you come to power. But, once in power, let alone implementing it, you are even trying to water down the highly useful reimbursement scheme. Is it not betrayal of trust on your part? Aren’t you responsible for the students dropping out of colleges and staring at bleak future? How much did you sanction for the fee reimbursement scheme and how much of it has actually been released during the last three years of your rule?

During my padayatra, as usual, people from various sections of society such as students, senior citizens, farmers, contract workers from the electricity department and womenfolk, interacted with me. There is a palpable anger against the unfulfilled promises of Chandrababu Naidu. Senior citizens aren't getting their pensions. The contract employees see no chances of getting regularised. DWCRA loans haven't been waived off and the womenfolk are not getting the promised zero interest loans. Chandrababu promised them the moon. He promised ST status to Boyas, SC status to Rajakas, BC status to Kapus and Balijas and SC categorisation for Madigas. Once he got into power, he threw all these promises to the winds. In fact, he has duped every segment of the population. The situation has come to such a pass only because we do not have a system to punish those who make promises indiscriminately at the time of elections and renege on even implementable promises later. Hence, I strongly feel that election promises must be made legally binding on political parties. This will ensure that the people do not remain helpless even as politicians dupe them. By the same token, politicians will not get an opportunity be indifferent to the hapless voters's discomfiture.

For any society, education is the biggest emancipator from poverty. A family can rise above poverty only when the children in the family access quality higher education. My late father understood this clearly and the fee reimbursement scheme was introduced with this end in view. This scheme enabled even the students from economically poor families to pursue professional courses. But today, Chandrababu Naidu has watered down the scheme. Full reimbursement is not being done and what he gives is too little and even that comes too late. As a result, the students are left in dire straits. Many students from economically poor sections are forced to drop out. When the People's Government comes to power, we will ensure that their fees are fully paid by the Government. What more, Rs 20000 would be directly given to their families for other expenses. We shall also give Rs 15000 to every mother who sends her children to schools. We will ensure that the students from economically deprived and marginalised families too become doctors and engineers. We will see that no student drops out of college for want of financial support.

Finally, a poser to the CM. You had promised free education from KG to PG if you come to power. But, once in power, let alone implementing it, you are even trying to water down the highly useful reimbursement scheme. Is it not betrayal of trust on your part? Aren't you responsible for the students dropping out of colleges and staring at bleak future? How much did you sanction for the fee reimbursement scheme and how much of it has actually been released during the last three years of your rule?