AP cabinet decisions: Mega DSC by December 10, 7 white papers, hike in pensions, repealing land titling Act, sub-committee on cannabis menace

AMARAVATI: The Andhra Pradesh cabinet meeting chaired by Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu has concluded here at the Secretariat on Monday. The meeting, which lasted for about three-and-a-half hours, discussed several key issues.

The cabinet approved the five signatures made by the CM as per the election promises. It has been decided to restore the name of NTR Medical Health University.

Mega DSC to fill 16,347 posts, abolition of the Land Titling Act, pension of Rs. 4,000 renovation of food canteens, and skill enumeration were some of the major decisions.

Mega DSC

The Cabinet approved the recruitment of 16,347 teacher posts to be filled through Mega DSC 2024. The recruitment drive will fill up 6,371 posts of SGTs, 132 posts of PETs, 7,725 posts of School Assistants, 1781 posts of TGTs, 286 posts of PGTs, and 52 posts of Principals.

While the previous Government had notified only 6,100 teacher posts, the NDA Government will fill up 16,347 teacher posts. The Council of Ministers decided that the management of DSC will henceforth be a continuous process. This means that the DSC will be conducted every year. Lakhs of students were at a loss as the previous Government did not conduct the Teacher Eligibility Test (TET) exam every six months. In this context, the Cabinet decided to conduct the TET examination by the rules.

“Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu directed the officials concerned to start the training from December 10,” said Minister K Parthasarthi giving details of the cabinet decisions. He said that along with the existing education policy, the National Education Policy should also be studied to determine the necessary guidelines for quality education from the primary level.

Andhra Pradesh Land Titling Act, 2022

The Cabinet has approved the proposal to repeal the Andhra Pradesh Land Rights Act, 2022 (Act No. 27 of 2023). “We have noticed that the previous Government brought this law unilaterally without consulting anyone,” the Minister said.

The Cabinet felt that there was a serious contradiction between the law proposed by NITI Aayog and the law passed by the previous Government. “The Act created a situation where the litigants could approach the High Court for redressal directly after the Title Registration Officer, irrespective of the intermediate, district, and judicial system. That is, we have decided to repeal this law as there is an alarming situation where the Titling Registration Officer takes a unilateral decision. We wanted to abolish this law which disturbs the registration system, revenue system, and judicial system." We have also decided to allow the landlord to get the original document,” the Minister explained.

NTR Bharosa Pension Scheme

The amount of pension for old age, widows, handloom, toddy tappers, fishermen, single women, dappu artists, etc., has been increased from Rs. Rs 3 lakh. The cabinet has decided to increase the amount to Rs 4,000. The decision to increase the pension will benefit about 66 lakh beneficiaries of 28 categories. The government had earmarked Rs Rs 33,000 crore for the scheme.

To this extent, Rs. The pension amount has been increased to Rs 4,000 for April, May and June. The cabinet decided to disburse the pension amount of Rs 7,000 through the employees of the village secretariat on July 1 at their homes.

Pension for differently abled and TB patients hiked from Rs 3,000 to Rs 6000. Pension given to the completely disabled has been hiked to Rs 15,000. The pension given to those suffering from chronic diseases like kidney, liver, and bilateral elephantiasis has been increased to Rs 10,000 from Rs 5,000.

The Cabinet decided that the pension would be distributed through DBT to patients with kidney dialysis, sickle cell anemia, thalassemia, HIV, and other diseases. The increase in social security pensions will entail an additional burden of Rs 819 crore.

Andhra Pradesh Skill Census-2024

The cabinet approved the conduct of the Andhra Pradesh Skill Census-2024. Every year, about 4.4 lakh youth come out of 310 engineering colleges, 1400 degree colleges, 267 polytechnic colleges, and 516 ITI colleges in the state.

However, there is a need to assess the skill gap based on demand, supply, and available facilities, keeping in mind the current and future needs, to make our youth competitive at the national and international level and make our mark on the global youth.

The Cabinet decided to complete the skill survey within a period of 3 to 4 months, keeping in view the skill requirements of the youth as well as the requirements of the industrial subsidiaries, agricultural sector, marketing organizations, and production organizations.

Anna canteens

The Cabinet also approved the reopening of Anna Canteens, which were earlier sanctioned to provide quality food at subsidised rates, to address the hunger pangs of the poor in the state.

Steps will be taken to reopen 203 Anna Canteens across the state. In the first phase, 183 Anna canteens will be opened. The remaining 20 canteens have also been decided to be started in the next phase.

The canteens will provide breakfast, lunch, and dinner to the poor at subsidised rates.

Dr. NTR Health University

The cabinet approved the renaming of NTR University as NTR University of Health Sciences.

The Andhra Pradesh University of Health Sciences was established by an Act of the State Government in 1986.

The Act was amended in 1998 and the then State Government renamed it as NTR University of Health Sciences. The university was renamed in 2022 by the YSRCP Government as Dr YSR University of Health Sciences.

Home Minister to head Sub-committee on Cannabis

It was decided to form a cabinet sub-committee under the chairmanship of Home Minister Anitha for the prevention of ganja. A sub-committee will be formed with the ministers of home, revenue, health and tribal affairs. Minister Nara Lokesh will be a member of the Committee of Ministers on Cannabis Control.

Seven white papers

The Cabinet has decided to release white papers on seven departments. It was decided to release white papers on Polavaram, Amaravati, power, environment, liquor, economic issues, and law and order. After the cabinet meeting, CM Chandrababu will guide the ministers on political issues.

Chief Minister N. Chandrababu Naidu has asked the Council of Ministers to release seven white papers to make people aware of the policies adopted by the previous government.

White papers on Polavaram, Amaravati, Power, Environment (Land, Sand, Mines, Geology, etc.), Liquor and Excise, Law and Order, and Finance departments will be released and people will be made aware.

White papers will be released every two to three days from June 28 to July 18.

“It is the responsibility of the people's representatives to make the public fully aware of how the institutions have faltered in the last 5 years,” CM has said.

Other decisions:

• The Andhra Pradesh Cabinet has approved the appointment of Dammalapati Srinivas as Advocate General of Andhra Pradesh.

• The Andhra Pradesh cabinet has accepted the resignations of former Advocate General S Sriram and Additional Advocate General Ponnavolu Sudhakar Reddy.

• Sanitation works in all Panchayats and Municipalities should be started immediately.

• Drainage and desilting of canals and ponds should be taken up immediately in the direction of providing water to the last ayacut.

• As there is a possibility of seasonal diseases due to the onset of the rainy season, the cabinet has been instructed to prepare all necessary arrangements for the health of the people keeping in mind the public health.

• The R & B has been directed to take all necessary steps to plug the potholes immediately as the roads and highways have become dilapidated.